Science & Earth

A sick astronaut and three crewmates left the International Space Station early and splashed down near San Diego; officials say the astronaut is stable and was taken to a hospital for further checks.

NJIT researchers traced gamma rays from a September 10, 2017 X8.2 solar flare to a compact region in the corona and identified a previously unknown, very high-energy particle population linked to bremsstrahlung emission.

Researchers at the University of Copenhagen combined advanced stellar models with ESA Gaia data to produce the first complete map of neutrino production across the Milky Way, finding the strongest signals near the galactic centre and from younger, massive stars.

Unseasonably warm weather has increased avalanche danger in parts of British Columbia, with Avalanche Canada listing high risk in some Interior ranges; forecasts show cooling may form a surface crust but elevated risk remains.

Four Crew-11 astronauts are returning early from the International Space Station because of a reported medical concern, and NASA says the affected astronaut is stable; three crewmembers will remain aboard while a replacement crew launch is being expedited.

Kelowna Mayor Tom Dyas met with local advocates who urged a fuller review and public consultation on the proposed Burtch Road Extension through Munson Pond wetlands; several environmental permits remain outstanding and construction cannot proceed until they are resolved.

Environment Canada has issued a yellow snowfall warning for Toronto and nearby regions, forecasting 10 to 20 centimetres from Wednesday night into Thursday afternoon and a temperature drop with wind chills near −22°C on Thursday morning.

NASA announced an early return of Crew-11 from the International Space Station on Jan. 14 due to an unspecified medical issue, and said the crew member is in stable condition. Undocking is set for 5:05 PM EST with splashdown off the coast of California early Jan. 15, and NASA will carry the return live.

A new paper reports two temperate planets orbiting fully convective mid-type M dwarfs and proposes a broader “temperate” zone defined by instellation flux between 0.1 and 5 times Earth’s solar constant (about 136–6,805 W/m²).

Chiefs say Kashechewan is under a state of emergency with no safe drinking water and are calling for a faster evacuation; governments say they are prioritizing evacuation of vulnerable residents and have engaged a specialist to address the water systems.

A European robin was sighted on Rougemont Avenue in Montreal in early January, and media reports say this is the first recorded occurrence of the species in Canada; the sighting has drawn photographers and birdwatchers to the neighbourhood.

Researchers observed SN 2022esa, a rare type Ic-CSM supernova from a very massive star that produced a bright explosion while forming a black hole; its light showed a stable monthly periodicity that points to a binary progenitor.

A Market Intelligence Brief profiles five companies the publisher says are securing 2026 'choke points' across digital security, clinical therapeutics, defense technology, regenerative medicine, and critical metals, and discloses that the piece is a paid advertisement with commercial relationships noted.

Scientists inaugurated the first global repository for mountain ice cores at Concordia station, storing the first two Alpine samples from Mont Blanc and Grand Combin at about -52 C. The Ice Memory Foundation transported 1.7 tonnes of ice to the Antarctic snow cave after a refrigerated 50-day journey from Trieste.

A JGR Planets paper reports that simulations show more than half of methane released by lunar landers can end up in permanently shadowed regions, and the median transport time from pole to pole was about 32 Earth days.

Region of Waterloo staff told councillors a water capacity shortfall identified in December 2025 affects the Mannheim Service Area and has led the region to pause support for new servicing agreements; staff outlined short- and longer-term measures including repairs, optimization and a proposed 20 per cent supply buffer.

Researchers analyzed six archival ALMA thermal images from 2012 to probe the top few centimeters of Callisto's regolith and estimated a surface temperature near 133 K; the study refines regolith composition maps and indicates subsurface temperature variations.

Researchers at the University of Toronto have released an open‑source model and public dashboard that allocates construction‑sector greenhouse‑gas emissions budgets to 1,000 cities worldwide, using climate-model carbon budgets and city-level data; the paper describing the method appears in Nature Cities.

MindWalk announced it has identified monoclonal antibodies and intrabodies that bind a pathogenic form of TDP‑43 and said this validates its discovery platform; the company noted the findings are preliminary and reported in a preprint.

A writer describes walking the new two-day, 19-kilometre Grand Cliff Top Walk in the Greater Blue Mountains, noting native wildlife, varied ecosystems and childhood memories tied to the region.

Wildlife Haven cared for 30 per cent more animals in 2025 than in 2024, admitting 2,551 animals and at times sheltering up to 300 simultaneously.

Large industrial firms, led by J.D. Irving, are asking to leave the N.B. Power grid to generate their own electricity, and the provincial government is reviewing the proposal while N.B. Power warns it could raise rates for remaining customers.

European climate data report 2025 as the third-warmest year, about 1.47°C above pre-industrial levels, and scientists link widespread extreme heat that year to human-caused greenhouse gas emissions.

EU and US climate monitors reported that 2025 was the third hottest year on record and that the last 11 years are the warmest on record.

Astronomers using ALMA detected superheated gas around the forming cluster SPT2349-56 from when the universe was about 1.4 billion years old, using the thermal Sunyaev–Zel'dovich effect. The observation challenges expectations that cluster atmospheres remain cool during the first few billion years.

A magnitude 7.0 earthquake on Dec. 6 exposed a fault beneath glaciers in southwest Yukon, and researchers from the Yukon Geological Survey are carrying out aerial reconnaissance to document avalanches, landslides and other impacts.

Astronomers using JWST and ALMA observed GS-10578 (nicknamed Pablo's Galaxy) about 10.8 billion light years away and found it nearly lacking in cold gas, while JWST spectroscopy detected winds around 400 km/s removing roughly 60 solar masses of gas per year; these results point to the galaxy's central black hole shutting off its supply of star-forming fuel.

A new Hubble image of NGC 1333 in the Perseus Molecular Cloud highlights young stellar objects, including a protostar with a protoplanetary disk; JWST mosaics show more infrared detail across the cloud.

Hubble data show a wake in Betelgeuse's atmosphere produced by a previously suspected companion star named Siwarha. Siwarha is roughly 1.5 times the Sun's mass, orbits at about 4 astronomical units, and completes an orbit in roughly 5.7–6 years.

A 2026 NPJ Space Exploration study reports scarp-fronted deposits in Southeast Coprates Chasma that resemble river deltas and align at a common elevation, which the authors interpret as a coastline marking a high-water level across Mars' northern hemisphere.