Becky Ferreira

Earth is missing a huge chunk of its geological record before the Cambrian period 538 million years ago, when complex life emerged. A new study suggests that the gap was caused by the rise and fall of ancient supercontinents.  

Archaeologists have discovered the oldest direct evidence of psychoactive cannabis use in a Siberian tomb that was used for human and horse sacrifices, a finding that sheds light on ancient rituals and could help revive wild strains of cannabis lost to time. 

In a new study perfectly timed for Halloween, scientists dug into the chemical properties of a once-popular beverage with purported medicinal benefits: wine made with ground-up Egyptian mummies. 

Scientists have discovered a family of retroviruses that invaded the genomes of chimps and other primates, silencing genes involved with brain development, while humans were left unaffected. 

Why is the universe the way it is? A long-overlooked particle might have given matter an edge over antimatter in the split-seconds after the Big Bang, which researchers say “could transform our understanding of cosmic evolution and the fundamental laws of physics.” 

Archaeologists have discovered a puncture wound from a spear in the shoulder blade of a Neanderthal that lived 75,000 years ago, offering a possible glimpse of early interpersonal violence.

A fast radio burst that traveled across 10 billion light years reached Earth in 2024, doubling the distance record for these unexplained and energetic signals from space.

Jonathan, a 194-year-old Aldabra giant tortoise, was born before the Civil War. Scientists have now sequenced his genome to reveal what’s behind his extreme longevity, so we can live longer too.  

The estimated lifespan of the outer solar system has been downgraded from 100 billion years to just a few billion years, according to a study that probed “terminal instability” during the Sun’s death.