George Dvorsky, Author at Gizmodo

NASA Calls a Time Out as InSight’s Heat Probe Hits Another Snag on Mars

After some mild progress, the Mars InSight heat probe, known as “the mole,” is no longer descending into the Red Planet. NASA is pressing pause on this part of the mission for now, freeing InSight’s robotic arm for other important jobs. The saga of the self-hammering heat probe began in late February 2019, some 13…

Space & Spaceflight George Dvorsky

Native Americans Voyaged to Polynesia Long Before Europeans Reached the Americas, DNA Study Shows

Indigenous South Americans reached islands in the South Pacific some 300 years before Christopher Columbus landed in the Americas, according to new genetic evidence. New genetic research published today in Nature links indigenous South Americans to Polynesian Islanders. Incredibly, it seems a group from what is today Colombia voyaged to the South Pacific around 1200…

Human History George Dvorsky

Investigation of Botched Starliner Test Exposes Boeing’s Weakness as a NASA Partner

An independent NASA-Boeing review team has completed its investigation into serious issues that arose during a test of Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft late last year. Boeing has now been given no less than 80 recommendations to put into practice, in what is an alarming display of the problems at the aerospace company. The 80 recommendations include…

Space & Spaceflight George Dvorsky

Evidence of Prehistoric Ochre Mine Found in Submerged Mexican Caves

Underwater caves in Mexico’s Yucatán Peninsula have yielded evidence of a prehistoric ochre mine, in a discovery that could explain why the region’s earliest inhabitants ventured so deeply inside this treacherous cave system. People living in the Yucatán Peninsula during the Pleistocene-Holocene transition (around 11,000 years ago) took part in subterranean ochre mining, according to…

Human History George Dvorsky

This Snake-Like Amphibian Might Actually Pack a Venomous Bite

Scientists have detected snake-like dental glands in caecilians, which means these serpentine creatures might actually be venomous—an unheard of trait among amphibians. Caecilians secrete a substance through their skin that makes them extra slimy. They also discharge a toxic substance from their rear ends to deter predators. And as new research published today in iScience…

Biology George Dvorsky

Hundreds of Elephants Have Mysteriously Died in Botswana

Over 350 elephants have died in Botswana since March, sparking a government probe to investigate the mysterious deaths. Warning: This post contains graphic images of dead elephants. The grassy Okavango Delta of Botswana has been a sad sight these days, with hundreds of elephant carcasses strewn across the region. Over the past four months, of…

Earther George Dvorsky

Image: NASA/JPL-Caltech/SwRI/MSSS/Kevin M. Gill/Gizmodo

Jupiter Just Sprouted a Brand New Spot

An amateur astronomer in South Africa has detected a bright new surface feature rising above the cloud tops on Jupiter. The largest planet in the solar system has a bright new blotch in its southern hemisphere, reports NASA. The cloudy plume, dubbed “Clyde’s Spot,” appears between Jupiter’s iconic Great Red Spot and S2-AWO A7, another…

Space & Spaceflight George Dvorsky

Time to Take an Epic Flight Over This Frozen Martian Crater

Korolev crater on Mars—the largest ice skating rink in the solar system, basically—has never looked more enthralling than it does in this impressive new visualization. Located in the northern lowlands of Mars, Korolev crater measures 51 miles (82 km) across and 1.1 miles (1.8) deep in the center. The crater, named in honor of Russian…

Space & Spaceflight George Dvorsky

A ‘Viral’ New Bird Song in Canada Is Causing Sparrows to Change Their Tune

A new bird song is spreading like wildfire among Canadian white-throated sparrows, at a scale not seen before by scientists. Birds rarely change their chirpy little tunes, and when they do, it’s typically limited to the local environment, where slight song variants basically become regional dialects. New research published today in Current Biology describes an…

Biology George Dvorsky

Incredible Amber Fossils Reveal the True Colors of Ancient Insects

Fossils rarely retain evidence of an organism’s original color, but these 99-million-year-old amber fossils found in Myanmar are revealing the vibrant hues of another world. New research published today in Proceedings of the Royal Society B highlights dozens of amber fossils from the Cretaceous period that still contain evidence of their occupant’s original colors. Bursting…

Biology George Dvorsky

Whale Sharks Have Eyeballs Covered in Tiny Teeth

Marine biologists from Japan say whale sharks have eyeballs coated in tiny teeth, in a discovery unique to this hulking but gentle aquatic species. Eye teeth are typically used to describe our upper canines, but new research published in PLOS One describes eye teeth of a literal sort. Marine biologists from Japan’s Okinawa Churashima Research…

Biology George Dvorsky

A Massive Star Has Disappeared Without a Trace

An unusually bright star has gone missing, in a mystery of cosmic proportions. An object inside the Kinman dwarf galaxy has disappeared from view, according to new research published today in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. This massive and exceptionally bright blue star was hypothesized to exist based on astronomical observations made between…

Space & Spaceflight George Dvorsky

16th-Century Child Skeletons With Coins in Their Mouths Found at Construction Site in Poland

Road crews in Poland stumbled upon a lost 16th-century cemetery, in which the vast majority of graves belong to children. Incredibly, some of the skeletons still have coins in their mouths, a tradition that dates back to ancient times. The cemetery was discovered in a wooded area currently being cleared for Poland’s S19 motorway, which…

Human History George Dvorsky

Gigantic Splotches on the Star Betelgeuse Might Explain Its Freaky Dimming

Betelgeuse—a gigantic star in the final stages of its life—has been acting weird lately, exhibiting dramatic drops in brightness. New research attributes enormous star spots to Betelgeuse’s flaky appearance, though on a scale never seen before. New research set for publication in The Astrophysical Journal Letters (preprint available here) connects dramatic luminosity drops on Betelgeuse…

