Science

The space agency’s Hubble Space Telescope shows that it is growing about 9 percent faster than we had expected, based on the trajectory it started with shortly after the big bang, according to astronomers. While such a discrepancy was already suggested, the new measurements reduce the chance we are mistaken …

Russian researchers have found liquid blood and urine inside the frozen carcass of a foal that died 42,000 years ago in Siberia’s Verkhoyansk region. The animal’s body fluids were extracted during an autopsy and tested in the hope of cloning the extinct species, according to Semyon Grigoriev, director of the …

US scientists have partially revived pig brains four hours after the animals were slaughtered. The findings could fuel debate about the barrier between life and death, and provide a new way of researching diseases like Alzheimer’s. The study showed the death of brain cells could be halted and that some …

At the bottom of the Mariana Trench, the deepest part of the Earth’s oceans, scientists have discovered unique oil-eating bacteria. Similar kinds of bacteria have previously been found and even used to help deal with oil spills, such as that from the Deepwater Horizon disaster in 2010, but the new …

That black hole you’ve seen everywhere now has a name. It’s been named Powehi — a Hawaiian phrase referring to an “embellished dark source of unending creation.” The groundbreaking, first-ever photograph of a black hole was published around the world when it was unveiled on Wednesday, captivating viewers and providing …

A Chinese researcher who sparked improved cognitive function in monkeys by implanting human genes into their brains has defended his experiment, which has divided the scientific community. The research, undertaken by multiple universities and led by the Kunming Institute of Zoology in southwestern China, was intended to shed more light …

An “exquisitely preserved” trace of dinosaur skin has been discovered in South Korea. Researchers found a set of tiny tracks from a blackbird-sized Minisauripus, the smallest known theropod. The footprints themselves, which measured only an inch long, also contained perfectly preserved skin traces. “These are the first tracks ever found …

Mount Everest may have shrunk as the result of a devastating earthquake – so a team of Nepalese surveyors is heading to the summit of the world’s tallest mountain to discover the truth. After two years of training, the four-strong group will try to work out whether the official height …

Astronomers have taken the first ever image of a black hole, which is located in a distant galaxy. It measures 40 billion km across – three million times the size of the Earth – and has been described by scientists as “a monster”. The black hole is 500 million trillion …

Japan’s space agency has dropped a bomb the size of a baseball onto an asteroid in an effort to understand the origin of the solar system. The Hayabusa2 spacecraft was used to fire the copper explosive towards the asteroid, named 162173 Ryugu, making a crater which it could then collect …

A four-legged creature that had a tail and webbed feet similar to those found on otters has been identified as an ancestor of the whale. Fossils unearthed in Peru have led scientists to conclude that the enormous creatures that traverse the planet’s oceans today are descended from small hoofed ancestors …

The number of new corals on Australia’s Great Barrier Reef has plunged by 89% since unprecedented bleaching events in 2016 and 2017, scientists say. The events, which damaged two-thirds of the world’s largest reef system, are now being blamed for triggering a collapse in coral re-growth last year. “Dead corals …

Slightly over a year ago, Chinese archaeologists revealed that the first emperor of a unified China, Qin Shi Huang, was obsessed with finding the elixir of life by any means and even ordered a nationwide search for the miraculous potion. Archaeologists in central China’s Henan province have discovered an “elixir …

SpaceX’s new Dragon capsule successfully docked on the International Space Station on Sunday, NASA and SpaceX confirmed during a live broadcast of the mission. “We can confirm hard capture is complete,” NASA said. The announcement was met with applause at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas. The docking began …

Remains of some of the oldest ever frogs have been recovered by sifting through fragments of rock from Arizona. The creatures, which shared the prehistoric landscape with dinosaurs, were identified based on tiny shards of hip bone smaller than a fingernail. Belonging to an as-yet-unnamed species that lived around 216 …

A Virgin Galactic rocket plane on Friday soared to the edge of space with a test passenger for the first time, nudging British billionaire Richard Branson’s company closer to its goal of suborbital flights for space tourists. Virgin Galactic’s chief astronaut instructor Beth Moses, who will train future space tourists, …

Nasa-funded scientists have developed a new kind of DNA-like structure that can store and transmit information – and could lead to new ways of finding alien life. The breakthrough discovery suggests there might be alternative, unimagined forms of DNA-based life as we know it on Earth. Life on other worlds …

A researcher inadvertently discovered the remains of Central America’s oldest marine mammal – a 20-million-year-old tusked sea cow. Steven Manchester, a curator of paleobotany at the Florida Museum of Natural History, had been looking for fossil plants when he stumbled across bones during fieldwork close to the Panama Canal. The …

Mathematics is the language of science and has enabled mankind to make extraordinary technological advances. There is no question that the logic and order that underpins mathematics, has served us in describing the patterns and structure we find in nature. The successes that have been achieved, from the mathematics of …

NASA’s the Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, Security-Regolith Explorer (OSIRIS-REx) spacecraft has recently entered the orbit around the asteroid Bennu, which is now 70 million miles (110 million kilometers) from Earth. NASA has captured an image of the 500-meter wide asteroid Bennu using its high tech Osiris-Rex spacecraft, according to …