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Science
Physics, climate, planetary science, and the research that shapes how we understand the universe and our place in it.


The asteroid that ended the dinosaurs struck what is now Mexico with such force that it blasted molten ejecta high above the atmosphere before it rained back down across the planet, and many of the survivors were small, sheltered creatures — including early mammals on the line that would eventually lead to us.

A tiny jellyfish can reverse its own life cycle when injured or starving, turning back into its younger self instead of dying of old age like everything else

In 1908, something exploded in the sky over Siberia with hundreds of times the energy of the Hiroshima bomb, flattening more than 2,000 square kilometres of forest. When scientists finally reached the site years later, they found no crater at all

The human genome contains traces of ancient viruses that infected our ancestors millions of years ago — and some of those viral leftovers were later repurposed into genes that help make human pregnancy possible

A fossil site in North Dakota appears to have captured the day the dinosaur-killing asteroid struck Earth, right down to tiny glass beads from the impact lodged in the gills of fish that died within hours

A slice of the static on an old untuned television was the afterglow of the Big Bang, which means millions of people spent decades staring at the oldest light in the universe without knowing it.

Scientists have spent decades searching for alien life by identifying specific molecules — a new study suggests that was never going to be enough on its own, and what they were missing was hiding in plain sight

The third-largest Ebola outbreak on record is spreading through DRC and Uganda — and aid workers, former USAID officials, and global health experts say recent US funding cuts have made detection and response significantly harder

A new species of mosasaur named Tylosaurus rex — twice the length of a great white shark, with finely serrated teeth and evidence of violent combat against its own kind — has just been identified from 80-million-year-old Texas fossils that had been sitting in museums for decades

Venus, Jupiter, and Mercury are lining up in the western sky after sunset this week — and a Blue Moon is sliding past Antares — in a run of evening sky events that won't be matched again for years
