For nearly 650 years, the fortress walls in the Chinese city of Xi’an have served as a formidable barrier around the central city. At 12 meters high and up to 18 meters thick, they are impervious to almost everything — except subatomic particles called muons. Now, thanks to their penetrating abilities, muons may be key […]
Today’s red jungle fowl — the wild forebears of the domesticated chicken — are becoming more chickenlike. New research suggests that a large proportion of the wild fowl’s DNA has been inherited from chickens, and relatively recently. Ongoing interbreeding between the two birds may threaten wild jungle fowl populations’ future, and even hobble humans’ ability […]
The worst procrastinators probably won’t be able to read this story. It’ll remind them of what they’re trying to avoid, psychologist Piers Steel says. Maybe they’re dragging their feet going to the gym. Maybe they haven’t gotten around to their New Year’s resolutions. Maybe they’re waiting just one more day to study for that test. […]
A meandering trek taken by light from a remote supernova in the constellation Cetus may help researchers pin down how fast the universe expands — in another couple of decades. About 10 billion years ago, a star exploded in a far-off galaxy named MRG-M0138. Some of the light from that explosion later encountered a gravitational […]
The Perseverance rover has captured its first two slices of Mars. NASA’s latest Mars rover drilled into a flat rock nicknamed Rochette on September 1 and filled a roughly finger-sized tube with stone. The sample is the first ever destined to be sent back to Earth for further study. On September 7, the rover snagged […]
The complete field of 16 teams that will advance to the 2021-22 UEFA Champions League knockout rounds has not yet been finalized, but we already have several clubs that have booked their spots. European giants Liverpool, Ajax, Bayern Munich and Juventus were the first four teams to clinch on Matchday 4 of the group stage, […]
The King is back. LeBron James returned from an almost three-week absence for the Los Angeles Lakers against the Boston Celtics on Friday night. James had been out of the Lakers lineup since November 2, missing the team's past seven games with an abdominal strain. He was listed as a game-time decision with the team announcing he […]
Stephen A. Smith was in attendance for Tuesday night's game between the Nets and Warriors. He didn't like what he saw from Brooklyn — and that's putting it mildly. The ESPN analyst unloaded on the Nets during Wednesday's edition of "First Take" after watching the Warriors hand them a 117-99 loss at the Barclays Center. […]
The Lakers will continue to lean on Anthony Davis and Russell Westbrook early in the 2021-22 season as they move forward without the services of their best player. Los Angeles star LeBron James has missed the last two weeks of action with an abdominal strain. The four-time NBA MVP was sidelined for two of the […]
George Steinbrenner, the fiery, volatile Yankees owner who prioritized winning over pretty much everything else, died of a heart attack at 80 years old in July 2010, about nine months after his club won the 2009 World Series in six games over the Phillies. The Yankees, who won seven World Series titles in Steinbrenner’s era […]