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Law enforcement ramps up security nationwide after Iran strikes

While officials report no credible threats, major police agencies are increasing patrols at religious, diplomatic and community sites as a precaution

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Rare Type Icn supernova SN 2024abvb is among the most luminous known

An international team of astronomers has carried out photometric and spectroscopic observations of SN 2024abvb—a recently discovered supernova of a rare Type Icn. The new observational campaign yields important information regarding the properties and nature of this supernova. The study was published February 18 on the arXiv pre-print server.

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Shots Fired podcast breaks down Austin mass shooting from a cop’s perspective

How Austin police officers and first responders moved toward gunfire in 57 seconds — and why mindset matters in active violence

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NASA adds mission to Artemis lunar program, updates architecture

As part of a golden age of exploration and discovery, NASA announced Friday the agency is increasing its cadence of missions under the Artemis program to achieve the national objective of returning American astronauts to the moon and establishing an enduring presence. This includes standardizing vehicle configuration, adding an additional mission in 2027, and undertaking at least one surface landing every year thereafter.

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The stars that lit up the early Milky Way

Imagine trying to reconstruct the history of a city by studying only its oldest surviving buildings. You can’t watch it being built, you can’t interview the architects, all you have are the structures themselves, their materials, their arrangement, the subtle clues locked into their very fabric. That is essentially what astronomers do when they study the formation of our galaxy, and a new study has just given them their biggest collection of clues yet.

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MeerKAT discovers record-breaking cosmic laser halfway across the universe

Astronomers using the MeerKAT radio telescope in South Africa have discovered the most distant hydroxyl megamaser ever detected. It is located in a violently merging galaxy more than 8 billion light-years away, opening a new radio astronomy frontier.

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FBI probes Austin bar shooting that killed 2 and wounded 14 as possible terrorist act

Officers confronted and killed the gunman within a minute of the first 911 call after he targeted patrons outside a bar near the University of Texas campus

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N.C. trooper killed in wrong-way crash with repeat DWI offender

Master Trooper Steven J. Perry, 30, was struck head-on by an impaired driver while driving on the Durham Freeway

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How long do civilizations last?

It is one of the most famous questions in science, and it was asked, as legend has it, over lunch. Enrico Fermi, the physicist who helped build the first nuclear reactor and whose name graces a unit of length so small it makes an atom look generous, was chatting with colleagues about the possibility of alien life when he suddenly asked “where is everybody?”

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Giza’s Great Pyramid: Culmination of Ancient Egypt’s Architectural Marvels

The Unrivaled Great Pyramid of Giza

The Great Pyramid of Giza, believed to be a colossal tomb for a pharaoh, stands as the zenith of ancient Egyptian pyramid construction. This awe-inspiring structure signaled the pinnacle of ancient Egyptian society over 4,500 years ago and marked a new era in temple building. Despite the grandiosity of the Great Pyramid, its construction process remains shrouded in mystery.

A Nation’s Feat – The Unified Construction Effort

The construction of the Great Pyramid involved the entire nation, illustrating the well-developed society of ancient Egypt. The pyramid’s construction showcased Egypt’s thriving economy and well-coordinated logistics. Some stones, sourced from Aswan—800 kilometers away—reached the construction site via boats, a testament to the skillful labor, supervisors, and transportation methods employed.

Staggering Statistics – The Great Pyramid’s Dimensions

Encompassing 13 acres, the Great Pyramid comprises 2.3 million stones, totaling about 6 million tons. With 5.5 million tons of limestone, 8,000 tons of granite, and over 500,000 tons of mortar, this remarkable structure was completed within 20 years. The alignment with the compass points and the staggering weight of individual stones—averaging 2.5 tons—underscore the ancient civilization’s extraordinary capabilities.

Mysteries Unraveled – The Golden Ratio and Architectural Precision

Researchers discovered a relationship between the Great Pyramid and the golden ratio, with measurements showing minimal margin of error. The pyramid’s unmatched precision might have symbolized cultic significance, or it could have been a response to previous architectural mishaps in the pyramids of Meidum or the Bent Pyramid. The reasons for such precision remain a mystery.

Intricate Interiors – A Labyrinth of Passages and Chambers

The Great Pyramid houses a labyrinth of unique chambers and passages, including ascending and descending passages, and air shafts not meant for ventilation. The structure’s interior beauty rivals its exterior grandeur, featuring elements unparalleled in pyramid evolution and architectural history.

