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3–4 minutesThe First Atmosphere on a Habitable Zone Planet Was Just Found
For decades we found distant worlds but never knew if any could breathe. Now, 48 light-years away, a rocky super-Earth in its star’s temperate zone has revealed an atmosphere — detected not by sight, but by helium quietly leaking into space. Here’s why that quietly changes the entire search for life beyond our solar system. Read more
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9–13 minutesWhat really happens inside a lightning bolt (the physics is stranger than you think)
The lightning bolt you see travelling downward is actually moving upward. The channel is five times hotter than the sun’s surface. And the whole event is possibly triggered by particles from a dead star in another galaxy. What really happens inside a lightning bolt is nothing like the simple story you were taught. Read more
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The Day Earth Almost Lost Its Oxygen — The Great Oxidation Event
Two billion years before the first animal drew breath, a microscopic organism was quietly dismantling the world. The Great Oxidation Event explained is one of Earth’s most dramatic untold stories — how cyanobacteria accidentally poisoned an entire planet, froze it solid, and in doing so, made all complex life possible. This is that story. Read more