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Europe launches twin spacecraft to make daily solar eclipses in space. Here's what to know about Proba-3.
By Harry Baker last updated
On Dec. 5, 2024 the European Space Agency's Proba-3 mission sent two spacecraft into orbit around Earth. By aligning the probes, researchers will create 6-hour-long mini eclipses, allowing the sun's atmosphere to be studied like never before.
Miniature black holes could be hollowing out planets and zipping through our bodies, new study claims
By Ben Turner published
An artist's illustration of primordial black holes.
Scientists discover revolutionary method that makes fuel from water and sunlight — but it's not finished yet
By Ben Turner published
The hydrogen fuel tank of a Toyota vehicle on display.
What's the difference between a cold and the flu?
By Emily Cooke published
Common colds and the flu differ in many ways, including their causes, some of their symptoms and their treatments.
Large language models can be squeezed onto your phone — rather than needing 1000s of servers to run — after breakthrough
By Keumars Afifi-Sabet published
Running massive AI models locally on smartphones or laptops may be possible after a new compression algorithm trims down their size — meaning your data never leaves your device. The catch is that it might drain your battery in an hour.
Rare gold 'Brutus' coin minted after Julius Caesar's murder is up for auction
By Kristina Killgrove published
An extremely rare gold coin featuring Brutus, who helped spearhead Julius Caesar's assassination, is up for auction in December.
Acromegaly: A disease that causes adults to grow uncontrollably
By Emily Cooke published
Patients with acromegaly make too much growth hormone, which causes them to grow disproportionately large bones, organs and tissues.
Geminid meteor shower 2024: How to see the year's last big display of 'shooting stars' before it's too late
By Jamie Carter published
The Geminid meteor shower is upon us. Up to 120 "shooting stars" per hour will rain down on Earth during the shower's peak on Dec. 13 and 14, but a near-full moon may hamper viewing.
Early Americans ate tons of mammoth, 13,000-year-old bones from Clovis culture baby reveal
By Tom Metcalfe published
Radioisotopes in the bones of an 18-month-old boy who lived almost 13,000 years ago indicate that his mother ate mostly mammoths.
'Spectacular' asteroid blazes over Siberia just hours after it was detected
By Pandora Dewan published
Asteroid C0WEPC5 entered Earth's atmosphere at 1:15 a.m. local time on Dec. 4 over northeastern Siberia.
WHO is investigating mystery illness behind 12 dozen deaths in the Democratic Republic of the Congo
By Nicoletta Lanese published
Between 67 and 143 people in the DRC have died of an unknown, flu-like disease, officials have said.
Strange pile of Stone Age skulls unearthed in Italian village baffles archaeologists
By Kristina Killgrove published
At least 15 human skulls at a Neolithic site in Italy may represent the group's collective ancestors, although archaeologists aren't certain.
We are fast approaching the sun's 'battle zone' — and it could be even worse than solar maximum, experts warn
By Harry Baker published
Space weather experts warn that solar activity will persist or even increase after solar maximum has ended and we enter a phase of the solar cycle dubbed the "battle zone."
Babies' brain activity changes dramatically before and after birth, groundbreaking study finds
By Emily Cooke published
New brain scans have shown that neurons in several regions of the brain become significantly more active across birth.
Extremely rare, black 'anti-auroras' paint luminous 'letter E' above Alaska
By Harry Baker published
A "bizarre" E-shaped aurora was recently photographed dancing in the sky above Alaska. The unusual light show was caused by rare black auroras, a.k.a. anti-auroras, which catapult charged particles from the sun back out of Earth's atmosphere and into space.
'Ominous milestone for the planet': Arctic Ocean's 1st ice-free day could be just 3 years away, alarming study finds
By Ben Turner published
A polar bear stands on floating sea ice in the Arctic. The bears rely on sea ice to move throughout their hunting grounds.
'Cataclysmic' solar storm hit Earth around 2687 years ago, ancient tree rings reveal
By Daisy Dobrijevic published
If this colossal solar storm hit our technologically advanced world the effects would have been devastating.
'Accidental discovery' creates candidate for universal memory — a weird semiconductor that consumes a billion times less power
By Owen Hughes published
A chance discovery by researchers could drastically lower the energy needed for next-generation memory technologies.
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