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An excavation in Suffolk, UK, has uncovered pyrite and flint that appear to have been used by ancient humans to light fires some 400,000 years ago

Making fire on demand was a milestone in the lives of our early ancestors. But the question of when that skill first arose has been difficult for scientists to pin down

An idea about the sun’s magnetic field called the terminator model could help predict dangerous space weather more accurately

From bonobos and rats to tickling robots, research is finally cracking the secrets of why we’re ticklish, and what that reveals about our brains

From bonobos and rats to tickling robots, research is finally cracking the secrets of why we’re ticklish, and what that reveals about our brains

As Australian teenagers lose access to social media, observers say there are still many unknown questions about the ban, which came into force on 10 December

As Australian teenagers lose access to social media, observers say there are still many unknown questions about the ban, which came into force on 10 December

The early universe was a pretty intense place to be. And not just “early” as in a few billion years ago. I mean early early, just a few seconds after the Big Bang. The universe is small, less than a meter across. It’s hot, with temperatures so high it doesn’t even make sense to say them – they’re just stupidly high numbers with no connection to our everyday existence.

The UK is actively trying to support the infrastructure to make it a significant player in the coming age of the space economy. It recently received 560 proposals to it’s National Space Innovation Program, and handed out £17M in grants to 17 different organizations following five main themes. One of those is an effort by the University of Leicester and The Welding Institute (TWI) to develop a robotic welder for use in repairing and manufacturing in space, as described by a new press release from the university.

Cross-species “defense pacts” help animals keep tabs on parasites and predators

Astronomers have discovered a filament 50 million light years long containing hundreds of galaxies, all spinning together. This immense structure, located 140 million light years away, challenges current models of galaxy formation by showing that large scale rotation can persist far longer and more coherently than theories predicted. The discovery offers a rare glimpse into how galaxies acquire their spin and reveals the Cosmic Web as a more dynamically active place than previously imagined.

NASA’s Perseverance rover has gathered groundbreaking Mars samples, but the mission to bring them home is facing serious challenges.

For centuries, Europeans thought that eternal daylight saturated the cosmos. The shift to a dark universe has had a profound psychological impact upon us

For centuries, Europeans thought that eternal daylight saturated the cosmos. The shift to a dark universe has had a profound psychological impact upon us

New evidence suggests that alcohol was a surprisingly big motivator in our monumental transition from hunting and gathering to farming – but was beer really more important to us than bread?

New evidence suggests that alcohol was a surprisingly big motivator in our monumental transition from hunting and gathering to farming – but was beer really more important to us than bread?

A new study reveals that Mars plays a surprisingly crucial role in Earth's climate cycles, with new simulations showing that the mass of our planetary neighbours directly controls the timing and intensity of Milankovitch cycles that drive ice ages. By varying Mars's mass from zero to ten times its current value in computer models, researchers discovered that a more massive Mars strengthens the ~100,000 year climate cycles and creates the 2.4 million year "grand cycle" that influences Earth's long term climate. This finding demonstrates that Earth's climate rhythms are connected to the gravitational structure of the inner Solar System, not just the Sun and Moon.

The European Space Agency's Euclid telescope has delivered an unprecedented set of observations of one million galaxies that shows that galaxy collisions play a dominant role in awakening supermassive black holes from their sleep. Using revolutionary AI-powered analysis methods, astronomers discovered that merging galaxies contain up to six times more active black holes than isolated galaxies, with the most luminous black holes found almost exclusively in collision zones.

Skin fossils from a sauropod dinosaur examined with an electron microscope feature structures called melanosomes, which are similar to those that create the bright colours in birds' feathers

Skin fossils from a sauropod dinosaur examined with an electron microscope feature structures called melanosomes, which are similar to those that create the bright colours in birds' feathers