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By Jacopo Prisco, CNN (CNN) — Particles from Earth’s atmosphere have been carried into space by solar wind and have been landing on the moon for billions of years, mixing into the lunar soil, according to a new study. The research sheds new light on a puzzle that has endured for over half a century

By Taylor Nicioli, CNN (CNN) — Dark-eyed junco songbirds have been serenading the University of California, Los Angeles campus for decades as they forage for food. The species from the sparrow family is not usually found in cities. But as the climate crisis affected their mountain forest habitats, they started taking up residence in Southern

By Andrew Freedman, CNN (CNN) — There were 23 separate billion-dollar weather and climate disasters in the United States last year, adding up to a total of $115 billion in damages, according to a new report from the climate research nonprofit Climate Central. The report, and establishment of the Billion-Dollar Disasters Database within Climate Central,

By Ashley Strickland, CNN (CNN) — Astronomers may have discovered a previously unknown type of astronomical object, nicknamed “Cloud-9,” that could shed light on dark matter, one of the biggest mysteries in the universe. Dark matter is an enigmatic substance that shapes the cosmos and provides it with structure. While it has never been directly

By Andrew Freedman, Ella Nilsen, Samantha Waldenberg, CNN (CNN) — The Trump administration is pulling the United States out of the bedrock treaty that underpins international cooperation on climate change, along with dozens of other global bodies, according to a memorandum released by the White House Wednesday evening and an accompanying social media post. Such

By Jackie Wattles, CNN (CNN) — NASA said on Wednesday it was postponing a spacewalk that was scheduled for Thursday, citing a “medical concern” with one of the crew members. The space agency did not name the astronaut involved but confirmed later the issue was related to a “single crew member who is stable” and

By Ashley Strickland, CNN (CNN) — Scientists have detected traces of plant toxins on Stone Age arrowheads that were used by hunter-gatherers in South Africa about 60,000 years ago. The find marks the oldest known poison arrows and indicates that such tools and sophisticated hunting strategies existed thousands of years early than previously thought, according

By Katie Hunt, CNN (CNN) — Fossils unearthed in Morocco from a little-understood period of human evolution may help scientists resolve a long-standing mystery: Who came before us? Three jawbones, including one from a child, teeth, vertebrae and a femur were unearthed from a cave known as Grotte à Hominidés in Thomas Quarry in Casablanca,

By Katie Hunt, CNN (CNN) — Human evolution’s biggest mystery, which emerged 15 years ago from a 60,000-year-old pinkie finger bone, finally started to unravel in 2025. Analysis of DNA extracted from the fossil electrified the scientific community in 2010, when it revealed a previously unknown human population that had, in the distant past, encountered

By Ella Nilsen, CNN (CNN) — In the latest blow to the US offshore wind industry, the Trump administration announced Monday it is suspending the federal leases for all large offshore wind projects currently under construction, citing unspecified national security risks. It marks a major escalation in President Donald Trump’s attacks against offshore wind, a

By Jackie Wattles, CNN (CNN) — A monthslong saga featuring tech billionaire Jared Isaacman — President Donald Trump’s on-again, off-again pick to run NASA — has finally come to a close as the Senate confirmed his appointment in a 67-to-30 vote. Isaacman, a private astronaut and CEO of payments company Shift4, is now set to

By Andrew Freedman, CNN NEW ORLEANS (CNN) — Stress balls were the swag item of choice at the National Center for Atmospheric Research’s booth Wednesday morning, during the world’s largest gathering of climate scientists. NCAR representatives came to this meeting — the convention of the American Geophysical Union — to talk about their research, which

By Katie Hunt, CNN (CNN) — A pod of Pacific white-sided dolphins off the coast of British Columbia have been observed cooperating with orcas, a traditional enemy that’s better known for taking out great white sharks than friendly interaction. Scientists say they have documented the dolphins and a local population of killer whales known as

By Gina Park, CNN (CNN) — Avid sky-gazers spend all year anticipating the peak of the annual Geminid meteor shower. Now, it’s finally here. This weekend, dozens of meteors, including some especially brilliant ones called fireballs, are expected to streak across the night sky in a dazzling display. The celestial event is widely considered one

