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A set of carefully etched obsidian arrowheads stick out among other similar artifacts, but archaeologists in central Turkey have still amassed dozens of them over the last 40 years. Following excavation work at a site in Anatolia known as Tepecik-Çiftlik, researchers from France’s Aix Marseille Université have catalogued and described another 11 examples of the weapon tips in a recently published study in the journal PLOS One. But while 54 similar arrowheads—some crafted nearly 9,000 years ago—are now documented, a decisive explanation of their features still eludes their discoverers.

“It was very exciting to see similarities emerging across the different sites,” explained archaeologist and study co-author Alice Vinet. “At the same time, every arrowhead is unique: none of the incisions are exactly alike.”

Researchers have collected hundreds of arrowheads from central Anatolia that date back to the Late Neolithic era. Many of the tools were found in the remains of the village Tepecik-Çiftlik on Turkey’s Melendiz plain. Humans resided in the region between roughly 7,100 and 5,800 BCE, where they farmed, herded, and sometimes hunted. The plain is also located between two vast sources of obsidian, which was an indispensable resource at the time. Many ancient communities around the world often valued the volcanic glass for its glossiness and extremely sharp edges.

All 12 known incised obsidian arrowheads from Tepecik-Çiftlik. Credit: Vinet and Guilbeau

The strangely marked arrowheads were first described by archaeologist Kathryn Ataman in 1988, who examined 31 of them from a nearby location. At the time, Ataman theorized that each arrowhead’s incision represented a type of signature for each hunter that allowed them to claim their kills. Given that only a handful of similar examples have been found over the course of three decades, Vinet’s team and others now argue there simply aren’t enough incised arrowheads among the other unmarked variants to support the hypothesis.

In 2019, one of Vinet’s colleagues discovered yet another of the arrowheads. Reviewing it led Vinet’s team to finally understand which incision hints to examine when reviewing similar finds.

“Once we knew exactly what to look for, we were able to recognize the others,” she said.

Vinet’s 11 additional arrowheads bring the total number to 54, all of which were used within an estimated 1,000-year timeframe. Given their rarity, the archaeologists briefly wondered if the weapon tip incisions were actually simple accidents made during their crafting. They then analyzed each under a microscope, then attempted to recreate the etchings on their own.

They soon realized obsidian can’t scratch obsidian, meaning Neolithic artisans would have needed something much harder—such as the bits of flint also found at places like Tepecik-Çiftlik. Although they could finally make their obsidian arrowhead replicas using flint, the rock only accounts for about one percent of all the flakes found at these archaeological locations. While it was relatively easy to make the markings, some still required over 20 repetitions to complete them. This implies whoever made the incisions must have really wanted to do it. 

There is currently no apparent clear pattern to the designs. Some exist in the center of an arrowhead, while others are on the sides. And despite regional obsidian trade during the Neolithic expanding as far as the southern Levant, no similar arrowheads have been found outside central Anatolia. That said, some of the tools potentially suggest at least some broad motifs may be identifiable in the future. Until then, the curious discoveries remain striking—and completely confounding.

“It was very exciting to see similarities emerging across the different sites,” said Vinet. “At the same time, every arrowhead is unique: none of the incisions are exactly alike.”

The post Oddly etched Neolithic arrowheads baffle archaeologists in Turkey appeared first on Popular Science.

Europe’s brutal heatwaves have left the Danube River at historically low water levels. Over the last few weeks alone, residents in Serbia and Hungary discovered World War II artifacts like Nazi motorcycles and sunken ships that resurfaced after remaining submerged for decades.

Yet another historic relic has recently been uncovered—this time in Slovakia. But unlike the summer’s previous finds, this one required a bit more finesse to tackle. Near the town of Virt along the southern border with Hungary, a magnet fisherman snagged an unexploded British anti-ship mine weighing over 1,500 pounds—the largest of its kind ever defused in Slovakia.

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According to the finder’s social media post, archaeologists traced the device to a British Royal Air Force (RAF) operation that took place between April and October 1944. Darkly known as a “gardening” mission, these ventures involved RAF pilots depositing a total of 1,382 mines over 18 attacks along waterways in an attempt to stymie Nazi naval transport. Maritime traffic on the Danube subsequently fell 60–70 percent and sank dozens of ships. As Nazi forces redirected their supplies, the opening created an opportunity for Soviet troops to continue their march westward.

Much of the unexploded weaponry was never recovered in the years following WWII, allowing the Danube’s currents to slowly inter them under layers of sediment. While not a constant problem, any chance to remove one of these leftover mines is an opportunity to improve travel safety along the river. The process isn’t as simple as hauling the artifact out of the Danube muck. Local police detailed their efforts earlier this month, which involved coordination between the Fire and Rescue Corps as well as pyrotechnicians from Bratislava’s Institute of Criminology and Expertise.

After carefully removing the mine from the Danube, handlers then lowered it into a fire truck modified to include a sand bed in the rear to act as cushioning. Drivers next transported the weapon to a secure, unpopulated location where workers dug a 16-foot-deep pit. Officials placed the mine inside the ditch, buried it, and subsequently detonated the bomb through a controlled remote explosion.

Although the recent discoveries are dramatic, authorities advised locals against searching out similar finds. If they needed any proof, officials pointed to the mine’s detonation clip, which underscores just how dangerous these munitions have remained even after more than 80 years.

The post Fisherman finds live WWII mine at bottom of Danube River in Slovakia appeared first on Popular Science.

