Editor’s note: A version of this story appeared in CNN’s Wonder Theory science newsletter. To receive it in your inbox, Sign up for free here.
CNN
—
Hello, Earthlings! I’m Jackie Wattles. We’re excited to bring awe to your inbox with a new name.
I’ve been covering space exploration for nearly a decade at CNN, and there’s never been a more exciting time to follow space and science discoveries. Advances in technology are rapidly developing rockets, observatories, and numerous scientific instruments as researchers move toward exploring and understanding the universe.
Watch as missions race to uncover the mysterious forces known as dark matter and dark energy. Both are so named precisely because science has not yet explained these phenomena.
Astronomers have never detected dark matter, but it is thought to make up about 85% of all matter in the universe. Meanwhile, the existence of dark energy helps researchers explain why the universe is expanding and why that expansion is accelerating.
Amazing new scientific instruments are producing pioneering data that will forever change the way scientists see the universe.
A prime example is the European Space Agency’s Wide-Angle Euclidean Telescope, launched in 2023 to investigate the mysteries of dark energy and dark matter.
Euclid this week unveiled the first part of a map of the universe containing about 100 million stars and galaxies that is expected to take six years to create.
These surprising 3D observations may help scientists understand how dark matter distorts light and curves space across galaxies.
Meanwhile, on a mountaintop in northern Chile, researchers from the U.S. National Science Foundation and Stanford University are preparing to power up the world’s largest digital camera at the Vera C. Rubin Observatory.
In the mountains of Uzbekistan, a team of researchers used lasers attached to flying robots to discover two cities buried and lost for centuries.
Anthropologists say they have used a drone equipped with LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging Device) to map for the first time a forgotten medieval town located at a key crossroads on the ancient silk trade route.
As nature reclaims the remnants of once-thriving civilizations, scientists are increasingly turning to remote sensing to peer through dense vegetation.
The images reveal two large settlements dotted with watchtowers, fortifications, a complex of buildings, squares and lanes that tens of thousands of people would have called home.
Remember the citizen astronaut who boldly ventured into the radiation belt aboard a SpaceX capsule and performed the first civilian spacewalk in September?
The thrill-seeking explorers, also known as the Polaris Dawn crew, told CNN about some of the unpleasant medical problems they experienced in space. It was a stark reminder that the human body is not designed to withstand microgravity.
Symptoms reported by the four crew members included blurred vision, nausea and vomiting.
However, these problems were not unexpected. As part of the mission, the group conducted research aimed at understanding and treating space-related diseases.
Researchers have long known about the 800-year-old story of a dead man thrown into a well at Norway’s Sveresborg Castle. The dumping of the bodies was probably part of an attempt to poison the water supply during a gruesome military raid, the Sveris story explains.
Now, with DNA analysis, scientists are able to corroborate the story of an amazing fusion of history, legend, science and technology.
Researchers first discovered the bones of a man known as “Wellman” near the castle in 1938. But only now, using advanced genetic sequencing techniques, the research team has been able to carve out a clearer picture of who the man was. The results revealed an unexpected development.
At least two types of fireflies lit up the night sky during the Mesozoic era, according to a new study.
That means dinosaurs may have witnessed the soft sunset glow emitted by bioluminescent insects.
Building on previous analyzes of the first firefly species identified in that era, first reported in 2015, another team of scientists investigated another 99-million-year-old firefly trapped in tree resin. did.
The specimen, discovered in northern Myanmar in 2016, may help researchers better understand how fireflies evolved the ability to emit light at least 100 million years ago.
The evolution of these fascinating creatures is so difficult to capture in the fossil record that scientists are only now beginning to collect them.
Check out these must-reads.
— 3.2 billion years ago, a gigantic meteorite estimated to be four times the size of Mount Everest crashed into Earth. The space rock caused the ocean to boil, and scientists now believe the aftereffects of this attack may have provided favorable conditions for life to recover and thrive.
— Four astronauts returning home Friday aboard a SpaceX capsule were unexpectedly sent to a medical facility in Florida. Three crew members were discharged from the hospital, but one remained hospitalized for “medical issues” that NASA did not disclose.
—Boeing Starliner’s two astronauts were not on that mission. This is why they missed the first flight back to Earth.
— Even if sky watchers miss the peak of the Orionid meteor shower this week, there’s still a chance to see the annual celestial display and many other cosmic phenomena on the horizon.
Did you like what you read? Oh, but there’s more to it. Please register here Get the next issue of Wonder Theory from CNN’s space science writers in your inbox. ashley strickland, katie hunt and Jackie Wattles. They find wonder in discovering planets and ancient worlds beyond our solar system.
