Major Discoveries - Part 2
168 reports
Seljuk Food Storage Facility Unearthed at Ani World Heritage Site
Archaeologists at Ani in eastern Türkiye have uncovered a Seljuk-era food storage facility with five large ceramic jars, offering new evidence for food preservation and urban organization in the medieval city
Roman Villa Mosaics Uncovered at Ancient Pompeiopolis in Türkiye
Archaeologists in northern Türkiye have revealed extensive Roman mosaics during renewed excavations at Pompeiopolis, offering new evidence for elite architecture and decorative practices in Anatolia's Roman period
LiDAR Reveals Monumental Earthworks of Ancient Amazonian Society
Aerial LiDAR mapping in southwestern Amazonia has identified thousands of previously unknown monumental earthworks, expanding the known scale of pre-Columbian landscape engineering and challenging assumptions about ancient Amazonian population density
LiDAR Uncovers Hundreds of Ancient Geoglyphs in Amazon Rainforest
Aerial laser scanning has revealed nearly 400 previously unknown earthworks beneath the Amazon rainforest canopy, offering new evidence for the scale and organization of the Aquiry society that flourished in western Brazil over two millennia ago
Chinese Long March 3B Rocket Struck by Lightning Survives Launch
A Long March 3B rocket was hit by lightning seconds after liftoff from Xichang Satellite Launch Center, yet continued its ascent and successfully deployed a geostationary relay satellite to support China's Tiangong space station
Salyut 6 Space Station Deorbited After Five Years in Orbit
The Soviet Salyut 6 space station, operational since 1977, was deliberately deorbited on July 29, 1982, after supporting multiple long-duration missions and pioneering new space station technologies
SpaceX Starship Remains Afloat in Indian Ocean After Test Splashdown
SpaceX's Starship Version 3 upper stage was photographed floating intact in the Indian Ocean five days after its July 24 flight test, offering a rare look at the vehicle's post-splashdown condition and raising questions about rapid reusability
NASA's Swift Boost Mission Faces Setback After Spacecraft Malfunction
NASA's Swift Boost mission, launched to extend the life of the Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory, has encountered a critical control issue with its LINK spacecraft, raising uncertainty about the planned orbital rescue operation
Silicon Spin QPU Runs Autonomously with Cryogenic Control Chip
HRL Laboratories has demonstrated an 18-qubit silicon spin quantum processor operating with a cryogenic CMOS controller, eliminating real-time room-temperature control and addressing key wiring and thermal bottlenecks in quantum hardware
Webb Telescope Study Links Little Red Dots to Black Hole Activity
Astronomers using the James Webb Space Telescope have traced the origins of mysterious 'little red dots' in deep space, suggesting these compact sources are linked to phases of intense supermassive black hole activity
Chandra X-ray Observatory reveals hot gas from early quasar
NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory has detected extremely hot gas surrounding a distant, radio-quiet quasar, offering new insight into the formation of galactic cluster atmospheres in the early universe
World War II Air Raid Shelter Trench Uncovered in Quedlinburg
Archaeologists in Quedlinburg, Germany, have documented a rare World War II-era air raid shelter trench, exposed during construction work and offering new evidence for civilian defensive measures in the final years of the conflict
Dwarf Galaxy DF9 Found Without Dark Matter After Cosmic Collision
Astronomers using the Keck Cosmic Web Imager have identified a faint dwarf galaxy, DF9, that appears to lack dark matter, supporting the idea that galactic collisions can separate dark and visible matter
Milky Way Disk May Have Flipped, Altering Solar System's Orbit
Supercomputer simulations suggest the Milky Way's spiral disk may have rotated by 90 degrees in the distant past, potentially changing the solar system's path and explaining the galaxy's unusually slow stellar halo rotation
NASA Prepares Roman Space Telescope for 2026 Launch to L2 Orbit
NASA has fueled the Roman Space Telescope, a next-generation infrared observatory scheduled for launch in August 2026, aiming to collect hundreds of terabytes of cosmic data annually and expand studies of dark matter, dark energy, and exoplanets
