With the record-setting image from the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), astronomers have mapped the molecular heart of our Milky Way Galaxy in breathtaking detail. This image shows the complex distribution of molecular gas in the Central Molecular Zone (CMZ) of the Milky Way. Image credit: ALMA / ESO / NAOJ / NRAO / Longmore et al. / Minniti et al. “It’s a place of extremes,...

As human space exploration pushes farther from Earth, the need for sustainable ways to obtain local resources is becoming increasingly urgent, as routine resupply missions grow impractical. Asteroids — some of them rich in valuable metals such as platinum-group elements — have emerged as especially promising targets. In a new experiment aboard the International Space Station (ISS), scientists...

Early humans living in Europe some 40,000 years ago developed a conventional system of geometric signs — deliberate, repeatable markings that went beyond decoration and hint at an early form of structured communication, according to a study published this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Mobile artifacts with geometric signs from the Swabian Aurignacian. Image credit:...

Several 250-million-year-old specimens from museum collections in Australia and the United States have revealed a surprising diversity of trematosaurid temnospondyls in Western Australia, showing that early marine amphibians spread across continents soon after the end-Permian mass extinction. The ancient marine amphibians Erythrobatrachus (foreground) and Aphaneramma (background) swimming along the...

As human space exploration pushes farther from Earth, the need for sustainable ways to obtain local resources is becoming increasingly urgent, as routine resupply missions grow impractical. Asteroids — some of them rich in valuable metals such as platinum-group elements — have emerged as especially promising targets. In a new experiment aboard the International Space Station (ISS), scientists...

Astrophysicists from the University of Illinois and the University of Chicago have developed an innovative method to measure the Hubble constant — the rate at which the Universe is expanding — using the subtle background hum of gravitational waves. As gravitational-wave detectors become more sensitive in the coming years, this approach could reshape our understanding of cosmic history...

Adding one avocado and a cup of mango each day improves vascular health indices and reduces key cardiometabolic risk factors in people with elevated blood sugar, suggesting a simple dietary shift could strengthen heart health long before diabetes develops. In adults with prediabetes, daily inclusion of avocado and mango increases fruit consumption, diversifies nutrient composition, and improves vascular...

Between 73,000 and 20,000 years ago (Late Pleistocene), the Japanese Archipelago was inhabited by cave lions (Panthera spelaea), according to a new genetic and proteomic analysis of fossilized felid remains previously attributed to tigers (Panthera tigris). Cave lions painted in the Chauvet Cave, France. Lions and tigers were widespread apex predators during the Late Pleistocene and integral components...

New orbital data reveal that the most recently active volcanic systems on Mars weren’t simple one-off blasts into space; instead, long-lived magmatic plumbing beneath Pavonis Mons, one of the Red Planet’s largest volcanoes, reshaped lava flows over time, with distinct eruptive phases and evolving chemical signatures, offering fresh insights into the planet’s inner dynamics and how rocky planets...

Early humans living in Europe some 40,000 years ago developed a conventional system of geometric signs — deliberate, repeatable markings that went beyond decoration and hint at an early form of structured communication, according to a study published this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Mobile artifacts with geometric signs from the Swabian Aurignacian. Image credit:...