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Space

What started as a routine evening for Larry Denneau quickly turned into one of the most significant nights of his career — and one of the most exciting for astronomers around the world.

Denneau, a senior software engineer and astronomer at the University of Hawaii's Institute for Astronomy, was doing what he’s done hundreds of times before: reviewing automated detections from the ATLAS project, a NASA-funded asteroid early-warning system designed to catch objects that could pose a threat to Earth. On July 1, 2025, one of those detections stood out — though not in any obvious way.

"It looked like a completely garden variety new Near Earth Object," Denneau told Space.com. So he did what the software advised. He clicked “submit.”

What he didn’t know at the time was that he had just logged the third known interstellar object ever observed passing through our solar system.

By the time the discovery began lighting up inboxes across the global astronomy community, Denneau was offline — quite literally. He was up on Mauna Loa, helping service a telescope, with no internet access for most of the day.

“I was oblivious to them until we got back that night,” he said. “And my inbox was completely exploded with all of this stuff.” He had unknowingly submitted data that would go on to identify a cosmic interloper: 3I/ATLAS.

Like ‘Oumuamua in 2017 and 2I/Borisov in 2019, 3I/ATLAS is not from around here. These rare objects don’t orbit the Sun like comets or asteroids. They’re not gravitationally bound to our star at all — they come from other solar systems entirely, flung out into interstellar space and occasionally caught passing through our own.

The moment that realization clicked, astronomers around the world scrambled to observe it. "Within a day... there are hundreds of observations from different telescopes all confirming the orbit," Denneau said.

But when teams at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) and the Minor Planets Center tried to model its orbit, something didn’t add up. "All of the orbit fits turned out to be really poor," Denneau said. The object was moving too fast and on a trajectory that didn’t match any solar system object. "It’s not bound to the sun."

That was the giveaway.

3I/ATLAS wasn’t just a curious rock — it was a visitor from another star.

A software project that looks to the stars

Denneau’s path to this moment didn’t begin in a telescope dome. It started with code. He trained as an engineer, not an astronomer. His degree is in electrical engineering, and only later did he pursue a PhD in astrophysics.

Even now, Denneau doesn’t consider himself a traditional stargazer. “We built some telescopes,” he said of the ATLAS project, “but after the telescopes are built, it’s really a software project.”

ATLAS — short for Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System — is made up of a network of wide-field telescopes that scan the night sky looking for anything that moves. Every night, they take thousands of images, covering nearly the entire visible sky every 24 hours.

The system is built to spot faint movements — tiny points of light that shift across a starry background. To do that, the software looks for motion by taking four quick exposures of the same part of the sky. If something moves between frames, it leaves behind a tracklet. That gets compared against reference images, and anything that doesn't match — potentially an asteroid or comet — is flagged.

From there, it’s up to a human reviewer to make the final call. On July 1, that human was Denneau.

"Things that look like stars that are moving across the background,” he explained, is what the software pulls out. “I’m literally the person who clicked the button and submitted the discovery observations for this object."

Missed it by that much

Even though 3I/ATLAS was moving fast, it had likely been visible for days — just not detectable. Why? It was passing through a dense part of the Milky Way, packed with background stars.

“When there’s so many stars in the background, sometimes an asteroid goes right on top of a star,” Denneau said. “And so you only get three out.”

ATLAS requires four solid detections to confidently flag a new object. So 3I/ATLAS remained hidden until it moved into a less crowded patch of sky. Only then did the system recognize it, trigger a detection, and allow Denneau to hit “submit.” In fact, once it was officially flagged, the software even found earlier “precovery” images that had captured it days earlier — buried in the noise.

From code to comet hunting

Denneau’s work on ATLAS is part of a broader trend in astronomy where software plays a central role. “We’re a multi-petabyte project at this point,” he said. “And so that’s the kind of stuff that, as a computer person, keeps me awake, because it’s a lot of data to keep secure and backed up.”

