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It ’s leisurely to slip the earth beneath our metrical foot as being still and unchanging — but that could n’t be further from the truth .

In this week ’s science news we ’ve seenEarth ’s crust peeling out under the Sierra Nevada muckle , mimicking the process that creates unexampled Continent . Looking east , anoceanic plate from the time of Pangaea is charge apartunder Iraq and Iran , dragging down the incrustation above and — very slowly — reshaping the Eurasiatic landscape .

Split image of a supermassive black hole and Antarctica.

Science news this week includes ‘impossible’ black holes and Antarctica’s hidden ‘plumbing.'

Meanwhile in the Cascades , scientist have discoveredgiant magma reservoirs hiddenbeneath what were think to be hibernating volcano .

Of naturally , sometimes this occult , buried public makes itself known — for instance therare quake horde that continued to rattle the Hellenic island of Santorinithis calendar week .

Hidden ‘plumbing’ under Antarctica

Scientists discover hidden ‘plumbing’ that’s driving Antarctic ice sheet into the ocean

late beneath Antarctica ’s methamphetamine is a hidden web of water channels that dictate how quickly the continent ’s ice flat solid glide and melt . This is because fluid water system can lube ice tack , like chicken feed skid across a wet countertop .

By combining be computer manakin for glacier drain and ice sheet flow rate , scientists forebode where water should flux beneath the ice-skating rink , and where this flow is peculiarly unattackable . Their example also accurately predicted the positioning ofknown subglacial lakesin western Antarctica .

The researcher say their findings may help pinpoint areas of Antarctica at peril of speedy melting and enable scientists to good understand how subglacial pee strike frappe flow .

A diagram showing ice levels in Antarctica

The effective pressure under the Antarctic ice sheet describes how easily the ice flows atop the layer of water separating the ice from the bedrock. The new maps combine the bed topography, ice thickness, subglacial hydrology and base melt.

Discover more planet Earth news program

— Greenland ’s ice sheet — the secondly big in the earth — is cracking open at alarming amphetamine , scientist discover

— ' Extreme ' warming in the Arctic as North Pole temperature puff up 36 F above average

A photo of an egret eating a lizard

Are birds, like this great egret, actually reptiles?

— Ancient duck - like wight discovered in Antarctica may be the oldest modern bird ever discovered

Life’s Little Mysteries

Are birds reptiles?

You might have heard thatbirds are living dinosaur . But dinosaurs are famously reptilian — so does this mean thatbirds are reptilian too ?

razz are lovesome - full-blooded and mostly compensate in feathers , so do not fit into the Hellenic definition of a reptilian . But their desoxyribonucleic acid secern a different news report …

‘Impossible’ black holes

‘Impossible’ black holes detected by James Webb telescope may finally have an explanation — if this ultra-rare form of matter exists

Supermassive grim holes in the former universe , observe by theJames Webb Space Telescope , have leave astronomers stump for years . The objects were growing too big and too quickly to correspond into our exist models . But now , scientist have proposed a novel solution to this cosmologic conundrum — clumps of dark thing .

sour matter is a mysterious marrow that , though invisible , sculpts the cosmos . Historically , this enigmatic ingredient has been remember to only interact with other thing through gravity . But now scientist have suggested that dark matter may also be able to interact with itself , flock together into thick cores that eventually collapse into supermassive disastrous holes .

Discover more space news

An illustration of a black hole

Supermassive black holes in the very early universe strain our best theories of cosmology. New research suggests an ultra-rare form of dark matter could explain them.

— Scientists discover giant galaxy 32 times expectant than Earth ’s — and they named it ' difficulty '

— Here ’s what could materialise if asteroid Bennu smashes into Earth in 157 years

— Jupiter ’s ' tormented lunar month ' Io just unleashed the most powerful volcanic event ever seen

A photo of a fossilized human-like jaw

Photos of the jaw of the putative newfound species,Paranthropus capensis.

Also in science news this week

— ' unbelievable moment in history : ' Particle accelerator and AI extend first peep inside 2,000 - class - erstwhile Herculaneum scroll

— New ' Camp Hill ' computer virus describe in Alabama is relative of venomous Nipah — the 1st of its variety in the US

— scientist are building an ultimate book of maps of the vagina . Here ’s why .

A blurry photo of the ISS taken from Earth

NASA astronaut Suni Williams can be seen in this telescope image of the International Space Station — if you know where to look.

— new give away quantum commonwealth could power more stable quantum computers — and a new 2D splintering can tap into it

Science Spotlight

1.4 million-year-old jaw that was ‘a bit weird for Homo’ turns out to be from never-before-seen human relative

In 1949 , archaeologists discovered a 1.4 million - yr - old jaw bone in a cave in South Africa . The jaw was found among other fossils belonging to the genusHomo , to which our own specie belong . But the jaw was unusually thick , with long , rectangular molar that did n’t look like those from any otherHomospecies .

Now , observe cristal - ray depth psychology , scientists have concluded that the specimen did not belong to to theHomogenus at all — rather it is atotally new extinct human relative , belonging to the genusParanthropus .

Human development quiz : What do you know aboutHomo sapiens ?

Split image of the Martian surface and free-floating atoms.

Something for the weekend

If you ’re looking for something a little longer to read over the weekend , here are some of the intimately farsighted read , volume selection and interview published this week .

— 12 pivotal second in the story of robotics , from Isaac Asimov to self - repel machine

— ' It was so simple ' : How Antarctica ’s missing meteorites were break using a block of ice , a freezer and a lamp

Split image of the world�s largest underground thermal lake on record and a �city-killer� asteroid approaching Earth.

— Dolní Věstonice Portrait Head : The oldest known human portrait in the world

— New fabric can heat up more than 50 degrees to keep hoi polloi warm in ultracold weather

Science in pictures

‘Stranded’ NASA astronaut Suni Williams photographed from Earth during record-breaking spacewalk. Can you spot her?

An amateur photographer on Earth has captured a stunning photo of " stranded"NASAastronaut Suni Williams float outside theInternational Space Station(ISS ) during a late spacewalk .

During the walk , Williams broke the record for the most non - consecutive hour spend spacewalk by any female spaceman .

Williams and co - pilot Barry " Butch " Wilmorehave been " ground " on board the ISSsince June 6 , 2024 , after the Boeing Starliner space capsule that delivered them experienced multiple leaks . They are now due toreturn in late Marchat the early , although an exact particular date has not yet been confirmed .

Split image of merging black holes and a woolly mice.

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Split image of newborn planets and the burial object left in a newly discovered ancient Egyptian tomb.

A two paneled image. On the left, a microscope image of the rete ovarii. On the right, an illustration of exoplanet k2-18b

Split image of a "cosmic tornado" and a face depiction from a wooden coffin in Tombos.

An aerial photo of mountains rising out of Antarctica snowy and icy landscape, as seen from NASA�s Operation IceBridge research aircraft.

A tree is silhouetted against the full completed Annular Solar Eclipse on October 14, 2023 in Capitol Reef National Park, Utah.

Screen-capture of a home security camera facing a front porch during an earthquake.

A satellite photo of an island with a giant river of orange lava

Tunnel view of Yosemite National Park.

A scuba diver descends down a deep ocean reef wall into the abyss.

an illustration of a base on the moon

Circular alignment of stones in the center of an image full of stones

Three-dimensional rendering of an HIV virus