Alien-hunting AI discovers dozens of mysterious fast radio bursts

Astronomers with the Breakthrough Listen program used AI (artificial intelligence) to find 72 repeating, short, unpredictable radio bursts, from a mysterious source 3 billion light years away.

Wildlife hotspots thanks to livestock dung heaps?

Some of the African savannah’s most biologically diverse wildlife hotspots owe their vitality to heaps of manure deposited over thousands of years by livestock of wandering herders, says a new study.

Watch online, as asteroid 2018 RC sweeps past

Asteroid 2018 RC will sweep past at about half the moon's distance during the night of September 8, according to clocks in the Americas. Learn how to see it online.

Tropical Storm Gordon has made landfall

One death has been reported so far from the storm. Gordon's winds were just below hurricane-force last night when it made landfall just west of the Alabama-Mississippi border.

Why you can smell rain

What you're smelling is petrichor – a pleasant, earthy scent that accompanies a storm's first raindrops. A weather expert explains where it comes from.

8 planets in 1 night, from Rome

"I have been thinking for decades about imaging 8 planets of our solar system in 1 night, from sunset to dawn. I imaged all of them from Rome, above the amazing monuments of the Eternal City."

Beluga whales and narwhals go through menopause

Besides humans, only 4 species are known to experience menopause, and they're all whales – belugas, narwhals, killer whales and short-finned pilot whales.

Hybrid super-snakes in South Florida?

Interbreeding between Burmese and Indian pythons in South Florida might have resulted in what geneticists call "hybrid vigor." One result is that the snakes seem to have adapted to both swamps and high, dry ground.

How a volcano helped defeat Napoleon at Waterloo

In June 1815, the Allied army defeated Napoleon’s army at Waterloo. An Indonesian volcano helped, says a scientist at Imperial College London.

Guessing your shelter dog’s breed? You’re probably wrong

What breed is he? is often the first question people ask about a dog, but the answer is often terribly inaccurate,” said the author of a new genetic study of shelter dogs.

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