science

On Monday, millions of people around the U.S. will be able to see the moment that the moon passes between the sun and the Earth. This celestial phenomenon is referred to as a solar eclipse — and another total solar eclipse isn’t expected for another 20 years. Because of this, Americans everywhere are gathering together to view the moon’s shadow …

Tropical forest loss declined last year, but other indicators show that the world’s woodlands remain under tremendous pressure, according to an analysis released on Thursday by the Global Forest Watch monitoring project. Destruction of forests helps drive global climate change. Because trees absorb climate-warming carbon dioxide and store it as carbon in their wood, that greenhouse gas is released when …

NASA is investigating an object that a Florida resident says came from space and plummeted into his home last month. Alejandro Otero said a piece of equipment from the International Space Station hit his Naples home and posted photos on X in response to an astronomer who was tracking where and when the equipment entered Earth’s atmosphere. Otero was on …

Four miles from the nearest plowed road high in Colorado’s Rocky Mountains, a 73-year-old man with a billowing gray beard and two replaced hips trudged through his front yard to measure fresh snow that fell during one mid-March day. Billy Barr first began recording snow and weather data more than 50 years ago as a freshly minted Rutgers University environmental …

NASA wants to come up with an out-of-this-world way to keep track of time, putting the moon on its own souped-up clock. It’s not quite a time zone like those on Earth, but an entire frame of time reference for the moon. Because there’s less gravity on the moon, time there moves a tad quicker — 58.7 microseconds every day …

Skygazers in California were left stunned early Tuesday when they witnessed a series of bright fiery lights streaking across the clear night sky. Video shows the mysterious golden objects shooting across the sky in a straight line at around 1:30 a.m. in Moreno Valley,which is about 70 miles east of Los Angeles. “What the hell!,” one puzzled onlooker in the …

Billions, if not trillions, of two groups of noisy flying insects are expected to emerge from the underground in 17 U.S. states in April in a rare natural phenomenonnot seen since 1803. The insects, known as cicadas, are set to spring up and engage in a frantic mating frenzy lasting several weeks before they will all eventually die near trees. …

What do Lady Gaga, Barack Obama, Bill Gates, Paul McCartney and Justin Bieber have in common with Ronald Reagan, Jimi Hendrix, Judy Garland, Fidel Castro and David Bowie? They are all left-handed, a trait shared by roughly 10% of people. But why are some people left-handed while most are righties? That is an area of active research, and a new …

Many dog owners believe their pets understand and respond not only to commands such as “sit” and “stay,” but also to words referring to their favorite objects. “Bring me your ball” will often result in exactly that. But science has had trouble determining whether dogs and other animals genuinely activate a mental image in their minds when they hear the …

The periodical cicadas that are about to infest two parts of the United States aren’t just plentiful, they’re downright weird. These insects are the strongest urinators in the animal kingdom with flows that put humans and elephants to shame. They have pumps in their heads that pull moisture from the roots of trees, allowing them to feed for more than …