Science Archives - Page 14 of 89

A New Plan for Joshua Trees Is Stirring Unexpected Concerns in California

March 19, 2026 by Katy Stublen

Why this decision could reshape the desert’s future.

Joshua trees have stood across the Mojave for thousands of years, surviving drought, scorching heat, and shifting desert winds. Yet scientists now warn the forces threatening them today are unlike anything the species has faced before. Wildfires move faster, invasive grasses spread across open ground, and rising temperatures make it harder for young trees to survive. As these pressures grow, California has taken an unprecedented step. A new statewide strategy aims to determine whether the desert’s most recognizable tree can endure the climate century ahead.

What Was Found in Tibet Doesn’t Fit the Ice Age Timeline

March 19, 2026 by Katy Stublen

A surprising find is shifting the story of clothing.

For decades, scientists believed the earliest breakthroughs in tailored clothing came from well known Ice Age cultures in Europe and Siberia. The story seemed settled, with the timeline of sewing technology mapped neatly across familiar archaeological sites. But discoveries from some of the planet’s most remote landscapes are beginning to complicate that narrative. A small group of artifacts recovered from the Tibetan Plateau is now prompting researchers to reconsider how early humans adapted to extreme environments. The objects themselves are simple at first glance, yet their implications ripple through the history of human survival. If scientists are interpreting them correctly, they suggest a technological step that appeared earlier and in a place few expected.

There Are Planets With No Sun at All, Scientists Just Cracked the Case

March 19, 2026 by Donna Dizon

They drift through the galaxy, cold and completely alone.

For most of modern astronomy, planets were defined by a simple rule. They circled stars, warmed by their light and shaped by the gravity of their solar systems. But over time, astronomers began spotting faint signals that didn’t fit that tidy picture. Strange objects appeared where no star seemed to exist, moving through space in silence. At first, the idea sounded improbable. A planet without a sun seemed like a contradiction. Yet observations kept hinting at the same possibility again and again. As telescopes improved and new detection methods emerged, scientists realized they were glimpsing something far stranger than expected: entire worlds traveling the galaxy alone.

Why So Many Young Adults Feel That Things Are Falling Apart

March 18, 2026 by Katy Stublen

A generation senses instability long before systems admit it.

For millions of younger adults entering adulthood today, the ground beneath everyday life feels less stable than it once did. Housing costs surge, student debt shadows early careers, and the future of work itself appears uncertain. Global crises stream into phones every hour. The result is not just stress, but a creeping sense that the systems meant to provide stability may be fraying. What younger generations are feeling is not simple pessimism. Something deeper may be unfolding.

A Giant Space Object Is Set to Pass Unusually Close to Earth

March 18, 2026 by Donna Dizon

Its trajectory brings it nearer than many orbiting satellites.

Astronomers spend most of their time watching objects that remain safely distant, tiny specks of light moving predictably across the sky. But every so often, something far larger enters the picture and suddenly the margins between Earth and space feel much thinner. A massive asteroid known as Apophis is preparing for one of the closest flybys scientists have ever tracked for an object of its size. The approach has drawn intense attention from observatories around the world, not because it threatens a collision, but because encounters this close almost never happen. For a brief moment, a mountain of rock from deep space will sweep astonishingly near our planet.