Ancient ‘sea Roomba’ tells a 555-million-year-old story of our evolution

A surprise discovery in the Australian outback has delivered exciting insight into the origins of complex animal life. The animal fossil, dating back half a billion years, shows when bilateral symmetry emerged – a hallmark of most life on Earth now.

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Watch: SpaceX makes historic booster capture

In an astonishing bit of space gymnastics, SpaceX has pulled off a true first. It captured a Super Heavy booster at about 7:31 am CST using its own launch tower after delivering a Starship second stage to orbit, followed by a controlled reentry.

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‘Dancing snowflakes’ in clouds can help us accurately forecast rainfall

The dynamic way different-shaped snowflakes perform distinct 'dances' within clouds has been found to influence how much precipitation is likely to form. The discovery of this unique cloud choreography opens the door to precise weather forecasts.

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Strange sea creatures can merge their bodies into one blob when injured

Imagine being horribly maimed and the only way to survive was to merge your damaged flesh with another injured human. Scientists have discovered this startling ability in comb jellies, which can fuse together to share a nervous and digestive system.

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Curiosity rover sheds new light on how Mars became uninhabitable

Data from NASA's Curiosity rover collected on Mars is shedding new light on how the Red Planet became uninhabitable in the distant past due to a changing climate that caused the surface water to evaporate or be locked away as ice.

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Long-life ‘air motors’ show promise in marine testing

While battery-electric ferry boats may be more eco-friendly and require less maintenance than their diesel-burning counterparts, they're still not perfect. That's why scientists are now looking into powering small ferries using nothing but compressed air.

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Storm clouds generate strange gamma radiation

Thor and the Hulk may be more closely related than we thought. Thunderstorms are known to produce gamma rays in the atmosphere, but a new study has found that not only do they happen way more often than we realized, but they’re much weirder.

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Watch: First nanoscale video of hydrogen and oxygen atoms forming water

We all know the equation – hydrogen plus oxygen equals water. But now scientists have captured molecular-scale video of that famous meeting in action, which could lead to a new way to generate large amounts of drinking water.

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World’s oldest cheese has been identified, dating back 3,600 years

Bizarre clumps of organic matter found buried alongside Bronze Age mummies in China have now been identified as cheese. New DNA analysis has finally solved a long-standing mystery, and it makes it the oldest cheese ever found, dating back 3,600 years.

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X-rays could deflect dangerous Earthbound asteroids

Asteroids can devastate the planet in an instant – just ask the dinosaurs. Scientists at Sandia National Laboratories have now demonstrated a proof of concept method to deflect a potential Earthbound asteroid using a blast of X-rays.

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