After a busy baby season, some of the raccoons at the New England Wildlife Center in Weymouth, Massachusetts were recently spotted having the time of their lives. The center recently renovated its outdoor raccoon enclosure, with a reinforced perimeter, better enrichment structures, and additional outdoor cameras. The cameras help staff keep an eye on the raccoons without going in in person—and they’ve recently captured “absolute chaos” at the wildlife center. A video shows a handful of raccoons wrestling, climbing, and playing.

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“Our outdoor camera captured just how active they are at night. They are play-wrestling with each other in the video,” Priya Patel, the center’s Wildlife Medical Director, tells Popular Science. “Our goal in rehab is to always keep them as wild as possible. The raccoons in this video are around 4-5 months old and some have been in our care since early May. They are living fully in our outdoor cage and developing more natural behaviors like becoming more nocturnal.”

For those of you wondering if more intimate nighttime activities are also taking place, Patel explains that raccoons don’t become sexually mature until they’re around 10 months old. By then,they will be returned to the wild. All the raccoons in the video are orphans, and most of them were discovered on their own without evidence of a mother being nearby. 

They came to the New England Wildlife Center in the spring or early summer, where staff have taken care of them since. Their care included vaccines for rabies, distemper, and parvovirus, and transitioning from formula to more solid food. The wildlife center raises young raccoons in large groups in order for them to bond with each other and not their human caretakers. Their outdoor enclosure also allows more distance from humans. 

“Spending time in outdoor enclosures is vital for the success of our patients. For orphans that were raised in care it acclimates them to being back out in the wild and they relearn how to deal with changing weather and temperatures. They learn how to find shade on hot days and then den together on colder rainy days,” Patel explains. “They also have more space to run and climb which builds their muscle strength. Their food is more scattered in outdoor cages and provided in puzzle boxes as enrichment so they develop foraging and problem solving skills.” 

Fortunately, it seems like the young raccoons are taking full advantage of their newly renovated outdoor enclosure. Might we suggest a live cam like our bear, beluga, and bald eagle friends? 

The post Baby raccoon wrestling shenanigans caught on wildlife center camera appeared first on Popular Science.

Picture this: You’re roaming Yellowstone National Park as the ground begins to rumble, pressure builds, and then…KA-BOOM! Goodbye to Montana, Wyoming, and Idaho.

The last Yellowstone explosion happened 661,000 years ago, but could it happen again? On our latest episode of Ask Us Anything, editors Sarah Durn and Annie Colbert explore the chances of Yellowstone’s supervolcano erupting today. Let’s just say you shouldn’t cancel your vacation. But that doesn’t mean nothing else is brewing underneath the national park.

Ask Us Anything answers your most outlandish, mind-burning questions—from the everyday things you’ve always wondered to the bizarre things you never thought to ask. So, yes, there’s a reason why most people are right handed and no, not all cats hate water and that’s okay. If you have a question for us, send us a note. Nothing is too silly or simple.

This episode is based on the Popular Science article “What would happen if Yellowstone’s ‘supervolcano’ erupted today?”

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Full Episode Transcript

Sarah Durn: Picture yourself walking through Yellowstone National Park, about 2.1 million years ago. There are no tourists. No boardwalks. No Old Faithful gift shop. Instead, mastodons and saber-toothed cats roam the landscape. And deep beneath their feet, something enormous is happening.

Magma is accumulating beneath the Earth’s crust. The ground is swelling. Earthquakes are rattling the landscape. Pressure is building underground.

Until—Yellowstone erupts in a SUPER VOLCANO, sending over 660 TRILLION gallons of rock, ash, and magma into the atmosphere – enough to cover the ENTIRE state of Rhode Island under nearly half a mile of debris.

The total output is roughly 6,000 times larger than Mount St. Helens’ famous 1980 eruption—and when it’s over, the ground collapses into an enormous crater, known as a caldera.

Yellowstone would have two more giant, caldera-forming eruptions after that. The most recent happened about 631,000 years ago. Which raises a slightly terrifying question: When might Yellowstone erupt again? And if it does… what exactly would happen?

Welcome to Ask Us Anything from the editors of Popular Science, where we answer YOUR questions about our WEIRD world.

From “What are the most common sunscreen myths?” to “How fast would New York City fall apart without people?” No question is too offbeat or mundane.

I’m Sarah Durn, an editor at Popular Science.

Annie Colbert: And hello, I’m editor-in-chief, Annie Colbert.

SD: Here at PopSci, we’re always pondering quirky questions.

AC: And this week, we’re wondering: what would happen if another Yellowstone supervolcano erupted today?

Okay, Sarah, this is terrifying. So I need to know, how scared do we really have to be of a national park becoming a volcanic powder keg?

SD: Okay, so I have some good news.

AC: Ooh, I do love good news.

SD: Experts say a giant Yellowstone eruption probably will happen again someday.

AC: That does not sound like good news.

SD: The good news is the someday part. A major eruption likely won’t happen for thousands, potentially even millions of years. The magma beneath Yellowstone right now is mostly solid, which means it isn’t really capable of feeding a massive supervolcano eruption.

AC: Okay, so we can cancel the emergency volcano bunker?

SD: For now, but here’s where things get interesting. A giant eruption also isn’t necessarily the next volcanic event Yellowstone will experience.

AC: Oh, no.

SD: Oh, yes. Something like a massive superheated water explosion or even a slow-moving lava flow is much, much more likely. In fact, scientists say calling Yellowstone a supervolcano can be a little misleading because it makes it sound like every eruption has to be catastrophic.

