'The system is critically stressed': San Andreas and San Jacinto faults scarily close to major earthquake, study finds -- The San Andreas fault and a neighboring fault in Southern California have reached their highest levels of tectonic stress in 1,000 years, and a rupture at one fault could propagate to the other, researchers found. -- Sascha Pare -- Published

1 day ago

'This was a pioneering achievement': Stone Age people put up posts to observe the solstices near Stonehenge long before the stones of sacred site were placed - The discovery of two ancient holes at Stonehenge suggests people placed posts there to help observe the summer and winter solstices around 5,000 years ago.

10 hours ago

'It's a huge deal': Archaeologists discover second cannonball from the Battle of the Alamo, and it was likely fired by Texans -- Archaeologists have discovered a second cannonball from the 1836 Battle of the Alamo, and now they have one from each side. -- Kristina Killgrove -- Published

10 hours ago

'A mixture from zero to infinity': Physicists tried splitting a photon - and unleashed an improbable swarm of particles -- Physicists have found that splitting a photon would lead to a complex state that may change the way we think of particles. -- Rory Harris -- Published

12 hours ago

Oldest known plague victims found in a 5,500-year-old burial ground in Siberia - and many of them were children -- The oldest known evidence of the plague killing people has been found in Siberia, and it carried a gene that may have made it particularly deadly for children. -- Sophie Berdugo -- Published

15 hours ago

China's secretive Tianwen-2 mission arrives at Earth's 'quasi-moon' ahead of historic landing -- Analysis -- China's Tianwen-2 mission has arrived at the quasi-moon Kamo'oalewa, which orbits the sun alongside Earth. The secretive probe will scoop up samples from our temporary companion to help uncover its mysterious origin, experts say. -- Harry Baker

15 hours ago

Atlantic 'cold blob' is responsible for shifts in the Indian summer monsoon that threaten over 1 billion people -- An abnormally cold patch of water in the North Atlantic Ocean has triggered changes in the Indian summer monsoon via the jet stream winds, new research suggests. -- Sascha Pare -- Published

17 hours ago

How to watch Venus vanish behind the moon in broad daylight today -- Today (June 17), the moon will pass between Earth and Venus, causing the hellish planet to temporarily disappear from the daytime sky. Here's what it will look like, exactly when it is happening and how you can safely view this skywatching spectacle. -- Harry Baker -- Last updated

17 hours ago

5,000-year-old burial of man with battered skull found in kiln in Germany - and he may have been a human sacrifice -- An injured man from the Corded Ware culture was buried in a pit previously used as a kiln, and he may have been sacrificed. -- Kristina Killgrove -- Published

19 hours ago

A Texas-size chunk of winter sea ice is missing from Antarctica - and it's probably not coming back -- An area of ice nearly the size of Texas has failed to form over the Bellingshausen Sea, off western Antarctica, as researchers investigate the links between sea ice loss and global warming. -- Patrick Pester -- Published

1 day ago

Wreck of World War II Japanese 'hellship' that sank with more than 1,000 Allied POWs on board discovered off the Philippines -- The remains of a Japanese "hellship" that was torpedoed in 1944 and sank with more than 1,000 POWs on board has been found off the coast of the Philippines island of Luzon. -- Tom Metcalfe -- Published

1 day ago

The world's first nuclear clock just ticked on - and it could help detect a fifth fundamental force of physics -- By using a rare thorium nucleus as a timekeeper, physicists have demonstrated the first working nuclear clock, a device that could lead to even more precise clocks and new ways to search for dark matter. -- Kenna Hughes-Castleberry -- Published

1 day ago

Elusive dwarf fox, feared extinct, photographed for the first time on island off Yucatan -- The first-ever photos of a Cozumel fox prove that the mysterious island predator is still alive in Mexico but in dire need of conservation, according to researchers. -- Patrick Pester -- Published

1 day ago

Earth-based telescope shares image of Artemis II capsule near the moon - one of the farthest photos of humans ever taken -- A blurry photo captured by the National Science Foundation's Green Bank Telescope in West Virginia shows Artemis II's Orion capsule circling the moon more than 200,000 miles away, making it a candidate for the longest-distance image of humans ever taken from Earth. -- Harry Baker -- Published

15 hours ago

Dangerously hot and humid: Rising temperatures in the US make outdoor exercise hazardous -- Analysis -- In a warming world, outdoor exercise may be hindered by performance-impairing heat more often than it was in the past. -- Naomi Mihara

1 day ago

Lavish Roman villa discovered outside Rome's walls may have been frequented by Hadrian and Marcus Aurelius -- The villa, which came to light because it was illegally excavated, was found in an area frequented two millennia ago by the emperors Hadrian, Antoninus Pius and Marcus Aurelius. -- Kristina Killgrove -- Published

1 day ago

Atacama Desert's center dried out 20 million years earlier than previously thought - before the Andes formed -- Chile's Atacama Desert, which gets less than 5 millimeters (0.2 inches) of rainfall each year, started to form more than 40 million years ago ‪-‬ 20 million years before the Andes. -- Skyler Ware -- Published

2 days ago

NASA's experimental X-59 jet breaks the sound barrier twice, reaching Mach 1.4 -- NASA and Lockheed Martin's experimental X-59 aircraft has broken the sound barrier twice, achieving a top speed of Mach 1.4. The feat could set the stage for "quiet" supersonic flight. -- Joanna Thompson -- Last updated

2 days ago

Diagnostic dilemma: Brain scans following a man's hospital visit for leg weakness revealed a surprising finding -- Diagnostic dilemma -- A man went to hospital complaining about weakness in his left leg, and subsequent brain scans revealed his abnormally small brain. -- Christoph Schwaiger

2 days ago

'Melted in a pot somewhere': Vikings used Islamic silver coins to make their early pennies, study finds -- The silver in a Viking Age hoard found in Denmark was from melted-down coins from the faraway Islamic world, a new study finds. -- Tom Metcalfe -- Published

2 days ago