Relive the dramatic Apollo 14 launch and moon landing, 50 years later
On Jan. 31, 1971, NASA sent the Apollo 14 mission skyward. The eighth crewed mission in the Apollo program (and third one to reach the surface of the Moon) lifted…
Scientists finally figured out why wombats poop cubes. Thank heavens.
Our long international nightmare is over: We finally know why wombats poop out cubes. The scientists did it. They really did it. Thank heavens. Wombats’ odd poop has long been…
Vivid images show the powerful cyclone deluging California
A potent, comma-shaped storm has moved over a large swath of California, promising to deluge regions in hazardous rains and thick snow. It’s a mid-latitude cyclone, which is generally a…
Freakish ice cube shows the scale of Earth’s vanishing ice
On Earth, the amount of ice lost each year is equal to a monstrous, over six-mile-high ice cube looming over New York City. And this ice loss is accelerating. In…
SpaceX launched a record-setting 143 satellites into orbit
SpaceX launched the Transporter-1 mission on Sunday, Jan. 24 after two delays, sending a record-setting 143 satellites into orbit. Only 10 of them are Starlink satellites, SpaceX’s orbital internet project,…
SpaceX sends more than 100 satellites skyward in a dazzling Sunday launch
It’s been a busy weekend for SpaceX. The company sent yet another rocket racing off into orbit on Sunday morning after a planned Saturday launch was called off due to…
How to ferment your food (and why you definitely should)
In the days before refrigerators, chemical preservatives, and fossil-fueled transportation, starving to death in the winter was a much more pervasive fear. Fermentation first arose more than 10,000 years ago,…
Biden put a striking moon rock in the Oval Office
A curious, dark moon rock has arrived at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. Among busts of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., Rosa Parks, and Eleanor Roosevelt, President Joe Biden chose to…
The U.S. is no longer a rogue climate nation
The U.S. is no longer acting like an insolent child peeing in a swimming pool. On Nov. 4, 2020, the Trump administration quit the Paris Agreement, becoming the only nation…
Why winter, yes winter, fires are burning in California
During the deep of California’s winter, telltale plumes of smoke are rising from the hills. Midwinter Western fires are unusual because the cooler, wet season dampens the potential for flames.…