Easter Islanders relied on freshwater springs under the sea to survive

Surveys of Easter Island show that ancient settlements and the sites of the island’s famous giant statues are situated close to freshwater springs that are only accessible at low tide Environment 4 March 2022 By Michael Le Page The moai statues of Ahu Tongariki, Rapa Nui (Easter Island) Shutterstock/Alberto Loyo Undersea springs may have been … Read more

Russia-Ukraine war: Will bitcoin help or hinder Ukraine’s fight against Russian invasion?

By Matthew Sparkes The value of bitcoin rose on the expectation that it might gain traction during Russia’s invasion of Ukraine Brent Lewin/Bloomberg via Getty Images Cryptocurrencies are playing a role on both sides of the conflict caused by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Their ability to cross borders regardless of rules or regulations is helping … Read more

Cambrian explosion: First burst of animal evolution altered chemical makeup of Earth’s mantle

The Cambrian explosion 500 million years ago saw a huge variety of animals evolve – and also led to carbon being buried in the seabed and ultimately carried into the planet’s mantle Earth 4 March 2022 By Michael Marshall The explosion of new species in the Cambrian period saw the emergence of many familiar groups … Read more

Russia removes Soyuz rocket with 36 OneWeb satellites from launch pad (photos)

The outcome was expected, but the visuals are still dramatic. On Friday (March 4), Russia removed a Soyuz rocket topped with 36 OneWeb internet satellites from its launch pad at Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, which is managed jointly by the Russian Aerospace Forces and Roscosmos, Russia’s federal space agency.  The Soyuz was originally supposed to … Read more

Constellations of the Western zodiac

This NASA graphic offers an introduction to the constellations visible in the Northern Hemisphere.  (Image credit: NASA) The constellations in the night sky are connected to myth and legend, as well as the unscientific concepts of astrology. But they also have held importance and usefulness to science and exploration throughout history and still today. Stars … Read more

‘Weird’, Long Lost Rocks Could Explain How a Hellish Earth Became Habitable

Early Earth is often described as ‘Hadean’ for good reason. Arising from the ashes of a collision that gave us our Moon, the primordial eon was characterized by hellish heat trapped beneath a thick blanket of carbon dioxide and water vapor.    Strangely those conditions should have been inhospitable for far longer than they were. … Read more

The Large Hadron Collider: Inside CERN’s atom smasher

The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) is the biggest and most powerful particle accelerator in the world. It is located at the European particle physics laboratory CERN, in Switzerland. Scientists use the LHC to test theoretical predictions in particle physics, particularly those associated with the “Standard Model”. While the Standard Model can explain almost all results … Read more

The Large Hadron Collider will explore the cutting edge of physics after 3-year shutdown

A data visualization of particle collisions at the LHC at CERN. (Image credit: CERN) Scientists are gearing up to once more push the boundaries of the cutting edge of particle physics with the reopening of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN near Geneva, Switzerland after a three-year shutdown.  After its successful second run ended … Read more

The Push to Move Past the Pandemic: COVID Quickly, Episode 25

Tanya Lewis: Hi, and welcome to COVID, Quickly, a Scientific American podcast series. Josh Fischman: This is your fast-track update on the COVID pandemic. We bring you up to speed on the science behind the most urgent questions about the virus and the disease. We demystify the research and help you understand what it really … Read more