Science & Earth

A 20-year-old fisherman, Kevin Phan, waded into surf at Hermosa Beach to free a great white shark entangled on a fishing line, and beach-goers captured the event on video; Phan reported only minor cuts and scrapes.

NASA's Mission Management Team cleared the Orion spacecraft and its four-person Artemis II crew for a trans-lunar injection burn to leave Earth orbit; the burn was scheduled Thursday evening and will set the crew on a multi-day flight that loops behind the moon.

Drone footage from July 2023 shows elder female sperm whales surrounding a mother and helping lift a newborn calf so it could breathe, and Project CETI reported related findings in studies published in Nature and Science.

NASA commanded Artemis II's translunar injection burn on April 2, sending Orion onto a free‑return path that will carry the crew about a quarter‑million miles from Earth. The roughly six‑minute firing is the mission's last major engine burn and reshaped the spacecraft's trajectory to use the moon's gravity to bring Orion back.

A paper in American Antiquity reports that archaeologist Robert Madden compiled evidence showing two-sided bone and wooden dice were used in the present-day Southwestern U.S. about 12,000 years ago, earlier than comparable Old World finds.

Researchers in Sarasota recorded signature whistles and identified at least 20 shared non‑signature whistle types used by multiple dolphins, with playback tests and observations linking some types to retreat or surprise behaviors.

NASA's Artemis II is scheduled to send four astronauts on a roughly 10‑day crewed flyby of the Moon using the Space Launch System rocket and the Orion capsule, and a space policy expert described decades of technical and policy choices that led to this test flight.

NASA said several early technical issues aboard Orion — a communications fault, a blinking toilet warning and email access problems — were resolved, and mission managers approved a translunar injection burn to send the spacecraft toward the moon.

A UN report presented at COP15 says migratory freshwater fish populations have declined about 81% since 1970 and identifies 325 species as candidates for international conservation.

Four astronauts launched on a crewed Artemis II flight around the Moon this week; the team includes three space station veterans and a Canadian who will be the first from his country to travel beyond low‑Earth orbit.

Yale researchers screened 774 FDA‑approved drugs in larval zebrafish and used behavioral fingerprints to identify candidates that reverse dysregulated behaviors tied to autism risk genes, notably finding levocarnitine as a top rescue for SCN2A and DYRK1A and reporting rescue in human neuron models; they also published an open, searchable database of the screened drugs.

During Artemis II, astronaut Christina Koch described seeing a sunset over India from the Orion spacecraft as the four-person crew continues a roughly 10-day lunar flyby mission.

A Finnish brewery has installed an industrial pilot that uses heated sand to produce steam, and researchers say similar sand-based thermal storage could be scaled for industrial heat and even considered for repowering coal plants.

A federal judge on Feb. 25 ordered increased spill at eight lower Columbia and Snake River dams to help out-migrating salmon and steelhead, saying those populations have "dwindled to near extinction levels." The order largely returns operations similar to 2024–25 and includes provisions allowing changes if power system reliability is at risk.

Marine archaeologists have excavated the Danish warship Dannebroge about 15 meters beneath Copenhagen Harbor and recovered cannons and personal items; the finding was announced on the 225th anniversary of the 1801 Battle of Copenhagen.

The UK Health Security Agency reported about 1,504 heat-associated deaths in England for summer 2025, roughly half the predicted figure; the Met Office said 2025 was the warmest UK summer on record with a mean temperature of 16.1C.

A 44-year modeling study led by Michael Rawlins finds that thawing permafrost on Alaska’s North Slope is lengthening the active thaw season into September and October and increasing freshwater and dissolved organic carbon delivered to coastal estuaries.

A 7.4-magnitude earthquake struck about 79 miles northwest of Ternate, Indonesia, and the U.S. Geological Survey reported hazardous tsunami waves were forecast and that tsunami waves had been observed.

A record 87 pairs of cranes raised 37 young last year in the UK, bringing the national population to about 250 birds, conservation groups said.

Alder Planetarium in Chicago held a public watch party for NASA's Artemis II launch, which the article says is the first crewed lunar fly-around in 53 years and involves a four‑person, roughly 10‑day mission.

A study published in American Antiquity reports that Indigenous people in the western United States made dice more than 12,000 years ago, based on hundreds of artifacts from dozens of archaeological sites. Researchers say the artifacts suggest dice were used as social tools for exchange and may represent an early use of probability.

Joan Higginbotham, a retired astronaut living in Charlotte, watched the Artemis launch and described an emotional reaction as the crew began an orbital mission that officials say will help build a long-term human presence on the moon.

NASA's Artemis II lifted off from Cape Canaveral at 6:36 p.m. local time with four crew aboard Orion; the roughly 10-day mission will test systems in Earth orbit and then fly around the far side of the Moon without landing.

Artemis II launched four astronauts on a crewed lunar flyby, the first such mission in over 50 years. The article attributes the long gap to shifting political priorities and budgets, loss of Apollo-era expertise, and a later decision to focus on low Earth orbit before restarting lunar ambitions under Artemis.

NASA's Artemis II crew have entered the Orion capsule at Kennedy Space Center as final countdown proceeds for the first crewed lunar mission since 1972, with a launch window opening at 18:24 EDT.

Desalination is being used more widely as drought and changing rainfall reduce freshwater supplies; the article reports more than 20,000 plants worldwide and industry growth of about 7% annually.

Researchers used broadly neutralizing antibodies gathered from a man with long-term venom exposure to create an antivenom cocktail that fully protected mice against 13 snake species and partially protected them against six more; the team plans to begin testing the treatment in Australia on dogs and to develop coverage for viper bites.

Artemis 2 will carry four astronauts on a planned 10-day lunar flyby aboard the Orion spacecraft, with each day scheduled for specific activities including launches and burns, system checks, science observations, suit tests, and a planned reentry and splashdown.

NASA Ames in Mountain View provided the capsule heat shield and wind-tunnel testing for Artemis II, and the mission is scheduled to launch Wednesday evening from Kennedy Space Center.

Prime Minister Mark Carney said he remains committed to delivering green incentives he pledged during the Liberal leadership race, and officials are working to transfer the Greener Homes Grant from Natural Resources Canada to Environment and Climate Change Canada.