Cygnus X-1 is the heaviest stellar black hole observed without using gravitational waves The first black hole ever discovered still has a few surprises in store. New observations of the black hole–star pair called Cygnus X-1 indicate that the black hole weighs about 21 times as much as the sunContinue Reading
This was the most precise landing of all time. NASA’s rhinoceros-size Perseverance rover pulled off the most precise landing in Martian history Thursday (Feb. 18), touching down successfully in Jezero crater. The landing put the mobile robot laboratory in position to begin the hunt for signs of long-lost life inContinue Reading
The so-called Patagonia Picnic Table Effect is a myth, an analysis of bird sightings suggests It was a cold, overcast Saturday morning in Salem, Ore., when Jesse Laney set out to catch a glimpse of a painted bunting. He’d heard earlier that week through a birding WhatsApp group that thisContinue Reading
A new study published in Nature Communications suggests that the extinction of North America’s largest mammals was not driven by overhunting by rapidly expanding human populations following their entrance into the Americas. Instead, the findings, based on a new statistical modelling approach, suggest that populations of large mammals fluctuated inContinue Reading
On Feb. 18, NASA’s newest Mars rover, Perseverance, will descend into the Red Planet’s atmosphere, braving temperatures equivalent to those on the surface of the sun as it deploys a supersonic parachute in hopes of a safe landing. Earthbound viewers can follow the nail-biting action at home here on LiveContinue Reading
New theory explains possible origin of plummeting Chicxulub impactor that struck off Mexico It was tens of miles wide and forever changed history when it crashed into Earth about 66 million years ago. The Chicxulub impactor, as it’s known, left behind a crater off the coast of Mexico that spansContinue Reading
Evidence of landslides on Mars may also raise the prospects that the Red Planet was once hospitable to life. A new study, published Feb. 3 in the journal Science Advances, found that melting ice is combining with the Red Planet’s salty subsurface permafrost, resulting in a chemical reaction that createsContinue Reading
When a star collapses, it throws its solar system into total chaos. Sometimes, that chaos leaves a mark. Astronomers are looking for the bones of dead planets inside the corpses of dead stars — and they may have just found some. In a paper published Feb. 11 in the journalContinue Reading
Brain imaging reveals that not all monogamous mammals are ‘wired for love’ in the same way Humans aren’t the only mammals that form long-term bonds with a single, special mate — some bats, wolves, beavers, foxes and other animals do, too. But new research suggests the brain circuitry that makesContinue Reading
Don’t panic; it won’t get that close. An asteroid as wide as the Golden Gate Bridge is long will hurtle past Earth next month. But although it will be the biggest and speediest asteroid to fly by our planet this year, there’s no reason to panic. The space rock, officiallyContinue Reading
