ScienceAlert

A rock on Mars is speckled with signs that it may have hosted life-supporting chemistry billions of years ago. Found on the edge of an ancient river valley by the Perseverance rover and named Chevaya Falls, the veiny sedimentary material contains organic compounds and leopard-like spots that indicate chemical reactions chemosynthetic microbes could have once used for energy.

Weird Rock on Mars May Actually Show Signs of Ancient Life

Since astronauts departed the lunar surface for the last time 52 years ago, time has ticked on by. Relative to us Earthlings, the Moon has pined for our return just a little longer – by roughly 1.1 seconds. It doesn't sound like much, and neither does the 57 millionths...

Time Ticks Faster on The Moon. Now We Know Precisely How Much.


It's really not going to be easy for humans to set up a habitat on  the Moon, but a new discovery could alleviate some problems.
An analysis of radar data suggests a gaping hole in the lunar crust could lead to a network of caves which future lunar explorers might use for shelter. We've known about the holes called "skylights" in the surface of the Moon for some time; now, we finally have evidence that they exist.



					
			

"These caves have been theorized for over 50 years, but it is the first time ever that we have demonstrated their existence," says astronomer...

Underground Cave Discovered on Moon Could Shelter Future Lunar Astronauts

It's the iris in the great eyeball of  Jupiter, revolving to gaze balefully out upon the cosmos: the Great Red Spot, the single largest, longest-lived storm in the entire Solar System.



					
			

Humanity has been observing it for centuries, a colossal anticyclone currently a little bit larger than Earth, with winds that howl around in an anticlockwise direction at up to 680 kilometers (425 miles) per hour.
As mighty as it rages, however, the Great Red Spot has significantly diminished since the first definite records of its existence in 1831. The storm was once much larger; over time, it has dwindled, and...

The Mystery of Jupiter's Shrinking Great Red Spot Might Be Solved


An exoplanet identified in 2017 as one of the most promising locations for life to flourish outside the Solar System has just become even more promising – and a whole lot weirder.



					
			

The alien world LHS-1140b shows signs of being an 'eyeball' planet, with a global ocean capped in ice, and a single, iris-like region some 4,000 kilometers (around 2,500 miles) across permanently gazing at its host star. 
"Of all currently known temperate exoplanets, LHS-1140b could well be our best bet to one day indirectly confirm liquid water on the surface of an alien world beyond our Solar System," says astrophysicist...

Giant 'Eyeball' a Perfect Place to Look For Life Outside The Solar System


In the guts of an ancient mummified crocodile, researchers have discovered a telltale bronze hook.
Up to 3,000 years ago, the 2.2-meter (7.2-foot) long crocodile died before it had even begun to digest a fish found intact around the hook in its stomach.



					
			

The human-made object and state of the carefully preserved animal suggest it was deliberately caught in the wild and processed as an offering to the Egyptian crocodile god, Sobek.
Luckily, the ancient Egyptians who prepared the croc's body for mummification didn't remove its guts, as was common practice for human mummies. This allowed a UK team of researchers to reveal...

Scan of Mummified Croc's Stomach Reveals Details of Ancient Egyptian Ritual

The idea that animals' brain mass and body mass are correlated makes intuitive sense: larger animals, after all, tend to have larger brains than their smaller cousins. However, it's proven difficult to find a definitive model for exactly how these two figures relate to one another. A new study published...

The Mystery of How Big Animal Brains Should Grow May Finally Be Solved

South Carolina State

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Explore Beaufort SC

The mantis shrimp is one tough customer. Beautiful and deadly are two words you don’t typically use to describe shrimp, but the mantis shrimp is definitely in a class of its own; earning a reputation as the ‘savage boxer of the sea’ and one of the most fearsome creatures in the ocean. And, they're right at home here in South Carolina.

Savage Boxer of the Sea: The Deadly Beauty of Mantis Shrimp

San Francisco, CA


Mammal mothers give up a lot to care for their young. To nourish their newborns with milk, their bodies pull calcium from their very own bones. 
Scientists have long wondered why mothers' skeletons don't crumple under the pressure, and US researchers led by the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) think they have solved the mystery.
The team has discovered a whole new hormone in female mice that promotes the growth of astonishingly strong and dense bones.
Neuroscientists have named it the maternal brain hormone (MBH), though it works to build strong and healthy bones in mice of all ages and sexes.
"One...

Scientists Discover a New Hormone That Makes Super-Strong Bones

Virginia State

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Cheryl E Preston

Wendy's birthday was spent away from her loved ones. Virginia Wendy Williams fans, the latest update is not encouraging. The former talk show host turned 60 on July 18 without any of her loved ones around. According to Yahoo, family members remain "out of bounds" and have no access to Wendy as she battles dementia and progressive aphasia.