Space & Spaceflight George Dvorsky

Facial Reconstruction of a Prehistoric Man Whose Head Was Mounted on a Stake

In 2011, Swedish archaeologists found human skulls that had been mounted on stakes at an 8,000-year-old burial site, representing a behavior rarely seen among prehistoric hunter-gatherers. An incredible, computer-aided facial reconstruction finally puts a face to one of these skulls. Swedish forensic artist Oscar Nilsson created this stunning reconstruction using a replica of the 8,000-year-old skull,…

Human History George Dvorsky

Image: R. Hurt/Caltech/Infrared Processing & Analysis Center

For the First Time Ever, Astronomers Spot Light From a Black Hole Smash-up

Black holes aren’t supposed to leak any light when they smash into each other—or at least that’s what physicists thought. On May 21, 2019, astronomers using the Virgo interferometer and the National Science Foundation’s Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory (LIGO) detected a gravitational wave signature consistent with a black hole merger. This event, called S190521g, at…

Space & Spaceflight George Dvorsky

Sled Dogs Have an Unbroken Genetic Ancestry Dating Back Nearly 10,000 Years

Scientists have traced the ancestry of modern sled dogs, such as Siberian huskies and Alaskan malamutes, all the way back to the end of the last ice age, highlighting an extraordinarily long period of genetic continuity. “Although sled dogs are one of the most specialized groups of dogs, their origin and evolution has received much…

Biology George Dvorsky

Volcanic Eruption in Alaska May Have Sparked Political Turmoil in Ancient Rome

An unusually powerful volcanic eruption in 43 BCE has been linked to political upheaval on the other side of the globe, including the fall of the Roman Republic and the Ptolemaic Kingdom. Julius Caesar was assassinated by a group of rebellious senators in 44 BCE, triggering a chain of events that led to the demise…

Human History George Dvorsky

Scientists Made a List of Every Place Aliens Could Be Hiding

A team searching for signs of extraterrestrial intelligence has put together an Exotica Catalog, which lists every known type of celestial object, regardless of whether we understand it or not. The Exotica Catalog was put together by researchers from Breakthrough Listen, a decade-long program seeking to find signs of intelligent life in the universe. It…

Space & Spaceflight George Dvorsky

A Black Hole Collided With Something That Shouldn’t Exist

Astronomers are puzzling over observations that show a black hole smashing into a mystery object of unusual size. New research published in The Astrophysical Journal Letters describes a collision between a black hole and a yet-to-be identified object. At the time of this celestial tryst, the black hole was 23 times more massive than our…

Space & Spaceflight George Dvorsky

George Dvorsky

NASA Calls a Time Out as InSight’s Heat Probe Hits Another Snag on Mars

Native Americans Voyaged to Polynesia Long Before Europeans Reached the Americas, DNA Study Shows

Investigation of Botched Starliner Test Exposes Boeing’s Weakness as a NASA Partner

Evidence of Prehistoric Ochre Mine Found in Submerged Mexican Caves

This Snake-Like Amphibian Might Actually Pack a Venomous Bite

Hundreds of Elephants Have Mysteriously Died in Botswana

Jupiter Just Sprouted a Brand New Spot

Time to Take an Epic Flight Over This Frozen Martian Crater

A ‘Viral’ New Bird Song in Canada Is Causing Sparrows to Change Their Tune

Incredible Amber Fossils Reveal the True Colors of Ancient Insects

Whale Sharks Have Eyeballs Covered in Tiny Teeth

A Massive Star Has Disappeared Without a Trace

16th-Century Child Skeletons With Coins in Their Mouths Found at Construction Site in Poland

Gigantic Splotches on the Star Betelgeuse Might Explain Its Freaky Dimming

Facial Reconstruction of a Prehistoric Man Whose Head Was Mounted on a Stake

For the First Time Ever, Astronomers Spot Light From a Black Hole Smash-up

Sled Dogs Have an Unbroken Genetic Ancestry Dating Back Nearly 10,000 Years

Volcanic Eruption in Alaska May Have Sparked Political Turmoil in Ancient Rome

Scientists Made a List of Every Place Aliens Could Be Hiding

A Black Hole Collided With Something That Shouldn’t Exist

Tesla Goes Ahead and Admits Its Robotaxis Are Sometimes Fully Human-Controlled

School Forced to Replace Toilets After Kids Flush Vapes

‘Scream 7’ Just Won’t Stop Making Money as ‘Scream 8’ Gets Started

The Curtain Has Closed on Meta’s Movie Rating-Inspired Content Filters

Good News! You Can Finally Change That Ridiculous Gmail Address

ExpressVPN Just Launched ExpressAI: Your Prompts Are Now Invisible

VR Just Took Another Massive Body Blow

The Best Gadgets of March 2026

‘Supergirl’ Will Feature David Corenswet’s Superman in a Sort of Big Brother Role

Report: FDA Set to Unban RFK Jr.’s Favorite Peptides

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Aqara Smart Lock U400 Review: Hands-free Unlocking at Its Best

MSI Prestige 14 Flip AI+ Review: A Solid 2-in-1 Laptop With Some Glaring Flaws

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Asus ROG’s Massive Swift OLED Gaming Monitor Epitomizes Excess in the Best Way

The Ikea Varmblixt Smart Lamp Fills a Donut Hole in My Life

Nothing Headphone A vs. Headphone 1: Which Pair of ANC Wireless Headphones Wins?

Asus ROG’s Cetra Open Wireless Gaming Earbuds Might Be Better Than Wearing a Headset