A skull of one of Cui Shu’s beloved donkeys. Scientists recently found the first evidence that nobles in imperial China played donkey polo, in the tomb of a wealthy, important woman who died in Xi’an more than 2,000 years ago.…
A Russian Soyuz 2.1v rocket launches a classified military satellite into orbit from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome in northern Russian on Nov. 25, 2019. The satellite can apparently track other satellites in orbit. Russia just fired an anti-satellite missile in a…
A glimpse into China’s readiness to handle samples from the moon reveals steps to be taken for storage, processing and preparation of the specimens. China’s Chang’e 5 robotic moon mission is scheduled to launch later this year. That venture represents…
The Lyrid meteors have been visible from Earth for thousands of years. A breathtaking cosmic light show, the Lyrid meteor shower, peaks this week, and even with social distancing you can be a part of this epic phenomenon. Meteor showers…
The newly discovered peacock spider M. constellatus, named in honor of Vincent Van Gogh’s “Starry Night” Peacock spiders (genus Maratus) are known for their luminous badonkadonks, which males use to dazzle potential mates through sexy spider courtship dances. Scientists have…
This rare example of “frozen behavior” in the fossil record preserves two mating, long-legged flies in honey-colored amber from Victoria, Australia. About 41 million years ago, two long-legged flies had just begun an amorous tryst when they were caught fast…