Astronomers using ESO’s Very Large Telescope (VLT) have measured carbon and nitrogen isotope ratios in 3I/ATLAS, the third known interstellar visitor to sweep through the Solar System. Their analysis suggests the interstellar comet formed in the cold outer reaches of a protoplanetary disk surrounding a star far older and more metal-poor than our own. This image shows part of the spectrum of the...

On July 2, 2026, the Tianwen-2 probe closed to within 20 km (12.4 miles) of the small near-Earth asteroid 2016 HO3, one of only seven Earth quasi-satellites identified to date, kicking off a science campaign ahead of an eventual sample-return attempt. Tianwen-2 captured this image of 2016 HO3 on July 2, 2026 from a distance of about 20 km. Image credit: CNSA. 2016 HO3 was discovered on April 27,...

New research suggests that the first widespread human cultures in the Americas were not opportunistic foragers who ate whatever they could find, but specialized big-game hunters who built their lives around killing the largest animals on the landscape: mammoths, elephant-like gomphotheres, giant ground sloths, and other Ice Age giants. Paleo-Indians hunting a glyptodont, a relative of the armadillo...

Paleontologists in China have described a small, previously unknown Jurassic bird whose short tail offers new evidence for how the earliest birds traded their long, dinosaur-like tails for the compact tailbone that helps living birds fly. Life reconstruction of Zhengheornis buyu. Image credit: Chung-Tat Cheung. Modern birds are unique among vertebrates in having a short tail capped by a fused clump...

In an analysis of 390 traditionally cultivated cacao trees representing traditional Amazonian varieties, researchers identified four previously unknown genetic lineages, with two showing ancestry linked to exceptional flavor potential and offering new opportunities for growers and chocolate makers. Motilal et al. collected cacao samples from eight departments of Peru. Image credit: Fernando Graniel. Cacao...

Physicists with LHCb Collaboration at CERN’s Large Hadron Collider (LHC) have detected the elusive Ωcc⁺ baryon, a particle containing two charm quarks and one strange quark, completing a long-sought family of doubly charmed baryons first predicted over half a century ago. An artist’s impression of the doubly charmed Ωcc⁺ baryon. Image credit: Daniel Dominguez / CERN. “Quarks are basic...

A large review of clinical trials published this week in the journal PAIN suggests that melatonin — the over-the-counter sleep supplement taken by millions of people — may offer meaningful relief for patients suffering from chronic musculoskeletal conditions such as low back pain, osteoarthritis, and fibromyalgia. Melatonin showed modest benefits for musculoskeletal pain in a new analysis,...

In an analysis of 390 traditionally cultivated cacao trees representing traditional Amazonian varieties, researchers identified four previously unknown genetic lineages, with two showing ancestry linked to exceptional flavor potential and offering new opportunities for growers and chocolate makers. Motilal et al. collected cacao samples from eight departments of Peru. Image credit: Fernando Graniel. Cacao...

Zircon crystals and impact-altered minerals show that a massive asteroid slammed into what is now the Pilbara region of Western Australia about 3 billion years ago. The North Pole Dome crater: (A) simplified map of the East Pilbara Terrane (EPT, Western Australia), showing Paleoarchean granite domes (pink) and greenstone belts (greens and blues); the North Pole Dome (NPD) lies near the terrane center;...

New research suggests that the first widespread human cultures in the Americas were not opportunistic foragers who ate whatever they could find, but specialized big-game hunters who built their lives around killing the largest animals on the landscape: mammoths, elephant-like gomphotheres, giant ground sloths, and other Ice Age giants. Paleo-Indians hunting a glyptodont, a relative of the armadillo...