The system doesn’t just detect interstellar visitors. A few months before 3I/ATLAS, Denneau was on duty when another object showed up: a near-Earth asteroid called YR4. At first, it looked like it could impact Earth in 2032, but after more observations, it was ruled out as a threat.

With so much data coming in nightly — as much as half a terabyte from the ATLAS telescopes — the priority is ensuring only real, reliable detections get flagged. “We’re really sensitive to not wanting to put false things on the confirmation page,” Denneau said. “We want to be like 99-point-something-percent reliable on that front.”

It’s that reliability that gave the astronomy community enough confidence to quickly classify 3I/ATLAS as interstellar.

And for Denneau, the moment still feels a bit surreal.

"Every day I still love coming to work and working on astronomy," he said. "It's just super fun.

Discovery of a Lifetime: How a Software Engineer in Hawaii Found an Interstellar Visitor

Talker News

Santa Claus made a high-flying entrance this year, trading in his sleigh and reindeer for Royal Navy helicopters to deliver early Christmas cheer across Somerset and Dorset.

In a festive operation dubbed “Santa’s Sleigh,” choppers from Royal Navy Air Station Yeovilton touched down at 30 local schools — including a heartwarming visit to Charlton Farm children’s hospice near Bristol — to deliver gifts and collect letters for the North Pole.

“With the reindeer resting up for an intensive Christmas period, naval helicopters were drafted in,” said the Royal Navy.

Among the aircraft were Wildcats from 815 and 825 Naval Air Squadrons, a Commando Merlin from 846 Squadron, and a chopper from 1 Army Air Corps.

“Bringing Santa into local schools in a Wildcat not only allows us to share some Christmas magic,” said Commander Sammy Haynes, “but also helps us maintain our strong links with the community.”

Three schools even received special flypasts, thrilling students below. “The children were delighted to watch Father Christmas touch down,” said headteacher Dave Gordon. “It’s a memory they’ll never forget.”

Santa Swaps Sleigh for Helicopter in Royal Navy Christmas Surprise

BBC News

A school librarian in Reading has traced her family tree back nearly 500 years and found something she never expected — a distant connection to her literary hero, Jane Austen.

Joanne Wenman, who works at The Abbey School in Reading, said she was “excited” to discover the link to Austen, whose wit and insight into the lives of 19th-century women helped define English literature. Wenman’s 11th great-grandfather was Thomas Austen, who was also an ancestor of the celebrated author. As she explained to the BBC, “That makes me sixth cousin six times removed from Jane Austen.”

Wenman’s discovery comes just as fans around the world mark the 250th anniversary of Austen’s birth. The Abbey School itself is part of the story — it's named after the Reading Abbey Gateway, where Austen and her sister Cassandra were educated at a boarding school from 1785.

Wenman said she began researching her family tree about two years ago, using the site Ancestry. “When I was looking at my family tree… these Austens started appearing,” she said. “So my ninth great-grandmother is Jane Austen — not the Jane Austen but a different one — and then her grandfather is Thomas Austen.”

Even just seeing the name ‘Jane Austen’ in her ancestry gave her a thrill. “When I first saw a Jane Austen appear in the 1600s even that excited me,” she said. “I know it sounds weird but it was seeing that name on my family tree.”

She dug deeper. The Austen branch she belongs to was based in Hawkhurst, Kent — not far from Horsmonden, where Jane Austen’s immediate family also had roots. “That made me quite excited and then I cross-referenced and checked everything,” Wenman said. “I did lots of research before I was convinced.”

Her discovery is more than just a fun coincidence. Wenman, who spent two decades as an English teacher before becoming a librarian, said Austen played a direct role in her career path. “If somebody's already your hero and you admire them greatly, it's going to mean so much more,” she said. She described the connection as “really nice and exciting”.

She’s not the only one who’s thrilled. “The whole school is delighted for Joanne,” said Dr Sarah Tullis, head of The Abbey School. “We already knew what a huge fan of Jane Austen she is and how much this connection would mean to her. What makes this even more special for us here at The Abbey is that it strengthens our connections with Jane Austen even further.”

