Mar 21st, 2026 - Maya artefacts are something you'd probably expect to find in an archaeological site in Mexico or hidden in ruins buried deep in the Central American jungle. A startling number of them turn up in Europe, however – a legacy of the pillaging carried out by Spanish Conquistadors during the early 16th century. In 1744, one such artefact found its way to Germany, and was catalogued into a collection in Dresden's Royal Library. It remains there to this day. The artefact is believed to be almost 1,000 years old and, in a sense, a library is the most logical place for it. That's because, to ... [Read More]

Mar 20th, 2026 - By The platypus has long been one of nature's most bewildering creatures. It lays eggs. It has a duck-like bill and a beaver-like body. Males carry venomous spurs on their hind legs, and the animal can sense electrical signals underwater to hunt prey. It even glows under ultraviolet light — and scientists still don't know why. Now, nearly 230 years after the platypus was first discovered, researchers have uncovered yet another characteristic that sets this animal apart from every other mammal on Earth — and it has to do with the tiny structures inside its fur that produce color. ... [Read More]

Mar 20th, 2026 - Monte Verde site gets a new date, but the big picture doesn't change Stop trying to make "Clovis First" happen; it's not going to happen. A landmark site in the peopling of the Americas is several thousand years younger than we thought. While that means very different things about the site itself, it doesn't change the big picture as much as the researchers who generated the new date are claiming. University of Wyoming archaeologist Todd Surovell and his colleagues recently took a second look at the age of a site called Monte Verde in southern Chile, and it turns out that people lived there ... [Read More]

Mar 20th, 2026 - When imagining wildlife encounters, people typically assume they need to be in a remote location. However, sometimes these encounters occur much closer to home than anticipated. One example is when a driver was making his way down the road when he stumbled upon a massive snake constricting around a young deer. Rather than ignoring the scene, the driver pulled over and saved the deer from the python's grasp. Driver Frees Deer From Python's Grasp AZ Animals shared some details surrounding the snake in the video. When thinking of a massive snake, the first snake that often comes to mind is the ... [Read More]

Mar 20th, 2026 - Follow Earth on Google Birch tar has long appeared at Neanderthal sites as a black, sticky residue – usually explained as a kind of prehistoric glue used to hold tools together. However, that simple picture may be missing something important. A new study from the University of Cologne and the University of Oxford suggests the same substance that helped Neanderthals build their tools may also have helped them treat wounds. When researchers recreated birch tar using ancient methods, they found it could slow the growth of bacteria linked to infection. The findings don't prove Neanderthals ... [Read More]

Mar 20th, 2026 - Sky This Week is brought to you in part by Celestron. Friday, March 20 The vernal equinox occurs at 10:46 A.M. EDT, bringing astronomical spring to the Northern Hemisphere as the Sun stands directly over Earth's equator. On this day, the Sun also sits at the celestial equator as its path takes it from south to north of this invisible line. Meteorological spring, which is measured differently, began March 1. The equinox is well known as the date when night and day are equal lengths. But you may notice the extents of sunlight and darkness are slightly different from your location. That's ... [Read More]

Mar 20th, 2026 - " Project Hail Mary ," the movie adaptation to Andy Weir's 2021 novel about a science teacher attempting to save the Earth from sun-eating microbes, was released in March 2026 to stellar ratings from critics and audiences alike. The movie explores a few unique forms that extraterrestrial life could take, from space microorganisms that produce both infrared light and an unfathomable amount of energy, to rocklike aliens that live under crushing pressure and breathe ammonia. Over the past decade, scientists have come up with a variety of frameworks to guide their search for life in the universe ... [Read More]

Mar 20th, 2026 - Picture: The British Museum Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz: The British Library and UCL (University College London) are inviting applications for a Doctoral Studentship to research the topic  Rediscovering a Woman Collector at the British Library: New Sources and Perspectives on Sarah Sophia Banks . According to the university's website: This research will examine the collecting, knowledge production, and documentary practices of Sarah Sophia Banks (1744-1818), one of the most important antiquarian collectors of her time. It will interrogate Banks's holdings at the British Library and ... [Read More]