Science

Meteorites that crashed into Earth billions of years contain sugars, researchers say, lending support to the idea that asteroids may hold some of the ingredients to live. An international team of scientists found “bio-essential” sugars in meteorites, which also contain other biologically important compounds, according to a press release from …

Pakistan’s technology minister has confirmed that the country will be sending its first astronaut to space within the next three years, with the assistance of China. In an interview Sunday, Minister Fawad Chaudhry said that the selection process will begin in 2020 as Pakistan and its partner China commence preparations …

After a field experiment between 2013 and 2015, genetically modified mosquitoes are breeding in Brazil, while according to the researchers’ original plan, all released mosquitoes and their offspring should have died. An attempt to contain the populations of the yellow fever mosquito Aedes aegypti in Brazil may have failed. It …

A rare full moon, known as a “micro moon” will coincide with another rare event this week: Friday 13th. Our satellite will be at the furthest point in its orbit around the Earth. As a result, the moon will appear both smaller and dimmer in the night sky when viewed …

A group of astronomers may have found Earth’s long-lost cousin, discovering the first-ever “habitable” terrestrial planet with water in its atmosphere, according to new research aided by the Hubble telescope. Known as K2-18 b, the mysterious exoplanet is twice the size of Earth with eight times its mass, but its …

Call it a shocking discovery: DNA research has revealed two entirely new species of electric eel in the Amazon basin, including one capable of delivering a record-breaking jolt. The findings are evidence, researchers say, of the incredible diversity in the Amazon rainforest — much of it still unknown to science …

India lost contact with a spacecraft it was trying to land on the moon on Saturday, its space agency said, in a setback for the nation’s ambitious plans to become the first country to probe the unexplored lunar south pole. The lander of the Chandrayaan-2 moon mission was attempting a …

US space agency NASA is investigating what may be the first crime committed in outer space, The New York Times reported Saturday. Astronaut Anne McClain is accused of identity theft and improperly accessing her estranged wife’s private financial records while on a sixth-month mission aboard the International Space Station (ISS), …

An army of microbes is munching through the Titanic wreck, a rare dive has revealed. The famous ship has deteriorated since it was last visited, and will soon disappear entirely as it’s subsumed into the Atlantic Ocean. Deep ocean explorers recently visited the famous ship’s wreck, the first crewed dive …

A Nasa facility in Alabama that developed the giant rocket for the Apollo program in the 1960s will play a key role in sending astronauts down to the Moon’s surface in 2024. The Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville will lead the development of a vehicle that will land astronauts …

Astronomers have discovered millions of black holes in the Milky Way, including a giant hole 40 billion times the size of the Sun. According to a report published by the technical site “Mashable”, the black hole “Holberg 15a”, is a giant elliptical galaxy, about 700 million light-years from Earth. Holmberg …

A stargazer landed the shot of a lifetime on Wednesday after he captured extremely rare footage of a mysterious flash of light on Jupiter, which may have been an elusive meteor explosion. Texas astrophotographer Ethan Chappel captured the incredible sight while he was filming the planet, and said the event …

The remains of a super-sized parrot that stood more than half the height of an average human and roamed the earth 19 million years ago have been discovered in New Zealand. Judging by the size of the leg bones, the bird would have stood about 1m tall and weighed up …

Scientists say they have created the world’s first human-monkey hybrid in a laboratory in China. The researchers, who want to use animals to create organs for human life-saving transplants, say creating the hybrid was an important step. And they pledged to continue their experiments using primates. The team revealed that …

Two hurricanes, one of them a Category 3, are moving toward the Hawaiian islands — one heading straight for the island chain and another track slightly south. Hurricane Erick, the larger of the storms, is not expected to make landfall but parts of Hawaii could see increased wind gusts and …

The thigh bone of a giant dinosaur was found this week by French paleontologists at an excavation site in southwestern France where remains of some of the largest animals that ever lived on land have been dug up since 2010. The two-meter long femur at the Angeac-Charente site is thought …

A group of scientists has, for the first time, eliminated HIV DNA from the genomes of living animals, in what is being described as a critical step towards developing a cure for the AIDS virus. The groundbreaking study, published in the journal Nature Communications, revealed that treatment to suppress HIV …

Nasa will fly a drone helicopter mission to cost $1bn (£800m) on Saturn’s moon, Titan, in the 2030s. The rotorcraft will visit dozens of promising locations on Titan to investigate the chemistry that could lead to life. Titan plays host to many of the chemical processes that could have sparked …

More than 50 lakes have been discovered beneath the Greenland ice sheet, which scientists say could be home to examples of “extreme life”. The 56 subglacial lakes range in length from 200 meters up to 5.9km and bring the total known number of lakes under the ice sheet to 60. …

About 40,000 years ago, a wolf died in what we know as Siberia. Now its severed head has been found, and because of the freezing conditions, it is so well preserved that its fur, teeth, brain and facial tissue are largely intact. A Yakutia resident, Pavel Yefimov, found the head …