Science & Earth

NASA will observe its annual Day of Remembrance on Jan. 22 to commemorate the crews of Apollo 1, Challenger and Columbia, with an observance at Arlington National Cemetery led by Administrator Jared Isaacman.

Researchers at McGill tested aldehyde-assisted electrolysis using a biomass-derived model compound to generate hydrogen; next steps include long-duration durability tests under realistic feed conditions.

After 27 years at NASA, astronaut Suni Williams retired effective Dec. 27, 2025; she completed three International Space Station missions and logged 608 days in space.

A UN flagship report says many regions have moved beyond temporary water crises into a state of 'global water bankruptcy', where systems are depleted beyond historical baselines; the report notes about four billion people face severe water scarcity for at least one month each year.

Park staff identified new dinosaur fossils near the Quarry Exhibit Hall on Sept. 16, and excavations completed between September and October removed nearly 3,000 pounds of rock and fossil material.

Harvard researchers developed TimeVault, a technique that stores messenger RNA inside natural vault particles to preserve past gene-expression snapshots, and they used it to record cellular responses to stress and to examine how some cancer cells developed drug resistance.

NASA says it completed two human spaceflight missions and launched 15 science missions in the first year of President Donald J. Trump's second term.

The UN report describes a 'post-crisis' era of global water bankruptcy and reports that about 75 percent of people live in water-insecure countries while 3.5 billion lack safely managed clean water.

UN University scientists say the world has entered 'water bankruptcy,' with about 4 billion people facing severe water scarcity for at least one month each year.

Archaeologists found a 600-year-old cog called Svælget 2 in the Øresund near Copenhagen; researchers report it measures about 28 meters by 9 meters and is well preserved, offering new evidence about medieval northern European trade.

A powerful solar storm tied to a fast coronal mass ejection triggered an S4-level solar radiation alert — the highest in over 20 years — and prompted warnings about potential effects on satellites, aviation and power systems.

Jaclyn Kagey is the Artemis III extravehicular activity lead at NASA, helping plan lunar surface spacewalks and real-time operations. She has more than 25 years of experience and recently tested Axiom Space's AxEMU lunar spacesuit.

A fast coronal mass ejection triggered a G4 geomagnetic storm that produced auroras visible far from the poles, with reports from Germany to New Mexico.

A recent major solar radiation storm produced vivid northern lights across North America and Northern Europe, and the aurora borealis has appeared in ancient records and inspired myths, art, poetry, music and architecture for millennia.

The fully stacked SLS rocket and Orion spacecraft rolled four miles to the launch pad; teams will prepare for a wet dress rehearsal targeted no later than Feb. 2.

Thousands gathered near the California Academy of Sciences to mourn Claude, an albino alligator who died Dec. 2 of liver cancer at age 30; the museum will preserve parts of him and the city plans to rename the road in front of the museum.

NOAA issued a G4 'Severe' geomagnetic storm watch after a coronal mass ejection; the aurora may be visible as far south as Alabama Monday night.

A Nature Medicine study reports that neurofeedback training helped some people increase activity in deep reward regions of the brain, and those with higher ventral tegmental area activity showed higher antibody levels after a hepatitis B vaccine; researchers say the finding may relate to mechanisms behind the placebo effect.

Astronaut Jeremy Hansen will be the first Canadian to travel beyond low Earth orbit as mission specialist on NASA's Artemis II, with a launch window identified as early as Feb. 6; the Canadian Space Agency will accept public questions for Hansen until Jan. 23.

Martin Luther King Jr. advocated a guaranteed annual income as a means of addressing economic inequality, and recent research finds strong support for universal basic income among lower-income white Americans while opposition is higher among wealthier whites with elevated racial resentment.

The High Seas Treaty entered into force on January 17, 2026, creating a legally binding framework to protect biodiversity in international waters; more than 80 countries have ratified it.

Researchers in the United Kingdom and Austria developed GyroSwin, a machine-learning tool that can reduce plasma turbulence simulation times from hours or days to minutes or seconds; developers say it preserves sufficient accuracy and can handle greater complexity.

Bill McKibben said rising electricity bills may influence the 2026 midterm elections, and U.S. average electricity prices rose about 12.8% between January and October 2025, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

A University of Copenhagen team reports that small red points seen in James Webb Telescope images are young black holes enshrouded in dense ionized gas, based on a study published in Nature on January 14.

NASA rolled its 32‑story Space Launch System rocket from the Vehicle Assembly Building to launch pad 39B as teams begin pad checkouts and prepare for a wet dress rehearsal ahead of a possible February Artemis II flight.

Australia is advancing national packaging reforms led by the Australian Packaging Covenant Organisation to improve packaging recyclability, increase recycled content and support a circular economy for plastics. Independent analysis cited by APCO projects environmental and economic benefits by 2030, including lower emissions and reduced landfill.

NASA began moving the Artemis II SLS and Orion stack to Launch Complex 39B on Jan. 17, and NASA says the earliest launch window for the crewed around-the-Moon mission opens Feb. 6.

The article explains that late winter is a common time to prune plants that bloom on new wood and lists 14 shrubs, trees and perennials that typically respond well to this timing; it highlights basic pruning aims such as removing dead or damaged branches, cutting suckers, and thinning to promote stronger stems.

Weeks of heavy rain have caused flooding across Mozambique, South Africa and Zimbabwe, with more than 100 people reported dead and further heavy rain expected through the weekend.

Webb observations of the Circinus Galaxy show about 87% of infrared emission from hot dust originates near the supermassive black hole rather than from dusty outflows, researchers report.