AC: But I’m guessing we’re still gonna talk about the catastrophic version of events.

SD: Oh, absolutely, because while a giant eruption is incredibly unlikely anytime soon, scientists have studied what would happen if Yellowstone had another super eruption.

AC: And I’m gonna guess that the answer is not great.

SD: Not great.

That would be, you know, putting it mildly. And what happens wouldn’t necessarily stay anywhere near Yellowstone.

AC: Okay, now I need to know details. What would an eruption actually look like? How far would the damage spread? Would scientists know it was coming, and perhaps most importantly, would humanity survive?

SD: We will get into all of that.

AC: Ugh, cliffhanger.

SD: I know. I’m sorry. But before we dig into all of those harrowing questions, we wanna hear from you. What questions are erupting in your brain?

AC: If there’s something you’ve always wanted to know, you can submit your questions by clicking the Ask Us link at popsci.com/ask.

SD: Send us your questions.

AC: Yes, send them. All right. Coming up, we’ll dig into what’s actually happening underneath Yellowstone right now.

SD: And what would happen if one of the largest volcanic systems on earth really did blow.

AC: That’s after this quick break.

SD: Welcome back. Okay, Annie, before we get into what’s going on under Yellowstone National Park, I think we need to start with the basics. Can you explain to listeners what a volcano is? 

AC: Yes, absolutely. So very basically, a volcano is an opening in the Earth’s crust where magma, gases, and other material from inside Earth can escape.

And a little fun bonus fact, the word volcano actually comes from Vulcan, who is the ancient Roman god of fire. 

SD: Of course it does. Of course. Very dramatic, very appropriate. 

AC: And volcanoes are actually much more common than you might think. There’s around 1,350 potentially active volcanoes around the world.

SD: Whoa.

AC: And most of the volcanoes are concentrated around the edges of the Pacific Ocean in what’s known as the Ring of Fire.

SD: Another incredibly reassuring name.

AC: Yes, volcanologists really know how to name things. There are around 170 volcanoes in the US and its territories. Most are in places like Alaska and the Cascade Range in the Pacific Northwest, but Yellowstone is a little different.

SD: Very different because when you picture a volcano, you probably picture a mountain with a crater on top. Yellowstone, you know, doesn’t really look like that.

AC: Mm-hm.

SD: In fact, Yellowstone National Park doesn’t just sit on a volcano, much of the park is part of this enormous volcanic system called the Yellowstone Caldera.

AC: So when millions of people are wandering around Yellowstone looking at geyser and bison every year-

SD: They’re essentially walking around inside a volcanic crater.

AC: Very cool.

SD: Incredibly comforting.

AC: Yes.

SD: All of those famous Yellowstone features, Old Faithful, the hot springs, all that steaming water, are only possible because there’s an enormous heat source underground. So let’s do the scary hypothetical.

Let’s say Yellowstone really is about to have another giant super eruption.

AC: I’m almost scared I ask. What’s the first thing though that happens if Yellowstone erupts?

SD: Right. So long before the actual eruption, there’d be a huge amount of magma accumulating underground. Pressure would build, the Earth’s crust would begin to crack, and eventually magma would force its way through those cracks and erupt at the surface.

And then? Things would get very bad very quickly. Hmm. Huge columns of superheated ash and gas would shoot into the sky. Those eruption columns would actually collapse under their own weight, creating what are called pyroclastic flows. Which are basically avalanches of extremely hot ash, gas, and rock racing across the landscape.

AC: Mm.

SD: They would destroy trees, buildings, roads, pretty much everything in their path. The areas immediately surrounding Yellowstone, including parts of Wyoming, Montana, and Idaho, would be swept clean.

AC: So if you’re near Yellowstone, this is very, very bad.

SD: Oh, yeah, extremely, extremely bad. But the effects wouldn’t just stop at Yellowstone.

Ash would fall much, much farther away. Scientists have actually modeled this. Communities stretching from Missoula, Montana, all the way down to Albuquerque, New Mexico, could get coated in ash. 

AC: That is a huge area.

SD: Yeah, and it gets bigger. Michael Poland, the scientist in charge of the Yellowstone Volcano Observatory, told Popular Science that at least a few millimeters of ash could fall over much of the United States and parts of Canada.

AC: I mean, a few millimeters doesn’t sound like that much.

SD: It doesn’t, but volcanic ash is really, really nasty stuff. That amount of spread across such an enormous area could disrupt agriculture, contaminate water supplies, and cause problems for electrical grids. And then there’s what happens in the atmosphere.

AC: Oh, no.

SD: A giant eruption could blast huge amounts of ash and gas high into the atmosphere. Those particles could block some sunlight from reaching the Earth’s surface and cool the planet. We actually have a historical example of this on a much smaller scale. In 1815, Mount Tambora erupted in present-day Indonesia. It was the largest volcanic eruption in recorded human history.

AC: And this is the one that caused the year without summer, right?

SD: Exactly. Temperatures dropped, crops failed, there was widespread famine and disease. A Yellowstone super eruption would be a very different event, but scientists use eruptions like Tambora and climate models to understand what the global effects could look like.

And volcanologists like Poland say the effects from something on the scale of a Yellowstone super eruption could potentially last five to 10 years.

AC: Oh, okay, this all sounds really, really bad.

SD: Yeah.

AC: So are we talking about the end of humanity here?

