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Sixteen Mini-Neptune Planets Show Something Astronomers Did Not Expect

February 2, 2026 by Julie Majid

Sixteen small worlds just broke the neat rules.

Mini Neptunes should have been the easy middle children of exoplanets, bigger than Earth, smaller than Neptune, predictable in bulk and behavior. Then a set of sixteen worlds started misbehaving. Their spectra refused to line up, their densities hinted at hidden interiors, and their atmospheres looked less like thick blankets and more like scraps. Astronomers using new space based tools can now see what older telescopes blurred. The unsettling part is what these patterns imply about planet birth across space.

Archaeologists Keep Uncovering Something Unexpected at an Ancient Site in Turkey

February 2, 2026 by Julie Majid

Each excavation layer raises a more troubling question.

In southeastern Turkey, archaeologists excavating a windswept limestone ridge keep encountering evidence that does not fit older narratives. The site sits in Şanlıurfa Province, within the Taş Tepeler region of Upper Mesopotamia, and dates to the Pre Pottery Neolithic, roughly 9600 to 8200 BCE. What began as scattered monumental stones has revealed something more complex. Large circular spaces, carved human heads, and statues point toward organized gatherings long before farming villages took hold. Each season sharpens the tension between what was expected and what the stones insist on showing.

Rediscovered Footprints in New Mexico Show Children Walking Beside Animals They Shouldn’t Have

February 2, 2026 by Julie Majid

The ground beneath us keeps changing history.

©Image license via PetsnPals/ChatGPT, Fossilized Footprints

In a remote stretch of southern New Mexico, ancient footprints are forcing scientists to rethink what daily life looked like during the last Ice Age. Preserved in layers of dried lakebed sediment, the tracks show small children moving across the landscape alongside some of the largest animals ever to roam North America. The discovery raises difficult questions about survival, risk, and family life in a world dominated by megafauna. What these prints capture is not a hunt or a disaster, but something quieter and more unsettling.

ICE Raids Are Harming More Than People, and a Quiet Crisis Is Emerging

February 2, 2026 by Julie Majid

What happens next is rarely planned.

In the aftermath of recent immigration raids, a quieter story is unfolding out of public view. When people are taken away with little notice, homes are left suddenly empty, and the consequences ripple outward in unexpected ways. Neighbors, animal control officers, and shelters are increasingly encountering situations they were never meant to handle. What happens to the animals left behind depends on timing, chance, and who notices first.

Earth’s Dangerous Warming Traced To A Hidden Culprit, Says New Data

February 2, 2026 by Julie Majid

The shift was gradual, then suddenly impossible to ignore.

For years, scientists tracked rising temperatures without agreeing on what was accelerating the change. The usual explanations explained part of the story, but not all of it. New data is now pointing toward a factor that operated mostly out of sight, amplifying warming in ways models struggled to capture. The concern is not just what this hidden driver is, but how long it has been active without drawing attention. Researchers say understanding it may change how the timeline ahead is viewed.