Jane Austen, born in Steventon, Hampshire in 1775, never married and had no direct descendants. But her literary legacy — from Pride and Prejudice to Emma and Persuasion — has made her a permanent fixture in English literature classrooms around the world.

Wenman is now set to meet other distant Austen relatives during a coffee morning hosted at The Abbey School to celebrate the author’s 250th birthday. For a lifelong fan, the moment is a little surreal. “Some of these coincidences,” she said, “are uncanny.”

School Librarian Discovers She’s Distantly Related to Jane Austen — at the School Where Austen Studied

In the quaint village of Dunchurch, Warwickshire, locals woke up to a familiar festive surprise: the town’s historic statue of Lord John Scott had been cheekily transformed — this time into Chase from Paw Patrol.

The stone monument, which dates back to the 1800s, has become the centerpiece of an annual holiday prank, where mystery locals dress it up as a beloved children’s character each December. Past makeovers have included Bluey, Pinocchio, Peppa Pig, and Pingu.

“This much-loved tradition goes back many years,” said Amber Cummins of the Dunchurch Festival Group. “It’s heartwarming to see children and adults alike react with such excitement when they see it.”

Jordan Sargent, who brought her son to see the transformation, said, “Last year it was Peppa Pig and he loved that. This year it’s Chase. It’s not his favorite — he loves Rubble — but we still like Chase.”

No one knows exactly who’s behind the annual costume switch, but villagers agree on one thing: it’s become a cherished part of the town’s Christmas season.

Pranksters Transform Famous Statue Into Chase From 'Paw Patrol'

Artnet

A nearly complete skull of a dome-headed dinosaur that roamed the Earth over 66 million years ago is now part of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C., thanks to a high-profile holiday donation.

Philanthropists Eric and Wendy Schmidt have gifted the museum a rare Pachycephalosaurus skull, which they purchased at a Sotheby’s auction in July for $1.7 million, well above its $1.2 million estimate. The fossil will be on temporary display from December 22 to 28, with plans to make it part of the museum’s permanent exhibition in the coming years.

“This skull is by far the most spectacular specimen of this type of dinosaur that we have at the museum,” said Matthew Carrano, curator of Dinosauria at the museum. “We almost never get to see the animal’s face or the teeth or other parts of the head because they usually have broken away.”

The skull is a rare find. Excavated from private land in the Hell Creek Formation in South Dakota—a region known for some of the richest Late Cretaceous fossils in North America—the fossil includes 32 cranial bones, offering an unusually complete look at this little-understood species. Pachycephalosaurus fossils make up less than 1% of all finds in the formation, far less common than Triceratops, which account for roughly 40%.

Carrano believes this skull likely came from an individual that wasn’t fully grown, which opens up new research opportunities. The museum plans to scan and digitize the fossil to better understand how these dinosaurs developed over time.

Wendy Schmidt emphasized the broader significance of the gift. “When we see an ancient fossil like this one, we are confronted with the story of our planet’s past and can consider how humans fit into Earth’s geologic history in a profoundly different way,” she said. “Eric and I hope the digitization project and this rare Pachycephalosaurus skull will provide access to these fossils to anyone, anywhere in the world.”

Eric Schmidt is the former CEO of Google and executive chairman of Alphabet. Wendy Schmidt has a background in journalism and philanthropy. Together, they’ve launched initiatives including the Schmidt Family Foundation, Schmidt Ocean Institute, and Schmidt Sciences, which support environmental sustainability and scientific research.

Their gift comes amid a wave of high-profile fossil acquisitions. In 2023, hedge fund billionaire Ken Griffin made headlines for loaning a $44 million Stegosaurus skeleton to the American Museum of Natural History—the most expensive dinosaur fossil ever sold at auction.

The Schmidts’ donation adds another exceptional specimen to public view, while helping researchers piece together the life and growth of one of the Cretaceous period’s most mysterious creatures.

