Mar 1st, 2026 - Follow Earth on Google Lightning is the most dramatic electrical force in a thunderstorm – but it may not be the only one touching the forest canopy. For the first time, scientists have observed tree leaves producing faint electrical sparks during active storms, revealing that entire canopies can leak tiny currents into the air. Rather than a single lightning strike, forests may experience thousands of subtle electrical flickers – nearly invisible discharges that can alter leaf surfaces and nudge local air chemistry. Using a van-mounted ultraviolet telescope, researchers tracked ... [Read More]

Feb 28th, 2026 - MEXICO CITY – A prehistoric skeleton has been found in an intricate along Mexico's Caribbean coast, an area that flooded at the end of the last ice age 8,000 years ago, according to a cave-diving archaeologist who made the find with others. Octavio del Río, who collaborates with the National Institute of Anthropology and History, said it is the over the last three decades between the tourist destinations of Tulum and Playa del Carmen. Some of the oldest human remains in North America have been discovered in the known as "cenotes," with some earlier skeletons dating to around ... [Read More]

Feb 28th, 2026 - The bigger problem was the timing of it all. Over the years, scholars agreed she died sometime in the Roman period, but they couldn't nail down a date. A study of the grave goods in the 1980s suggested a window around A.D. 110 to 160. Then a radiocarbon date taken from her tooth in 2018 suggested something far earlier, between 113 B.C. and A.D. 65. Seeing dates that far apart makes people re-check everything, twice. finally cleared the mess by dating the coffin itself with dendrochronology, meaning tree-ring dating. The researchers took a small core sample from the oak and compared the ... [Read More]

Feb 27th, 2026 - Follow Earth on Google Deep inside Uganda's rainforest, scientists have found strong evidence that wild chimpanzees can really get a buzz from fruit. A team from UC Berkeley traveled to Uganda to Uganda to find out whether chimpanzees consume enough naturally fermented fruit to take in meaningful amounts of alcohol. The answer came from an unusual source: chimpanzee urine. Studying chimpanzees in Uganda Aleksey Maro, a graduate student at UC Berkeley, spent time in Kibale National Park in Uganda. He worked in an area called Ngogo, where many chimpanzees live. His adviser, Professor Robert ... [Read More]

Feb 27th, 2026 - Scientists following humpback whales once brought to the brink of extinction in the South Pacific made a fascinating discovery: Older males were more likely to become fathers and younger males were less likely to do so. The new study, published Friday in the journal Current Biology, sheds light on the illuminating, sometimes counterintuitive dynamics of mating and how species survive. It also reveals how uncontrolled hunting can leave decades of damage, long after populations replenish, and warps our understanding of typical animal behavior. Researchers reviewed nearly two decades of data ... [Read More]

Feb 27th, 2026 - Interactions between neighboring materials is mediated by virtual photons. Despite the headline, this isn't really a story about superconductivity—at least not the superconductivity that people care about, the stuff that doesn't require exotic refrigeration to work. Instead, it's a story about how superconductivity can be used as a test of some of the weirder consequences of quantum mechanics, one that involves non-existent particles of light that still act as if they exist. Researchers have found a way to get these virtual photons to influence the behavior of a superconductor, ... [Read More]

Feb 27th, 2026 - Metal detectorists in western Wales found two lead ingots that date back to the Roman era, a Welsh museum said Tuesday. The pieces are the first of their kind to be found in the region.  Metal detectorists Nick Yallope and Peter Nicolas found the pieces while searching land owned by farmer Geraint Jenkins in Ceredigion, according to a news release from Welsh national museum Amgueddfa Cymru. The pair had permission to search and dig on the land.  Ceredigion is a coastal area with Celtic heritage. Museum curator Carrie Canham said its "rich mineral and ore deposits" were a major ... [Read More]

Feb 27th, 2026 - Reading time 3 minutes NASA is overhauling its plan to return astronauts to the lunar surface, adding another test flight to prepare for landing on the Moon while attempting to standardize its Space Launch System (SLS) rocket for more frequent launches. During a press conference on Friday, NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman announced major changes to the agency's ongoing Artemis program in an attempt to alleviate some risks and kinks. The agency is planning on launching an additional flight in 2027 to attempt a rendezvous of the Orion spacecraft with commercial landers in Earth orbit ... [Read More]