Adrian Villellas
A Wyoming coal mine bought for $2 million in 2011 holds what Ramaco calls the largest unconventional rare earth deposit in the US, and a new engineering report has pushed first production back to 2031
A geologist studying drill cores from under the North Sea found Jurassic fossil vomit packed with shells and squid-like remains, and he believes long-necked plesiosaurs brought it up in river deltas
Researchers in China stressed 120 young adults and found relaxing music helped their heart rate and mood recover faster than water sounds, while listening beforehand did not blunt the stress
A UC Davis study found just three minutes with miniature horses and donkeys left 61 teenagers calmer and less lonely, and those who saw an animal choose to walk away felt the biggest drop in sadness
Researchers sifting 8,173 insect remains from a burial cave on Gran Canaria found granary weevils revealing it first stored grain, and blowflies showing the dead were placed inside right after death
A bear shoulder blade found in England in 1864 helped show that bear-baiting was established by the 12th century, about 400 years before Shakespeare’s London, as imports of live bears grew after 1066
University of Queensland engineers made a coating that releases rust-fighting molecules where it is damaged, and lab tests showed corrosion over 600 times slower than some top paints
Archaeologists checking a building plot in Italy found a 2,600-year-old Etruscan tomb where a Greek wine vessel painted with horsemen and a siren held the cremated bones of a person of high rank
Roebuck Castle, a medieval fortress long believed demolished, is hiding inside a Victorian-looking building at University College Dublin, where walls possibly from the early 1200s survive under plaster
A fully electric tractor that recharges from its own solar roof goes on sale in North America, runs about five hours per charge and could save small farms around $15,000 over five years
New Zealand’s kākāpō, a flightless parrot that fell to just 51 birds in 1995, now numbers 325 after 90 chicks joined the count, and conservationists are running out of safe islands for them
Scientists on Trinidad and Tobago’s first locally led deep-sea expedition followed 219 bubble streams to 25 cold seeps and found at least 20 possible new species, including an octopus first seen in 2014
Two Oregon State studies of 1,512 adults found social media support eased loneliness far less than real-life ties, and checking apps within 30 minutes of waking was tied to twice the odds of depression
NOAA scientists studying sponges collected in Alaska trawl surveys as early as 1997 identified nine deep-sea sponges new to science, including a red one so unusual that it needed a brand-new genus
Archaeologists on Sweden’s Gotland found 45 Roman silver coins and a gold ring buried beside a farm building around AD 450, and two coins are ancient forgeries probably made in what is now Ukraine
A volunteer photographer off Devon captured an octopus clinging to the fin of a Risso’s dolphin, and scientists say it shows how the biggest octopus boom in 75 years may be changing their diet
A 66-million-year-old feather found inside fossilized dinosaur poop in Montana belonged to a diving bird eaten by a predator, and its modern design may explain why some birds survived the asteroid