Smithsonian Receives Rare $1.7 Million Dinosaur Skull as a Holiday Gift

People

Tangi the dog has a new leash on life.

Just five days after being left in a sealed cardboard box outside the Pennsylvania SPCA, the young pup has been adopted into a loving home.

“We are over the moon to share that Tangi has been adopted!” the shelter wrote in a joyful update on December 14, alongside a photo of the smiling dog with her new family. “We are so excited for her new chapter filled with love, snuggles, and adventures.”

Tangi’s story first made headlines on December 9, when staff at the SPCA’s Philadelphia shelter arrived to find a large box outside their door. On the outside was a handwritten note from her former owner, who said they were out of options.

“It's either eviction or let the dog go,” the note read. “I have filled out adoption apps, but nothing has happened. Today was my last day, and my back is [against] the wall. She has all her shots. Good dog. Her name is Tangi.”

Inside the box, staff found the frightened dog curled up and trembling.

“When we opened [the box], scared eyes looked up at us,” the SPCA wrote in a Facebook post. “She was shaking and so stressed … clearly overwhelmed by everything around her.”

But it didn’t take long for Tangi to respond to kindness.

“The moment a hand reached toward her, she leaned in, gentle and searching for comfort despite everything she had been through,” shelter staff said.

After medical testing and behavioral assessments, Tangi remained in the shelter’s care for several days in case her original owner returned. No one came forward.

Once cleared for adoption, it didn’t take long for the sweet-natured pup to find her perfect match.

“Thank you to everyone who shared her story and helped her find her perfect family,” the SPCA said. “Happy life, sweet girl.”

Dog Abandoned in Box Outside Shelter Finds a Loving New Home Days Later

GoodGoodGood

Earlier this year, a herd of giraffes, elephants, hyenas, and zebras took to the streets of cities around the world — not real animals, but towering, life-sized puppets made from recycled materials, carried by hundreds of people on a mission.

The massive public art project, known as The Herds, was designed to sound the alarm on the climate crisis. Created by The Walk Productions — the same team behind Little Amal, the 12-foot puppet of a refugee girl who journeyed across 17 countries — The Herds brought together artists, producers, and volunteers across 11 nations for one purpose: to stir people into seeing climate change not as an abstract issue, but as something happening here and now.

The project spanned five months, from April to September 2025, covering 20,000 kilometers (roughly 15,500 miles) from the Congo Basin Rainforest to a melting glacier in Norway’s Jostedalsbreen National Park. Along the way, The Herds stopped in dozens of communities, including Cape Town, London, and others, with 56 public performances and over 1,000 people trained to animate the puppets.

“The Herds will happen in our immediate surroundings, in our familiar,” said artistic director Amir Nizar Zuabi, a Palestinian theatre-maker who first dreamed up the project while traveling with Little Amal. “It needs to happen where we feel safe, so we understand that we are not safe.”

Zuabi explained that his idea grew from a deeply personal place. As a child, he would lie in the desert in Palestine and watch the sky darken with migrating birds — herons, kites, storks — flying overhead.

“They placed me in the world. They were inspiring and humbling,” he said in a 2024 TED Talk. “But as I grew older, the flocks grew smaller.”

Years later, while walking with the Amal puppet across Europe, he looked up and saw fewer birds, just as he saw more people on the move — displaced by war, disaster, and climate change. That dual loss sparked a question: Could a public art project connect people to the climate crisis the way Amal connected people to the refugee experience?

The answer became The Herds — a visual story of animals migrating together, predator and prey alike, all fleeing a disaster not of their own making, but ours.

The first puppets were built by Ukwanda Puppetry and Designs Art Collective in Cape Town, South Africa. At each stop, local artists and volunteers learned how to build and operate their own. The animals traveled by foot, boat, and plane, carried through city streets, parks, and ports — anywhere people would see them and stop to ask why they were running.

“We’re migrating with an ever-evolving, growing group of animals,” Zuabi told The Guardian. “They will be an alarm bell, impossible to ignore.”

