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Stories from Margherita Bassi

New research suggests that land-based echidnas descended from semi-aquatic mammals. 

A Single Prehistoric Bone Might Rewrite the History of the World’s Strangest Mammals

Analysis of the fossil suggests that the only two egg-laying mammals, platypuses and land-based echidnas, both descended from a semi-aquatic creature

The ancient people of Carthage, located in modern Tunisia, did not have ancestry in common with the Levantine Phoenicians that established their culture, according to a new study.

Carthaginians, Ancient Rome’s Infamous Enemies, Are Not Exactly Who Scholars Thought They Were, Ancestry Study Suggests

DNA reveals that the people of Carthage, a powerful independent colony founded by the Phoenicians, had little genetic similarity to their counterparts in the Levant

Italian researchers have devised a scientific recipe to get cacio e pepe right every time.

Researchers Have the Perfect Cacio e Pepe Recipe Down to a Science—Literally

Cooking the famous, creamy pasta sauce is as delicious as it is frustrating, because the cheese tends to clump when exposed to heat. That’s why Italian scientists created a new technique that’s “simple yet precise”

Workers prepare Venera 4, a Soviet space probe, for its flight to Venus' atmosphere in 1967.

A Soviet Spacecraft Is About to Crash Back to Earth After Being Stuck in Orbit for 53 Years

The Cosmos 482 lander was intended to reach Venus, but it has instead been circling Earth since 1972

A "bone collector" caterpillar sits in a cobweb with a spider and its egg sac. The newly discovered moth species disguises itself as a larva by covering itself with insect parts.

Researchers Discover a Rare, Carnivorous Caterpillar That Wears Dead Insect Parts to Fool Spiders

The species, dubbed the “bone collector,” belongs to an ancient lineage of moths older than the Hawaiian island of Oahu, which is the only place it’s known to live today

An artistic rendering of an exoplanet in a tight orbit, followed by a dusty, comet-like tail of debris.

Astronomers Discover a Doomed Exoplanet That’s Crumbling Away and Leaving Behind a Comet-Like Tail

The planet orbits its host star in just 30.5 hours, losing a mass of material roughly equal to Mount Everest each time

Microscopic images of the bacteria and mycelium scaffolds. The circles indicate the likely presence of S. pasteurii bacteria.

New, ‘Living’ Building Material Made From Fungi and Bacteria Could Pave the Way to Self-Healing Structures

Researchers are developing the biomaterial as a more environmentally friendly alternative to concrete, but any wide-scale use is still far away

For the first time known to scientists, a team has documented chimps sharing alcoholic fruit.

Watch Wild Chimpanzees Share Alcoholic Fruit, a Behavior Just Captured on Video for the First Time

Though the reason behind this action is unclear, researchers suggest socially consuming alcohol may have offered evolutionary benefits to a common ancestor of both humans and chimps

A reconstruction of a Neanderthal man in the Natural History Museum, Vienna. A new study suggests Neanderthals could not adapt to a period of increased radiation as well as early modern humans did.

Sunscreen, Clothing and Caves May Have Given Modern Humans an Edge Over Neanderthals When Earth’s Magnetic Field Wandered

A new study suggests the extinction of Neanderthals nearly coincided with a shift in Earth’s magnetic field that let more radiation reach the ground. Our species might have adapted more easily

The winning humanoid, called Tiangong Ultra, races alongside human runners. It completed a half-marathon in about 2 hours and 40 minutes.

Humanoid Robots Just Raced Alongside Human Runners in a World-First Half-Marathon. Here’s How It Went

The race, held in China on Saturday, showcases the country’s advancements in humanoid technology. Still, only 6 of the 21 robot contestants made it across the finish line

A rendering of a Sunbird rocket detaching from its station to dock onto an approaching spacecraft.

Fusion Rockets Could Theoretically Cut Our Travel Time to Mars in Half. This U.K. Startup Wants to Give It a Try

The company’s ambitious new Sunbird design aims to harness nuclear fusion in space, despite the fact that commercializing such energy on Earth remains a faraway dream

Researchers recently captured the first-ever confirmed video of the colossal squid in its natural habitat.

Check Out the First Confirmed Footage of the Colossal Squid, a Rare and Enigmatic Deep-Sea Species

Most of what we know about the elusive creature comes from research on its remains found in whale stomachs, but scientists just filmed a one-foot-long juvenile in the South Atlantic Ocean

Matteo Paz with Caltech President Thomas F. Rosenbaum after winning the Regeneron Science Talent Search award.

High School Student Discovers 1.5 Million Potential New Astronomical Objects by Developing an A.I. Algorithm

The 18-year-old won $250,000 for training a machine learning model to analyze understudied data from NASA’s retired NEOWISE telescope

Glowing "milky seas," seen here from a satellite, have confused and captivated sailors for centuries.

Glowing ‘Milky Seas’ Have Baffled Sailors for Centuries—New Research Brings Scientists One Step Closer to Solving the Mystery

Historical accounts of vast ocean waters glowing in the dark go back hundreds of years, and researchers are still trying to determine exactly what triggers the phenomenon

Comet C/2025 F2 (SWAN) captured from California. 

A Newly Discovered and Brilliantly Green Comet Is Dazzling Astronomers. Here’s What to Know About the Glowing Celestial Visitor

Initial observations suggest the comet, called C/2025 F2 (SWAN), will continue getting brighter as it approaches the sun. Northern Hemisphere viewers with binoculars can currently spot it in early morning skies

A subset of more than 1,000 neurons, representing just a snapshot of the complexity mapped within a cubic millimeter of mouse brain tissue

In a World First, Researchers Mapped Part of a Mouse’s Brain in Incredible Detail. It’s a Leap Forward for Neuroscience

The 3D brain map includes more than 200,000 cells, 523 million synapses and over two miles of axons, representing the most detailed wiring diagram of a piece of mammal brain ever constructed

An artistic rendering of the moment when the first white dwarf explodes and spews material at the second white dwarf, which itself is about to explode. 

Astronomers Discover a Rare White Dwarf Pair Doomed to Explode in a Brilliant Supernova

The event will be ten times brighter than our Moon in the night sky, but never fear, it won’t happen for another 23 billion years

NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover spotted a large dust devil (on the right) consuming a smaller, fainter twister (on the left in the foreground).

Watch a Spinning Martian Dust Devil ‘Consume’ Another in a New Video Captured by NASA’s Perseverance Rover

Tracking dust devils helps researchers learn more about Mars’ atmosphere, wind and weather conditions

Romulus and Remus, pups that the company Colossal Biosciences says are the first dire wolves to roam the planet in several thousand years, are seen at one month old.

Have Dire Wolves, Which Went Extinct More Than 10,000 Years Ago, Really Been Brought Back to Life?

Pioneers in the science of “de-extinction,” an American company has announced the births of three pups whose genes resemble those of a species that hasn’t roamed Earth for millennia

Also known as by-the-wind sailors, the free-floating Velella velella are coating California beaches once again.

Odd-Looking Blue Creatures Are Washing Up in Large Groups on California’s Beaches Once Again

Strandings of these jellyfish-like animals, sometimes called “by-the-wind sailors,” usually mean spring is coming

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