Jan 27th, 2026 - "What's particularly exciting about finds like this is that we just so rarely have wood preserved for that long," the study's lead author told NBC News. The earliest known hand-held wooden tools, used by our early human ancestors around 430,000 years ago, have been uncovered by researchers at an archeological site in Greece. One is made from the trunk of an alder tree and could have been used for digging, and the other is a small willow or poplar artifact that may have been used to shape stones, according to a study published Monday in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of ... [Read More]

Jan 27th, 2026 - Ethiopia has declared its Marburg virus outbreak over after meeting World Health Organization criteria requiring 42 consecutive days with no new infections, health officials said. Health Minister Mekdes Daba said on Monday that the country is now free of the virus under WHO standards, citing the absence of new cases for six weeks. According to earlier government data, the outbreak was first detected in November in the Southern Ethiopian Region. Laboratory testing was conducted on about 3,800 suspected cases, with 14 infections confirmed. Nine people died and five recovered, officials said. ... [Read More]

Jan 26th, 2026 - Follow Earth on Google Astronomers watching a seemingly ordinary, middle-aged star saw something unexpected unfold. For nearly nine months, the star faded to a small fraction of its normal brightness as a vast cloud drifted across its face – a cloud threaded with fast-moving, vaporized metals. The prolonged eclipse offered a rare look inside a mature planetary system that should have been quiet by now. Instead, the observations point to violent activity long after planets are thought to finish forming, suggesting that destructive collisions and hidden companions can still reshape older ... [Read More]

Jan 26th, 2026 - Follow Earth on Google Small black holes in the early universe somehow ballooned to tens of thousands of times the Sun's mass within just a few million years – a pace that has long puzzled astronomers. Their rapid rise helps explain why massive black holes already appear in the universe's first chapters, but it also strains standard growth models that struggle to bridge such a large gap so quickly. New simulations now suggest those early black holes did not grow steadily, but instead surged during brief windows when young, chaotic galaxies delivered gas faster than theory once thought ... [Read More]

Jan 26th, 2026 - . Likewise, thermal batteries offer a lot of potential for various applications. However, they also suffer from a pretty debilitating issue called the shuttle effect — which is one of the most common issues that these batteries haven't taken off in recent years. That's because, due to the shuttle effect, these batteries tend to lose their capacity over time, leading to a lower charge efficiency. But new research from scientists in China may have found a way to overcome this issue. ) means for thermal batteries, we first have to look at the shuttle effect more closely. This effect ... [Read More]

Jan 26th, 2026 - Solid-state batteries have significant advantages over lithium-ion batteries. Here's what stands in the way of mass production. Follow ZDNET:  Add us as a preferred source  on Google. ZDNET's key takeaways The other day, I reviewed a power bank with a solid-state battery at its core, rather than a lithium-ion battery. Solid-state batteries offer increased energy density, improved safety, and a longer lifespan. To demonstrate the improved safety profile, I opened the power bank and stabbed a screwdriver into a fully charged battery; apart from a few wisps of smoke, nothing happened. ... [Read More]

Jan 26th, 2026 - NEW YORK – Two artifacts found at a lake shore in Greece are the oldest wooden tools to be uncovered so far and date back 430,000 years. Scientists think ancient humans wielded a made from stone, bone and wood. But it's particularly difficult to find today because wood rots so quickly. Such tools are only like in ice, caves or underwater. The newest tools, found in Greece's Megalopolis basin, were possibly buried quickly by sediment and preserved by a wet environment over time. For years, researchers have found other remnants at the site, including stone tools and elephant bones with ... [Read More]

Jan 26th, 2026 - Containing nearly 800,000 galaxies, this image from NASA's James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) is overlaid with a map of dark matter, represented in blue. Researchers used JWST data to find the invisible substance via its gravitational influence on regular matter. It's an open secret in astronomy that, practically wherever the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) looks in the sky, a vast, clump-filled mist fills its view. But luckily for everyone marveling at JWST's crisp snapshots of faraway galaxies, this dense haze is totally invisible. That lightless, see-through murk is dark matter . Think ... [Read More]