That urgency is the point. While climate scientists have long warned of rising seas, scorching heat, and extreme weather, Zuabi says data doesn’t always move people. Emotion does.

“The way we’ve been talking about the climate crisis is through data… but they don’t necessarily move us into action. Beauty does,” he told Atmos. “Beauty will make you care.”

Each puppet was designed to be stunning and expressive. And when lions, gazelles, wolves and zebras — animals that would normally flee from one another — ran together in peace, it forced people to ask: what disaster would make that happen?

“When lions and gazelles … zebras and hyenas … wolves and deer are running together — predator and prey running alongside one another — and they’re running away from us,” Zuabi said in his TED Talk, “what does that say about us?”

At its core, The Herds wasn’t just about spectacle. It was about unsettling the comfortable — bringing the crisis to the doorsteps of those who might otherwise think it’s happening “somewhere else.” And reminding everyone that nature is not separate from us.

“Underneath the layers of asphalt and concrete and vanity, there is nature,” Zuabi said. “And it is wild, vivacious and uncontrollable.”

As climate disasters become more frequent and more devastating, Zuabi hopes The Herds has done more than just raise awareness — he hopes it’s stirred a sense of urgency and responsibility.

“I don’t think that we do these projects and the world immediately becomes better,” he said. “But I want to believe that what we do matters.”

And for five months in 2025, a global audience got a glimpse of the beauty we’re in danger of losing — and maybe, a better reason to protect it.

Giant Animal Puppets Travel From Congo Basin To Melting Arctic Glacier With Important Message

Upworthy

Ethan, a 12-year-old from Ocean, New Jersey, became an overnight sensation after an unforgettable moment at his school assembly. The challenge was to hit a drum beat precisely during Whitney Houston's "I Will Always Love You," and Ethan nailed it perfectly. His peers erupted in cheers, chanting his name in the gym auditorium.

The heartwarming scene unfolded at Township of Ocean Intermediate School and quickly went viral online. Ethan has Down syndrome, but that didn't stop him from becoming the star of the event. As the crowd egged him on with chants of "Ethan, Ethan, Ethan," he waited for the perfect moment in the song before striking the drum with confidence.

Christopher Amato, the school's principal, described it as a "powerful and organic moment of inclusion, acceptance, trust, kindness, and joy." The video has since attracted hundreds of thousands of likes and comments. One person remarked on how much kindness and joy children can bring into the world.

Ethan's mother, Danielle, expressed her excitement over her son's unexpected fame. She said they are thrilled about all the positivity he's been able to spread. Speaking to Upworthy about Ethan's life at home and school, she painted a picture of a vibrant young boy who loves music and movies. He's one of five siblings and enjoys spending time at the beach with his family.

Describing his personality, Danielle said Ethan has an innate ability to sense when someone needs comfort. He loves singing songs from Moana and Rihanna and often pretends to play instruments alongside his stepdad. At school, he's known as "the mayor" because everyone wants to be his friend.

The Whitney Houston challenge happened during an event called "Almost Anything Goes," where students compete in various activities. Ethan watched others attempt the challenge before stepping up himself without any prior practice.

Danielle also shared insights into raising Ethan after learning he had Down syndrome immediately after birth. Despite initial shock from medical staff treating it as bad news, she couldn't be happier with her son’s impact on their lives. According to her, having a brother with special needs taught her other children acceptance and compassion.

For Danielle, Ethan's viral moment isn't just about hitting a drumbeat perfectly; it's about kindness and inclusion being celebrated in their community.

Boy With Down Syndrome Brings Joy by Nailing 'Whitney Houston Challenge'

Science Alert

A new study in mice may shed light on how psilocybin, the active compound in magic mushrooms, appears to help people with depression: by breaking the brain’s habitual loops of negative thinking.

Scientists at Cornell University used a specially engineered rabies virus to track how a single dose of psilocybin altered brain circuits in mice. The changes they observed help explain the promising results seen in human clinical trials, where psilocybin has shown potential as a fast-acting, long-lasting antidepressant.

