Scientists are using subtle changes in gravity to reveal the hidden interiors of the Moon and asteroid Vesta. By tracking spacecraft movements, they’ve created detailed maps that uncover thermal differences on the Moon and a uniform structure inside Vesta. This method opens new doors for exploring distant worlds without landing on them.
A new study of the Yilan Crater in northeastern China offers a rare glimpse into the aftermath of a powerful ancient impact. By listening to subtle ground vibrations with passive seismic tools, researchers uncovered a bowl-shaped structure hidden beneath the surface, evidence of a meteorite strike that took place around 49 000 years ago. Their analysis suggests the object hit with such force that the Yilan event ranks among the most powerful known impacts on Earth in the past 80 000 years, likely leaving lasting effects across the surrounding region.
A visible aurora has been recorded from the surface of Mars for the first time. NASA’s Perseverance rover detected a faint green glow of atomic oxygen triggered by a solar storm, confirming long-standing predictions about atmospheric emissions. The detection provides a new way to study Martian space weather from the surface.
A recent study reveals that Norway spruce trees in the Italian Alps exhibited synchronized bioelectrical activity during the March 2015 solar eclipse. Using high-resolution sensors, researchers detected collective responses to the eclipse’s rapid environmental changes, indicating a potential shared signaling mechanism among trees.
Scientists have teleported quantum data over a live public internet connection, with quantum signals sharing space with high-speed classical traffic. This is the first time quantum teleportation has worked outside of isolated lab conditions. The experiment proves that quantum communication can run on the same fiber that powers the internet today.
The ground beneath major U.S. cities is slowly sinking, according to new research that documents land subsidence in all 28 of the nation’s most populous urban areas. Driven primarily by groundwater extraction, the phenomenon poses a structural risk to homes, roads, and infrastructure in cities such as New York, Houston, and Chicago.
Antarctica has shown a rare shift in behavior, gaining ice mass between 2021 and 2023 after years of steady decline. Using satellite gravimetry, researchers tracked this anomaly and linked it to unusual precipitation rather than long-term change. The findings offer insight into the continent’s sensitivity but little certainty about what comes next.
Historians have long debated whether climate change contributed to the fall of the Roman Empire. New geological evidence from Iceland supports that link, showing that a sudden surge of Greenlandic iceberg transport during the Late Antique Little Ice Age coincided with a period of instability, famine, and migration across Europe. The ice age is thought to have been triggered by volcanic ash from three massive eruptions, which blocked out sunlight and lowered global temperatures.
A new study published in PNAS provides the most detailed view to date of the dormant Uturuncu volcano in southwestern Bolivia, revealing that its long-standing ground deformation and seismic unrest are driven by the movement of hot fluids and gases, not by magma ascent. Researchers conclude there is no immediate eruption risk, but confirm that a deep magmatic system remains active beneath the surface.
A new study proposes that Mars once had a fully molten core, potentially explaining the planet’s hemispheric magnetic field asymmetry. The model links this anomaly to heat loss concentrated in the southern hemisphere, driven by differences in crustal thermal conductivity. The findings offer new insight into Mars’ early interior dynamics and atmospheric evolution.
