Things were looking good for Intuitive Machines’ Odysseus lunar lander, which made a soft touchdown on the Moon on Thursday and became the first American lunar lander since Apollo in 1972. But on Friday evening, NASA and the private Houston-based company reported that Odie appeared to have landed askew and may be tipped over onto a rock. Read on for this week’s top science stories.
Intuitive Machines’ Odysseus is gearing up for its attempt at a potentially historic landing on the Moon’s surface later this week. Things are looking good so far for the lunar lander, which beamed back breathtaking views of Earth from space. - Passant Rabie Read More
Intuitive Machines’ private lander stumbled on its way down to the lunar surface and is possibly leaning over on a rock on the Moon. The vehicle is still operational and flight engineers are working to gather more data on its less-than-ideal position, the company said. - Passant Rabie Read More
New research seems to offer some long-sought insights into the perplexing and devastating condition known as myalgic encephalomyelitis, also called chronic fatigue syndrome. The National Institutes of Health-led study found several potentially key differences in the brains and immune systems of people with ME/CFS compared to healthy controls. The findings could help point to possible future treatments, the researchers say. - Ed Cara Read More
If you asked an astrophysicist what is yet to be discovered in the universe, there’s a good chance they’d paraphrase Donald Rumsfeld: It’s full of known unknowns. - Isaac Schultz Read More
Veterinary researchers are shining a light on an oddly mesmerizing skin condition found in hairless sphynx cats. The condition, called figurate erythema, causes the cats to develop intricate, swirling rashes all over their body. There is no clear explanation yet for why figurate erythema happens, though it seems to be rare, relatively harmless, and often temporary. - Ed Cara Read More
Many Star Wars fans probably thought they were dreaming when the European Space Agency published images of what looked like a TIE starfighter in space. Alas, it wasn’t the Empire, but rather glimpses of a decades-old Earth observation satellite making its return home. - Jody Serrano Read More
A trove of Neanderthal tools made between 120,000 and 40,000 years ago were forged with glue, according to a team of researchers that recently studied the objects. - Isaac Schultz Read More
Intuitive Machines landed its Odysseus spacecraft on the Moon on Thursday at 6:23 p.m. ET, becoming the first private company to pull off a soft landing on the lunar surface. - Passant Rabie Read More
Survivor has produced a whopping 45 seasons, with more in development. If you remember the buzz around season 1 but can’t believe it’s been 45 years, it hasn’t. They’ve cranked out two seasons per year for most of its run to feed their insatiable fanbase. Each season, the mega-successful reality show maroons an attractive cast of clashing personalities on a tropical island to compete for a million dollar prize. Contestants are subjected to physical, endurance, and mental challenges to earn survival gear or immunity from being voted off the show. The island rapidly devolves into a pressure cooker of scheming and backstabbing, much to the viewers’ delight. - Jack Murtagh Read More
Billions of years of evolution has given rise to us, the millions of species that persist on planet Earth today. Some of us are small, some of us are big, and some of us have huge ears, flat tails, compound eyes, or infrared vision. Each of these adaptations has its merits, but only a handful of them can be considered the most fun, in my (totally scientific) opinion. - Isaac Schultz Read More