The Secrets of Ancient Marine Crocodiles

Number of words: 447 A wondrous lineage of crocodile relatives that developed into fast-swimming seagoing predators at a time when dinosaurs dominated the land adapted to life in the open ocean with a pivotal evolutionary modification also present in whales. But the crocs did it more than 100 million years earlier. Research published on Monday … Read more

The Cosmic Drama of Betelgeuse

Number of words: 1,635 Betelgeuse is an incredibly big star located about 700 light years away from Earth. It is about 800-times wider than the Sun and nearly 15-times as massive.. It is also the second brightest star after Rigel in the Orion constellation, in the northern hemisphere. Recently, Betelgeuse’s brightness began to dim in … Read more

The Future of Planetary Defense: DART and Beyond

Number of words: 341 Didymos, a 2,650-foot-wide asteroid, has an atypical cosmic companion— a 535 foot-wide satellite named Didymoon (10). These new two celestial bodies are not making a dangerous rendezvous with Earth, but they do provide an interesting opportunity for an apocalyptic dress rehearsal. NASA and ESA’s Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) will head … Read more