Every great mystery novel has an unexpected twist. Apparently the same is true of meteor showers.

A paper published in the Planetary Science Journal reports a surprising new twist in the mystery of the Geminids, a strong annual meteor shower that has puzzled astronomers for more than a century.

"Our work has upended years of belief about 3200 Phaethon, the source of the Geminids," says co-author Karl Battams of the Naval Research Lab. "It's not what we thought it was."

The Geminids peak every year in mid-December, scattering hundreds of bright meteors across northern winter skies. Numerically it is the best meteor shower of the year.

As meteor showers go, Geminids are newcomers. They first appeared in the mid-1800s when an unknown stream of debris crossed Earth's orbit. Surprised, 19th century astronomers scoured the sky for the parent comet, but they found nothing. The search would continue for another 100 years.

Enter NASA. In 1983, the space agency's Infrared Astronomical Satellite (IRAS) found an object now called "3200 Phaethon." It was definitely the source of the Geminids. The orbit of 3200 Phaethon was such a close match to that of the Geminid debris stream, no other conclusion was possible. Yet here was a puzzler: 3200 Phaethon appeared to be a rocky asteroid.

Can a volcano erupt after tens of thousands of years of dormancy? If so, how can this be explained and what makes volcanic eruptions more dangerous?

These are key questions in volcanic hazard assessment and can also draw attention to volcanoes that appear to be inactive. Even in a quiet, dormant phase, a volcano can rapidly become active, and its eruption can pose a previously unknown threat to the surrounding area. New research by Hungarian scientists is helping to reveal the signs before such a volcano erupts.

A team from the ELTE Eötvös Loránd University, Institute of Geography and Earth Sciences, and the HUN-REN-ELTE Volcanology Research Group, in cooperation with other scientists from Europe, studied Ciomadul, the youngest volcano in the Carpathian-Pannonian region.

Solar panels, power walls, wind power... It's all about Renewable Energy!

In fact, it's all being pushed to often insane degrees.

So the question is: Just how 'green' is Green Energy?

Is it gonna save us all from certain doom, climate change, and space invaders?

Well... As usual, it's complicated.

A dolphin with deformed flippers that look like thumbs was spotted in the Gulf of Corinth in July 2023. It likely acquired what appears to be a genetic defect during development in the womb, experts say.

A strange dolphin in the Gulf of Corinth has developed intriguing, hook-shaped "thumbs" carved out of its flippers, photographs show.

Researchers with the Pelagos Cetacean Research Institute spotted the dolphin on two occasions this summer during boat surveys off the coast of Greece. Despite the unusual appearance of its flippers, the animal kept pace with the rest of its pod and was seen "swimming, leaping, bow-riding, playing" with other dolphins, said Alexandros Frantzis, the scientific coordinator and president of the Pelagos Cetacean Research Institute.

Mysterious features hide in near-infrared light

Objects in space reveal different aspects of their composition and behavior at different wavelengths of light. Supernova remnant Cassiopeia A (Cas A) is one of the most well-studied objects in the Milky Way across the wavelength spectrum. However, there are still secrets hidden within the star's tattered remains.

The latest are being unlocked by one of the newest tools in the researchers' toolbox, NASA's James Webb Space Telescope — and Webb's recent look in the near-infrared has blown researchers away.

Like a shiny, round ornament ready to be placed in the perfect spot on a holiday tree, supernova remnant Cassiopeia A (Cas A) gleams in a new image from NASA's James Webb Space Telescope.

As part of the 2023 Holidays at the White House, First Lady of the United States Dr. Jill Biden debuted the first-ever White House Advent Calendar. To showcase the "Magic, Wonder, and Joy" of the holiday season, Dr. Biden and NASA are celebrating with this new image from Webb.

While all is bright, this scene is no proverbial silent night. Webb's NIRCam (Near-Infrared Camera) view of Cas A displays this stellar explosion at a resolution previously unreachable at these wavelengths. This high-resolution look unveils intricate details of the expanding shell of material slamming into the gas shed by the star before it exploded.

Cas A is one of the most well-studied supernova remnants in all of the cosmos. Over the years, ground-based and space-based observatories, including NASA's Chandra X-Ray Observatory, Hubble Space Telescope, and retired Spitzer Space Telescope have assembled a multiwavelength picture of the object's remnant.