Early Bronze Age Temple Complex Uncovered at Tadım Castle Site
Archaeologists have identified a 5,000-year-old temple complex with ritual altars and hearths at Tadım Castle in eastern Türkiye, providing new evidence for religious practices and long-term occupation during the Early Bronze Age
Radio Telescopes Track Space Debris in Geostationary Orbit
Engineers have demonstrated that radio telescopes can detect and monitor space debris in geostationary orbit, using radar signals reflected from distant objects beyond the reach of conventional tracking methods
VLT Reveals Strongest Evidence Yet for Betelgeuse's Companion Star
Astronomers using the Very Large Telescope have obtained the clearest direct image to date of a faint companion star near Betelgeuse, advancing a century-long search for evidence that the red supergiant is part of a binary system
Africa's BALLS Radio Array to Ride Chang'e 8 to Lunar South Pole
A trio of spherical radio astronomy probes from Africa is set to launch aboard China's Chang'e 8 lander in 2029, aiming to deploy at the moon's south pole and test low-frequency radio observations beyond Earth's atmospheric limits
MIT's VLASH Method Enables Faster, Smoother Robot Movements
Researchers at MIT have introduced VLASH, a planning technique that lets robots predict their future positions, reducing pauses and improving speed in tasks like pick-and-place and dynamic manipulation
Bronze Age Tomb in UAE Used for Over a Millennium Revealed
Archaeologists have excavated a communal tomb at Qattarah Necropolis in Al Ain, UAE, showing continuous use from the Wadi Suq period through the Iron Age. Isotope and ancient DNA analysis may clarify population origins and burial practices
Curiosity-Driven AI Robots Show Faster Language Learning in Simulation
Researchers at the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology have built virtual robots that learn language tasks more efficiently by rewarding curiosity, revealing new patterns of play-like behavior and adaptability in controlled experiments
Cut Marks on Homo antecessor Bones Reveal Early Cannibalism in Spain
Archaeologists have identified new evidence of cannibalism among Homo antecessor at Gran Dolina cave in Spain, with cut marks on adult and juvenile bones dating to around 850,000 years ago, expanding our understanding of early human behavior
Early Medieval Cemetery Confirmed Beneath Altenberge Church Site
Radiocarbon dating of human remains from excavations at St John the Baptist Church in Altenberge, Germany, has established the presence of an early medieval cemetery, providing direct evidence for Christian burial at the site over a millennium ago
Excavation in Kaliningrad Reveals Four Centuries of Königsberg Life
Archaeologists in Kaliningrad's Far Forstadt district have uncovered well-preserved artifacts and infrastructure spanning the 16th to 20th centuries, offering new evidence for daily life, craft production, and urban change in historic Königsberg
Early Roman Defenses and Rare Finds Unearthed at Vindonissa Camp
Archaeologists at Vindonissa, Switzerland's key Roman legionary camp, have uncovered the first confirmed section of its original defensive wall, a legionary barracks, and a rare gold coin, offering new evidence for the site's earliest military occupation
Swift Observatory Detects Black Hole Consuming Star Far From Galaxy Core
NASA's Swift Observatory has observed a rare tidal disruption event caused by a supermassive black hole devouring a star on the outskirts of a distant galaxy, challenging assumptions about where such events occur
NASA Astronaut Chris Williams Completes First ISS Mission After Eight Months
NASA astronaut Chris Williams has returned to Earth after spending eight months aboard the International Space Station, supporting scientific research and technology upgrades during Expedition 74
Chandra X-ray Data Reveal Black Hole Jet Disrupting Early Galaxy
Astronomers using the Chandra X-ray Observatory have detected a jet from a supermassive black hole disturbing gas in a distant galaxy known as the 'red potato,' offering new insight into how black holes can suppress star formation in the early universe
Viking 1's First Mars Surface Image Revisited on 50th Anniversary
NASA has released the original images captured by Viking 1 after its 1976 Mars landing, offering a detailed look at the Red Planet's surface and the mission's scientific legacy
Part 2 of 6