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Mars Organics Can’t Be Fully Explained by Geological Processes Alone, NASA Study Says

This graphic shows the long-chain organic molecules decane, undecane, and dodecane, and NASA’s Curiosity rover. Image credit: NASA / Dan Gallagher.
Feb 9, 2026 by Natali Anderson

Known non-biological sources, from meteorites to surface chemistry, fall short of accounting for organic compounds detected by NASA’s Curiosity rover, according to a new study published in the journal Astrobiology. This graphic shows the long-chain organic molecules decane, undecane, and dodecane, and NASA’s Curiosity rover. Image credit: NASA / Dan Gallagher. In 2025, planetary scientists reported the detection of long-chain alkanes at concentrations...

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A life reconstruction of Archaeopteryx, including the oral papillae on the roof of its mouth, a bill-tip organ at the end of its beak, and a flexible-yet-sturdy tongue made possible by an extra tongue bone. Image credit: Ville Sinkkonen.

Archaeopteryx’s Feeding-Related Structures Reflect Elevated Demands of Flight, Scientists Say

Feb 5, 2026 by News Staff

New research led by Field Museum of Natural History paleontologists suggests that Archaeopteryx, the oldest known bird, had a feeding apparatus shaped...

Kanzi the bonobo. Image credit: Ape Initiative.

Bonobos Demonstrate Imaginative Ability in New Experiments

Feb 5, 2026 by News Staff

The consistent performance of Kanzi the bonobo in pretend play experiments suggests that the mental capacity to imagine nonexistent objects may trace back...

This visible-light image of Jupiter was created from data captured on January 11, 2017 using Hubble’s Wide Field Camera 3. Near the top, a long brown feature called a ‘brown barge’ extends 72,000 km (nearly 45,000 miles) in the east-west direction. The Great Red Spot stands out prominently in the lower left, while the smaller feature nicknamed Red Spot Jr. (known to Jovian scientists as Oval BA) appears to its lower right. Image credit: NASA / ESA / NOIRLab / NSF / AURA / Wong et al. / de Pater et al. / M. Zamani.

Jupiter is Smaller and More ‘Squashed’ than Previously Believed, New Juno Data Reveal

Feb 4, 2026 by Natali Anderson

Using high-precision radio-occultation measurements from NASA’s Juno mission and incorporating the effects of zonal winds, planetary scientists derived...

An artistic reconstruction of the possible ecological interaction between Python and Toyotamaphimeia in the Middle Pleistocene of Taiwan. Image credit: Lab of Evolution and Diversity of Fossil Vertebrates, National Taiwan University / Cheng-Han Sun.

Giant Pythons Once Lived in Taiwan

Feb 3, 2026 by Sergio Prostak

A fossil trunk vertebra from the Chiting Formation of Taiwan reveals that nearly 4-m-long pythons roamed the island during the Middle Pleistocene. An artistic...

Life reconstuction of Foskeia pelendonum. Image credit: Martina Charnell.

Tiny New Species of Herbivorous Dinosaur Unearthed in Spain

Feb 2, 2026 by News Staff

A new genus and species of diminutive bipedal dinosaur has been identified from the fossils found in Burgos province of Spain. Life reconstuction of Foskeia...

HD 137010b is estimated to be only 6% larger than Earth, with a surface temperature more similar to Mars -- potentially below minus 70 degrees Celsius. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / Keith Miller, Caltech & IPAC.

Cool, Earth-Sized Exoplanet Found Orbiting Nearby Star

Jan 30, 2026 by Natali Anderson

Astronomers have discovered a new exoplanet orbiting the nearby K-dwarf star HD 137010 after detecting a single, shallow transit in the archival data from...

European bee-eaters (Merops apiaster). Image credit: Rashuli / CC BY 2.0.

New Online Tool Charts Evolution of Every Known Bird Species

Jan 29, 2026 by News Staff

Ornithologists with the Cornell Lab of Ornithology have stitched together the most complete avian evolutionary tree ever, unveiling surprising relationships...

This Webb image shows the galaxy MoM-z14 as it appeared in the distant past, only 280 million years after the Big Bang. Image credit: NASA / ESA / CSA / STScI / Rohan Naidu, MIT / Joseph DePasquale, STScI.

Webb Discovers Most Distant Galaxy Yet: MoM-z14

Jan 29, 2026 by News Staff

MoM-z14 existed just 280 million years after the Big Bang, according a team of astronomers led by Dr. Rohan Naidu from the Kavli Institute for Astrophysics...

