Scientists Have Witnessed Quantum Interference Between Different Kinds of Particles for the First Time

In a world where quantum physics continues to perplex scientists, a new discovery has been made that could help unlock some of the mysteries ofatomic nuclei. For the first time, researchers have observed quantum interference between two different kinds of particles. This phenomenon is related to the strange quantum phenomenon of entanglement and could offer new insight into how subatomic particles interact. The finding broadens our understanding of entanglement and provides new opportunities for research in this fascinating area.

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WWI Amputees Walked Across Canada to Challenge Disability Stigma, Nearly 60 Years Before Terry Fox

A century ago, two young Canadian war veterans set out on crutches from Calgary with a goal as ambitious as it was painful: to walk across the country and prove that losing a limb didn’t mean losing purpose. The year was 1923. George Hincks and Marshall McDougall, both recent amputees after serving in the First World War, were patients at a Calgary military hospital when they decided to take on a challenge few thought possible — a multi-month, cross-country trek to fight stigma, long before words like “disability rights” were part of the national vocabulary. They didn’t make it all the way to Ottawa. Instead, the pair ended their journey in Thunder Bay, Ont., physically exhausted and battered from the road. But what they accomplished in those grueling weeks — walking 30 kilometers a day, on crutches, through prairie heat and Ontario forests — laid early groundwork for a movement that wouldn’t take shape for another two generations. “They endured just immense amounts of pain and suffering,” said historian Eric Story, who uncovered their story while flipping through an old military magazine. “They had open red sores under their arms from the chafing of their crutches. It’s truly unfathomable.” Hincks and McDougall’s effort has largely been forgotten, overshadowed by more recent Canadian icons like Terry Fox, whose 1980 Marathon of Hope became a defining moment in the nation’s collective memory. But Fox himself stopped his run just outside Thunder Bay — the same place where Hincks and McDougall had to call it quits nearly 60 years earlier. “They were trying to show that they had as much grit — even more grit — than other Canadians,” said Story, a postdoctoral researcher at Western University. Both men were members of the Amputations Association of the Great War, which would later evolve into the War Amps. Their mission wasn’t just personal endurance — it was advocacy. As they traveled, they spoke with Canadians about the challenges amputees faced and the need for support, particularly for returning veterans. In post-WWI Canada, the country was shifting from a rural economy to one driven by industrial capitalism. That transition left many disabled veterans sidelined, seen as “inefficient workers” who couldn’t keep pace with the demands of factory life. “These are the ideas Hincks and McDougall were trying to tackle,” said Story. “They weren’t asking for pity. They were confronting society’s definition of productivity head-on.” Marshall McDougall’s great-grandniece, Lauren McDougall, only recently discovered her family’s role in this early activism while researching her genealogy. She said she’s proud to see their story brought to light after so many years in the shadows. “It’s kind of crazy,” she said. “But it’s a pretty exciting story.” She described her great-granduncle as someone known for his humor and energy, and believes the journey may have started as a challenge between two friends — but quickly grew into something much more profound. “They brought awareness to communities about what needed to happen for returning soldiers, especially those with amputations,” she said. The War Amps charity, which today serves all amputees in Canada, sees Hincks and McDougall as early examples of the resilience that defines the amputee community. “They lived by the motto, ‘It’s what’s left that counts,’” said Merrill Loeppky, a regional representative for the organization in Manitoba. While the modern disability rights movement in Canada is often traced to the mid-20th century, Story argues that Hincks and McDougall deserve recognition as pioneers. “They changed attitudes at the individual level,” he said. “They reminded Canadians that the responsibility wasn’t just on disabled veterans to fit into society — it was also on society to accept and support them.” Even now, a hundred years later, that message still resonates. “It’s still a conversation that is relevant today,” said Lauren McDougall. “There are still mindsets and biases in place. And it’s important to remember that people were pushing against them even then.” Their trek may have ended short of Ottawa, but Hincks and McDougall made their point loud and clear: disability is not weakness. And dignity doesn’t require two legs — just enough courage to stand, and keep moving forward.

