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Last known appearance of Homo erectus was in Ngandong, Java
New research shows that Homo erectus, an ancestor of human beings, lived as recently as 108,000 to 117,000 years ago in Ngandong, on the Indonesian island of Java.
January 6, 2020
Top 9 EarthSky stories of 2019
From the 1st landing on the moon's far side to the 1st actual image of a black hole, here’s a quick roundup of 9 of the stories our readers enjoyed most in 2019.
December 29, 2019
Top 9 EarthSky images of 2019
Wow! This was a tough choice. Thank you to all who submitted photos in 2019! Here are a few of our favorites.
December 29, 2019
Get ready for the ’20s!
"Anybody besides me notice that the past two decades have been nameless?"
December 29, 2019
New names for 112 exoplanets and their stars
Hundreds of thousands of people from 112 countries helped select names for distant exoplanets and their stars. So, for example, the exoplanet formerly known as HAT-P-36b - about 1,000 light-years away - now also carries the name Bran, from an Irish legend.
December 18, 2019
Bringing community astronomy to rural Africa
Ideas discussed at last month’s International Astronomical Union symposium in Tokyo include projects using smartphones and low-cost battery-powered equipment.
December 14, 2019
December brings 2019’s 2nd Friday the 13th
Friday - December 13 - comes exactly 13 weeks after the year's first Friday the 13th in September. Zoinks! By the way, a fear of Friday the 13th is called friggatriskaidekaphobia.
December 12, 2019
Amazon fires quickening glacier melting in Andes
The burning rainforest releases black carbon into the atmosphere, which, according to a growing number of scientific studies, directly contributes to the melting of glaciers.
December 12, 2019
Chennai engineer helped find India’s Vikram lander, which crashed on the moon
In September, India hoped to become the 4th nation to soft land on the moon successfully with its Chandrayaan 2 mission. Moments before touchdown, the mission's Vikram lander crashed. Now the lander has been found again.
December 3, 2019
A better way to convert dog years to human years
Researchers collected DNA samples from 104 Labrador retrievers over a 16-year period. They compared changes in their DNA samples against DNA previously collected from humans. The result? A better sense of what a "dog year" really means.
December 1, 2019