However, astronomers have now entered a new era in the study of Cas A. In April 2023, Webb's MIRI (Mid-Infrared Instrument) started this chapter, revealing new and unexpected features within the inner shell of the supernova remnant. Many of those features are invisible in the new NIRCam image, and astronomers are investigating why.

Undersea volcanic eruptions account for more than three-quarters of all volcanism on Earth, but rarely do we see the impacts.

The Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha'apai eruption of 2022 was a dramatic exception. Its furious explosion from shallow waters broke the ocean surface and punched through the stratosphere, generating supercharged lighting and an atmospheric shock wave that circled the globe several times.

But there was far more to the fallout than satellite images could possibly capture or observers could report.

We know the human toll this explosion took, but now a new study investigating the underwater impacts of the Hunga-Tonga eruption has detailed just how ferociously the explosion tore open the seafloor, ripped up undersea cables, and smothered marine life.

"The eruption causes dramatic changes to nutrient and oxygen levels in the water which could have feedbacks that we are yet to understand," says first author Sarah Seabrook, a marine biogeochemist at the New Zealand National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research.

But Nasa and space jocks alike haven't explained either the mysterious disappearance or reappearance of space-grown fruit

It might have remained one of the greatest mysteries of the universe, destined never to be solved until a freak recent discovery by the crew of the International Space Station (ISS).

The subject? A tomato grown from seed in microgravity by US astronaut Francisco "Frank" Rubio as part of an agricultural experiment.

Rubio was accused of having eaten the fruit when it inexplicably disappeared more than eight months ago. However, the tiny specimen, or at least its remnants, have now been found, according to members of the seven-strong crew during a live stream this week to celebrate the orbiting outpost's 25th anniversary.

"Our good friend Frank Rubio has been blamed for quite a while for eating the tomato. But we can exonerate him. We found the tomato," Nasa astronaut Jasmin Moghbeli said, reported by space.com.

One of the brightest stars in the sky will go dark next week in an 'extremely rare' event, astronomers report — and it will be visible in parts of the US.

Betelgeuse, the orange-red outlier among the stars that make up the constellation Orion, will seemingly disappear for 12 seconds this Monday night, December 11, when it is briefly blocked by an asteroid.

While asteroids pass between Earth and the stars all the time, the rarity of Monday's event stems from the asteroid, 319 Leona, hitting a sweet spot that will leave a 'ring of fire' visible around Betelgeuse.

The ability to recognize individuals is related to cooperation and signal diversity

A new study of paper wasps suggests social interactions may make animals smarter. The research offers behavioral evidence of an evolutionary link between the ability to recognize individuals and social cooperation.

Furthermore, genomic sequencing revealed that populations of wasps that recognized each other — and cooperated more — showed recent adaptations (positive selection) in areas of the brain associated with cognitive abilities such as learning, memory, and vision.

The study focused on two distinct populations of paper wasps (Polistes fuscatus): A southern one from Louisiana, where individuals are more uniform in appearance, and a northern one in Ithaca, where individuals have diverse color patterns on their faces. A series of experiments indicated that, unlike its southern counterparts, the northern population both recognized individuals and cooperated socially with some members over others.

China's Shidaowan nuclear power plant, the world's first fourth-generation reactor, has begun commercial operations, one of the companies behind its development said.

The high temperature gas-cooled reactor (HTGR) went online following a week-long (168 hours) continuous operation test, state-owned China National Nuclear Corporation (CNNC) said in announcing the feat on Wednesday.

Fourth-generation nuclear reactors are designed to be successors for the existing, often water-cooled, nuclear reactors in operation around the world.

The reactor at the Shidaowan plant in China's eastern Shandong province is part of a global push for safer, more sustainable and efficient nuclear operations.

Instead of using water to cool the system, the high-temperature reactor will be cooled using helium gas, offering a promising way to develop more inland nuclear plants, as they will not need to be located next to a water source.

High-temperature reactors can produce heat, power, and hydrogen, and would help China and the world "become carbon neutral", said Zhang Zuoyi, dean of the Tsinghua University Institute of Nuclear and New Energy Technology and chief designer of the Shidaowan reactor project. CNNC, Tsinghua and state-owned China Huaneng Group are the joint developers and operators of the plant.