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Stories from Margherita Bassi

Researchers suggest 140,000-year-old child remains from Israel's Skhūl Cave may have belonged to a Homo sapiens-Neanderthal hybrid.

A Child’s Skull That Has Long Confounded Archaeologists Might Be a Human-Neanderthal Hybrid, Study Suggests

According to new CT scans and models, parts of the 140,000-year-old skull resemble those of modern humans, while the jaw appears to be more similar to those of our extinct relatives

A new study suggests dogs engage differently with TV programs based on their personalities.

How Do Dogs Watch TV? That Might Depend on Their Personalities, New Research Suggests

A survey-based study reveals how different dogs react to elements on TV, suggesting that personalized television enrichment could support animal welfare in shelters or at home

Researchers discover the secret behind Burmese pythons' ability to fully digest the bones of their prey.

Researchers Discover the Trick That Allows Burmese Pythons to Digest the Bones of Their Prey

Special intestinal cells collect excess minerals into particles the snakes can poop out, according to a new study

Researchers are hiding instructions for A.I. reviewers in preprint studies using white text, which is invisible on a white background.

Some Researchers Are Hiding Secret Messages in Their Papers, but They’re Not Meant for Humans

Journalists have uncovered a handful of preprint academic studies with hidden prompts instructing A.I. reviewers to give positive responses

Researchers announced they have discovered the most massive black hole merger by detecting gravitational waves.

Physicists Detect the Most Massive Black Hole Merger Ever Observed by Studying Gravitational Waves

A short-lived ripple in space-time revealed that two black holes merged into a giant black hole with the mass of 225 suns

Two killer whales "allokelping" with a kelp stem between them

These Killer Whales Make Tools From Kelp to Massage Each Other in a Newly Discovered Grooming Behavior

Dubbed “allokelping,” it might be a unique cultural phenomenon that’s as endangered as the orca population itself

In this image, light from the star TWA 7 has been subtracted. The potential exoplanet TWA 7 b is the orange circle within the blue debris disk.

The James Webb Space Telescope Reveals Its First Direct Image Discovery of an Exoplanet

Researchers identified the likely planetary candidate’s infrared light after blocking out its host star’s overwhelming glare

The Beni River snakes across the landscape in Bolivia, a country that has faced significant deforestation and is among the nations that have experienced the most forest loss globally.

These Colorful Satellite Views Reveal Our Forests in Unprecedented Detail and Showcase the Potential of the New Biomass Mission

The European Space Agency’s satellite will measure trunks, branches and stems in forests to shed light on how much carbon is stored in trees across various continents

These skeletons of two hunter-gatherer individuals excavated at the Checua archaeological site north of Bogotá, Colombia, helped uncover the genetic details of a mysterious population.

Ancient DNA Reveals Mysterious New Group of Humans in Colombia With No Genetic Ties to People Today

The previously undocumented lineage of hunter-gatherers seems to have disappeared around 2,000 years ago

The Dragon Man skull, described as Homo longi in 2021, belongs to a Denisovan, according to new research.

Iconic ‘Dragon Man’ Skull Offers First Glimpse of What a Denisovan’s Face Looked Like, New Genetic Studies Suggest

The mysterious ancient humans were only known from fossil fragments. Now, two papers argue a skull uncovered in China belongs to this group, after examining preserved DNA and proteins

A section of the new view of the Sculptor galaxy, featuring thousands of colors

Stunning New Image of the Sculptor Galaxy Captures the Cosmic Landscape in Thousands of Colors

The galaxy sits in a sweet spot that allows astronomers to study it in ways that can’t be applied to even our own Milky Way

Bolg amondol raids an oviraptorosaur dinosaur nest in an artistic reconstruction of how the species may have looked and behaved.

A Jar of Fossil Bones Long Stored at a Museum Led Scientists to Discover a Goblin-Like Lizard From 76 Million Years Ago

Fossils described in a new study speak to a previously unknown large-bodied lizard diversity that existed alongside dinosaurs

The sun’s corona on May 23, 2025, as imaged by the ASPIICS coronagraph aboard Proba-3. The hair-like structures appeared with the help of an image processing algorithm.

See the Beauty of an Artificial Solar Eclipse, Created With a First-of-Its-Kind, ‘Perfect’ Satellite Formation

Two satellites’ highly precise alignment allows scientists to study the sun’s outer atmosphere like never before

Scans of the painting retouched with a new technique during various stages in the process. On the right is the restored painting with the applied laminate mask.

Graduate Student Develops an A.I.-Based Approach to Restore Time-Damaged Artwork to Its Former Glory

The method could help bring countless old paintings, currently stored in the back rooms of galleries with limited conservation budgets, to light

The Solar Orbiter has captured the first-ever views of the sun's south pole.

See the First-Ever Direct Images of the Sun’s South Pole, Captured by the Solar Orbiter Spacecraft

The spacecraft’s tilted orbit will allow scientists to investigate the mechanisms behind space weather that impact crucial human activity on Earth

A satellite image captures the trail of destruction running through Kentucky's Daniel Boone National Forest left after a tornado swept across the state on May 16.

Kentucky’s Devastating Tornado in May Left a Trail of Destruction Visible From Space

Satellite imagery released by NASA features a giant brown streak where the storm sliced through the Daniel Boone National Forest

Wildtype's lab-grown salmon is now being sold at Kann, a Haitian restaurant in Portland, Oregon.

Lab-Grown Salmon Hits the Menu at an Oregon Restaurant as the FDA Greenlights the Cell-Cultured Product

The decision clears the way for the first cultured fish to join the small but growing alternative protein market

An artistic rendering of the Odyssey spacecraft in orbit over Mars. 

NASA Spacecraft Orbiting Mars Captures Image of Giant Ancient Volcano Just Before Dawn

The perspective is what astronauts would see out their window if there was an International Space Station flying around the red planet

Natural tower imaged on rotting pear from orchard in Konstanz, Germany.

Researchers Discover That Living Worm Towers Exist in Nature, Not Just in Horror Movies

A new study reveals that nematodes assemble into coordinated structures to catch a ride on passersby

A full moon on June 28, 2018, as seen from Manchester, England. The reddish glow is likely due to the 2018 Saddleworth Moor wildfires. 

Catch This Year’s Strawberry Moon Lighting Up the Sky on June 11

The last full moon before summer kicks off is one of the lowest of the year in the Northern Hemisphere

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