Science

Geology, paleontology, physics, space and the natural world

In Science, ECOnews reports on new discoveries in geology, paleontology, physics, space, health and the natural world. We explain the latest studies from universities and labs worldwide in plain language.

SpaceX Dragon spacecraft docked to the International Space Station above Earth.

NASA contracted SpaceX for $843 million to develop the U.S. Deorbit Vehicle that will guide the 945,000-pound Space Station into a remote ocean corridor after the last crew returns, controlling the debris footprint

By ECONEWS

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August 21, 2026 at 6:30 AM

Anker SOLIX Solarbank 4 home battery connected to a residential power outlet.

Anker’s 5 kWh Solarbank 4 battery promises £398 annual savings by shifting electricity use through time, yet UK plug-in rules cover only solar panels, requiring hardwired installation by a licensed electrician

By ECONEWS

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August 20, 2026 at 12:30 PM

Ancient Egyptian ostracon with handwritten ink inscription on pottery fragments.

The viral story of honey tasting edible from an Egyptian tomb 3,000 years later has strong chemistry but weak documentation, with the famous jar, archaeologist, and safety test remaining elusive

By ECONEWS

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August 20, 2026 at 10:25 AM

Illustration of the Chicxulub asteroid striking Mexico’s Yucatán Peninsula 66 million years ago.

A carbonaceous asteroid 10-15 kilometers wide struck Mexico’s Yucatán 66 million years ago at 64,000 km/h, and isotope analysis now pinpoints its origin beyond Jupiter as a rare CO-type meteorite

By ECONEWS

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August 20, 2026 at 6:30 AM

dolmen-i-la-lentejuela-archaeological-excavation

A 13-meter dolmen tomb in southern Spain preserves ivory, amber, shells, and flint from 5,000 years ago, offering context for burial customs and long-distance trade networks rather than a treasure cache

By Adrian Villellas

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August 19, 2026 at 5:30 PM

Electra EL9 hybrid-electric aircraft shown in flight with eight electric propellers.

Electra plans a $850 million aircraft factory in Springfield, Ohio, to build nine-passenger electric planes, but whether the climate case holds depends on what trips actually get replaced

By ECONEWS

—

August 19, 2026 at 6:30 AM

Silver coin from Magnus Barefoot’s reign showing a griffin and cross design.

A metal detectorist found a silver coin from Magnus Barefoot’s reign, the first of its type in Norway, but it had been deliberately remade as jewelry, suggesting medieval economies shifted after coins lost value

By ECONEWS

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August 18, 2026 at 6:03 PM

Illustration of near-Earth asteroid 2024 YR4 passing through space near Earth.

NASA ruled out the asteroid that once had a 3.1% chance of hitting Earth in 2032, and the reason those odds moved so sharply is not what it seems

By Adrian Villellas

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August 18, 2026 at 7:21 AM

Close-up of an Aedes aegypti mosquito, the species tested for susceptibility to alpha-cypermethrin.

A laboratory dose of insecticide killed 97.91% of the mosquitoes that spread dengue, and the tiny fraction that survived is what has researchers in Delhi worried

By ECONEWS

—

August 17, 2026 at 10:15 AM

Hydrothermal formations at the Lost City field deep beneath the Atlantic Ocean.

Scientists drilled 4,160 feet into the Atlantic seafloor and found water with a chemical fingerprint of 572°F heating, a clue to how Lost City’s rare alkaline vents survive

By ECONEWS

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August 17, 2026 at 6:35 AM

Humpback whale with her newborn calf off Kingscliff, Australia

A wildlife photographer captured a humpback whale giving birth, a moment so rare and raw that no aerial footage existed before

By ECONEWS

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August 12, 2026 at 3:00 PM

Ancient hominin footprints preserved across a fossil track surface near Lake Turkana in Kenya.

Eight hominins crossed the same muddy shore 1.43 million years ago, their footprints a rare window into ancient company and movement

By ECONEWS

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August 11, 2026 at 5:00 PM

NASA’s New Horizons flew past Pluto just once in 2015, but more than a decade later scientists returned to its old images and found evidence that liquid nitrogen may have flowed across the frozen surface

By ECONEWS

—

August 10, 2026 at 2:56 PM

A Byzantine ship that had been sunk at the bottom of the Adriatic Sea for more than 1,300 years was discovered, and after recovering its 600 grams of gold, archaeologists realized that it was likely not carrying just any passengers

By ECONEWS

—

August 10, 2026 at 12:21 PM

567-million-year-old fossil site in Canada where early animals lived and moved across the seafloor

Scientists have discovered fossils of creatures that lived 567 million years ago in remote mountains in Canada, and some of them were already capable of moving across the seafloor even though they didn’t even have mouths

By Adrian Villellas

—

August 9, 2026 at 2:12 PM

Man excavating the forest floor where a 2,700-year-old bronze sword was found in Poland

A man was searching for objects with his metal detector in a forest in Poland when he found a 2,700-year-old sword, and as soon as he saw it, he realized it was best not to dig it up

By ECONEWS

—

August 9, 2026 at 5:31 AM

Mouse performing a touchscreen selective attention task used to study how the brain filters visual distractions.

Silencing ancient brainstem neurons made mice far more distractible, the first evidence that evolution kept an old attention circuit alongside newer brain systems

By ECONEWS

—

August 8, 2026 at 12:30 PM

Natural-color view of crescent Mars captured by NASA's Psyche spacecraft during its May 2026 gravity-assist flyby.

