Science & Earth

NASA will attempt a 'wet' dress rehearsal at Kennedy Space Center as soon as Jan. 31 to fuel the Space Launch System rocket and run a simulated countdown; a successful test would support a planned Artemis II launch in early February.

African elephants produce low-frequency rumbles that travel through soil, and their padded feet and skeletal system help detect those ground vibrations.

Researchers reported two hand-held wooden artifacts from the Megalopolis Basin in Marathousa, Greece, which they date to about 430,000 years ago; one is from an alder trunk and may have been used for digging while the other, made of willow or poplar, may have been used to shape stone.

Canada has conditionally approved Marineland's application to export about 30 beluga whales to facilities in the United States pending more information, after rejecting an earlier proposal to send them to China; Marineland has said it plans to send four dolphins to the U.S. as well.

The six-year Dark Energy Survey published its final results after observing 669 million galaxies and mapping one-eighth of the sky; the findings tighten measurements but do not settle whether dark energy is constant or evolving.

Research finds little evidence that full moons raise human emergency visits or overall accidents, while some studies report changes in sleep timing and increased vehicle–wildlife collisions around full moons.

Spinoff 2026 marks the 50th year of NASA's publication documenting commercial uses of agency technology and highlights companies adapting lunar and deep-space innovations for Earth applications such as housing, robotics, and medical devices.

A study published Jan. 26 in Nature Astronomy uses James Webb Space Telescope observations to produce the highest-resolution dark matter map to date, covering the COSMOS field and tracing about 800,000 galaxies through weak gravitational lensing.

Archaeologists dated hand stencils on cave walls at Liang Metaduno, Muna island, using uranium‑thorium analysis and report a minimum age of about 67,800 years. The study says these images could be the oldest known rock art and may relate to early maritime movements across Wallacea into Sahul.

Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla, who flew to the ISS with the Ax-4 crew in June 2025, is listed among 70 recipients of the Ashoka Chakra announced on Republic Day 2026.

The FDA has accepted Eisai's supplemental application for LEQEMBI IQLIK as a once-weekly subcutaneous starting dose and granted Priority Review with a PDUFA action date of May 24, 2026.

The Morton Arboretum describes planting and habitat steps — such as using native species, layered vegetation, mature trees and available water — that help attract and support birds.

Utah officially designated the plains bison as its state animal, a choice tied to the species' recovery and cultural importance. The state’s visible herds include Antelope Island and the Henry Mountains, both central to conservation and management efforts.

Four Artemis II astronauts have begun a 14-day health stabilization quarantine in Houston while NASA prepares a wet dress rehearsal for the SLS ahead of a tentative Feb. 6 launch.

Unusually warm conditions across the Western U.S. have shifted much precipitation from snow to rain this winter, leaving many mountain snowpacks well below average, especially in parts of the Rockies and the Sierra Nevada.

University researchers report that a specific phase of tungsten carbide enabled hydrocracking of polypropylene with more than tenfold laboratory efficiency compared with platinum, and they developed reactor and optical temperature methods to control phases and measure catalyst surface temperatures.

Retired NASA astronaut Sunita Williams met actor Prakash Raj at the Kerala Literature Festival; Prakash Raj shared a selfie from the event and Williams's speech about seeing Earth as one planet went viral.

Storm Goretti struck on 8 January and flattened thousands of trees across Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly; estates and conservation bodies report hundreds of losses at individual sites and are planning recovery and replanting.

Using Webb's MIRI instrument to observe protostar EC 53, researchers report that crystalline silicates form in the hot inner protoplanetary disk and are carried outward by episodic outflows, offering an explanation for their presence in cold comets.

NASA may roll the stacked Space Launch System and Orion from the Vehicle Assembly Building to Launch Pad 39-B as soon as next Saturday, and has identified launch options in February, March and April pending pad testing and a flight readiness review.

New Jersey declared a statewide state of emergency as winter storm warnings cover the state, with forecasts of heavy snow and a dangerous mix of ice; officials announced a commercial vehicle travel restriction and urged residents to plan to stay home.

China's EAST reactor reportedly surpassed the Greenwald plasma density limit, and private investment in fusion rose from about $1.5 billion (2016–2020) to nearly $9 billion (2021–2025).

A NASA study using triple oxygen isotope measurements of Apollo lunar regolith reports that meteorite delivery since about four billion years ago could have supplied only a small fraction of Earth's ocean water.

A Jan. 19, 2026 photograph taken from the International Space Station shows a green and red aurora above European city lights while the station orbited about 262 miles above the Mediterranean; auroras form when energetic particles from space collide with atoms and molecules in Earth’s atmosphere.

A new study estimates residential wood combustion accounts for about 21.9% of wintertime PM2.5 in the contiguous U.S. and is associated with roughly 8,600 premature deaths each year.

Archaeologists uncovered two chamber tombs and a probable shrine to Hercules near Via Pietralata, outside Rome's ancient walls, along with an ancient road and large stone basins. Bronze coins found at the site indicate use from the 5th–4th centuries B.C. through the first century A.D., officials reported.

JWST observations have found very large black holes in the early universe that challenge traditional stellar-seed growth models, and researchers are examining direct-collapse, primordial, and related formation scenarios.

The Weather Prediction Center says guidance shifted slightly north for a major winter storm that will bring bands of heavy snow, sleet, and freezing rain from the Southern Rockies and Plains into the East Coast Friday through the weekend.

In 94,006 UK Biobank participants followed for a median 9.8 years, lower wrist-activity circadian rhythm amplitude (lowest quartile) was associated with higher risks of metabolic dysfunction–associated steatotic liver disease, cirrhosis, and hepatocellular carcinoma; MRI data from a 15,106-person subcohort showed higher liver fat and fibroinflammatory scores with lower rhythm amplitude.

Researchers dated a faint hand stencil in a Limestone cave at Liang Metanduno to about 67,800 years ago using uranium‑thorium dating of overlying calcite, making it the oldest known surviving human-made rock art; the team surveyed dozens of Sulawesi-area sites and dated multiple pieces of ancient cave art.