Lead researcher Sam Courville has hinted at the ‘big implications’ of the find

NASA’s spacecraft Osiris Rex briefly touched the surface of the asteroid Bennu, using a robotic arm to collect around 120g of material which was packed into a capsule and returned to Earth.

Combining images of our night sky with beautiful Earth-based landscapes is a rewarding experience that celebrates our place in the Universe. 

The 125 million year-old bones were thought to be from one of the two similar known local species, but after close study, scientists determined it’s something new.

Research offers new evidence about links between cattle remains at Stonehenge and Wales.

The next advances in defeating cancer may come from a surprising place – our own natural defence mechanisms

Modern humans and Neanderthals may have interacted 100,000 years earlier than previously thought

Almost all species strand on the northwest coast, with numbers rising dramatically in recent years

Satellite mega-constellation missions behind threefold increase in emissions of climate-altering soot and CO2

Massive stars do not live long.

New research overturns decades of assumptions about how – and where – our lineage began.

Launch of secretive spacecraft will be streamed live Thursday night.

Staff at NOAA say verbal orders, travel bans and self-censorship are reshaping the agency from within

Brutal treatment may have been part of “public theater of violence” celebrating victory in battle.

Researchers also suggest system could resolve problems with irregular and weather-dependent Earth-based supply

It is coming from a nearby galaxy, providing important insights into non-repeating fast radio bursts.

Shells of material revealed the inner workings of stars.

Knowing exactly what is killing the sea stars – some of which can grow the size of a bicycle tyre – is a vital step forward in the recovery of the marine animals.

Goose-beaked whales hold the record for the deepest dive of any mammal. Researchers want to learn their secrets to develop new drugs for human diseases.

The Double Cluster, Wild Duck open Cluster, and Coathanger asterism are on display in August.

Somehow the Denisovans evolved a gene particularly well suited to continents they would never see.

Tobacco hornworm caterpillars can suppress pain and touch reflexes by entering a sphinx state, resembling a rigid statue-like posture.

And they’re doing just fine.

Scientists observed a family of four spectral bats in their roost in a tree in Costa Rica, capturing an inside look at their social behavior

China has rolled out a chatbot on its Tiangong space station. Its mission: to improve safety, navigation, and coordination in orbit.

Is this the Milky Way’s next supernova?

Astronomers have picked up evidence of an Earth-sized world, distinct from the previously hypothesised Planet Nine and Planet X, that might be warping the orbits of objects beyond Neptune

“This explosion gave off more energy in a few seconds than the sun will over its entire life.”

Two colossal plasma fountains tore away from the sun in a breathtaking double blast, one of the most impressive eruptions this solar cycle.

A mighty, cosmos-altering rocket could be the only thing that saves humanity from extinction.

Mexican tetras that got swept into pitch-black caverns had no use for the energetically costly organs

Australia should back a global moratorium on deep-sea mining as the risks are too high, argue conservation experts.

“Our genetic analyses show that the differences between giraffe species are as distinct as those between brown and polar bears.”

“We consider this phenomenon as a promising candidate to explain the fact that the solar activity is much more benign than that of other sun-like stars.”

The dinosaur has been given the name Istiorachis macaruthurae after its fossils were found on the Isle of Wight.

Whoops.

Could dwarf planet Ceres once have had conditions suitable for life? A new studyis delving into the large asteroid’s past.

A study warned that Antarctic ice loss could cause more warming in the region and beyond, and could push some marine species toward extinction.

Eastern massasauga rattlesnakes are struggling to survive as habitat fragmentation forces them to breed with close relatives, new research shows.

From your toothbrush to your bloodstream: how everyday plastics break down into fragments small enough to cross into your organs.

Give or take 9,000 years.

New evidence confirms link between Stonehenge and two quarries in Wales believed to be sources of historic Wiltshire landmark’s legendary standing bluestones

A dietary supplement made from engineered yeast could help honeybees thrive despite the declining availability of high-quality pollen in their environment

The black hole Ansky has some of the brightest and longest flares ever seen

The star’s body was ‘stripped to the bone’ in this new type of supernova.

Ant eating is widely distributed across mammalian lineages.

Reengineered, pollen could become a range of eco-friendly objects.

Females of both species preferred the males with sexy red legs.

Study shows species like cobras and kraits can still be dangerous in death if the venom gland is accidentally pressed while handling its remains

Researchers set out to investigate how streaked shearwaters take off and instead were surprised to discover that the birds poop very frequently and regularly, which could play a role in marine ecology