Science & Earth

Firefly Aerospace's Alpha rocket reached orbit on March 11 during the 'Stairway to Seven' mission from Vandenberg, a reclassified test flight following earlier mishaps in 2025.

In 2022 NASA's DART spacecraft struck the small asteroid Dimorphos, shortening its orbit around the larger Didymos; new analysis shows the impact and escaping debris also shifted the binary system's orbit around the sun by about 0.15 seconds and changed its orbital speed by roughly 11.7 microns per second.

A study of about 19,000 king penguins found breeding now starts roughly 19 days earlier than in 2000 and reported about a 40% rise in breeding success; researchers say the species’ long breeding season and flexible foraging help for now, but future outcomes are uncertain.

Voyager Technologies has made a multi‑million‑dollar investment in Max Space to speed development of expandable lunar habitat modules, and the companies say the work is intended to align with NASA's Artemis roadmap for a sustained presence on the moon.

NOAA data show December–February was the second-warmest winter on record for the U.S., and several Western states logged their warmest winters; Colorado recorded an exceptionally warm start to the 2025–2026 water year and low early‑February snowpack levels.

A fast-moving storm prompted a tornado warning Wednesday for parts of south‑central and central Pennsylvania, and more than 23,000 people were included in immediate shelter alerts; the National Weather Service reported radar-indicated rotation and described the storm as dangerous.

A large storm system that produced tornadoes and very large hail across the Plains and Midwest has shifted east, and multiple tornado watches are in effect across parts of the Ohio Valley, northern Gulf Coast and mid‑Atlantic through this evening.

A Rice University–led team reports a process that uses PFAS-saturated activated carbon to extract lithium from high-salinity brine, recovering lithium fluoride at 99% purity and about 82% of available yield. The researchers say the recovered lithium improved lithium‑ion cell capacity in month‑long tests.

An analysis using Walker and Avant finds intersectionality clarifies how overlapping identities and systems of oppression shape maternal health inequities, but it often overlooks reproductive autonomy; the authors recommend integrating autonomy into intersectional models and advancing methods for empirical work.

The Amarillo City Council unanimously approved a long-term lease allowing Amarillo Zoo & Sanctuary, Inc., a nonprofit formed by staff of the Wild West Wildlife Rehabilitation Center, to manage daily operations while the city retains ownership of the zoo, land and animals.

Yellowstone biologists reported spotting the first grizzly of 2026 scavenging a bull bison carcass near Yellowstone Lake, and the sighting follows the park's pattern of early-March appearances in recent years.

A Johns Hopkins-led experiment shows the bacterium Deinococcus radiodurans survived simulated Martian impact pressures, with about 60% viability after pressures near 2.4 gigapascals; the study links this resilience to DNA repair systems and a crystalline membrane structure.

Japan observed the 15th anniversary of the 2011 earthquake, tsunami and nuclear accident while Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi urged greater use of nuclear power; affected communities continue to recover slowly and the Fukushima Daiichi plant still faces challenges removing melted fuel debris.

The Bank of England says Winston Churchill will be replaced on the £5 note by native UK wildlife after a public consultation; a second public vote this summer will choose specific animals from an expert shortlist.

Stanford researchers are studying how people communicate during visual-creation tasks and are building open-source tools — including ControlNet, FramePack and a neuro-symbolic scene-coding system — to help generative AI collaborate with human creators.

A study published March 5 models Pune, India’s mid-century water under drought and urban growth and finds that without new policies reservoirs and groundwater could decline sharply and low-income households could face much higher costs; the researchers report that coordinated policy interventions implemented together can largely prevent those outcomes.

A March government posting shows NASA pursuing United Launch Alliance's Centaur V as the upper stage for the Space Launch System on Artemis IV and V under a sole-source contract; the revised Artemis plan also repurposes missions and accelerates the launch cadence. Plans for missions beyond Artemis 5 are not specified.

NASA has identified ULA's Centaur V as the next upper stage for the SLS for Artemis IV and V in a sole‑source SAM.gov posting, and the agency has revised Artemis mission roles and timelines including an accelerated schedule for flights after Artemis 2.

A study found the Apalachicola subpopulation of Florida black bears grew about 11.9% annually from 2016–2019, and researchers link the rebound to legal protections and expanded protected habitat.

A peer-reviewed study reports that days when extreme heat stops people from doing routine outdoor tasks have roughly doubled over the past 75 years, and more than a third of the global population now lives in areas where heat heavily affects daily life.

Researchers with the Center for Coastal Studies observed two North Atlantic right whale mothers and their calves in Cape Cod Bay, and federal reporting shows 22 calves this calving season, the most in 15 years.

Researchers report a reelin-related gene variant called COLBOS delayed Alzheimer's symptoms by roughly 20 years in a person with a high-risk PSEN1 mutation, and a December 2025 study mapped how COLBOS strengthens reelin binding to heparan sulfate at neuron surfaces.

New research finds that days too hot for routine activities have doubled over the past 75 years, and more than a third of the global population now lives where heat severely affects daily life.

Death Valley has been transformed by thousands of wildflowers in what experts described as the strongest bloom since 2016, following record autumn rainfall that soaked seeds and supported growth.

Scuba divers at Darwin's Arch reported seeing more than 20 whale sharks across seven dives, and one large whale shark swam slowly through a group allowing close photos and video.

A randomized trial of 958 adults (average age 70) found that taking a daily multivitamin for two years was associated with a statistically significant slowing of epigenetic measures of biological aging by about four months overall, with larger effects among participants who were biologically older than their chronological age; cocoa extract showed no effect.

The Maui County Council unanimously passed a resolution urging the U.S. Air Force to reject a draft environmental impact statement for a proposed plan to build up to seven telescopes on Haleakalā; the Air Force has extended the public comment period to April 15.

Fort Leonard Wood officials are urging readiness ahead of Missouri's tornado season and note the installation has more than 700 safety shelters; the National Weather Service reported 16 tornado-related deaths in Missouri in 2025.

A multi-day outbreak of severe storms, including strong winds, tornadoes and isolated flash flooding, is forecast across the Southeast, Midwest and Southwest over the next three days, and recent tornadoes in Michigan and Oklahoma have killed six people.

A large randomized trial (COSMOS) of about 21,442 older adults found that daily multivitamin use was associated with modest slowdowns in two DNA-based aging clocks over roughly two years.