SD: Surprisingly, no. Oh. It would be catastrophic. A lot of people could die, but Poland told Popular Science that no explosive volcanic eruption has ever been associated with a mass extinction, so humanity would survive.

AC: Hey, yay. It’s a little reassuring.

SD: On a very relative scale.

AC: Yes, extremely relative. So now that you’ve thoroughly terrified me, how likely is any of this to actually happen?

SD: Yeah, and this is the part I really want everyone to remember. Not very likely at all. Poland says the chance of a giant Yellowstone super eruption happening on a human timeline is about as close to zero as you can get.

AC: Okay. Can you explain? Because there is magma underneath Yellowstone.

SD: There is, but scientists say that magma is currently mostly solid. So even though we talk about a magma chamber, don’t picture some, you know, enormous underground lake of glowing liquid rock just waiting to explode.

AC: That is absolutely what I was picturing.

SD: I know, me too. But right now there simply isn’t enough liquid magma in Yellowstone to feed an enormous eruption. Poland gave this great analogy. Imagine the odds of getting struck by lightning are one in a million, but then imagine you’re standing outside and there isn’t a cloud anywhere in the sky. So

AC: Lightning exists, and it could strike me someday-

SD: But the conditions you need for it to happen right now just aren’t there.

That’s basically Yellowstone. Scientists think a major eruption probably will happen again eventually, but we could be talking thousands or potentially millions of years from now.

AC: So what should we actually be worried about at Yellowstone?

SD: Probably something much smaller. A hydrothermal explosion, basically superheated water erupting as steam and violently exploding is considered much more likely.

Those can create impressive craters and be extremely dangerous if you’re nearby, but they’re not gonna devastate all of North America. Yellowstone could also eventually have another lava flow, and those tend to be much slower-moving events. Basically, thick lava erupts from the ground and slowly creeps across the landscape over months or years.

In fact, lava flow eruptions are much more common at Yellowstone than enormous super eruptions. The last lava flow there happened about 70,000 years ago.

AC: Which makes super volcano sound a little misleading.

SD: Definitely. Poland actually isn’t a huge fan of the term for that reason. Calling Yellowstone a super volcano makes it sound like this thing that has two settings, peaceful national park and apocalypse.

AC: Nothing in between.

SD: Exactly. When in reality, Yellowstone is this incredibly complicated and active volcanic system that can do lots of different things, and scientists are watching it constantly. The Yellowstone Volcano Observatory uses things like seismic stations to track earthquakes and instruments that monitor heat coming out of the volcanic system.

AC: So we would know if a giant eruption was coming.

SD: Yeah, most likely. Scientists think they’d probably see warning signs weeks to months in advance. So Yellowstone isn’t a giant bomb that could suddenly explode beneath everyone’s feet without warning.

AC: Okay, I feel considerably better than I did six minutes ago.

SD: That was the goal. Yellowstone could erupt again, a giant eruption could be catastrophic, but right now there’s no evidence that anything like that is on the horizon,

AC: So maybe don’t cancel the Yellowstone vacation.

SD: Definitely not.

AC: And if you wanna learn more about what would happen if Yellowstone did erupt, you can check out the full story on Popular Science. We will link it in the show notes.

SD: Read it. It’s super interesting. Now, we have to take a quick break, but when we come back, we’ll talk about the volcanic activity that has been happening in Yellowstone just in the last few months. Wait, what? I know, I know. It’s gonna be okay. That’s coming up after this quick break.

AC: Welcome back.

SD: So, Annie, after spending this entire episode telling you Yellowstone probably isn’t going to erupt anytime soon, Yellowstone has actually been doing some pretty weird stuff lately.

AC: Sarah.

SD: I know, but I promise this is not a forget-everything-we-just-said situation. Earlier this year, scientists detected a giant bulge forming along the northern edge of the Yellowstone caldera.

AC: How giant is giant?

SD: About 19 miles across.

AC: That sounds concerning.

SD: I know. It does. The ground had risen about an inch from July 2025 to February of this year. But scientists say this kind of swelling or uplift isn’t particularly concerning at Yellowstone. It’s happened before. Researchers think this one could be caused by magma moving around about nine miles underground.

AC: So the giant bulge is not Yellowstone’s supervolcano waking up?

SD: No, no. In fact, 2025 was actually a relatively quiet year for Yellowstone earthquakes, so there we go. But then in June 2026, Yellowstone gave scientists another surprise.

AC: Of course it did.

SD: Remember those hydrothermal explosions we talked about earlier?

AC: Yes, the much more likely alternative to the super eruption.

SD: Exactly. On June 13, a small hydrothermal explosion happened at Biscuit Basin. Super heated underground water suddenly found a path to the surface, flashed into steam, and exploded out of the ground.

AC: Oof. Was anyone hurt? 

SD: Thankfully, no. Biscuit Basin was already closed because there had been a bigger hydrothermal explosion there in 2024.

AC: Mm.

SD: But here’s the really cool part. A couple days later, geologists came back and discovered that the landscape had changed. A brand-new pool of vigorously boiling water about 21 feet by 17 feet had formed in a spot where scientists had literally been walking just two days earlier.

AC: Ah. All right, Yellowstone, we get it. You’re alive.

SD: It’s alive.

AC: It’s alive.

SD: So maybe that’s the real takeaway from this episode. Yellowstone is absolutely active. It’s moving, it’s bubbling. Occasionally, it even explodes.

AC: Just probably not in the civilization-ending way.

SD: Exactly. So enjoy Old Faithful. Respect the boiling water.

