NASA updates Artemis lunar timeline amid ambitious goals, while Venus-moon conjunction delights stargazers and ancient plague discovery reshapes disease history understanding.

NASA provided a progress update on Artemis III, its test flight aimed at returning humans to the moon, though experts caution the timeline remains ambitious and faces significant technical and funding challenges.

A sliver of moon will pass within its own width of bright Venus this week in the constellation Cancer, creating a delightful twilight conjunction visible to skywatchers—a three-day-old moon positioned alongside the luminous planet.

New coral research has identified specific regions around the world where cooler ocean currents and other favorable environmental conditions are helping protect coral reefs from the worst effects of global warming.

Ancient plague cases discovered among hunter-gatherers in Siberian graves dating back nearly 5,000 years contradict previous theories that the disease was once mild, revealing the pathogen's deadly nature predates the Black Death by millennia.

Scientists using geochronological analysis determined that Giant's Causeway's basalt columns formed during volcanic activity around 5.5 million years ago—approximately 8 million years more recently than previously believed.

A San Francisco company purchased the solution to an unsolved cryptographic code embedded in Kryptos, a sculpture on CIA grounds, for nearly $1 million and plans to release it as an online challenge.

West Antarctica is experiencing extreme warming with temperatures climbing up to 45 degrees Fahrenheit above normal during the dead of winter, preventing critical ice formation in the region.

Trees may store significantly less carbon than hoped, as new research indicates photosynthesis does not always translate to wood growth—a key factor in carbon dioxide sequestration and climate change mitigation strategies.

Honeybees produce specialized 'baby food' for larvae to ensure balanced nutrition and can adjust their diets when pollen sources lack essential nutrients, demonstrating sophisticated food-processing behaviors.