Science - Wednesday, April 29, 2026

Listen to this audio excerpt from Ryan Schulte, Orion flywheel project manager: As the four Artemis II astronauts traveled on a 694,481-mile journey around the Moon and back, the Orion spacecraft provided them with all the essentials for deep space life, including daily exercise. The crew used an exercise device called the flywheel throughout their mission to maintain their physical and mental health, and Ryan Schulte, Orion […]

Only two places in the world allow tourists to enter the water with the ocean’s apex predator. But the safety of both species is a growing concern.

Description A scientist produced this map of land subsidence (sinking) in Mexico City using data from the NISAR (NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar) mission captured between Oct. 25, 2025, and Jan. 17, 2026. The region has been a well-known hot spot of subsidence for decades, and images like this help confirm that NISAR is performing as […]

He transformed the Missouri Botanical Garden into an international research hub and laid out the existential threats posed by deforestation and unchecked development.

Written by Sharon Wilson Purdy, Planetary Geologist at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum Earth planning date: Friday, April 24, 2026 There was excitement in the air as the Curiosity Science Team kicked off a drill campaign at the Atacama site to characterize the first Mount Sharp layered-sulfate bedrock since leaving the boxwork terrain. […]

One of the most powerful radar systems ever launched into space has mapped the ground moving beneath one of fastest subsiding capitals in the world: Mexico City. The findings show how quickly and reliably the NISAR (NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar) satellite can track real-time changes across Earth’s surface from orbit, unhindered by clouds or vegetation […]

New experiments suggest that freezing and thawing on early Earth may have helped primitive cell-like structures grow and evolve. Tiny lipid bubbles behaved very differently depending on their membrane makeup—some fused into larger compartments and captured DNA more efficiently. These fusion events could have mixed key molecules, setting the stage for more complex chemistry.

A luminous swirl set against the deep black of space, the barred spiral galaxy IC 486 glows with a soft, ethereal light in this NASA Hubble Space Telescope image from April 13, 2026. IC 486 lies right on the edge of the constellation Gemini (the Twins), around 380 million light-years from Earth. Classified as a barred spiral […]

Zap Energy says its ultimate goal is safe, clean energy from fusion. To help get there, it’s starting to build fission reactors.

A massive prehistoric snake discovered in India may rank among the largest ever to slither across Earth. Named Vasuki indicus, this ancient giant lived around 47 million years ago and is estimated to have stretched an astonishing 11 to 15 meters long—rivaling the legendary Titanoboa. Fossilized vertebrae unearthed from a lignite mine in Gujarat reveal a thick-bodied, powerful snake likely built for slow, stealthy ambush attacks, similar to modern anacondas.