The Columbian

Science & Technology

FILE - A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, with a payload including two lunar rovers from Japan and the United Arab Emirates, lifts off from Launch Complex 40 at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Cape Canaveral, Fla., on Dec. 11, 2022. But later in April 2023, the spacecraft from a Japanese company apparently crashed while attempting to land on the moon. Japan now hopes to make the world’s first “pinpoint landing” on the moon early Saturday, Jan. 20, 2024, joining a modern push for lunar contact with roots in the Cold War-era space race between the United States and the Soviet Union.

Japan joins an elite club by landing on the moon: A closer look

January 19, 2024, 7:45am Business

Japan hopes that it made the world's first “pinpoint landing” on the moon when its spacecraft touched down on the lunar surface on Saturday. Read story

This photo provided by researchers shows a mountain where fossils of Gigantopithcus blacki were found in caves in the Guangxi region of southern China. The extinct species of great ape that once stood around 10 feet tall and weighed up to 650 pounds was likely driven to extinction by environmental changes, scientists in China and Australia report on Wednesday, Jan. 10, 2024 in the journal Nature.

Climate change drove giant ape into extinction

January 16, 2024, 6:03am Life

An ancient species of great ape was likely driven to extinction hundreds of thousands of years ago when climate change put their favorite fruits out of reach during dry seasons, scientists reported Wednesday. Read story

This LIDAR image provided by researchers in January 2024 shows a main street crossing an urban area, creating an axis along which complexes of rectangular platforms are arranged around low squares at the Copueno site, Upano Valley in Ecuador. Archeologists have uncovered a cluster of lost cities in the Amazon rainforest that was home to at least 10,000 farmers around 2,000 years ago, according to a paper published Thursday, Jan. 11, 2024, in the journal Science.

Lost cities discovered in Amazon

January 16, 2024, 6:02am Life

Archaeologists have uncovered a cluster of lost cities in the Amazon rainforest that was home to at least 10,000 farmers around 2,000 years ago. Read story

A Grizzly bear mother and her cub walk near Pelican Creek Oct. 8, 2012, in the Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming.

Were California’s grizzlies really ravenous meat eaters? Not so much, new report shows

January 15, 2024, 6:00am Life

Forget what you were taught in elementary school about the supposed ravenous meat-eating grizzly bear: New research has found that California’s extinct bear was actually more of a vegetarian. Read story

A thick mat of sargassum seaweed washed ashore in August on Miami Beach, part of a record volume seen over the summer on South Florida beaches.

Ideas for Florida’s stinky seaweed to be put to test

January 13, 2024, 6:04am Life

Seaweed poses all sorts of problems when it piles up on South Florida beaches. It stinks, spoils the view and makes swimming icky. It’s also pricey to haul off to the landfill, which currently is the only viable disposal option. Read story

People look at the Supernal S-A2 passenger electric VOTL aircraft at the Supernal booth Wednesday. Supernal is a part of the Hyundai Motor Group.

Tech innovations that caught our eye at CES 2024

January 13, 2024, 6:04am Nation & World

From electric cars to transparent TVs to the latest accessibility tech and virtual assistants backed by artificial intelligence, there was a wide range of innovations on display at the CES tech show in Las Vegas this week. The best of it aimed to solve big real-world problems. Some of it… Read story

Baby chimpanzee Maisie, left, sleeps as her friend Lola, right, tries to wake her at the Maryland Zoo.

Remembrances of apes past: Researchers find chimpanzees and bonobos can recognize long-lost friends

January 12, 2024, 6:03am Life

Not long ago, comparative psychologist Christopher Krupenye and a colleague visited the Leipzig Zoo in Germany, where both had worked on a research project several years before. Read story

Naixin Qian, a Columbia physical chemist, places a sample containing nanoplastics, microscopic plastic pieces, under a microscope in New York on Monday, Jan. 8, 2024. A new study found the average liter of bottled water has nearly a quarter million invisible pieces of nanoplastics, detected and categorized for the first time by a microscope.

Scientists find about a quarter-million invisible nanoplastic particles in a liter of bottled water

January 9, 2024, 5:37pm Life

The average liter of bottled water has nearly a quarter million invisible pieces of ever so tiny nanoplastics, detected and categorized for the first time by a microscope using dual lasers. Read story