This artist’s concept depicts a cutaway view showing Europa’s ice shell. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / SwRI / Koji Kuramura / Gerald Eichstädt.

Europa’s Ice Shell is Much Thicker than Previously Thought

Jan 29, 2026 by News Staff

New microwave measurements from NASA’s Juno spacecraft reveal Europa’s ice shell may stretch nearly 29 km (18 miles) deep, reshaping planetary scientists’...

This image of the interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS was captured by Hubble’s WFC3 instrument on January 22, 2026, at 13:10 UTC. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble / Man-To Hui, Shanghai Astronomical Observatory.

Rare Cosmic Lineup Gives Hubble Close Look at 3I/ATLAS

Jan 27, 2026 by Natali Anderson

On January 22, 2026, the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope observed the interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS nearly perfectly aligned with the Sun-Earth axis, revealing...

An artist’s impression of a Marathousa 1 woman producing a digging stick from a small alder tree trunk with a small stone tool. Image credit: G. Prieto / K. Harvati.

430,000-Year-Old Wooden Handheld Tools are Earliest Ever Found

Jan 27, 2026 by Enrico de Lazaro

Archaeologists say they have discovered the ‘earliest known handheld wooden tools’ at the Middle Pleistocene site of Marathousa 1 in Greece. An artist’s...

Containing nearly 800,000 galaxies, this Webb image is overlaid with a map of dark matter, represented in blue. Image credit: NASA / STScI / J. DePasquale / A. Pagan.

Webb Creates Most Detailed Dark-Matter Map Yet

Jan 27, 2026 by News Staff

Using ultra-sharp imaging from the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope, astronomers have produced an extremely detailed, wide-area map of mass in the...

Life reconstruction of Yeneen houssayi. Image credit: Gabriel Lío.

Paleontologists Unearth New Species of Titanosaur in Argentina

Jan 26, 2026 by Enrico de Lazaro

A new genus and species of titanosaur sauropod dinosaur that lived during the Cretaceous period has been identified from the fossilized remains found in...

Prototaxites was the largest organism on land 410 million years ago. Image credit: Matt Humpage.

Prototaxites May Be Completely Unknown Branch of Complex Life

Jan 22, 2026 by Enrico de Lazaro

For more than 165 years, one of the earliest giants to rise above Earth’s barren land has defied classification. Known as Prototaxites, the towering,...

Paranthropus boisei. Image credit: © Roman Yevseyev.

2.6-Million-Year-Old Fossil from Ethiopia Shows Paranthropus Hominins Were Widespread

Jan 21, 2026 by Enrico de Lazaro

The newly-discovered fossil — a 2.6-million-year-old partial lower jaw found in the Afar region of Ethiopia — represents the first known specimen...

This Webb image shows a portion of the Helix Nebula. Image credit: NASA / ESA / CSA / STScI / A. Pagan, STScI.

Webb Peers Deep into Iconic Helix Nebula

Jan 20, 2026 by News Staff

The new infrared image from the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope reveals the complex structure of gas and dust shed by a white dwarf in the center...

Veronika’s tooling technique. Image credit: Antonio Osuna-Mascaró & Alice Auersperg, doi: 10.1016/j.cub.2025.11.059.

Researchers Observe Tool Use in Cattle for the First Time

Jan 19, 2026 by News Staff

In a paper published today in the journal Current Biology, researchers at the University of Veterinary Medicine, Vienna, report the first experimental...

Facial reconstruction of Homo habilis. Image credit: Cicero Moraes.

2-Million-Year-Old Skeleton Offers Clearest Look Yet at Homo habilis

Jan 15, 2026 by Enrico de Lazaro

A newly-described partial skeleton from the Koobi Fora Formation in northern Kenya is giving paleoanthropologists their most complete picture yet of Homo...

This image depicts a Pleistocene landscape in northern Spain with woolly mammoths (Mammuthus primigenius), a woolly rhinoceros (Coelodonta antiquitatis), and European cave lions (Panthera leo spelaea) with a reindeer carcass. Image credit: Mauricio Antón.

14,400-Year-Old Woolly Rhinoceros Genome Shows No Evidence of Recent Inbreeding

Jan 14, 2026 by Enrico de Lazaro

The woolly rhinoceros (Coelodonta antiquitatis) is a cold-adapted herbivore that went extinct around 14,000 years ago, but little is known about their...

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