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The Indus Valley Civilization (IVC) was one of the earliest known urban cultures, thriving between 5,000 and 3,500 years ago along the Indus River and its tributaries in what is now Pakistan and northwest India. At its peak from 4,500 to 3,900 years ...
Helium Isotope Helps Pinpoint Deep-Earth Gold Deposits Scientists have found that a new chemical analysis using helium isotopes can help identify the location of buried gold deposits that originate deep within the Earth's mantle. The research te...
A Hidden Difference Between Dinosaurs and Mammals Is Changing Science's View of the Past Helicopter parents vs. latchkey kids New University of Maryland research suggests that dinosaur parenting strategies helped transform the Mesozoic world...
Little Foot, one of the world's most complete hominin fossils, may represent a previously unknown species of human ancestor, according to new research. The fossil, publicly unveiled in 2017, is the most complete Australopithecus skeleton ever found. ...
Astronomers Uncover Surprising Trends in Quasar Emissions New observations suggest that the relationship between light emitted by quasars has changed over cosmic time, hinting that the structure around supermassive black holes may not be as unive...
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Mapping the dark universe Between 2013 and 2019, the Dark Energy Survey (DES) gathered observations with the Dark Energy Camera (DECam), which is installed on the 4-meter Blanco Telescope at the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory in Chile. ...
A caterpillar-looking bug hangs out on a stem, minding its own business. Suddenly, forceps emerge, moving towards the creature. As soon as they touch the chunky insect, it hisses and whips its body side-to-side. The peeved individual is a mature lar...
Deuteron Formation Revealed Researchers from the Technical University of Munich (TUM), working at CERN, have made a groundbreaking discovery that reveals how deuterons are formed. The experiments take place in proton collisions at the Large Hadr...
New Observations Hint at Dynamic Dark Energy Recent observational breakthroughs are beginning to challenge the long-standing view of dark energy as unchanging. Data from the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI), an advanced survey designe...
Archaeologists Uncover Intriguing Viking Age Grave Archaeologists in Norway have made an exciting discovery after a metal detectorist stumbled upon an oval brooch in Trøndelag County. The team has since been excavating the site in secret to prese...
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Viewing Influenza Infection With New Precision Fever, sore muscles, and a runny nose often signal the arrival of winter, and with it, the yearly rise in flu cases. Influenza infections begin when virus-filled droplets enter the body, and the vir...
NASA astronaut Jonny Kim will recap his recent mission aboard the International Space Station during a news conference at 3:30 p.m. EST Friday, Dec. 19, from the agency's Johnson Space Center in Houston. Kim returned to Earth on Dec. 9, along with R...
Scientists Find the Exact Laundry Cycle to Make Clothes Last Longer According to a study funded by Procter & Gamble, scientists in the United Kingdom have discovered the optimal laundry cycle to preserve clothes and extend their lifespan. The key...
Harvard researchers have discovered that cycads — an ancient lineage of seed plants — heat their reproductive organs to attract beetle pollinators, which in turn evolved specialized infrared sensors. First, male cycads warm their pollen cones to enti...
NASA's Webb, Curiosity Named in TIME's Best Inventions Hall of Fame Two iconic NASA missions, the James Webb Space Telescope and the Curiosity rover, have been honored by TIME magazine as part of its "Best Inventions Hall of Fame." This prestigio...
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Gemini North captured new images of Comet 3I/ATLAS after it reemerged from behind the sun on its path out of the solar system. The data were collected during a Shadow the Scientists session—a unique outreach initiative that invites students around th...
In February, President Sally Kornbluth announced the appointment of Professor Angela Koehler as faculty director of the MIT Health and Life Sciences Collaborative (MIT HEALS), with professors Iain Cheeseman and Katharina Ribbeck as associate director...
Blue Origin's latest space tourism flight, the NS-37 mission, is set to launch on December 18th. This mission will send six people to the edge of space and back, including the first-ever wheelchair user to fly to space - aerospace engineer Michaela (...
Ghost Particles Spark Hidden Atomic Reaction Neutrinos are among the most puzzling particles known to science and are often called 'ghost particles' because they so rarely interact with matter. Trillions pass through each person every second with...
Ancient Foot Fossil Reassigned to a Different Early Human Species Newly uncovered fossils have helped researchers determine that an unusual 3.4-million-year-old hominin foot discovered in 2009 does not belong to Lucy's species. Instead, the evide...