By Taylor Nicioli, CNN (CNN) — When an ancient ship was unearthed in Scandinavia over 100 years ago, archaeologists started to uncover bits and pieces of its history. On board the plank-built vessel was a hoard of weapons — swords, spears, shields and more — revealing a tale of warriors who attempted to attack the

By Jack Guy, CNN (CNN) — Humans are far more monogamous than our primate cousins, but less so than beavers, a new study suggests. Researchers from the University of Cambridge in England analyzed the proportion of full siblings versus half-siblings across several animal species, as well as various human populations throughout history. Species and societies

By Ashley Strickland, CNN (CNN) — The Hubble Space Telescope and the Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer have captured fresh images of an interstellar comet as the object nears its closest approach to Earth later this month. Comet 3I/ATLAS has intrigued astronomers because it originated outside of our solar system yet was discovered traveling through our

By Mindy Weisberger, CNN (CNN) — A high-traffic “dinosaur freeway” may have once stretched across a shoreline in what is now Bolivia. Traveling along this busy route were theropods — three-toed, bipedal meat-eating dinosaurs, which left behind thousands of fossil footprints. Paleontologists have now described their tracks for the first time, offering a rare glimpse

By Jacopo Prisco, CNN (CNN) — The Black Death — one of the deadliest pandemics in human history, estimated to have killed up to half of Europe’s population — might have been set in motion by a volcanic eruption, a new study suggests. By looking at tree rings from across Europe to better understand 14th

By Gina Park, CNN (CNN) — Keep your eyes high in the sky this week to see the last supermoon of the year. December’s full supermoon, also called the cold moon, will be at its fullest around 6:14 p.m. ET Thursday, according to EarthSky. “On Thursday, the moon will rise right around sunset time, and

By Jackie Wattles, CNN (CNN) — A rare spectacle played out on Capitol Hill as Jared Isaacman — the billionaire tech entrepreneur and Elon Musk ally who has been tapped to serve as NASA administrator — faced a second confirmation hearing before the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation. The two-hour hearing was livestreamed

By Andrew Freedman, CNN (CNN) — The 2025 Atlantic hurricane season, which officially ended November 30, showcased the growing capabilities of artificial intelligence for storm forecasting. And experts say there is no turning back. This season, the National Hurricane Center supplemented its usual cadre of traditional models with AI-driven models, including one developed by Google

By Ella Nilsen, CNN (CNN) — Zillow, the nation’s largest real estate listing website, has removed extreme weather risk data meant to help buyers figure out if the biggest purchase of their life is particularly susceptible to floods, high winds or wildfires. Now, other major real estate listing websites are facing pressure to do the

By Laura Paddison, CNN (CNN) — Rows of worshippers, some with their faces raised toward the sky, others with their heads bowed, prayed for rain at a mosque in Tehran earlier this month. Theirs is an increasingly desperate plea. The city is grappling with a water crisis so severe the Iranian president has suggested people

By Katie Hunt, CNN (CNN) — The origins of domestic cats — centuries before they conquered the world’s sofas and internet memes — have long been murky. Now, ancient DNA is helping to fill in the blanks, and the findings shake up the traditional story. Archaeologists had thought that cats and humans began living with

By Jacopo Prisco, CNN (CNN) — Tryptophan, the essential amino acid behind the Thanksgiving myth that eating turkey can make you sleepy, has been found to exist on Bennu, a small asteroid that swings by our planet about every six years. The discovery stems from an unprecedented sample collected by NASA’s OSIRIS-REx mission, which landed

By Katie Hunt, CNN (CNN) — Archaeologists say a 3D model of a centuries-old quarry of unfinished stone head statues on Easter Island offers new clues about how these monuments were made and the Polynesian society that brought them into being. Also known as Rapa Nui, the remote island is famed for the gargantuan sculptures

By Jacopo Prisco, CNN (CNN) — A female wild wolf living on the central coast of British Columbia was filmed pulling a crab trap out of the ocean to eat the bait — a never-before-seen behavior that could constitute the first documented use of tools by a wolf. The traps were set by the Heiltsuk

By Jack Guy, CNN (CNN) — New Zealand has announced plans to eradicate feral cats by 2050, as part of efforts to protect the country’s biodiversity. Speaking to Radio New Zealand on Thursday, conservation minister Tama Potaka said that feral cats are “stone cold killers” and would be added to the country’s Predator Free 2050