Live Science Today: Jaw-dropping first glimpse of sperm whale birth and how NASA is turning astronauts into test subjects

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Live Science Today: Jaw-dropping first glimpse of sperm whale birth and how NASA is turning astronauts into test subjects
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Ben Turner is a U.K. based writer and editor at Live Science. He covers physics and astronomy, tech and climate change. He graduated from University College London with a degree in particle physics before training as a journalist. When he's not writing, Ben enjoys reading literature, playing the guitar and embarrassing himself with chess.

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Space Exploration Chinese lander reveals giant 'cavity' of radiation between Earth and the moon — and it could change how lunar exploration is doneSuper El Niño looms, an Acropolis fragment resurfaces, a promising cure for Alzheimer's appears, and a hexagonal diamond is madeLive Science Today: Meta and Google fined for causing social media addiction and how dogs were our friends for millenniaUnlock instant access to exclusive member features.Receive email from us on behalf of our trusted partners or sponsorsSign up for the latest discoveries, groundbreaking research and fascinating breakthroughs that impact you and the wider world direct to your inbox.Feed your curiosity with an exclusive mystery every week, solved with science and delivered direct to your inbox before it's seen anywhere else.Sign up to our free science & technology newsletter for your weekly fix of fascinating articles, quick quizzes, amazing images, and moreSign up to our monthly entertainment newsletter to keep up with all our coverage of the latest sci-fi and space movies, tv shows, games and books.Discover this week's must-see night sky events, moon phases, and stunning astrophotos. Sign up for our skywatching newsletter and explore the universe with us!Researchers have filmed a sperm whale giving birth while being assisted by 10 other females in her social unit. It's The birth, captured by airborne drones in July 2023, took place over the course of an hour, during which time females surrounded the mother and newborn in a protective circle, taking turns to raise the calf to the surface — giving it time for its flukes to unfurl and acquire its own natural buoyancy control. Sperm whale social groups are matriarchies, with life-long bonds formed between mothers, daughters, grandmothers and unrelated females. The males, meanwhile, primarily roam the oceans alone, creating one of the most extreme geographical separations between the sexes in nature.The Artemis program has been touted as a test for critical systems before an eventual attempt to send humans to Mars, but it's also testing something else — NASA will rely heavily on astronauts not just as explorers but as experimental subjects, carefully monitoring how radiation, isolation and microgravity affect them both physically and mentally as they venture deeper into space.NASA's Artemis II Space Launch System rocket and Orion spacecraft are seen at sunrise at Launch Pad 39B at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida on March 24, 2026.NASA's Artemis II rocket stands poised at Launch Pad 39B at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The 322-foot-tall and Orion crew capsule stack is ready to launch the mission's four-astronaut crew on a 10-day flight around the moon and back as soon as April 1.— Arabic and Greek, with"Masri" meaning"Egyptian" and"pithecus" meaning"monkey" or"trickster." It is the genus name of a newly identified, 18-million-year-old fossil believed to be "From the moment a sperm begins its journey to the moment an embryo starts to develop, gravity appears to play a role we are only starting to uncover. Gravity is not just a backdrop to life, it is deeply embedded in the biological processes that create it."The discovery of an ancient ape common ancestor in Egypt could rewrite our prehistory. But what do you know about our human relatives?for the latest discoveries as they happen. It's the best way to get our expert reporting on the go, but if you don't use WhatsApp we're also on Ben Turner is a U.K. based writer and editor at Live Science. He covers physics and astronomy, tech and climate change. He graduated from University College London with a degree in particle physics before training as a journalist. When he's not writing, Ben enjoys reading literature, playing the guitar and embarrassing himself with chess.Space ExplorationCritically endangered hare spotted in surprising location for the first time in 40 years — but it was already deadAstronauts may struggle to reproduce in outer space, study suggests — what does that mean for the future of space colonization?Live Science Today: Meta and Google fined for causing social media addiction and how dogs were our friends for millennia Astronauts may struggle to reproduce in outer space, study suggests — what does that mean for the future of space colonization?

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