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A new chemical process uses an iron-based catalyst to turn carbon dioxide into jet fuel. So far the process has only been proven effective in lab settings, but if researchers can scale it up it could lessen the climate impact of air travel.

New Research

Scientists Use Iron to Turn Carbon Dioxide Into Jet Fuel

If the chemical reaction at the heart of the process can be scaled up, it could help reduce the carbon footprint of air travel

A newly described python species named Messelopython freyi. The 47-million-year-old specimen is the world’s oldest known fossil record of a python.

New Research

Oldest-Ever Python Fossil Found in Europe

The 47-million-year-old snake pushes the evolutionary origins of the group back some 20 million years

Scientists estimate that the snakes are responsible for decimating 90 to 99 percent of the small mammal population, and they're also known to strangle deer, alligators and birds.

Could Invasive Burmese Pythons Soon Be on the Menu in Florida?

The pythons have devastated the Everglades, and eating them could help control their growing population

The sculpture has stood in Boston's Park Square since 1879.

Boston Removes Controversial Statue of Lincoln With Kneeling Freed Man

The sculpture, installed in 1879, is based on one still standing in Washington, D.C.

The snack bars depicts a Nereid riding a sea-horse.

Ancient Pompeiians Stopped at This ‘Snack Bar’ to Feast on Snails, Fish and Wine

Archaeologists have uncovered food remnants at one of the city’s fast food joint, called thermopolia, where hungry ancients grabbed quick meals

Researchers found the jar while conducting excavations in the ancient city of Jaffa.

Archaeologists in Israel Unearth 3,800-Year-Old Skeleton of Baby Buried in a Jar

Researchers are unsure of the unusual funerary practice’s purpose, but one theory posits that the vessel serves as a symbolic womb

The group’s identification also highlights how much of ocean life—even when it comes to the largest sea creatures—has yet to be discovered.

Scientists Eavesdrop on New Population of Blue Whales Singing in the Indian Ocean

Scientists have identified a previously unknown blue whale song, suggesting that a distinct population had long gone undetected

An aerial view of the Mauseoleum of Augustus, which was recently renovated and will open to the public in Rome in 2021.

Virtual Travel

Take a Virtual Tour of the World’s Largest Circular Tomb, Augustus’ Mausoleum

The Roman landmark will reopen in 2021 after a 13-year restoration

Archaic Age people—like the ones who made these blades—arrived in the Caribbean around 6,000 years ago.

What Ancient DNA Reveals About the First People to Populate the Caribbean

New study suggests a group of migrants almost totally replaced the islands’ original population

Dead bird specimens seen in the collection of the Museum of Southwestern Biology in New Mexico on September 14, 2020.

Southwest Bird Die-Off Caused by Long-Term Starvation

New report finds majority of the birds found dead in early fall were emaciated

The African Burial Ground National Monument in Manhattan commemorates the earliest and largest known black burial site discovered in the United States. More than 15,000 free and enslaved Africans who lived and worked in colonial New York were buried here between the mid-1630s and 1795.

New Legislation Seeks to Protect the U.S.’ Historic Black Cemeteries

Now headed to the House, a bill passed by the Senate paves the way for the creation of the African American Burial Grounds Network

Some 1,280 of these species will lose a quarter or more of their remaining habitat and 350 are projected to lose more than half of the areas they currently call home.

New Research

Agriculture’s Growing Footprint Could Threaten 17,000 Species With Habitat Loss

New research projects 1.3 million square miles of habitat will be converted to croplands by 2050

The Colosseum is one of Italy's biggest tourist attractions, welcoming millions of visitors every year.

Italy Will Rebuild the Colosseum’s Floor, Restoring Arena to Its Gladiator-Era Glory

Officials plan to host concerts and theater productions on the new, retractable platform

The statue, which dates back to around 1348, likely depicts John de Belton, a priest who died of the Black Death.

Medieval Effigy Found Hidden Beneath English Church’s Pipe Organ

The newly restored carving is the oldest alabaster effigy of a priest discovered in the U.K. to date

An octopus in the Red Sea engaged in a collaborative hunt with several fish.

New Research

Watch Octopuses Sucker-Punch Fish

Researchers caught the eight-armed sea creatures in the Red Sea slugging fish during collaborative hunts

Taxidermied bare-nosed wombats glowing under a black light at the Western Australia Museum.

Wombats and Tasmanian Devils Glow Under Ultraviolet Light

Preliminary experiments suggest even more species of mammals may possess the UV glow

Using high-tech imaging techniques and traditional dissection, the researchers found that the gators' tails regrew cartilage, connective tissue and skin instead of bone and skeletal muscle.

Alligators Are Now the Largest Species Known to Regrow Severed Limbs

Young gators can sprout new tails that can reach up to nine inches, helping them survive through their juvenile years

Workers building a visitors' tunnel at the modern Church of All Nations discovered the ancient mikveh, or ritual bath.

Cool Finds

Researchers Unearth Ritual Bath Dated to Jesus’s Time Near Garden of Gethsemane

The 2,000-year-old “mikveh” represents the first Second Temple–era archaeological evidence found at the site

On Sunday evening, the crater's walls started to crackle as sizzling lava emerged from fissures and trickled into the water-filled crater below.

Hawai’i’s Kīlauea Volcano Returns Dramatically With First Eruption in Two Years

The spewing lava mixed with water at the summit, sending a plume of ash and steam into the sky

Mills (left) and Buck (right) use painstakingly gathered documents to spread knowledge of local black history.

Meet the ‘Detectives’ Documenting New Jersey’s Overlooked Black History

Beverly Mills and Elaine Buck have spent more than a decade exploring neglected local stories

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