The family of talk show diva Wendy Williams were unable to celebrate her 60th birthday by her side


The secret to pterosaurs taking flight long before birds and bats dominated the air was wasn't feathers or hollow bones.
Although those features no doubt helped, new research shows that a lattice-like structure stopped pterosaurs' broad-ended tails fluttering like flags in the wind and instead, once stiffened, helped guide these flying reptiles into the sky.



					
			

Pterosaurs took to the skies using powered flight about 215 million years ago, the first vertebrates to do so. Although they started out small, amongst their ranks were some of the largest flying animals in Earth's history.
Like birds, pterosaurs had feathers, but they weren't birds, nor were...

Scientists Can Finally Reveal The Secret of How Pterosaurs Took Flight


Humans are 'mutilating' the tree of life, lopping off whole branches, one by one, at a rapid pace of pruning Earth has never experienced before.
But not all hope is lost.
To save a diversity of plants and animals from the current mass extinction, the United Nations introduced a historic 'peace pact with nature' at the end of 2022, in which countries pledged to turn 30 percent of the planet into protected zones by 2030.



					
			

Unfortunately, the world is still far from that goal, but in the critical years to come, a promising new study suggests we focus less on the size of...

Protecting Just 1.2% of Earth's Land Could Stave Off Mass Extinction

New York City, NY

Yesterday was the third time this year that an ad stating Chelsea Clinton lives in a beautiful Virginia home popped up on my laptop. My computer did not warn me this was a dangerous site, so this time, I clicked on the link.

Chelsea Clinton is rumored to be living in Virginia but probably still in NYC

Supplies of dissolved oxygen in bodies of water across the globe are dwindling rapidly, and scientists say it's one of the greatest risks to Earth's life support system. Just as atmospheric oxygen is vital for animals like ourselves, dissolved oxygen (DO) in water is essential for healthy aquatic ecosystems, whether freshwater or marine. With billions of people relying on marine and freshwater habitats for food and income, it's concerning these ecosystems' oxygen has been substantially and rapidly declining.

Earth's Water Is Rapidly Losing Oxygen, And The Danger Is Huge

Our eyes help us take in the world around us, and they can reveal much about our inner worlds, from what we might be imagining to early signs of hearing loss. Mysteriously, our eyes can also change with our breath. In a new study, researchers in Sweden and the Netherlands found pupil sizes fluctuate with every inhale and exhale.

Something Strange Happens to Your Eyes When You Breathe

Without easy access to freshwater lakes, streams, and dams, roughly one out of every four humans depends on reservoirs beneath Earth's surface for survival. By the end of the century, tens to hundreds of millions could be deprived of even this tenuous supply of moisture as rising temperatures risk turning shallow groundwater supplies into toxic sumps.

Warming Groundwater Could Be Undrinkable For Half a Billion People by 2100

Virginia Wendy Williams fans, this is your July 2024 update on the former talk show host. Her best friend of 44 years, Regina Schell, has shared recent concerns with TV Show Aces and says she has not seen or talked to Wendy in more than a year.

Wendy Williams fans are worried after her best friend claims not to have heard from her in a year


A cattle painkiller introduced in the 1990s led to the unexpected crash of India's vulture populations, which still haven't recovered to their former glory.
Some might have said 'good riddance' to this much-maligned, death-associated bird, but there's a devastating human cost, and a new study reveals the shocking numbers, linking their absence to the deaths of over half a million people.



					
			

The analysis from the US and UK suggests human mortality in districts affected by vulture loss increased by more than 4 percent because of the sanitation 'shock' that ensued, causing an estimated US$69.4 billion in economic damages annually from 2000 to...

Shift in India's Vulture Population Linked to Half a Million Human Deaths


Being curious is a quintessential part of being human, driving us to learn and adapt to new environments. For the first time, scientists have pinpointed the spot in the brain where curiosity emerges.



					
			

The discovery was made by researchers from Columbia University in the US, who used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scans to measure oxygen levels in different parts of the brain, indicating how busy each region is at any one time.
Knowing where curiosity originates could help us understand more about how human beings tick, and potentially lead to therapies for conditions where curiosity is lacking, such as chronic depression.

"This...

We Now Know The Exact Part of The Brain Behind Your Curiosity

NewsBreak

NASA's About to Make a Big Announcement About Mars. Here's What We Know.

We're about to find out what's happening with NASA's beleaguered Mars Sample Return mission. In just a few hours – at 1PM EDT – NASA is...

NASA's About to Make a Big Announcement About Mars. Here's What We Know.

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