Free Republic

A team of international scientists compared the temperature of cosmic gas farther away from Earth (and, therefore, farther back in time) to younger gases nearer to our planet and to the present day. According to their calculations, in the past 10 billion years, the mean temperature of these gases has increased by more than 10 times,

Researchers have discovered the molecule phosphine in the atmosphere of Venus. The molecule indicates that life may exist in the acidic clouds high above our sister planet. The discovery of phosphine in the Venusian atmosphere could signal a rejuvenated interest in the planet, which has long been ignored in favor of other locales in the solar system. A mystery lurks in the clouds high above the stifling surface of our nearest planetary neighbor, Venus. Researchers have announced they've found traces of phosphine, a molecule potentially generated by living things, in the planet's clouds. Planetary scientists have long speculated that Venus's...

A stunning new panoramic image of the Milky Way is revealing all sorts of fresh insight. The image shows the center of our Milky Way Galaxy, stretching about 600 light-years across, and reveals never-before-seen details of the Arches cluster, which is densest star cluster in our galaxy. And that bright white splotch in the middle of the image? That's the supermassive black hole at the center of our galaxy, which is illuminated on all sides.

You’ve probably seen this viral video circulating on Twitter. The camera pans up through a hole in the ceiling to reveal ... creatures of some kind. Are they aliens? Ghosts? No. They're owls. Really, really creepy owls. If you’re not entirely convinced that the hissing trio are indeed birds, you’re not alone. (I showed the video to one friend, who replied: “That cannot possibly be real.” Others have displayed similar skepticism online.) When the video first hit the internet in 2017, multiple sources reported that construction workers stumbled across the scraggly birds, known as eastern barn owls, at a site...