SCIENCE

Eco-friendly straws have become increasingly popular in recent years as people shun single-use plastic straws to fight against plastic pollution, but use of metal straws comes with potential risks.

Conflicting reports regarding the fire that damaged SpaceX’s facility in Florida on Monday sparked speculations that the company may be hiding something. Based on the estimated cost of the damage caused by the incident, it seems the facility was ravaged by a bigger fire that was not reported by the company.

NASA’s Curiosity rover has released a new batch of raw images taken from the surface of Mars. The new photos showcase the various stunning rock formations and other landscape features of the Red Planet.

NASA's next space mission is headed to Saturn's controversial moon, Titan.

NASA’s asteroid tracker has detected a massive near-Earth object that’s currently headed for the planet. According to the agency’s Center for Near Earth Object Studies (CNEOS), the approaching asteroid is almost twice as big as the Great Pyramid of Giza.

The 2013-14 eastern South America drought was one of the worst the region has experienced in many years. Researchers found that it began with strong atmospheric convection half the world away over the Indian Ocean.

The current carbon accumulation could lead to extreme acidification of the ocean, similar to the kind that contributed to the Permian–Triassic mass extinction that happened about 250 million years ago.

No other space agency has landed on the south polar region of the moon due to extreme terrain related risks. The world hopes that ISRO’s Chandrayaan-2 makes a successful landing.

Astronomers have recently discovered a record-breaking asteroid with the shortest orbital year. According to their data, the asteroid completes its cycle around the Sun every 151 days.

NASA satellites recently discovered the biggest seaweed bloom in the world, stretching from West Africa to the Gulf of Mexico.

NASA is celebrating the 50th anniversary of the first human landing on the Moon in the historic Apollo 11 Moon mission with a live, two-hour television broadcast next week.

NASA’s Center for Near Earth Object Studies (CNEOS) has detected a total of seven asteroids that will approach Earth this week. According to the agency’s data, Earth will have close encounters with space rocks on almost a daily basis during the next couple of days.

NASA has detected a new asteroid that’s currently headed for Earth. According to the agency’s Center for Near Earth Object Studies (CNEOS), the approaching asteroid is bigger than the Statue of Liberty.

Amid the possibility of stronger earthquakes shaking California, some people started to fear of another dangerous event: an eruption of a supervolcano. After the two quakes that rocked California last week, there was a spike in internet searches for “Yellowstone volcano” and “Yellowstone caldera”. 

Five Antarctic glaciers have doubled their rate of ice loss in the last six years. This rate may continue to accelerate and drive up sea level rise at a much faster pace than previously thought.  

The 160,000-year-old Denisovan molar features a rare dental trait primarily found in modern Asians. This trait may have been acquired through interbreeding between homo sapiens and archaic humans.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has detected a solar storm that’s expected to hit Earth’s southern hemisphere this week. The storm could disrupt the operations and functions of satellites and electrical grids in the affected regions.

According to Science Alert, this shark prefers the darker waters of the meso-and bathypelagic zones, which is 8,200 feet deep.

The National Archives has released a digital version of former U.S. President Richard Nixon’s secret and unaired speech, which would have been used if NASA’s Apollo 11 Moon mission ended disastrously. In the speech, Nixon was prepared to honor astronauts Neil Armstrong and Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin in case they died before returning to Earth.

NASA has awarded a new contract to SpaceX that involves visiting and closely studying supermassive black holes. Aside from these, the new mission will also focus on observing neutron stars and pulsar wind nebulae.

NASA has detected an asteroid that will fly dangerously close to Earth on Tuesday. According to the agency’s Center for Near Earth Object Studies (CNEOS), the massive space rock will approach the planet within a lunar distance of less than one.

A NASA photo taken by the Curiosity rover shows a mysterious figure that looks a lot like a flying bird.

A study has suggested that diabetes patients are at high risk of developing depression and proper treatment can prevent early deaths in them.

The orange-pink glow seen in the image is hydrogen gas reacting to intense light that streams outward from the newborn stars. Hydrogen gas is a key ingredient in star formation. The dark patches of black scattered among the glowing patches are cosmic dust.

It was previously thought that unicellular organisms are the only life-forms that can remain viable after a millennia of slumber in the permafrost. Researchers now find they can also awaken more complex organisms such as nematodes.

After years of secrecy, the U.S. Air Force’s mysterious X-37B robotic spacecraft developed by Boeing has finally been photographed while conducting its test flight. The astronomer who captured the image was also able to identify certain features of the classified spacecraft.

A new technology eases HIV viral load tests, making results available within a matter of minutes.

NASA warned that the Sun’s solar minimum cycle is about the end, which would lead to more violent and frequent solar eruptions in the coming years. These could cause large coronal mass ejections that are capable of paralyzing Earth’s technology.

SpaceX has released the stunning video of the Falcon Heavy’s fairing as it returned to Earth shortly after the rocket’s launch. The fairing, which was part of the spacecraft’s nose cone, could be the same component caught by SpaceX using a giant net.