AC: And maybe don’t lose sleep over the supervolcano just yet.

SD: Exactly.

AC: And that’s it for this episode. But don’t worry, we’ve got more episodes of Ask Us Anything live in our feed right now. Follow or subscribe to Ask Us Anything by Popular Science wherever you enjoy your podcasts. And if you like our show, leave a rating and a review.

SD: We care what you think. Our producer is Alan Haburchak. This week’s episode was based on stories written for Popular Science by Nidhi Sharma and Andrew Paul.

AC: Thank you, team, and thanks everyone for listening.

SD: And one more time, if you want something you’ve always wondered about explained on a future episode, go to popsci.com/ask and click the Ask Us link. Keep those questions coming.

Keep ’em coming. Until next time, may your magma stay underground.

AC: Your hydrothermal explosions stay far, far away…

SD: And your national parks remain decidedly un-apocalyptic.

The post How likely is a Yellowstone ‘supervolcano’ eruption today? appeared first on Popular Science.

Welcome to the jungle, Lielaphis slashi. The newly discovered snake is named after Saul Hudson aka Slash, Guns N’ Roses’ lead guitarist. The snake’s named translates to “Slash’s groundsnake” in English, and honors his lifelong love of reptiles and support for museums and zoos. 

“As a long time herpephile, I am extremely honored and humbled to have Lielaphis slashi from New Guinea named after me. It is really exciting, I never would have imagined this moment would arrive,” Slash said in an email to Popular Science.

The discovery is particular exciting for Sara Ruane, the Associate Curator of Herpetology at the Field Museum in Chicago and senior author of a paper describing the species published the journal Zootaxa. 

“Guns N’ Roses has been one of my favorite bands since I was in first grade, and by fifth grade, I had already told my teacher that I wanted to be a herpetologist—a scientist who studies reptiles—when I grew up,” said Ruane. “So when I was twelve years old and got my copy of Reptiles Magazine in the mail and it had a picture of Slash holding his pet reticulated python on the cover, I thought, ‘This guy is so cool.’”

Slash and Sara Ruane at the Field Museum, with Sara’s copy of Reptiles Magazine featuring Slash on the cover. Image: Sara Ruane.

The 28-inch-long, reddish-brown snake was discovered in the forests of New Guinea. The landmass  just north of Australia is the second-largest island in the world, after Greenland. It’s divided between the countries of Indonesia and Papua New Guinea, and the dense tropical forests that cover the island are a bevy of biodiversity that have not been well-studied.

While conducting field work one night in 2006, Chris Austin, a study co-author and herpetologist at Louisiana State University (LSU), spotted an unfamiliar snake.

“These New Guinea groundsnakes are nocturnal, so the best way to find them is at night. They are typically found just after sunset at the base of large trees where they are looking for something to eat,” said Austin, who is also the curator of herpetology at the Louisiana State University Museum of Natural Science. “When working at night in New Guinea you need to be very careful as there are several highly venomous species that look very similar to the non-venomous groundsnakes.”

After completing her doctorate In 2016, Ruane worked with Austin at LSU. The pair teamed up to research the poorly known snakes of New Guinea and have been collaborating ever since.

Based on the snake’s appearance alone, it was not clear that the team was looking at a new species. A laboratory analysis made it clear that something was different about this particular reptile.

“Using multiple cutting-edge genetic analyses, we found that L. slashi is genetically distinct from other similar snakes in the same genus,” says Tianqi Huang, a study co-author and post-doctoral researcher at the Field Museum. “The combination of physical characteristics, like differences in numbers of scales when compared with other species, and the genetic evidence is what led us to realize that it is an entirely new species. We also used ecological modeling to show that L. slashi’s preferred habitat is different from similar snakes.”

Lielaphis slashi is not venomous and does not pose any threat to humans. Image: Chris Austin.

The team still has a lot to learn about Slash’s groundsnake, since they are difficult to observe in the wild and can slither away undetected. However, there are some clues based on its anatomy. 

“Snakes in this genus often have large teeth in the back of their mouths, which New Guinea groundsnakes may use to grab on to and eat small, slippery-scaled lizards and the eggs of other reptiles; this snake isn’t grasping and squeezing its prey like a boa constrictor,” said Ruane. 

Importantly, it does not produce any venom that could seriously harm a person. And as for the snake’s famous name, Ruane thought back to that magazine article.

“I reread his interview, and he talked about how much he loves museums and zoos and natural history, and about how when he was a kid, he’d go outside and look for snakes—it was all stuff that I really related to, and it made me think that he’d be a great person to name a new species after,” said Ruane.

Slash’s groundsnake won’t hurt humans, but human activity could spell disaster for this snake and other creatures in New Guinea. Their habitats are under threat from farming and mining, but describing new species like this can help conservation efforts. 

“That’s part of why describing the species that live there is important. Every species should be recognized in order for us to better understand how ecosystems work, how everything fits into the environment,” said Ruane. “We can’t conserve animals or other living things that we don’t know about.”

The post New snake species named in honor of Guns N’ Roses guitarist Slash appeared first on Popular Science.

It’s difficult to imagine anything of consequence occurring within a millionth of a second, but one of the most pivotal moments in cosmic history occurred in that miniscule time.. Physicists believe the earliest form of matter in the universe—known as quark-gluon plasma—arrived in this brief blip in time following the big bang about 13.8 billion years ago. This incredibly dense, hot state of matter existed at a moment when the nascent universe was so hot that it prevented the formation of protons and neutrons. As the cosmos cooled and expanded, the free-floating quarks and gluons started binding together to create the building blocks of all matter, including all those necessary atomic protons and neutrons.