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Researchers at the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich have uncovered how ribosomes, the cell's protein builders, also act as early warning sensors when something goes wrong inside a cell. Ribosomes as Protein Builders and Stress Sensors Rib...
At the Thai Space Expo in Bangkok, the growing excitement within the Southeast Asian space sector is on full display. Amid the flashy space suits and model rockets, one unexpected sight catches the eye - a package of Thai basil chicken, the same kind...
Your Brain Has a Learning Shortcut AI Can't Copy The Prefrontal Cortex Houses Reusable Cognitive Blocks Princeton neuroscientists have found that the brain repeatedly draws on the same cognitive "blocks" when performing different types of ta...
Rocket Lab's Reusable Neutron Launch Vehicle California-based Rocket Lab has successfully completed final qualification testing of the "Hungry Hippo" fairing for its partially reusable Neutron launch vehicle. The Neutron is a medium-lift, two-sta...
Space Startups Aim to Test Receiver for Satellite-Enabled Lunar 'Power Grid' Firefly Aerospace's lunar lander Blue Ghost will feature a LightPort wireless power receiver for future missions. The lander is bound for the far side of the moon, meani...
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This NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image features the blue dwarf galaxy Markarian 178 (Mrk 178) against a backdrop of distant galaxies in all shapes and sizes. Some of these distant galaxies even shine through the diffuse edges of Mrk 178. Mrk 178...
Nearly 70 million years ago, mosasaurs were the stuff of nightmares. Multiple species of the apex marine reptiles lived during the Late Cretaceous, often growing anywhere from 30 to 40 feet-long. But as dangerous as the ancient, great white shark-siz...
Scientists Uncover How Tiny "Nanopores" Learn Like the Brain Identifying the Forces Behind Rectification and Gating A research team led by Matteo Dal Peraro and Aleksandra Radenovic at EPFL has now clarified the physical origins of these beh...
Breakthrough in Measuring Zero-Point Motion Using the world's most powerful X-ray laser, scientists have filmed atoms performing an eternal quantum dance that never stops — even at absolute zero. This first-ever direct view of zero-point motion r...
A future lunar lander bound for the dark side of the moon will carry along a piece of equipment that could make these missions a little bit brighter. The lander in question is operated by Firefly Aerospace, the first commercial company to successfull...
Brightcast is dedicated to restoring faith in humanity by highlighting the progress, solutions, and kindness that often go unnoticed. We believe in a balanced worldview.
Read our full mission →
NASA's Parker Solar Probe Spies Solar Wind 'U-Turn' Images captured by NASA's Parker Solar Probe as the spacecraft made its record-breaking closest approach to the Sun in December 2024 have now revealed new details about how solar magnetic fields...
Stressed Rats Keep Returning to Cannabis, and Scientists Know Why It isn't just people - when given the chance, rats may also use cannabis to cope with stress, according to a study by researchers at Washington State University. Published in the ...
For years, philosophers and psychologists have debated whether empathy helps or hinders the ways people decide how to help others. Critics of empathy argue that it makes people care too narrowly—focusing on individual stories rather than the broader ...
Asexual Parasitic Plants Break Biology's Rules Photosynthesis is a staple of biology, with plants using the sun and water to produce their own food. However, not all of the over 300,000 known plant species are food-producing powerhouses that repr...
Using Cosmic Dust to Trace Ancient Ice Patterns Scientists have long known that small particles from space settle onto Earth at a steady rate and accumulate in ocean sediments. A recently published study in Science reports that examining where...
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Humans Rank Among Leading Monogamous Mammals, Study Finds Humans are playing in the premier league of monogamous mammals, according to a new ranking of animals by their reproductive habits. The study from the University of Cambridge found that hu...
Cosmic Proof: Black Hole Wobble Backs Century-Old Einstein Theory Scientists observing a dramatic cosmic outburst have confirmed a prediction first explored in Albert Einstein's work on relativity more than a century ago. A global team detected t...
NASA and its partners have supported humans continuously living and working in space since November 2000. After 25 years of habitation, the International Space Station continues to be a proving ground for technology that powers NASA's Artemis campaig...
A Microsecond Freeze Reveals a New Ice Phase The Korea Research Institute of Standards and Science (KRISS) has recorded water repeatedly freezing and melting at pressures above 2 gigapascals (2 GPa) while still at room temperature. These rapid cy...
Scientists discovered that reducing a gene called FDX2 can help cells survive the damage caused by Friedreich's ataxia. This finding opens the door to a fresh and potentially powerful treatment strategy. Friedreich's ataxia (FA) is an uncommon but d...