Using the spectral data from the Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI) onboard the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope, astronomers have detected methane on 3I/ATLAS. This is the first direct detection of methane in an interstellar object. Hubble captured this image of 3I/ATLAS on July 21, 2025, when the comet was 446 million km (277 million miles) from Earth. Image credit: NASA / ESA / David Jewitt,...

New observations from NASA’s Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN (MAVEN) spacecraft reveal that the Zwan-Wolf effect — a phenomenon once thought unique to Earth’s magnetosphere, in which charged particles are squeezed like toothpaste coming out of a tube along magnetic structures called flux tubes — is also reshaping the Red Planet’s upper atmosphere. An artistic representation...

For more than four and a half millennia, the Khufu Pyramid has stood on the Giza plateau, enduring dozens of earthquakes without serious structural damage. New research led by Egypt’s National Research Institute of Astronomy and Geophysics offers a quantitative explanation for this remarkable durability. It shows that the structure’s natural vibration frequencies differ sharply from those of...

Paleontologists have identified a new species of the axolotl genus Ambystoma from several fossilized specimens found deep in the rocky outcrops of the Mexican state of Hidalgo. Named Ambystoma quetzalcoatli, the species is closely related to the living species from the central part of the Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt, including the modern Mexican axolotl (Ambystoma mexicanum) and other lake-dwelling...

An international research team led by scientists from the University of Bonn, the University Hospital Bonn and the Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior has identified supermagnetic macrophages in the livers of homing pigeons (Columba livia domestica) that appear essential for navigation when the Sun is not visible, pointing to an entirely new mechanism for animal magnetoreception. Lisowski et...

Mathematicians from University College London and the University of California, Davis, have published a mathematical proof that the Universe’s accelerating expansion can be explained without dark energy, dealing a serious blow to the Lambda-cold dark matter model — the standard cosmological model that has stood for nearly 30 years. Alexander et al. provide a mathematical proof that instabilities...

In a small randomized trial in the United Kingdom, adults who added a serving of 100% fruit juice or a smoothie to a healthier diet reported lower depression scores after four weeks. People who drink a glass of 100% fruit juice or a smoothie each day as part of the UK’s 5-a-day healthy eating guidance see improvements in their mental wellbeing. Image credit: Joseph Mucira. “While most people...

Scientists have extracted and analyzed proteins from the tooth enamel of six Homo erectus individuals who lived in China roughly 400,000 years ago, offering an unprecedented glimpse into the genetic makeup of one of humanity’s most successful and far-ranging ancestors. Their results suggest that Homo erectus may have carried genetic variants that were later passed to Denisovans and eventually...

Unusual gases rising from geothermal springs within the Kafue Rift of Zambia suggest a deep fracture in Earth’s crust could mark the early stages of a new tectonic boundary. Location map of the extensional zone within the Central African Plateau of Zambia. The Kafue Rift is connected to the Luano and Luangwa rifts to the NE, and the Western branch of the EARS at the Rukwa rift (RRB) and Rungwe...

In a small randomized trial in the United Kingdom, adults who added a serving of 100% fruit juice or a smoothie to a healthier diet reported lower depression scores after four weeks. People who drink a glass of 100% fruit juice or a smoothie each day as part of the UK’s 5-a-day healthy eating guidance see improvements in their mental wellbeing. Image credit: Joseph Mucira. “While most people...