“Rumination is one of the main points for depression, where people have this unhealthy focus, and they keep dwelling on the same negative thoughts,” said Alex Kwan, a biomedical engineer at Cornell. “By reducing some of these feedback loops, our findings are consistent with the interpretation that psilocybin may rewire the brain to break, or at least weaken, that cycle.”

More than 300 million people globally live with depression, a leading cause of disability. Current treatments don’t work for everyone and often come with side effects. That’s driven interest in alternatives like psilocybin, which is also being studied for its anti-inflammatory effects.

In 2021, Kwan’s lab showed that psilocybin could reshape brain connections, with some changes lasting for weeks. But it wasn’t clear which circuits were being affected or why some neurons grew more connections while others lost them.

To find out, Kwan and his team, led by biomedical engineer Quan Jiang, used a modified rabies virus that traces connections between neurons by carrying fluorescent proteins. In the study, mice were given either a single dose of psilocybin or a placebo. A day later, they were injected with the virus. One week after that, the researchers examined their brains.

What they found was striking. Brain regions involved in sensory processing became more connected with those responsible for decision-making and taking action. Meanwhile, connections within the cortex — where repetitive negative thoughts often originate in humans — were reduced.

That shift, the researchers believe, may help explain how psilocybin loosens the grip of ruminative thought patterns.

The study also found that brain activity itself may help guide where psilocybin does its rewiring. That opens up the possibility of combining psilocybin with noninvasive brain stimulation techniques to more precisely target specific circuits.

“Our study hints at an exciting avenue for future research to combine neuromodulation with psychedelics to precisely target [and rewire] specific circuits,” the researchers wrote.

While the findings are in mice and need confirmation in humans, they offer one of the clearest looks yet at how psychedelics may work at the level of brain wiring. The research was published in Cell.

Scientists Track Brain Changes In Mice Using Virus To Reveal a Potential Treatment For Depression

Sofronio Vasquez's life changed overnight in December 2024 when he won Season 26 of The Voice — and he hasn’t slowed down since.

The win was historic. Vasquez became the first Filipino singer to win the U.S. version of the singing competition, and it marked the first-ever victory for his coach, Michael Bublé.

“My Filipino brother, you are the hope of so many people,” Bublé told him during the finale. “It has been such an unbelievable journey. I’m just so happy for you.”

Before becoming a household name, Vasquez was studying to become a dentist. That path changed after the death of his father — the man who introduced him to music. To honor his memory, Vasquez moved to the United States and committed fully to his dream.

That dream came with a $100,000 prize and a recording contract. Less than two months later, he announced a 20-stop concert tour.

The tour kicked off in March 2025 and wrapped in October, spanning North America, the Philippines and Dubai.

“Those international shows taught me so much,” Vasquez told the Asian Journal News in October. “Music really does cross every boundary you can think of.”

He added, “I’ve watched people who don’t speak English connect emotionally with a song, and that’s powerful. Every country, every audience has given me something different.”

The 26-year-old has also been releasing new music. Since The Voice, he’s put out several singles, including “Maalaala Mo Kaya,” “Nandito Lang,” and “Patient.” He’s also leaned into holiday classics, releasing “Maybe This Christmas” with Michael Bublé and a version of “My Grown Up Christmas List” with David Foster.

Beyond the studio and tour venues, Vasquez has also been in demand for major public performances. In July, he sang “America the Beautiful” at the Belmont Derby Invitational in New York. Three months later, he performed at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City during an NFL game between the Chiefs and the Commanders.

Now, Vasquez is returning to the stage that launched his career.

He’ll appear on The Voice again during the Season 28 finale on December 16, debuting a brand-new single titled “Superman” — written by Bublé himself.

From a dentistry student chasing a dream to a rising star performing around the world, Sofronio Vasquez is making the most of his moment — and shows no signs of slowing down.

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