Science & Earth

Heavy rain and storms across Afghanistan have caused floods and landslides that the Disaster Management Authority says killed 77 people and injured 137 over the past 10 days; homes and major roads have been damaged and more rain is forecast.

The White House posted on X that "America will never give up the moon" as NASA advances plans for a permanent lunar base while the Artemis II circumnavigation proceeds.

Early observations from the Vera C. Rubin Observatory revealed more than 11,000 previously unknown asteroids and provided more precise orbits for tens of thousands of additional objects, including dozens of new near-Earth objects and several hundred trans-Neptunian objects.

Showers and gusty winds from a cold front moved across Maryland, with the heaviest rain expected to clear by mid-afternoon. Cooler, breezy conditions are forecast through Tuesday before a warmer trend later in the week.

Artemis II is more than halfway to the moon and aims to travel farther than Apollo 13; the mission's onboard toilet has been unreliable since liftoff, and crew are using backup urine collection bags while engineers investigate a suspected ice blockage.

A fossil deposit from the Jiangchuan Biota in southwestern China has yielded more than 700 carbonaceous film fossils dated about 554–539 million years ago, showing diverse soft-bodied animals present before the Cambrian explosion.

Orion's main engine completed a 5-minute-50-second translunar injection burn, placing four astronauts on a free-return trajectory that will loop around the Moon on Monday and return for a Pacific splashdown on April 10.

Three cheetah cubs were born in Kuno National Park, bringing India's reintroduced cheetah population to 38, officials said; the animals are African cheetahs that were first introduced in 2022 amid earlier concerns about mortality and leopard competition.

Marine archaeologists in Copenhagen Harbor located the wreck of the Danish flagship Dannebroge and recovered part of a sailor's lower jaw during monthslong excavations announced on the 225th anniversary of the 1801 Battle of Copenhagen.

A magnitude 5.8 earthquake in Afghanistan caused a home to collapse in the Gosfand Dara area of Kabul province, killing eight members of one family. A child of about two years was the only survivor and was reported injured.

Sandy soils drain quickly and contain very little organic matter, which limits root growth and nutrient retention; drought‑tolerant grasses such as tall fescue, bermudagrass and zoysiagrass are commonly cited as better fits, and adding organic matter is recommended to improve establishment.

A study in American Antiquity reports two-sided gaming pieces used by Native Americans at least 12,000 years ago and identifies 565 confirmed dice artifacts from across North America.

A 20-year-old fisherman at Hermosa Beach stripped to his underwear and waded into the surf to cut a hook from a juvenile great white shark, then helped return it to the water, according to video and local reports.

Stony Brook planetary geologist Timothy Glotch is one of 10 scientists NASA selected to help plan research for upcoming Artemis missions, including locating minerals and water ice near the lunar south pole for a 2028 mission.

NASA says Artemis II performed a translunar engine burn about 25 hours after liftoff, putting the Orion capsule on a free-return path to a lunar flyby expected Monday.

The Artemis II crew released photos of Earth on their second day in space while more than 90,000 miles from Earth; the 10-day mission is testing the spacecraft in a deep-space environment ahead of future Moon and Mars missions.

NASA has certified three science officers—Kelsey Young, Trevor Graff, and Angela Garcia—to serve in Mission Control for Artemis II; the crew will photograph and record audio of the Moon during the April 6 flyby and deliver those data to science back rooms at Johnson Space Center.

Artemis II will send a four-person crew beyond the moon on a roughly 10-day circumnavigation and includes the first woman and the first Black person to travel to deep space; the test flight is set to launch as soon as April.

A three-week-old mountain lion cub named Crimson was found alone in Southern California, monitored by biologists, and taken for medical care after losing about 10% of his body weight; he was flown to Oakland Zoo where staff are providing intensive round-the-clock care.

Coal-fired facilities around Kakanj emit well above EU limits and Bosnia and Herzegovina now faces Energy Community infringement proceedings while a desulphurisation plant is planned for late 2027.

Eagle Days at Harry S. Truman Lake drew more than 400 visitors in 2026 and offered viewing of wild bald eagles along with live birds of prey and educational exhibits.

A cohort study reports that windblown dust from the shrinking Salton Sea is associated with reduced lung growth in nearby children; changes in water agreements and planned development may increase dust exposure.

NASA has named nine candidate landing zones for Artemis missions concentrated near the lunar south pole, but those extreme southerly locations are largely out of clear view from Earth except during favorable libration.

Biruté Galdikas, who founded Orangutan Foundation International and spent decades studying and protecting wild orangutans in Borneo, died of lung cancer in a hospital, her foundation said.

MV Lord of the Isles has returned to service after main engine repairs, and CalMac says several other vessels remain under maintenance while Storm Dave may disrupt sailings over the Easter weekend.

Conservation teams relocated California red‑legged frogs from Baja into prepared ponds in Southern California starting in 2020, and AI acoustic models recently detected the species' calls and led surveyors to a new egg mass.

A multi-institution study reports a new record for logical-qubit fidelity on superconducting processors using a hybrid protocol called normalizer dynamical decoupling, reaching 98.05% peak fidelity and 84.87% after 55 microseconds.

Artemis II, a 10-day crewed lunar flyby, is scheduled to launch Wednesday at 6:24 p.m. ET; Sacramento-based Tecma made thousands of components used across the rocket and San Diego is tied to recovery efforts.

Artemis II astronauts reported a tense propulsion burn after launch and sent back messages about views of Earth and a temporary onboard toilet fault that was fixed; Orion remains in Earth orbit en route to the Moon.

After a roughly six-minute translunar injection burn, Orion and its four-person crew departed Earth orbit and are on a planned trajectory for a lunar flyby and return to Earth.