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Four-legged Whale Fossil Reveals When Whales Reached The Americas

Whales evolved from hoofed, four-legged land walkers in south Asia more than 50 million years ago. Now researchers have unearthed the skeleton of an ancient four-legged whale in Peru. The discovery sheds light on how cetaceans dispersed from the Indo-Pakistan region to the Pacific Ocean.

“The new find from Peru is the geologically oldest quadrupedal whale from the Americas, so it gives a minimum age [for] when they reached the New World,” said Olivier Lambert, a paleontologist at the  …

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Scientists Discover A Protein That Seems to Fight Aging In Our Skin

In the quest for everlasting youth, many women buy hope in a jar. But despite being a multi-billion dollar industry, many skin creams and serums on the market don’t deliver the age-defying results they promise. But now, scientists say that it may be possible to reverse our skin’s timeline at the cellular level.

In a new paper published in Nature, a research team found that a collagen protein called COL17A1 plays a key role in maintaining youthful skin. Declining levels of this protein …

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Hayabusa2 is Going to Blow a Crater in an Asteroid Tonight

The Japanese Hayabusa2 mission has been in orbit around the asteroid Ryugu since June 2018, but tonight is its most spectacular event. In a few hours, the spacecraft will drop off its carry-on impactor, scurry to a safe hiding spot, and then blow a crater into the side of its asteroid home. The spacecraft has spent its time so far studying the asteroid’s rocky and weathered surface, and researchers now hope to get a glimpse of the inside of Ryugu.
Boom Goes the Dynamite

Hayabusa2 wil …

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Offshore Human-Built Structures Offer Habitat For Dining Seabirds

These days, offshore oil and gas platforms, harbors, breakwaters, and offshore turbines, litter coastal areas. Artificial structures now alter more than 50 percent of some natural coastlines in Australia, the United States and Europe. The noise and the risk of collision raises concerns for marine life. But the human-built structures benefit wildlife, too.

Now researchers have discovered that wakes created by an offshore turbine produced a dining hotspot for seabirds. The discovery shows  …

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TESS Spots an Exocomet Around One of the Brightest Stars

The planet-hunting TESS telescope has big shoes to fill — shoes that once belonged to Kepler. Before its retirement last October, the pioneering Kepler Space Telescope spent 10 years paving the way for the search for planets (and possibly life) outside the solar system. Of the nearly 4,000 exoplanets found around other stars to date, Kepler found more than half. But now, TESS is up to bat. And it’s already off to a great start.

Over the next two years, TESS is expected to find rough …

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Parker Solar Probe Will Zoom By the Sun Again Today

The Parker Solar Probe is zipping through the sun’s outermost layers today at 213,000 miles per hour, enduring sizzling temperatures that would fry most other spacecraft. The probe will come within 15 million miles of the sun, reaching perihelion, its closest point, at 6:40pm EDT. But it’s so close even now that it hasn’t been able to send back data to Earth since March 30. The probe must keep its protective gear pointed straight toward the sun, leaving no wiggle room to point an anten …

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Yes, Cats Probably Know Their Names

Cats are tough cookies to crack. Unlike most dogs, who excitedly run over when you call their names, cats can be pretty dismissive. After being snubbed by my cat for the hundredth time, I start to wonder if she listens to me or even knows her name. Well, new science says that the answer is yes.

Research published today in the journal Nature suggests that domesticated cats do, in fact, know and recognize their names. A team of researchers studied how 78 different cats responded to peopl …

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Scientists Find Out Why the Terracotta Army’s Weapons Were So Well Preserved

To protect Chinese emperor Qin Shihuang in the afterlife, thousands of clay soldiers joined him underground some 2200 years ago. The discovery of this Terracotta Army in the 1970s was a great gift to archaeologists — and fans of “ancient lost technology” stories. The trope, which has some basis in fact, suggests that our ancestors were privy to some knowledge or technology that would still be useful, but has since been lost to the ages.

When researchers discovered that this buried, anc …

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Here’s What Scientists Think Their First Picture of a Black Hole Might Look Like

Humanity may soon get its first-ever picture of a black hole. Scientists with the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) announced this week that they’ll be holding a press conference Wednesday, April 10, and they’re expected to reveal the results of their years-long quest to catch a black hole on camera.

What that picture will look like is still unknown. But scientists think they have a pretty good idea of what a black hole should look like. For years, astronomers have been running simulations …

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Why Moisturizers With SPF Don’t Work As Well As Sunscreen

Many facial moisturizers brag about their sun protection abilities. But new research shows that user error is stopping SPF-containing moisturizer from providing much of a defense against the sun’s harmful rays.

Researchers found that people miss more of their faces when putting on moisturizer than they do when applying sunscreen. The findings mean we need to pay more attention to better protect against skin cancer. And, when it’s really sunny out, sunscreen might be the better choic …