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NASA SpaceX's Crew-8 from left to right: Roscosmos cosmonaut Alexander Grebenkin and NASA astronauts Michael Barratt, Matthew Dominick and Jeanette Epps. Set to launch to the ISS on Saturday, the crew will not be impacted by the leak, NASA says.

A Leak on the International Space Station Is Growing, but It Poses No Threat to Crews, NASA Says

The leak, which is at the end of a Russian service module, will not affect the upcoming launch of Crew-8 to the station

The metal slab is called a tasset, a piece of armor worn over the upper thigh.

Cool Finds

Why Did Colonists Trash This Piece of Armor After Settling in Maryland 300 Years Ago?

The metal plate was unearthed in the cellar of a storehouse dating to the mid-1600s

Boiling and filtering tap water, researchers suggest, could reduce concentrations of microplastics by more than 80 percent.

Boiling Tap Water Could Help Remove 80 Percent of Its Microplastics, Study Suggests

Minerals in some tap water can capture tiny plastic particles when the water is boiled, making them easier to filter away, according to a new study

Residents were asked to evacuate for several hours while the military transported the bomb to a waiting ship.

10,000 People Were Evacuated So Experts Could Safely Detonate an Unexploded World War II-Era Bomb

Residents found the German explosive in a backyard garden in Plymouth, England

An image showing the Odysseus lander on the moon's surface. A piece of a landing leg has broken off on the left of the image. The gear still protected Odysseus as it touched down.

Odysseus Moon Lander Is Powering Down After ‘Very Successful’ Mission

The history-making spacecraft landed on its side, but it spent nearly a week sending data and images back from the moon—and engineers may try to make contact again after the lunar night is over

Math historian Glen Van Brummelen came across decimal points in Giovanni Bianchini's manuscript, Tabulae primi mobilis B.

New Research

The Decimal Point Is 150 Years Older Than Previously Thought, Medieval Manuscript Reveals

A Venetian merchant used the mathematical symbol while calculating the positions of planets between 1441 and 1450

Musician Don Henley leaving the Manhattan court on February 28, 2024

Don Henley of the Eagles Testifies That ‘Very Personal’ Handwritten Lyrics Were Stolen

The musician learned about the alleged theft when the drafts started appearing at auctions in 2012

The cat-eyed snake slithers in the Peruvian Amazon.

A Serpentine ‘Explosion’ 125 Million Years Ago Primed Snakes for Rapid, Diverse Evolution

Researchers say an evolutionary “singularity” led to several small, quick changes in snake species, from legless bodies and flexible skulls to chemical-sensing abilities

Without enough food, humpback whales become thinner, more susceptible to disease and less likely to reproduce.

7,000 Humpback Whales May Have Starved to Death During the ‘Blob’ Heatwave

The unprecedented marine heat between 2013 and 2016 in the North Pacific likely drove the whales’ 20 percent decline, a trend revealed by citizen science observations

Actor Anthony Daniels holds up the helmet he wore on the set of 1983's Return of the Jedi.

Star Wars Fans Can Soon Bid on C-3PO’s Head

Actor Anthony Daniels wore the golden helmet while playing the iconic droid in ‘Return of the Jedi’

A Brazilian flea toad sits on a Brazilian real. The coin is 27 millimeters across.

The World’s Smallest Vertebrate Is a Tiny Brazilian Frog, Study Finds

Adult male Brazilian flea toads are just over 7 millimeters long on average, and females measure about 8.15 millimeters

This 5,000-year-old ceramic vessel contains burnt food remnants that are helping scientists develop a more comprehensive understanding of food preparation in the region.

New Research

Archaeologists Discover Burnt Porridge Inside a 5,000-Year-Old Clay Pot

The leftovers shed new light on the dietary habits of residents of a village in Germany

Weliton Menário Costa dances in "Kangaroo Time," his winning music video about kangaroo behavior research.

Watch This Year’s ‘Dance Your PhD’ Contest Winner, a Musical Celebration of Kangaroo Behavior

“Kangaroo Time” took home the competition’s overall prize, while interpretive dances on early life adversity, circadian rhythms and streambank erosion were also honored

The novel is set during the early days of the pandemic, when New Yorkers applauded from their windows each night for medical staff and essential workers.

36 Famous Authors Co-Wrote a Pandemic Novel. Can You Guess Who Drafted Each Section?

Margaret Atwood, R.L. Stine and John Grisham are among the writers who collaborated on “Fourteen Days,” which follows a group of New Yorkers who gather on a Manhattan rooftop to swap stories beginning in March 2020

An illustration of the DART spacecraft next to the asteroid, Dimorphos, and the larger asteroid it orbits, Didymos.

Asteroid Hit by NASA Spacecraft Was Reshaped by the Collision, Study Finds

Instead of forming a crater, the agency’s intentional DART crash redistributed massive amounts of the asteroid and shot large quantities of rock into space

The clay head of the Roman god Mercury is roughly two inches long.

Cool Finds

Archaeologists Unearth ‘Incredibly Rare’ Roman-Era Clay Figurine of the God Mercury

The excavations led to the discovery of a previously unknown ancient Roman settlement in England

Because the fish are translucent and they lack skulls, they're a favorite research subject of neuroscientists.

This Tiny Fish Can Make Sounds That Rival an Airplane or an Elephant—Now, Scientists Know How

Transparent and just half an inch long, male Danionella cerebrum can make noises of more than 140 decibels

Remains of a stillborn infant with Down syndrome from the Iron Age, found in a 2,800-year-old house at the Las Eretas archaeological site in Spain.

DNA Reveals Presence of Down Syndrome in Ancient Society

The burials of infants with Down syndrome in Europe provide insight into how babies with genetic conditions were cared for in premodern times, according to a new study

Great Smoky Mountains National Park, which stretches across North Carolina and Tennessee, was the most-visited park of 2023.

These Were the Most—and Least—Popular National Parks in 2023

The National Park Service recorded 325,498,646 recreation visits across 400 sites, which is close to pre-pandemic levels

The mural, now known as Entrée du port, depicts buildings, ship banners and masts piercing a sky.

Cool Finds

This Cézanne Mural Was Hidden in the Walls of the Artist’s Family Home

Workers found fragments of a naval scene while renovating the mansion in the south of France

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