There’s a problem with the theory, however. Researchers have long thought plasma is only created from collisions between atoms with extremely heavy nuclei such as lead. To explore the conundrum, a team at the Switzerland’s University of Copenhagen and the CERN facility decided to recreate their own “little” big bangs by smashing together elements at nearly the speed of light. Their results recently published in the journal Physical Review Letters signal a major breakthrough in quantum physics—one that indicates a primordial quark-gluon plasma soup is actually possible with lighter ingredients.

An illustration of the collisions between neon-20 and oxygen-16 at the CERN Large Hadron Collider. Credit: CERN

“A precise understanding of nuclear structure helps us understand the strong force,” You Zou, a study co-author and physicist now at the University of Maryland, said in a statement. “But instead of carefully investigating nuclei at low energies, we smash them together at the highest energies we can create and can now read their shape from the imprint they leave behind.”

In this case, Zou and colleagues examined the aftermath generated by firing the smaller nuclei oxygen-16 and neon-20 at each other. While the team can’t observe the collision itself because the interaction happens so incomprehensibly fast, they can study the particles and the shape they form not long afterwards. Study co-author and Neils Bohr Institute physicist Emil Gorm Dahlbæk Nielsen likens the situation to the properties—and absence—of light.

“It is a bit like shining light on an object and seeing its shadow. You cannot see the object directly, but its shadow reveals its shape,” he said. “In the same way, the movement of the particles reveals the geometric shape of the atomic nuclei that was present at the beginning of the collision.”

Physicists now know that a collision between two oxygen nuclei generates a more rounded particle pattern, while crashing neon nuclei together creates a pattern more reminiscent of a bowling pin. But while these smashed atomic components reveal that it actually is possible to create quark-gluon plasma using lighter elements, it doesn’t mean oxygen or neon nuclei were present so soon after the big bang. That said, we are still one step closer to discovering the actual culprits. The next phase will yet again involve smashing atomic nuclei—this time using even lighter candidates like helium-4.

For Zhou, it’s i compelling that a single experiment can help physicists learn about atomic nuclei structures while simultaneously recreating some of the universe’s earliest moments.

“These two things turn out to be much more closely connected than one might initially think,” he said.

The post Scientists smash atoms together to create ‘little’ big bangs appeared first on Popular Science.

If you’ve followed explore.org’s livestream of the bears at Katmai National Park and Preserve in Alaska this summer, you’ve probably noticed a big bear nicknamed Bucky Dent who is great at catching fish. Officially designated as Bear 164, this roughly seven-year-old adult male is so good at catching fish, he invented a new way to find them as a young subadult bear. Today, the cameras spotted Bucky Dent catching a salmon that looked pretty determined to swim away. 

Cameras also spotted him doing a “tango,” or weaving in and out of the water with Bear 909, while searching for fish. Bucky and 909 are often spotted searching for salmon together, and don’t seem to mind close fishing quarters.

Bucky first appeared in the area in 2019 and rangers do not know the identity of  his parents. In 2021, he struggled to find a good fishing spot since as a subadult bear with lots of competition. So to find salmon, he invented a new fishing method. He stood at the deepest plunge pool under the cascade of Brooks Falls. Here, he could catch fish that welled up from the pool below, jumping up through the air, or falling from the falls above. No other bear has used this technique. Now that Bucky Dent ranks among the largest bears, he can fish wherever he wants. 

In 2022, rangers gave Bucky his official number (164). One way to tell 164 apart from the other bears in the area is the dark vertical indentation on his upper muzzle (or snout). This indentation is where the nickname Bucky Dent comes from, although it is a bit of an homage to the famous New York Yankee. He also has bright blonde oval-shaped ears, and his fur appears dark blonde to medium brown depending on the lighting.

Now that August has arrived, the salmon have reached their spawning grounds and have  spread out in the Brooks River. Since the fish dispersed, Bucky Dent and the other bears must also spread out. While they look for more salmon to eat, they will also explore the region’s streams, and take advantage of other food sources like berries.

Later in August, the salmon will begin to weaken and die after spawning. Once the fish weaken, the bears will have an easier time catching them again. By September and into October, more bears will return to the lower Brooks River, just in time for the big Fat Bear Week competition October 2 to October 8. An adult male bear like Bucky Dent can go from roughly 700 pounds when the season begins to over 1,200 pounds by the fall.

You can still catch them from time to time on explore.org’s live cameras and should see them more often as we get closer to September.

The post Meet Bucky Dent, one of Katmai’s most innovative bears appeared first on Popular Science.

The desert is a harsh environment, even if you’re equipped with the latest tools, protective clothing, and resources. But 15,000 years ago, a group of hunter-gatherers known as the Natufian culture living in the southern Levant did more than eke out an existence. Unlike other prehistoric communities, Natufians abandoned nomadic life across present-day Jordan, Palestine, and Israel for smaller, permanent settlements before they even developed agriculture.

A major key to their survival? They weren’t picky eaters. Based on ancient bones discovered in the Nahal Me’arot Nature Reserve on Mount Carmel, Natufian diets were heavy on lizards, snakes, and other desert reptiles. The evidence is laid out in a recent study published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

“We were then able to distinguish reptile remains that died naturally at the site or were preyed upon by mammals and birds from those that served as food for humans,” Maayan Lev, study co-author and an archaeologist at Germany’s Kiel University, said in a statement.

