Webb Finds Clues to Violent Planetary Collisions in Warm Dust
Spectra from 21 extreme debris disks reveal heated minerals that may trace impacts between growing rocky worlds, including bodies roughly the size of Mars.
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For the passionately Curious
Qin Shi Huang Turned the Search for Immortality Into State Business
Replies preserved in the Liye archive turn Qin Shi Huang’s search for immortality from a later legend into a glimpse of how the empire worked.
Twelve Cuts on an Eagle Bone Hint at Neanderthal Ornament-Making
Twelve cut marks on a Neanderthal-era eagle toe bone may record the removal of its talon. Researchers argue it was taken for symbolic use, though the claw itself was not found.
Gnirshöhle’s Ice Age Canids and the Origins of Dog Domestication
A wolf jaw, bone chemistry and ancient DNA have all been used to investigate whether Ice Age hunters fed wolves at Gnirshöhle. A 2026 genome study found modern dog DNA contamination in several cave samples.
Six Wasp Nests Date a 17,300-Year-Old Kangaroo Painting
Charcoal from six mud-wasp nests, layered above and below the ochre, dates a Kimberley kangaroo painting to between 17,500 and 17,100 years ago.
Happisburgh Footprints Preserve a Walk Along an Ancient Estuary
Photographed before the tide wore them away, the Happisburgh footprints preserve a small group crossing an estuary in Norfolk between about 1 million and 780,000 years ago.
Lake Michigan’s “Mastodon Stone”: What Divers Actually Found
A line of stones beneath Grand Traverse Bay became an “underwater Stonehenge” online. Here is what divers recorded, what remains unproven and how Lake Huron offers a useful comparison.
Inside Ecuador’s Cueva de los Tayos: The 1976 Expedition Record
Cueva de los Tayos is an oilbird cave in Shuar territory in Ecuador. The 1976 expedition documented cave passages, birds and archaeological questions, not a catalogue of metal books.
The Montoro Stela: 31 Engraved Signs That Defy a Single Script
The Montoro stela bears 31 engraved motifs, some resembling signs from Mediterranean scripts. Researchers cannot date it precisely or identify a readable language.
Unsolved Mysteries
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Ancient Civilizations
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Homer’s Achilles and the Archaeology of the Real Troy
Troy was a real Bronze Age city, but no inscription or burial identifies Achilles. Homer’s poem preserves a powerful story shaped by generations of oral tradition.
The Sea Peoples and the End of the Bronze Age: A Crisis with Many Causes
Egyptian records describe an attack by groups later called the Sea Peoples. Drought, disrupted trade and political strain were also reshaping the eastern Mediterranean.
Cannabis Smoke at a 2,500-Year-Old Pamir Funeral
Researchers found cannabis residues in braziers and heated stones from Jirzankal Cemetery in the Pamirs. The chemistry links the plant to a mortuary ritual, while its meaning remains unknown.
Cosmos
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What Makes a Meteorite a Time Capsule?
Meteorites are more than rocks from space. Their minerals, isotopes and tiny chondrules preserve a record of how the young Solar System took shape—and what they cannot tell us.
Why Do Some Galaxies Stop Making Stars?
Some galaxies stop forming stars when hot gas, black-hole energy and depleted fuel change the balance that lets new suns appear.
Andromeda Is Full of Giant Bubbles. Supernovae May Be Driving Its Turbulence
Astronomers identified 118 expanding hydrogen superbubbles across Andromeda and found that clustered supernovae can supply enough energy to sustain the galaxy’s observed turbulence.
UAP
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What Would Make a UAP Case Scientifically Useful?
A UAP report becomes more useful when it preserves raw data, records the sensor conditions and lets independent analysts test ordinary explanations.
What a Baseball Pitch Can Teach Us About UAP
Avi Loeb’s baseball-pitch analogy shows why motion, distance and the observing medium matter when scientists interpret UAP reports.
Alien Disclosure in 2027? What the Public Record Actually Shows
Is alien disclosure in 2027 a real timetable? We trace the claim, compare it with UAP records and explain what evidence would actually confirm non-human intelligence.