NASA’s Psyche spacecraft borrowed Mars’ gravity in May 2026, gaining a thousand miles per hour and testing instruments built to study a metal-rich asteroid

By ECONEWS

—

August 8, 2026 at 10:15 AM

Illustration of Earth's molten outer core with ESA Swarm satellites monitoring changes in the planet's magnetic field.

Around 2010, iron-rich liquid beneath the Pacific switched direction inside Earth’s outer core, a reversal that peaked then weakened again by 2020

By ECONEWS

—

August 8, 2026 at 6:30 AM

Researchers operating a neutron scattering instrument used to detect deep quantum entanglement inside a strange metal crystal.

Nine quantum components act together in a strange metal sample, showing how a solid you could hold reveals the hidden teamwork of the quantum world

By ECONEWS

—

August 7, 2026 at 6:30 PM

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Science

NASA contracted SpaceX for $843 million to develop the U.S. Deorbit Vehicle that will guide the 945,000-pound Space Station into a remote ocean corridor after the last crew returns, controlling the debris footprint

Anker’s 5 kWh Solarbank 4 battery promises £398 annual savings by shifting electricity use through time, yet UK plug-in rules cover only solar panels, requiring hardwired installation by a licensed electrician

The viral story of honey tasting edible from an Egyptian tomb 3,000 years later has strong chemistry but weak documentation, with the famous jar, archaeologist, and safety test remaining elusive

A carbonaceous asteroid 10-15 kilometers wide struck Mexico’s Yucatán 66 million years ago at 64,000 km/h, and isotope analysis now pinpoints its origin beyond Jupiter as a rare CO-type meteorite

A 13-meter dolmen tomb in southern Spain preserves ivory, amber, shells, and flint from 5,000 years ago, offering context for burial customs and long-distance trade networks rather than a treasure cache

Electra plans a $850 million aircraft factory in Springfield, Ohio, to build nine-passenger electric planes, but whether the climate case holds depends on what trips actually get replaced

A metal detectorist found a silver coin from Magnus Barefoot’s reign, the first of its type in Norway, but it had been deliberately remade as jewelry, suggesting medieval economies shifted after coins lost value

NASA ruled out the asteroid that once had a 3.1% chance of hitting Earth in 2032, and the reason those odds moved so sharply is not what it seems

A laboratory dose of insecticide killed 97.91% of the mosquitoes that spread dengue, and the tiny fraction that survived is what has researchers in Delhi worried

Scientists drilled 4,160 feet into the Atlantic seafloor and found water with a chemical fingerprint of 572°F heating, a clue to how Lost City’s rare alkaline vents survive

A wildlife photographer captured a humpback whale giving birth, a moment so rare and raw that no aerial footage existed before

Eight hominins crossed the same muddy shore 1.43 million years ago, their footprints a rare window into ancient company and movement

NASA’s New Horizons flew past Pluto just once in 2015, but more than a decade later scientists returned to its old images and found evidence that liquid nitrogen may have flowed across the frozen surface

A Byzantine ship that had been sunk at the bottom of the Adriatic Sea for more than 1,300 years was discovered, and after recovering its 600 grams of gold, archaeologists realized that it was likely not carrying just any passengers

Scientists have discovered fossils of creatures that lived 567 million years ago in remote mountains in Canada, and some of them were already capable of moving across the seafloor even though they didn’t even have mouths

A man was searching for objects with his metal detector in a forest in Poland when he found a 2,700-year-old sword, and as soon as he saw it, he realized it was best not to dig it up

Silencing ancient brainstem neurons made mice far more distractible, the first evidence that evolution kept an old attention circuit alongside newer brain systems

NASA’s Psyche spacecraft borrowed Mars’ gravity in May 2026, gaining a thousand miles per hour and testing instruments built to study a metal-rich asteroid

Around 2010, iron-rich liquid beneath the Pacific switched direction inside Earth’s outer core, a reversal that peaked then weakened again by 2020

Nine quantum components act together in a strange metal sample, showing how a solid you could hold reveals the hidden teamwork of the quantum world

In Romania’s Brașov County, brown bears number about 1,329 by a national genetic estimate, the highest density of any county, and one bear relocated from Poiana Brașov was back within 3 days

More than 40 Magellanic penguins born in captivity arrived by court order from Mar del Plata at a river island in Argentina’s Río Negro province, and at first they had not explored even a third of their new home

In Japan, researchers led by Tohoku University used an inexpensive blue pigment to turn carbon dioxide into methane with 79.5% Faradaic efficiency, and methane selectivity stayed above 60% for about 80 hours

At 8.2 feet on Oct. 13, the Lake Constance water level in Konstanz, Germany, fell below a 1947 record for the date, and it now sits 10 inches under last winter’s low

A simulated AMOC collapse in an unreviewed preprint cut wheat, corn and rice harvests in Germany and Ukraine by roughly 16 to 19 percent, and cereal prices could climb up to 40 percent in the worst case

A landslide in Alaska’s Tracy Arm fjord sent a tsunami 1,578 feet up the opposite wall, and a Science study found small tremors striking every 30 to 60 seconds in the hours before the collapse

A company won a mining license for a magnesium deposit it estimates at more than 50 million metric tons near Rășinari, in Romania’s Sibiu County, and the EU gets 97 percent of its magnesium from China

Leap seconds will end on May 20, 2027, under a rule the General Conference on Weights and Measures adopted in Versailles, France, and a new study finds Earth’s solid surface turning slightly rounder as polar ground rises

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