Apr 3rd, 2026 - Follow Earth on Google Life on Earth has a long and fascinating history, but scientists still uncover surprises that change what we know. A recent fossil discovery in China has revealed that complex animal life began earlier than previously believed. Scientists from Oxford University 's Museum of Natural History, the Department of Earth Sciences, and Yunnan University have uncovered a remarkable fossil site in southwest China. The site, known as the Jiangchuan Biota, contains more than 700 fossil specimens. These fossils date back between 554 and 539 million years. This time period belongs ... [Read More]

Apr 2nd, 2026 - Reading time 3 minutes Octopuses are some of the most mysterious animals living in the sea. In research out today, however, scientists have pulled back the curtain on the male octopus' penis-like arm, formally known as the hectocotylus. Researchers at Harvard University and elsewhere studied octopus mating across a series of experiments. To their surprise, they discovered the hectocotylus isn't just used to deliver sperm—it's also a sensory organ, one that can chemically detect exactly where in the female's body that sperm has to go. The findings not only illuminate more about these ... [Read More]

Apr 2nd, 2026 - Artemis II successfully launches four astronauts into space NASA has successfully launched the Artemis II mission, marking the first crewed mission to the moon's vicinity since the Apollo programme ended in 1972. The 322-foot Space Launch System (SLS) rocket lifted off at 6:35pm ET (22:35 GMT) on Wednesday from Cape Canaveral, Florida, sending the Orion crew capsule on a 10-day journey. While Artemis II will not land on the moon, it will fly a "free-return" trajectory that swings around it to prove the spacecraft can sustain a crew on future missions. The idea is to descend to the surface of ... [Read More]

Apr 1st, 2026 - The Murriyang radio telescope in Parkes, NSW broadcast the moon landing in 1969 and is now observing the Artemis II lunar mission On the day of the Apollo moon landing, 21 July 1969, wind gusts of up to 110km/h buffeted the Parkes radio telescope as it sat in a sheep paddock in regional New South Wales. It is meant to shut down when the winds hit 35km/h, but the operators risked it all to help broadcast Neil Armstrong walking on the moon. The 64-metre Parkes telescope was immortalised in one of Australia's favourite films, The Dish , with Sam Neill playing the chief scientist. And now it's ... [Read More]

Apr 1st, 2026 - The Peloponnesian War, which lasted from 431 to 404 BCE, is one of the most defining conflicts in the history of the ancient Greeks. The war, which saw Athens and Sparta, along with their respective allies, engage in a protracted war, not only redefined the Greek world but did so in ways that went far beyond the physical arena of war. While the war began as a struggle for power, it soon turned into a destructive conflict that destabilised societies, drained the Greek world of power, and led to the weakening of the Greek world as a unified force. The war ended in a Greece that was no longer ... [Read More]

Apr 1st, 2026 - CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — Four astronauts embarked on a high-stakes flight around the moon Wednesday, humanity's first lunar voyage in more than half a century and the thrilling leadoff in NASA's push toward a landing in two years. Carrying three Americans and one Canadian, the 32-story rocket rose from NASA's Kennedy Space Center where tens of thousands gathered to witness the dawn of this new era. Crowds also jammed the surrounding roads and beaches, reminiscent of the Apollo moonshots in the 1960s and '70s. It is NASA's biggest step yet toward establishing a permanent lunar ... [Read More]

Apr 1st, 2026 - NASA rovers have revealed fascinating details and close-up images of Mars and the moon, but exploring other planets is slow. Most rovers are remotely controlled from Earth, and their careful, energy-efficient design limits how much ground they can cover. Now,  new research  from the University of Basel, ETH Zurich, and the European Space Agency, published Tuesday in the journal Frontiers in Space Technologies, examines how robots that can "think" for themselves might help us search a planet's surface much faster. Because rovers are built and guided in specific ways, exploration is ... [Read More]

Apr 1st, 2026 - Quantum systems are extraordinarily powerful but also extremely fragile. The key to making them useful is learning how to control their interaction with the surrounding environment. In the pursuit of powerful and stable quantum computers, scientists from Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden have developed the theory for a new quantum system. This is one based on the novel concept of 'giant superatoms'. This breakthrough enables quantum information to be protected, controlled, and distributed in new ways and could be a key step towards building quantum computers at scale. It is ... [Read More]