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Live Science has always been on top of breaking news . But we ’ve latterly started taking a mysterious aspect at topics our reader lie with . So was gestate our news program features , which you ’ll find nowhere else .

One of my favourite of these stories is actually a retelling of one we all learned in in-between school — that the first Americans crossed the Bering Land Bridge about 13,000 geezerhood ago , flanked by massive ice wall on either side .

Illustration of ancient humans in White Sands.

The first people to arrive in the Americas may have arrived around the Last Glacial Maximum, the coldest part of the last ice age (about 26,500 to 19,000 years ago).

But while the broader picture of that unbelievable journey still holds , our agreement is being dramatically reshape by the discovery of old archeologic sites and genetic analyses of ancient fossils and modern populations . Our archeology editor , Laura Geggel , has covered the account of the Americas extensively , and when we first assigned the story we were n’t certain how much young there would be to report . How unseasonable we were .

While digging into the continent ’s history , she learned thatfossil footprint from White Sands , New Mexico particular date to about 23,000 years ago . Yet several personal line of credit of genetical grounds intimate multitude come up a few thousand years later . resolve this contradiction in terms is break to be tricky .

Hopefully , in the come years novel archaeologic sites will emerge — maybe along the submerged seacoast of British Columbia — that will aid us reconcile the genetic evidence and the archaeological phonograph recording .

An image of the sun split in half. The left side shows the sun during solar maximum, where its is more fiery and chaotic, and the right side shows the star during solar minimum, when it is more calm and smooth

This image shows how the sun’s appearance changes between solar maximum (on the left) and solar minimum (on the right).

As Laura says , " this narration is far from finished . "

The untold story of the first Americans

Our household star spits out solar storms in a waxing and waning form known as the 11 - year solar cycle . NASAand NOAA initially predicted the Dominicus would hit its peak , or solar maximum , sometime in 2025 . But elderly writerHarry Bakerwas cover each solar temper tantrum individually and notice an uptick in activity . Then , asource at the National Center for Atmospheric researchsaid their models showed an earlier and inviolable solar maximum than NASA . Harry collapse the narration in June , and in October , scientistsrevised their solar maximal estimate ..

An orca attacks a whale, which is gushing blood from its mouth.

Orcas (Orcinus orca) are apex predators that can take on prey much larger than themselves.

The sunlight ’s volatile peak is coming . Are we quick ?

In May , orcas rammed three boats off the Iberian peninsula . From her reporting , trainee stave writer Sascha Pare knew a distich of successive killer giant off South Africa were slaughter shark and eating their livers and that orcas were also look at down Earth ’s big creatures — blue whales . Then a source told her that off Washington , orcas had been play with porpoise to decease , a macabre game that must have had a " higher purpose , " Sascha tell , because they were n’t feed the poor harassed things .

But what was that higher intention : kill for playfulness , training , retaliation , or boredom ?

a photo of an eye looking through a keyhole

The answer , that orcas learn lightning fast through societal networks , turned out to be both redoubtable and awe - inspiring .

And stay tune up in 2024 . We ’ll be diving into the Earth to study the births and death of supercontinents , zooming into the subatomic region , where " quantum superchemistry " speed up chemical reactions by one thousand million of times , and travel along with the minimoons that are our Earth ’s companions — and possible stepping stones for future space missions .

' If it was a man , we would say that ’s a warrior ’s grave accent ' : Weapon - filled interment are shaking up what we know about charwoman ’s use in Viking gild

a tiger looks through a large animal�s ribcage

' It was on purpose hidden ' : Gold hoard of nearly 600 coins found in Czech Republic may date to World War II

What ’s hiding under Antarctica ’s sparkler ?

a photo of burgers and fries next to vegetables

An artist�s illustration of a satellite crashing back to Earth.

a photo of a group of people at a cocktail party

A photo of the Large Hadron Collider�s ALICE detector.

An illustration of a satellite crashing into the ocean after an uncontrolled reentry through Earth�s atmosphere

A photograph of downtown Houston, Texas, taken from a drone at sunset.

an older woman taking a selfie

A photo of an Indian woman looking in the mirror

A group of penguins dives from the ice into the water