Tag: Science News

Weird ‘Living Fossil’ Fish Lives 100 Years, Pregnant for 5 Years

The coelacanth—a giant weird fish still around from dinosaur times—can live for 100 years, a new study found. These slow-moving, people-sized fish of the deep, nicknamed a “living fossil,” are the opposite of the live fast, die young mantra. These nocturnal fish grow at an achingly slow pace. Females don’t hit sexual maturity until their…


Computer Trouble Hits Hubble Space Telescope, Science Halted

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla.—The Hubble Space Telescope has been hit with computer trouble, with all astronomical viewing halted, NASA said Wednesday. The orbiting observatory has been idle since Sunday when a 1980s-era computer that controls the science instruments shut down, possibly because of a bad memory board. Flight controllers at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in…


Scientists Hail Golden Age to Trace Bird Migration With Tech

TAKOMA PARK, Md.—A plump robin wearing a tiny metal backpack with an antenna hops around a suburban yard in Takoma Park, then plucks a cicada from the ground for a snack. Ecologist Emily Williams watches through binoculars from behind a bush. On this clear spring day, she’s snooping on his dating life. “Now I’m watching…


NASA Plans 2 New Missions to Venus, Its First in Decades

LOS ANGELES—NASA announced plans on Wednesday to launch a pair of missions to Venus between 2028 and 2030—its first in decades—to study the atmosphere and geologic features of Earth’s so-called sister planet and better understand why the two emerged so differently. The U.S. space agency said it was awarding about $500 million each to develop…


NASA Releases Extraordinary New Photo of Milky Way’s Bustling Cosmic ‘Downtown’

NASA has released a stunning new picture of our galaxy’s violent, super-energized “downtown.” It’s a composite of 370 observations over the past two decades by the orbiting Chandra X-ray Observatory, depicting billions of stars and countless black holes in the center, or heart, of the Milky Way. A radio telescope in South Africa also contributed…


Researchers Discover 1,600-Year-Old Multicolored Mosaic From Byzantine Age in Israel

Archaeologists carrying out excavations on a site prior to a new neighborhood development in Yavne, in Israel, recently discovered a well-preserved ancient mosaic. The mosaic, which displays colorful geometric motifs in a black rectangular frame, was discovered by Israel Antiquities Authority researchers, led by Avishag Reiss. The find dates back to the Byzantine period, during…


NASA Releases Stunning New Pic of Milky Way’s ‘Downtown’

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla.—NASA has released a stunning new picture of our galaxy’s violent, super-energized “downtown.” It’s a composite of 370 observations over the past two decades by the orbiting Chandra X-ray Observatory, depicting billions of stars and countless black holes in the center, or heart, of the Milky Way. A radio telescope in South Africa…


Unreal Photos Show ‘Super Blood Moon’ During Total Lunar Eclipse Across the Pacific

Early Wednesday morning, both sides of the Pacific witnessed an extraordinary celestial sight of notable rarity, when the largest supermoon of 2021 coincided with a total lunar eclipse. Adding to the stellar spectacle, a deep, reddish glow was cast upon the lunar disc due to an atmospheric effect—a phenomenon which gives rise to the moniker:…


Handwritten Example of Famous Einstein Equation Gets $1.2 Million

BOSTON—A letter written by Albert Einstein in which he writes out his famous E = mc2 equation has sold at auction for more than $1.2 million, about three times more than it was expected to get, Boston-based RR Auction said Friday. Archivists at the Einstein Papers Project at the California Institute of Technology and the…


‘Ring of Fire’ Solar Eclipse to Appear in the Sky Next Month—Here’s What You Need to Know:

A “ring of fire” eclipse will occur next month over Canada and its environs; and will be visible from the remote areas of north Ontario, Russia, Greenland, and Polar Bear Provincial Park (located on the southwestern shore of Hudson Bay). The annular solar eclipse—where the outer edge of the Sun is visible behind the Moon—will…