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By Jackie Wattles, CNN (CNN) — A Blue Origin rocket could soon launch with an unconventional passenger in a history-making moment made possible by a high-profile former employee of the company’s biggest rival. Michaela Benthaus, an aerospace and mechatronics engineer at the European Space Agency, will be aboard the mission, known as NS-37, and become

By Taylor Nicioli, CNN (CNN) — Contrary to popular depictions of bee nests as large, intricate hives that hang from trees, the majority of bee species — about 90% — are actually solitary and build their nests in the ground or within rotting logs and the stems of plants. But researchers recently discovered what is

By Jackie Wattles, CNN (CNN) — A monthslong saga featuring tech billionaire Jared Isaacman — President Donald Trump’s on-again, off-again pick to run NASA — has finally come to a close as the Senate confirmed his appointment in a 67-to-30 vote. Isaacman, a private astronaut and CEO of payments company Shift4, is now set to

By Andrew Freedman, CNN NEW ORLEANS (CNN) — Stress balls were the swag item of choice at the National Center for Atmospheric Research’s booth Wednesday morning, during the world’s largest gathering of climate scientists. NCAR representatives came to this meeting — the convention of the American Geophysical Union — to talk about their research, which

By Chris Mooney, Yumi Asada (CNN) — Bathtubs and pools mislead us about the ocean: Its surface is anything but flat. Seas pile up in some spots, pushed by trade winds or pulled by gravity toward big things like ice sheets. Amid it all, at the western end of large ocean basins, the fastest surface

By Laura Paddison, CNN (CNN) — Hundreds gathered to say goodbye when 700-year-old Pizol died. The funeral in Switzerland in 2019 was solemn. Mourners wore black; flowers were laid; a priest spoke. It was a symbolic moment: Pizol had been a glacier, but human-driven climate change had reduced it to some scattered chunks of ice.

By Katie Hunt, CNN (CNN) — A pod of Pacific white-sided dolphins off the coast of British Columbia have been observed cooperating with orcas, a traditional enemy that’s better known for taking out great white sharks than friendly interaction. Scientists say they have documented the dolphins and a local population of killer whales known as

By Chris Mooney Planet-warming pollution rates exploded after the end of World War II. James Watt’s steam engine launched the Industrial Revolution in 1769. Before that, for thousands of years, humans were clearing forested land for farming, releasing carbon from trees and plants into the atmosphere. The severity of global warming has long depended on

By Gina Park, CNN (CNN) — Avid sky-gazers spend all year anticipating the peak of the annual Geminid meteor shower. Now, it’s finally here. This weekend, dozens of meteors, including some especially brilliant ones called fireballs, are expected to streak across the night sky in a dazzling display. The celestial event is widely considered one

By Laura Paddison, CNN (CNN) — Nothing on the surface of this scrubby expanse of western Nevada desert, overlooked by towering, craggy mountains, gives even a hint of what lies beneath. But a few thousand feet underground is a hidden source of abundant clean energy — and it was discovered in an unusual way. Utah-headquartered

By Taylor Nicioli, CNN (CNN) — When an ancient ship was unearthed in Scandinavia over 100 years ago, archaeologists started to uncover bits and pieces of its history. On board the plank-built vessel was a hoard of weapons — swords, spears, shields and more — revealing a tale of warriors who attempted to attack the

By Ella Nilsen, Andrew Freedman, CNN (CNN) — The Environmental Protection Agency has altered and removed information from its website that connected climate change to the burning of fossil fuels. The changes come as the Trump administration tries to supercharge US oil and gas production and resurrect the coal industry. Now, the EPA’s webpage detailing

By Laura Paddison, CNN (CNN) — Swirling underwater “storms” are aggressively melting the ice shelves of two vital Antarctic glaciers, with potentially “far-reaching implications” for global sea level rise, according to a recent study. Antarctica is like a fist with a skinny thumb stuck out toward South America. Pine Island Glacier is near the base

By Jack Guy, CNN (CNN) — Humans are far more monogamous than our primate cousins, but less so than beavers, a new study suggests. Researchers from the University of Cambridge in England analyzed the proportion of full siblings versus half-siblings across several animal species, as well as various human populations throughout history. Species and societies

By Ashley Strickland, CNN (CNN) — Voyager 1, NASA’s deep-space probe, could soon become the first spacecraft to reach a historic milestone. In November 2026, the probe will be one light-day from Earth. Launched in 1977, Voyager 1 is the farthest spacecraft from our planet, currently exploring interstellar space 15.8 billion miles away. The term

By Ashley Strickland, CNN (CNN) — The Hubble Space Telescope and the Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer have captured fresh images of an interstellar comet as the object nears its closest approach to Earth later this month. Comet 3I/ATLAS has intrigued astronomers because it originated outside of our solar system yet was discovered traveling through our

By Katie Hunt, CNN (CNN) — Scientists say they have solved the mystery of the Burtele foot, a set of 3.4 million-year-old bones found in Ethiopia in 2009. The fossils, along with others unearthed more recently, have now been linked to a little-known species that was a contemporary of the celebrated Australopithecus afarensis skeleton Lucy.