History

A relic of the 1960s Space Race may be paying Earth a brief visit with NASA announcing that a rocket booster from the 1966 Surveyor 2 robotic Moon lander mission is suspected to have returned from deep space and taken up temporary orbit around Earth.

Researchers have discovered the longest known set of fossilized human footprints, and they tell an amazing story. The tracks were left by a woman carrying a small child, rushing, and after a few hours she made a return journey – without the child.

Fossilized human footprints have been discovered in Saudi Arabia that help fill in the story of the early migration of our species. Dating back 120,000 years, the tracks are the oldest evidence of the presence of modern humans on the Arabian Peninsula.

In 1930, a new pistol went on sale that would revolutionize the firearms world. The Walther PPK helped introduce a number of technical features that quickly migrated throughout the industry to make it the most copied gun in the world.

A new genomic study has homed in on exactly when and where modern penguins originated, suggesting the birds first appeared in Australian and New Zealand waters about 22 million years ago before later spreading south into the cooler Antarctic waters.

A new analysis published in the journal JAMA Network Open, is suggesting a novel metric for comparing the 1918 Spanish Flu pandemic to our current pandemic, and the conclusion is COVID-19 is just as deadly, possibly even more so.

HMS Victory, which has been in dry dock for almost a century, is once again "afloat" – but not on the water. It is being supported by a high-tech system that mimics the pressure of the sea pushing against the vessel's hull and keel.

Newly released maps of Zealandia, a massive sunken landmass, are revealing the topography of this underwater land in unprecedented detail. An interactive website has also been launched allowing users dynamic ways to explore the new data.

The rise of the Roman Empire may have been helped along by a colossal volcanic eruption that occurred on the opposite side of the Earth just after the death of Julius Caesar. The eruption may have altered the climate triggering famine and unrest.

A new study is demonstrating how ancient animal DNA, extracted from Dead Sea Scroll parchments, can help with piecing together the jigsaw puzzle of disparate fragments of the ancient manuscripts found in the Judean desert.

When did Earth's plate tectonics begin? A new study from Yale University claims to have found evidence that plate tectonics started about a billion years earlier than is currently thought, which places it very soon after the planet’s formation.

If you were studying the diet of ancient humans, it certainly wouldn't help if you got their preserved feces confused with those of their dogs. A new analytical system known as coproID is designed to keep that from happening.