The –est
- Astronomy
The earliest known galaxy merger occurred shortly after the Big Bang
Telescopes show two distant blobs of stars and gas swirling around each other in the young universe.
- Archaeology
The oldest known astrolabe was used on one of Vasco da Gama’s ships
A navigational device for taking altitudes at sea was found in a Portuguese shipwreck in the Arabian Sea and dates back to 1496.
- Archaeology
A 2,000-year-old tattoo tool is the oldest in western North America
The artifact is made of two pigment-stained cactus spines, and has been sitting in storage since its discovery in 1972.
- Animals
A rare, ancient case of bone cancer has been found in a turtle ancestor
A 240-million-year-old fossil reveals the oldest known case of bone cancer in an amniote, a group that includes mammals, birds and reptiles.
- Science & Society
Cheese found in an Egyptian tomb is at least 3,200 years old
Solid cheese preserved in an ancient Egyptian tomb may be the world’s oldest.
- Animals
This killifish can go from egg to sex in two weeks
The fastest known maturing vertebrate in the lab is even faster in the wild.
- Animals
Each year painted lady butterflies cross the Sahara — and then go back again
Painted ladies migrate the farthest of any butterfly.
- Astronomy
Ancient spiral galaxy is 11 billion years old
The most ancient spiral galaxy seen to date is 11 billion years old and could help reveal how galaxies sprout arms.
- Tech
Meet the Bobcat Nanowagon, the world’s smallest monster truck
Chemists are scratching their heads over the wreckage of minuscule monster trucks.
- Animals
These record-breaking tube worms can survive for centuries
Deep-sea tube worms can live decades longer than their shallow-water counterparts.
- Tech
The incredible shrinking transistor just got smaller
Tiniest transistor, made with carbon nanotubes, suggests computers aren’t done shrinking down.
- Tech
New video camera captures 5 trillion frames every second
A new camera’s record-breaking speed offers researchers a window into never-before-seen phenomena, such as combustion reactions.
