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By Jackie Wattles, CNN (CNN) — NASA may sideline SpaceX and choose a different company to land its astronauts on the moon later this decade, acting space agency chief Sean Duffy suggested during TV appearances Monday. Duffy emphasized that he believes SpaceX, which has a $2.9 billion contract to provide the lunar lander astronauts would

By Jacopo Prisco, CNN (CNN) — At the center of our galaxy, there’s a mysterious, diffuse glow given off by gamma rays — powerful radiation usually emitted by high-energy objects such as rapidly rotating or exploding stars. NASA’s Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope detected the glow shortly after launching in 2008, and the light has puzzled

By Laura Paddison, Andrew Freedman, CNN (CNN) — A fierce Trump administration push to stop the global shipping industry from paying for its own climate pollution appeared to have been successful Friday, as efforts to approve the “world’s first global carbon tax” collapsed. It had been widely assumed the tax would be adopted during a

By Ashley Strickland, CNN (CNN) — Few city rats have left their mark on the public consciousness — and the urban landscape — like the one responsible for the famed “Chicago rat hole.” (“Pizza Rat” is a notable exception.) But the Windy City’s “rat hole” may not be what it seems.New research into the identity

By Katie Hunt, CNN (CNN) — The first known hand fossils from an extinct human relative have been unearthed in Kenya, revealing a species with unexpected dexterity and a gorilla-like grip. The hand bones, which were discovered alongside skull and teeth fossils, are leading researchers to believe these early humans may have been able to

By Ashley Strickland, CNN (CNN) — An unusual double-ring structure spotted in space with the help of citizen scientists has turned out to be a cosmic rarity. The celestial anomaly, captured by a radio telescope, is an odd radio circle, one of the scarcest and most mysterious objects in the universe, said Dr. Ananda Hota,

By Jackie Wattles, CNN (CNN) — SpaceX’s luck appears to be turning, as the company notched a second straight successful test flight of the Starship launch system — the most powerful rocket ever constructed — on Monday evening. The test mission, which kicked off around 7:23 p.m. ET at SpaceX’s facilities in South Texas, marked

By Ella Nilsen, CNN (CNN) — The Trump administration’s cancellation of the largest solar project in the United States has sparked confusion and concern among Republicans and Democrats alike. Known as the Esmeralda 7, the collection of seven solar projects in rural Nevada was set to generate up to 6.2 gigawatts of energy when complete,

By Ashley Strickland, CNN (CNN) — The total solar eclipse in North America on April 8, 2024, temporarily reset the biological clocks of some bird species, according to new research. The eclipse created a dramatic spectacle as the moon moved between Earth and the sun, plunging midday into a few moments of total darkness along

By Laura Paddison, CNN (CNN) — The planet is grappling with a “new reality” as it reaches the first in a series of catastrophic and potentially irreversible climate tipping points: the widespread death of coral reefs, according to a landmark report produced by 160 scientists across the world. As humans burn fossil fuels and ratchet

By Jackie Wattles, CNN (CNN) — Calls for the United States to return astronauts to the moon before the end of the decade have been increasingly loud and frequent, emanating from bipartisan lawmakers and science advocates alike. But underlying that drumbeat is a quagmire of epic proportions. NASA plans to use SpaceX’s Starship — the

By Taylor Nicioli, CNN (CNN) — The bearded vulture, a large bird of prey with an unusual diet consisting primarily of bones, has long fascinated ornithologists. But now, a new study has shown why the bone-eating birds could be even more intriguing than once thought. Their carefully crafted nests, serving multiple generations, may also act

By Laura Paddison, CNN (CNN) — Planet-heating methane is escaping from cracks in the Antarctic seabed as the region warms, with new seeps being discovered at an “astonishing rate,” scientists have found, raising fears that future global warming predictions may have been underestimated. Huge amounts of methane lie in reservoirs that have formed over millennia

By Ashley Strickland, CNN (CNN) — Two newly discovered comets are streaking across the sky in a spectacular display as they make their closest approaches to Earth this month. Comets are made of ice, frozen gases and rock, and as they travel near stars such as the sun, heat causes them to release gas and

By Mindy Weisberger, CNN (CNN) — Hovering blue flames that flicker over bogs and marshes have inspired ghostly folktales for centuries. Known as “will-o’-the-wisp,” “jack-o’-lantern,” “corpse candle” and “ignis fatuus” (“foolish fire” in Latin), the global phenomenon has a spine-tingling history. But its origins could now have a scientific explanation: tiny flashes of lightning that

By Gina Park, CNN (CNN) — Two meteor showers are set to captivate sky-gazers as they peak in October, with the Draconids making a brief appearance this week and the Orionids putting on more of a celestial show later this month. The Draconid meteor shower, which is known to produce meteors during the evening rather

By Christian Edwards, Katie Hunt, CNN (CNN) — A trio of scientists have been awarded the 2025 Nobel Prize in chemistry for developing “metal-organic frameworks,” a form of molecular architecture that packs vast amounts of space into tiny structures – which the committee likened to Hermione Granger’s handbag in the Harry Potter novels. Susumu Kitagawa,