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Stories from Margherita Bassi

"The Fall of Icarus" 

This Stunning Image Shows a Skydiver Falling Across the Face of the Sun. Here’s How the Team Captured the Mesmerizing Photo

Months of careful planning and calculations went into the shot. Then, the team had only one jump attempt to get it right

Research indicates that coral reefs have been tuning Earth's cycles for hundreds of millions of years. 

For More Than 250 Million Years, Coral Reefs Have Had a Major Influence on Earth’s Changing Climate

The planet has been flipping between two main modes of carbon recovery depending on the state of coral reefs, new research suggests

A French physicist developed an equation to predict how things shatter. 

From Crushed Sugar Cubes to Exploded Ceramics, This Universal Law Predicts How Most Objects Will Shatter

A new equation calculates how many fragments of each size will be produced when an object breaks. The principle could help people prepare for rockfalls or other real-world scenarios

A supermoon in December 2017

Look Up This Week to See the Bright ‘Cold’ Moon, the Last Supermoon of the Year

December’s full moon will reach peak brightness on Thursday, but it will look striking for the next few nights—especially when it’s just above the horizon

A gray seal mother feeding a pup

The Mammal With the Most Complex Milk Might Not Be Humans, After All. The Atlantic Gray Seal Could Take That Title

A new study found 332 types of complex sugar molecules in the seals’ milk, some of which help protect young from harmful bacteria. The discovery might one day help improve human health by boosting babies’ immune systems

Genetic analyses revealed some of the winding paths behind the spread of domestic cats.

When Did Domestic Cats Take Over the World? New Research Suggests They Arrived in Europe and China Centuries Later Than We Thought

Two genetic analyses suggest that our feline friends reached China around 1,400 years ago via the Silk Road, and that they traveled from North Africa to Europe around 2,000 years ago

Oliver and his father, Ricky

This Toddler Was the First Person to Receive a Test Treatment for a Rare Genetic Disorder. Nine Months Later, His Progress Is Inspiring Hope

Oliver Chu is one of five kids participating in a clinical trial investigating a gene therapy for Hunter syndrome, a disorder with symptoms akin to childhood dementia that limits life expectancy

Researchers used more than 400 samples of materials, such as this carbon-rich substance, to train and test the new A.I. system. 

A.I. Reveals Signs of Early Life in 3.3-Billion-Year-Old Rocks. Next, It Could Continue the Search in Space

The new approach looks at the distribution of molecular fragments in material, allowing for broad surveys in degraded specimens

The moss spores germinated after enduring space outside of the ISS.

Moss Spores Survived Nine Months Outside the International Space Station. Then, They Grew Normally on Earth

While lunar gardens are still out of reach, the study sheds more light on terrestrial biology that may not be limited to our planet’s surface

A judge temporarily blocked the sale of this Pascaline, the only known example of a Pascaline used to measure distances. 

One of the World’s Oldest Calculators Was Up for Auction. Then, Scientists Rallied and Temporarily Blocked Its Sale

French scholars argued that the 17th-century Pascaline should go to a public collection and stay within the country. But a Paris court may take months to make a final decision on the device’s fate

A computer simulation of a black hole being born

The Most Massive Black Hole Merger Ever Seen Was So Rare, It Seemed Impossible. Now, Astrophysicists May Finally Have an Explanation

Past research about black hole births rarely included magnetic fields or the spins of the precursor stars. But considering those factors could explain the origins of two unusual objects that collided

New research suggests multilingualism may slow cognitive aging. 

Neuroscientists Studied More Than 80,000 People and Found That Speaking Multiple Languages Might Slow Down Brain Aging

An enormous analysis of data from a broad array of participants found an association between multilingualism and cognitive aging

One of the woolly mammoth's legs

Scientists Extract the Oldest RNA Ever Found, Revealing How a Woolly Mammoth’s Genes May Have Functioned 40,000 Years Ago

The frozen remains of a juvenile woolly mammoth named Yuka preserved details about the animal’s last moments alive

Modern-day crocodiles like this one arrived in Australia about 3.8 million years ago. But a distant branch of them that lived there tens of millions of years ago included some members that dropped from trees onto prey. 

Paleontologists Unearthed Australia’s Oldest Known Crocodile Eggshells. The Reptiles’ Relatives May Have Hunted From the Trees

The eggshells belonged to an extinct group of crocs, some members of which were “drop crocs” that plunged onto prey

Remoras hitch a ride on a humpback whale.

Watch Suckerfish Hitch a Wild Ride on Humpback Whales in Rare Video Footage

Suckerfish—also known as remoras—are harmless, but the whales didn’t seem to be fans of their hitchhiking

Tiny but mighty: Downy woodpeckers drill into trees with a force 20 to 30 times their body weight.

Downy Woodpeckers ‘Grunt’ as They Turn Their Bodies Into Hammers to Drill Into Trees

Researchers studied the combination of muscles and breaths that the tiny birds use as they strike trees with their beaks

This glimpse of the northern lights was captured in Missouri on November 11, 2025.

The Sun Erupted With the Year’s Largest Solar Flare This Week, and Space Weather-Fueled Aurora Activity Could Continue

The last in a series of three coronal mass ejections hit Earth on Wednesday, so experts are keeping an eye on geomagnetic storm potential

Researchers studied space dust in ocean sediment cores from the Arctic.

Researchers Used Space Dust to Build a Timeline of 30,000 Years of Arctic Sea Ice

Understanding the extent of past Arctic ice could help predict how the planet will respond to global warming

A clip from Georges Méliès' 1902 short film, A Trip to the Moon

In an Out-of-This-World Observation, a Museum Curator Filmed the Moon Getting Struck by Meteors—Twice

Lunar impacts could affect plans for future bases on the moon

Researchers found an association between moderate step counts and slower cognitive decline among people at risk of developing Alzheimer's. 

A Short Walk in the Park Might Slow Cognitive Decline in People at Risk of Developing Alzheimer’s

New research indicates that even moderate step counts, as low as 3,000 steps daily, were linked with delayed symptom onset

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