Lead author Maayan Lev (right) with colleagues during the excavations on Mount Carmel. Credit: Reuven Yeshurun

Lev’s team is focused on the el-wad Terrace, a 20-layer archaeological site that contains multiple human settlements, with the oldest beginning about 15,000 years ago. Researchers have identified thousands of snakes and lizards in this geological record, many of which became meals for local predators. But microscopic skeletal details also revealed a decent percentage of these reptiles didn’t only succumb to the food chain. Cut marks and scrapes made by flint knives at consistent locations on the bones indicate local humans butchered many of them for meals.

The choices weren’t simply whatever Natufians could catch. A large portion of the prepared reptiles included the large whip snake (Dolichophis jugularis) and the eastern Montpellier snake (Malpolon insignitus). Indirect signs also suggest the proto-Neolithic community also dined on the European glass lizard (Pseudopus apodus), which featured tough scales that necessitated a completely different type of butchering. According to Lev, these selections were likely intentional.

“Our hypothesis is that the Natufian people preferred to catch reptiles that were relatively large, relatively slow and not dangerous,” she said. 

This made the glass lizard a particularly attractive target, but comparatively harmless snakes would also do in a pinch. “Venomous snakes such as vipers, on the other hand, were rarely caught,” added Lev.

Apart from widening archaeologists’ understanding of the Natufian palette, the findings highlight how humanity’s resourcefulness and adaptive abilities stretch back thousands of years. Even before permanent communities became commonplace around the world, some groups were already learning to thrive in seemingly inhospitable conditions.

The post 15,000 years ago, desert dwellers dined on snakes and lizards appeared first on Popular Science.

NASA engineers have confirmed they can’t spare the historic Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory from a fiery demise, despite their best efforts. In July, mission specialists partnering with Katalyst Space Technologies launched the Link spacecraft with the hopes of capturing the orbital telescope and boosting it into a higher orbit. However,numerous complications forced the team to finally abandon the rescue attempt.

“This is not the outcome we were working toward, but it does not change why this mission was worth attempting,” NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman said in a statement.

Deployed in 2004, the Swift Observatory spent over two decades gazing into some of the universe’s most powerful explosions. In 2022, the orbital space telescope even glimpsed the most luminous eruption ever seen—a gamma ray burst dubbed the BOAT (Brightest of all Time). But after years of unprecedented contributions to astronomy, the forces governing the cosmos are finally taking their toll as Earth’s gravitational pull slowly drags the telescope closer towards a point of no return. Meanwhile, increased solar wind activity hastened its orbital decay. NASA shut off Swift’s scientific instruments earlier this year in an attempt to delay the end, but Swift still remained on track to burn up amid an atmospheric re-entry within a few months.

Mission specialists were still determined to mount a last-ditch rescue effort. Over just nine months, engineers at Katalyst Space Technologies designed and built a three-armed spacecraft dubbed Link that would delicately capture Swift, then use thrusters to slowly boost the observatory back to its original orbital altitude(around 373 miles above Earth). If successful, the efforts would grant Swift years of additional life. 

Unfortunately, the endeavor began to unravel a few weeks into Link’s journey, when the spacecraft accidentally entered into an uncontrollable spin. Engineers eventually stabilized it to some extent, but multiple persistent problems made it difficult to properly position the craft in orbit.

“We knew this was a high-risk, high-reward mission—a first-of-its kind attempt, developed on an unprecedented timeline driven by the sun’s activity,” said NASA Astrophysics Division director Shawn Domagal-Goldman.

Based on current calculations, Swift is now expected to begin its atmospheric re-entry no earlier than October. It is not currently known where it will begin its final descent, although it isn’t expected to pose any threat to people back home.

In the meantime, the mission is far from dead. NASA and Katalyst will continue to guide Link as best they can towards Swift to learn as much as possible for future, similar rendezvous attempts. These may even include a mission to pull off a similar orbital boost to the famous Hubble Space Telescope. After 36 years in service, the historic observatory is also suffering from a decaying orbit made worse by intense solar activity.

“We were all hoping for more science from Swift,” said Domagal-Goldman. “But we knew the takeaways from this mission would be worthwhile either way, and we have gained so much through the series of accomplishments up to this point.”

The post NASA abandons mission to save Swift Observatory from a fiery death appeared first on Popular Science.

An expressive little orange-tailed marsh dart damselfly (Ceriagrion cerinorubellum) peering through a hole in a leaf is the winner of the 2026 BMC Ecology and Evolution and BMC Zoology image competition.

Since 2023, the annual competition highlights the beauty and diversity of life on Earth, while celebrating the researchers working to understand and protect the natural world. The judges selected an overall winning image and a runner-up, in addition to winners and runners-up in three categories: Relationships in Nature, Protecting Our Planet, and Research in Action. 

Browse through all of the winners in the gallery below. (Click to expand images to full screen.)

Overall winner: “Window to the Wetlands,” by Sritam Kumar Sethy The photo taken in eastern India shows an expressive marsh dart damselfly. Image: Sritam Kumar Sethy.

An orange-tailed marsh dart damselfly (Ceriagrion cerinorubellum) is framed by a hole in a leaf in a freshwater wetland in the state of Odisha, India. Berhampur University, Odisha student Sritam Kumar Sethy took the photo and says it “offers a glimpse into the often-overlooked world of freshwater biodiversity.”

