When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. Credit: NASA The first mission of Northrop Grumman’s big new cargo spacecraft is nearly over. That freighter, known as Cygnus XL, left the International Space Station (ISS) on Thursday morning (March 12), ending a nearly six-month orbital stay…
A new University of Utah-led study has discovered the mechanism behind a decades-old evolutionary mystery—how “selfish chromosomes” cheat the rules of genetic inheritance. The researchers found that rogue chromosomes hijack the Overdrive (Ovd) gene to destroy rival sperm. Source: Read Full Article
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Volume 123, Issue 10, March 2026. <br/>SignificancePointed objects such as stingers, horns, and teeth have been observed to exhibit a paraboloid geometry at the tip. Interestingly, this tip geometry is not exclusive to biological structures; it is also found in abiotic forms as disparate as … Source: Read…
Get the Popular Science daily newsletter💡 Breakthroughs, discoveries, and DIY tips sent six days a week. Humans have contended with crocodiles for a really long time. The recent discovery of an ancient crocodilian species sporting a strange snout indicates the reptiles may have even preyed on our earliest known hominin ancestor. The species detailed in…
Nature Biotechnology, Published online: 11 March 2026; doi:10.1038/s41587-026-03047-x A lysosomal barcoding strategy to quantify endosomal escape of nucleic acids in vivo assesses the performance of branched ionizable lipids for potent liver delivery. Source: Read Full Article
A Chinese company successfully flew a 5-ton (4,536-kilogram) electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft (eVTOL) in a new feat for electric aircraft. Its makers at Fengfei Aviation claim it’s the largest eVTOL to ever complete a test flight. During the test flight, the V5000 aircraft lifted off in VTOL mode, switched to fixed-wing mode for…
Winter winds lofted clouds of dust from the Sahara Desert, carrying it north toward the Mediterranean and dispersing it widely across Europe in March 2026. When the dust combined with moisture-laden weather systems, a dirty rain fell in parts of Spain, France, and the United Kingdom. This animation highlights the concentration and movement of dust…
More than three million years ago, Lucy — the famously complete fossil of an early human ancestor discovered in Ethiopia in 1974 — moved through a landscape of wetlands, rivers, forests, and grasslands. Those waterways supported life across the region, drawing animals large and small to drink. But they may also have concealed one of…
An old NASA science satellite is no more. The U.S. Space Force says the Van Allen Probe A plunged uncontrolled from orbit on Wednesday, reentering over the Pacific west of the Galapagos Islands. NASA expected some of the 1,323-pound spacecraft to survive entry, with most of it burning up in the atmosphere. Its twin, the…
Fossil jaws of the ancient monkey species Stirtonia victoriae from the La Victoria Formation in Colombia suggest that a shift toward leaf-eating allowed early primates in South America to grow larger and occupy new ecological niches. The discovery may also hint at when the lineage developed the anatomical features that later produced the powerful howls…
