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Stories from Margherita Bassi

Humans have continuously lived and worked aboard the International Space Station (ISS) since November 2000.

NASA to Bring ISS Crew Home Early Because of an Astronaut’s Health Issue, Marking the First Medical Evacuation of the Spacecraft

The unnamed crew member is in stable condition after an undisclosed incident on Wednesday, but the agency is bringing them back to Earth for medical testing

Some octopuses have incredible camouflaging abilities. 

Inspired by Octopus Skin, This Synthetic Material Can Change Color and Texture on Demand

The animals’ camouflaging capabilities have long inspired humans. The new material could one day help researchers improve robotics or electronic screens

Many people in Britain and Ireland started the year off with an annual flower-hunting event.

Hundreds of Flowering Species Bloomed Across Britain and Ireland Last Winter. That’s Not a Good Thing

Citizen scientists in the British Isles documented more than 300 native plant species blooming in early 2025, a phenomenon likely caused by climate change

An artistic representation of a galaxy cluster forming shortly after the universe began

This Early-Universe Cluster of Galaxies Is Way Hotter Than It Should Be

Gas within the cluster, which existed merely 1.4 billion years after the Big Bang, is at least five times hotter than computer simulations predict it should be, a study suggests

Bones from a chimpanzee on the left, Sahelanthropus tchadensis in the center, and an Australopithecus species on the right

New Fossil Analysis Suggests This Seven-Million-Year-Old Primate Walked on Two Legs, Potentially Making It the Oldest Known Human Ancestor

Fresh findings about arm and leg bones advance the debate over whether Sahelanthropus tchadensis was bipedal, but not everyone is convinced

An artistic representation of a superkilonova

In a First, Astronomers May Have Witnessed a Rare Double Explosion of a Star Called a Superkilonova

A massive star may have burst, leaving behind two dense, dead cores, which then collided and caused another explosion

An artistic representation of exoplanet PSR J2322-2650b, on the left, and the pulsar it orbits, on the right

This Lemon-Shaped Planet Has an Atmosphere Unlike Anything Astronomers Have Ever Seen

The James Webb Space Telescope detected an atmosphere rich with carbon and helium, which is unexpected on this hot planet roughly 2,000 light-years from Earth

Morteratsch Glacier in Switzerland

How Many Glaciers Will Survive Until the End of the Century? These Four Scenarios Show It’s Not Looking Good

Researchers calculated every glacier’s lifespan and found that even at the most ambitious Paris Agreement goal, the planet would lose around half of its 200,000 glaciers by 2100

Ancient bees built nests in the hollows of rodent skulls, a new study suggests

Fossils Suggest That Some Ancient Burrowing Bees Made Their Homes in Rodent Skulls

While cleaning fossils retrieved from a cave on a Caribbean island, a researcher noticed something strange in the hollow tooth socket of a small skull

The reproductive structures of cycads, an ancient seed plant, heat up with infrared radiation to attract beetle pollinators, a new study suggests. 

Before the First Brilliantly Colored Flowers Bloomed, Dinosaur-Era Plants Emitted Heat to Attract Pollinators

Some plants produce heat, which has long puzzled botanists. But a new study suggests that infrared radiation is an ancient method to lure beetle pollinators

Time passes by faster on Mars than on Earth.

How to Keep Time on Mars: Clocks on the Red Planet Would Tick a Bit Differently Than Those on Earth

On average, Martian time ticks roughly 477 millionths of a second faster than terrestrial clocks per Earth day. But the Red Planet’s elongated orbit causes the time difference to vary as Mars travels around the sun

Elihu Vedder's 19th-century painting "Star of Bethlehem"

The Bible’s Star of Bethlehem May Have Been a Comet, Analysis of Ancient Records Suggests

An odd star brightened for more than 70 days in 5 B.C.E., according to a Chinese text. The object may have been a comet that looked like it rose, then stood still over Bethlehem

A new study hints that Australia's first people arrived via a major northern route and a smaller southern route. 

Modern Humans Reached Australia Around 60,000 Years Ago via Two Routes, Genetic Analysis Suggests

The study bolsters one hypothesis of when people arrived at the landmass that became Australia and other islands, and presents some of the earliest evidence of seafaring

Excess weight can harm a cat's quality of life and exacerbate health conditions.

Can GLP-1s Help Fat Cats Lose Weight? The First Clinical Trial Testing the Drugs for Weight Loss in Felines Has Begun

San Francisco-based pharmaceutical company OKAVA is investigating an implant that slowly releases a GLP-1 medication for up to six months

"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

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