Foundations Laid – The Influence of Three Predecessors

Before the Great Pyramid, the Pyramid of Djoser—the first colossal stone building in Egypt—marked the beginning of the pyramid-building age. Sneferu’s Bent Pyramid at Dahshur, which exhibited a unique transitional form, and the Red Pyramid, Egypt’s first true smooth-sided pyramid, both contributed to the eventual construction of the Great Pyramid of Giza.

Giza’s Great Pyramid—A Testament to Architectural Progress

The Great Pyramid of Giza, made possible by the architectural advancements of previous pyramids, remains an unrivaled marvel of ancient Egypt. Its unmatched precision, intricate interiors, and monumental scale continue to captivate and mystify the world. The Great Pyramid marked the beginning and end of an era in ancient Egypt, showcasing its architectural prowess and the heights it could achieve.

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Would Earth still be habitable without us?

Here’s a thought experiment that keeps planetary scientists awake at night. Strip every living thing from our planet, every bacterium, every blade of grass, every creature that has ever drawn breath and ask a simple but profound question: Would Earth still be a world capable of supporting life?

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Superfluids emerge in 2D moiré crystal formed from time, study predicts

Conventional crystals are materials in which atoms arrange themselves in repeating spatial patterns. Time crystals, on the other hand, are phases of matter characterized by repeating motions over time without constantly heating up, breaking a physical rule known as time-translation symmetry.

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A ‘Cosmic Positioning System’ in the outer solar system

There have been plenty of attempts to resolve the “Hubble Tension” in cosmology. This feature describes how one of the most important variables in cosmology, the expansion of the universe, takes on different values depending on how you measure it. A new NASA Institute for Advanced Concepts (NIAC) Phase I report on the Cosmic Positioning System (CPS) details another potential solution to it—this one involving a network of five far-flung satellites spread throughout the solar system. The paper is posted to the arXiv preprint server.

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Pyramids Uncovered: Giza’s Great Pyramid Boasts Ancient Security Measures

The Mysterious Defense Mechanism Inside the Great Pyramid of Giza

The Great Pyramid of Giza remains shrouded in mystery, and its ancient security system only adds to the intrigue. Unearth its secrets as we explore this fascinating defense mechanism.

The Timeless Allure of Pyramids

Pyramids have captivated humans for millennia, with these majestic structures spanning Africa, Europe, Asia, and the Americas. Among them, the Pyramids at Giza in Egypt, particularly the Great Pyramid, hold a unique sense of mystery due to our limited understanding.

Unraveling the Enigma of the Great Pyramid

Believed to be Pharaoh Khufu’s tomb, the Great Pyramid’s origins and purpose remain elusive, even after 4,500 years. Although we know it’s ancient and lacks interior markings, which is unusual for Egyptian tombs, much about its construction and purpose remain unknown.

The Monumental Feat of Engineering

The pyramid’s construction required a massive labor force, comprised not of slaves but paid workers. The stones, hauled from great distances, were assembled into the pyramid in a way that still puzzles experts. In the past, highly polished limestone covered the pyramid, reflecting sunlight.

A Hidden Defense System Revealed

Egyptologist Mark Lehner exposed a primitive defense mechanism in the Science Channel’s TV series “Unearthed.” A series of grooves found just outside Khufu’s burial chamber acted as a protective measure, with granite blocks obstructing access to the chamber.

An Ancient Security Apparatus

Researchers assert that these grooves and protrusions formed a primitive machine, designed to protect the burial chamber. The grooves guided granite slabs toward the entrance, while a secondary block of thicker stones slid down the passageway to block intruders.

Despite its defense system, experts suggest that Khufu’s tomb was plundered during the Old Kingdom’s collapse. Only a massive red granite sarcophagus remains, fueling theories that the true tomb lies hidden within the pyramid.

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Curiosity studies nodules on Mars boxwork formations

NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover discovered these bumpy, pea-sized nodules while exploring a region filled with boxwork formations—low ridges standing roughly 3 to 6 feet (1 to 2 meters) tall with sandy hollows in between. This mosaic is made up of 50 individual images taken by Curiosity’s Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI), a camera on the end of the rover’s robotic arm, on Aug. 21, 2025, the 4,636th Martian day (sol) of the mission. Ten images at different focus settings were taken at each of five locations to produce a sharp mosaic. The images were stitched together after being sent back to Earth.

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