Damselflies are critical predators in wetland ecosystems, and are an indicator of ecosystem health. Since they rely on both aquatic and terrestrial habitats, they can be particularly sensitive to the effects of pollution, habitat loss, and climate change.

“It is hard not to smile at this beautifully composed and vivid image, in which the damselfly seems to display a remarkable sense of character and presence,” BMC Ecology and Evolution Senior Editorial Board Member David Ferrier said in a statement

Jennifer Harman, Editor of BMC Ecology and Evolution and BMC Zoology, added that the photo “highlights the importance of wetlands, which support a remarkable diversity of species yet are among the world’s most threatened and rapidly disappearing habitats.”

Overall runner-up: “Space for Frogs” by Ryan Wagner Northern red-legged frogs are native to western North America. Image: Ryan Wagner.

Two students working in the field on a dark, rainy night near Portland, Oregon are attaching a radio transmitter to a northern red-legged frog (Rana aurora). Ryan Wagner of Washington State University took the photograph, which demonstrates how technology is helping scientists better understand animal movement and habitat use, which could lead to safer environments for at-risk species. Northern red-legged frogs are a medium sized frog that are considered a species of concern.

Relationships in Nature winner: “Giant Cuttlefish in Breeding Battle,” by Victor Huertas Giant Australian cuttlefish come together every year from May to August to spawn. Image: Victor Huertas.

Two male giant Australian cuttlefish (Ascarosepion apama) compete for a female’s attention during their annual spawning aggregation in the Upper Spencer Gulf in South Australia. The aggregation occurs every year from May to August. The photo taken by Victor Huertas from Australia’s James Cook University shows how tens of thousands of cuttlefish use their skin’s natural pigmentation to vie for mating rights.

David Ferrier describes the image as showing “both the intimacy and intensity of a complex and highly competitive mating display.”

Relationships in Nature runner-up: “Go Away,” by Alwin Hardenbol Mobbing like this is a common anti-predator behavior. Image: Alwin Hardenbol. 

Alwin Hardenbol of the Natural Resources Institute Finland showed noisy friarbirds (Philemon corniculatus) mobbing a brown goshawk (Tachyspiza fasciata) in Australia. 

BMC Ecology and Evolution Senior Editorial Board Member Christy Hipsley says that the image  of this common anti-predator behavior in birds is “like charcoal smudges on white paper.”

Research in Action winner: “Intertidal Education” by Liam Brennan Shallow waters off of Canada’s eastern coast male a perfect classroom. Image: Liam Brennan.

Undergraduate students in New Brunswick, Canada investigate the local fish population living in shallow coastal waters by moonlight. University of New Brunswick professor Liam Brennan snapped the photo. 

Edward Narayan, Senior Editorial Board Member for BMC Zoology, says that giving undergraduate students opportunities like this for research projects can, “transform classroom science into action to support crucial ecological and environmental monitoring research.”

Research in Action runner-up: “Everglades Monitoring” by Brandon Güell Florida’s Everglades are a very unique ecosystem. Image: Brandon Güell.

Brandon Güell from Florida International University’s entry shows researchers monitoring aquatic life in the Everglades National Park in southern Florida. The unique ecosystem is home to many animals including invasive Burmese pythons (Python bivittatus). The team’s research is part of a long-term effort to assess how ecosystem restoration projects are progressing.

Protecting Our Planet winner: “A Bridge Between Past and Present” by Allen Tian The western end of Canada’s St. Lawrence Seaway. Image: Allen Tian.

This creative drone shot of Long Sault Parkway at the western end of the St. Lawrence Seaway in Canada was taken by Allen Tian, a researcher at Queen’s University in Ontario. The stereographic photograph shows the environmental disruption that is caused by past dam construction, along with the ecological recovery that can follow conservation efforts.

Tian took the photo during his biodiversity research on the seaway, using environmental DNA sampling and drone surveys to monitor the ecosystem’s health, without disturbing any of the resident wildlife.

Protecting Our Planet runner-up: “Tide, turtle, and trust!” by Abhijeet Bayani Olive ridley sea turtles get their name from the color of their shells. Image: Abhijeet Bayani.

Abhijeet Bayani of MES Abasaheb Garware College in India, celebrates community-led conservation efforts along India’s west coast in this photograph. An olive ridley sea turtle hatchling (Lepidochelys olivacea) is being escorted to the sea by locals who protected her nest. Olive ridley sea turtles are on the small side and have heart-shaped shells. 

Highly commended images In “Manatees,” Florida manatees (Trichechus manatus latirostris) drink from a freshwater source in Everglades National Park. Image: Brandon Güell.
“Into the Bear’s Realm” shows a  researcher sheltering in a Himalayan cave while searching for evidence of an endangered Himalayan brown bear (Ursus arctos isabellinus) den. Image: Vineet Kumar. In “Barking Up the Right Tree,” a researcher is perched high above the forest floor while monitoring tree bark microbial communities in the Northern Territory, Australia. Image: Luke Jeffrey.

Congratulations to all of the participants!

The post 11 stunning images celebrating Earth’s life—and the scientists who study it appeared first on Popular Science.

Shield AI states that three X-BATs (with their Launch and Recovery Vehicles / LRVs) fit in the deck space of one legacy fighter or helicopter. Arleigh Burke-class destroyers have a flight deck + dual hangars designed for up to two MH-60R Seahawk helicopters. They could each hold six X-BATS in the space used for two ...

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Adelaide, Australia, 19th August 2026, CyberNewswire

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New York, New York, 19th August 2026, CyberNewswire

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