Feb 27th, 2026 - Jupiter, Saturn, Venus, Mercury, Neptune and Uranus will all be visible at same time in curved line across sky Six planets will parade across the sky this weekend in a rare celestial spectacle, experts have said. For the next few days, Jupiter, Saturn, Venus, Mercury, Neptune and Uranus will all be visible at the same time in the night sky – although binoculars or a telescope will be needed to spot the latter two planets. In celebration of the event, Nasa has released new sonifications – astronomical data from its Chandra X-ray Observatory translated into sound – for ... [Read More]

Feb 26th, 2026 - It may have been an extreme act meant to destroy rival bloodlines. First excavated in the 1970s, the mass grave at Gomolava in Serbia was long thought to be the tragic but natural result of a pandemic. In this 9th-century BCE mass grave, archaeologists were stunned to find the remains of 77 people, almost all of them women and children. The Iron Age mass grave was found beneath a mound. This artificial hill, or "tell," was built from the debris of collapsed mud bricks, broken pottery, and the old fires. But a second look with modern tools shows these people didn't succumb to disease. They ... [Read More]

Feb 26th, 2026 - Nautilus Members enjoy an ad-free experience. . D espite how much we equate mosquitoes with getting itchy red welts, most of the 3,500 known species of mosquitoes don't feed on humans. Still, mosquitoes that are anthropophilic—preferring human blood—are responsible for the transmission of devastating human pathogens. Malaria alone infected 282 million people and caused 610,000 deaths across 80 countries in 2024, according to the World Health Organization . Nautilus Members enjoy an ad-free experience. In a study published today in Scientific Reports , a team of researchers from ... [Read More]

Feb 26th, 2026 - Lasers cut precisely and without contact – ideal for surgery. The problem is that, in hard tissues such as bone, they are too slow and do not cut deep enough. Researchers at the University of Basel have now demonstrated a way to cut much deeper and faster with a surgical laser than with previous laser systems. The saw, chisel and drill are tried-and-true tools in bone surgery. In the future, lasers could be added to this toolbox, especially when it comes to very precise cuts. Lasers do not exert any mechanical pressure, meaning they can reduce the risk of microcracks and enable more ... [Read More]

Feb 26th, 2026 - In Argentina's Patagonia region 95 million years ago, some huge dinosaurs roamed the landscape including fearsome meat-eater Giganotosaurus, at about eight tons, and immense long-necked plant-eater Argentinosaurus, perhaps 70 tons. But this was no mere land of the giants, as a newly described fossil shows. Researchers have found a well-preserved and nearly complete skeleton of one of the world's smallest-known dinosaurs, named Alnashetri cerropoliciensis. It was about the size of a crow and probably hunted small animals like lizards, snakes, mammals and invertebrates. The fossil, preserved ... [Read More]

Feb 26th, 2026 - NASA has released new images from the James Webb Space Telescope showcasing the Exposed Cranium Nebula, officially designated Nebula PMR 1. This cloud of space dust and debris may capture a moment in the final stages of a star's life. The images reveal distinct regions capturing different phases of the nebula's evolution. It features an outer shell of gas, blown off first, that consists mostly of hydrogen, and an inner cloud with more structure containing a mix of different gases. A dark vertical line running through the nebula gives it a brain-like appearance. According to NASA, this line ... [Read More]

Feb 26th, 2026 - First writing may be 40,000 years earlier than thought The history of writing down thoughts and feelings could be tens of thousands of years older than previously believed, surprising archaeologists who made the discovery. The researchers discerned patterns of meaning in lines, notches, dots, and crosses on objects like mammoth tusks as old as 45,000 years in caves in Germany. Traditionally historians date the first written words to proto-cuneiform scripts made around 5,000 years ago in ancient Iraq, or Mesopotamia. The precise meaning of the symbols in Germany remains a mystery. The objects ... [Read More]

Feb 26th, 2026 - Follow Earth on Google Uranus has always been the oddball of our solar system. It spins on its side. Its seasons last for decades. Its magnetic field refuses to line up neatly with its rotation. For years, much of what happens high above its blue-green clouds stayed out of reach. Now that has changed. For the first time, astronomers have mapped the vertical structure of Uranus's upper atmosphere. Teams tracked how temperature and charged particles shift with height, building a three-dimensional picture of a region that stretches thousands of miles above the planet's cloud tops. The work ... [Read More]