New research at White Sands National Park finds human footprints on 20 layers, many from children, and reconstructs the sudden Ice Age drought those travelers lived through.
In 1999, Hubble recorded about 100 chemical fingerprints from a dead star that nobody could identify. A Warwick PhD student finally cracked them, and the answer points to a planet that may have formed from its star’s own ashes.
Loggerhead sea turtles laid a record 4,292 nests on Georgia beaches in 2026, up from just 358 in 2004. Here’s how volunteers, night patrols, and a clever fishing-net escape hatch helped.
Arizona released 43 endangered black-footed ferrets in 2026. Here is how a ranch dog, 18 last survivors, and even a cloned ferret got this species back on the prairie.
By 1990, only about a dozen pairs of Great Lakes piping plovers were left. In 2026, 99 pairs nested on all five Great Lakes and a record 184 chicks took flight.
In spring 2026, a NOAA ship crew and technical divers outplanted propagated mesophotic corals on seafloor habitat still healing from the Deepwater Horizon spill — and photographed every step.
In April 2026, Artemis II became the first crewed lunar flyby in more than 50 years. NASA’s public-domain images from the voyage are as stunning as the milestone itself.
In February 2026, a historic cold snap left green turtles floating helpless in St. Joseph Bay. NOAA and partners pulled more than 600 to safety — and brought most of them home.
Near Point Lay, Iḷisaġvik intern Violet Anniskett saw a walrus carcass move — and found orphaned calf Annautaq. True story with authentic USGS public-domain photos.