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Climate’s ‘Holy Grail’: Scientists Build Ultra-High-Resolution Model That Blends Weather and Climate

For years, climate scientists have dreamed of a model that could simulate weather and long-term climate processes with high precision — down to the kilometer scale. Now, a team led by Daniel Klocke at Germany’s Max Planck Institute has come closer than ever to making that dream a reality. In a new paper, the team unveils a groundbreaking climate model with a staggering resolution of 1.25 kilometers per grid cell — close enough to simulate local thunderstorms, ocean currents, and fine-scale atmospheric changes, while also tracking long-term shifts in carbon cycles and biospheres. It’s the first time these "fast" and "slow" systems have been combined in a single global model at this scale. And it’s as close as climate science has come to what many call the “holy grail” of the field. A Climate Model That Thinks Small to Go Big To pull it off, the researchers used the ICON model — a joint effort of the German Weather Service and the Max Planck Institute for Meteorology. They divided Earth’s surface into 336 million land and ocean grid cells and matched each with a corresponding atmospheric column, bringing the total to 672 million individual cells. Each cell runs calculations for dozens of variables, with "fast" processes like the water and energy cycles updating minute-to-minute, and "slow" processes like the carbon cycle evolving over months and years. Normally, these slower dynamics are handled in climate models that run at much lower resolutions — often 40 km per grid cell or more — due to the enormous computational demands. Klocke’s team shattered that limitation by optimizing how data is processed and assigning tasks based on speed. Using a framework called DaCe (Data-Centric Parallel Programming), they stripped out legacy code (originally written in Fortran) and optimized the model to run on modern hardware. Enter: Supercomputers on Steroids The engine behind the model is powered by 20,480 GH200 Grace Hopper superchips — hybrid chips from Nvidia that combine AI-focused GPUs with energy-efficient CPUs from ARM. These were spread across two cutting-edge European supercomputers: JUPITER in Germany and Alps in Switzerland. This division of labor meant the GPU-heavy parts tackled the rapidly shifting weather components, while the CPUs handled the slower processes like biosphere and geochemical modeling. The result? The team simulated nearly 146 days of Earth’s climate in just 24 hours, using close to 1 trillion degrees of freedom — a rough measure of how many individual values the model calculated. So… Will This Make the Weather App on Your Phone Better? Not quite yet. This kind of modeling is computationally expensive — far beyond what national weather services or local meteorological centers can use in real time. The chips used are in high demand for generative AI development, not climate forecasting. For now, models like this are mainly for research and long-term climate planning. But the potential is enormous. Being able to simulate climate and weather on the same ultra-fine grid opens up a new class of insights — including how local weather extremes fit into broader climate trends, or how small-scale feedback loops might affect global warming projections. It could also improve early warning systems for floods, fires, and droughts, or refine how we model the interaction between climate and ecosystems — from coral reefs to rainforests. The Long Game Klocke and his team aren’t claiming to have solved climate modeling. But they’ve made a leap that many thought was still years away. “This type of model won’t be running on your local server farm anytime soon,” one climate scientist quipped online, “but it shows us where things are headed.” The full paper is currently available as a preprint on arXiv — and likely being bookmarked by weather nerds, climate researchers, and supercomputer engineers around the world.

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This Afghan Child Bride Transformed Into Europe's Top Bodybuilder, and is Inspiring Change Around the World

Fifteen years ago, Roya Karimi was a teenage mother in Afghanistan, married off as a child and bound by the rigid norms of a deeply conservative society. This week, she’s competing at the World Bodybuilding Championships in Barcelona, her crystal-studded bikini, stage-ready tan, and chiselled physique a world away from the life she fled. Now 30 and living in Norway, Karimi is one of Europe’s top competitive bodybuilders. Her journey to the global stage has been anything but ordinary. “Every time I go to the gym, I remember that there was a time in Afghanistan when I wasn’t even allowed to exercise freely,” she told BBC News Afghan. Karimi’s transformation has been rapid — she only began bodybuilding professionally less than two years ago. Her rise through the sport has included gold medals at the Stoperiet Open and the Norway Classic 2025, and a qualifying victory at the European championships that secured her place in Barcelona. But the road to get here started much earlier, in 2011, when she made a life-altering decision: to flee Afghanistan. Leaving her first husband behind, she escaped with her mother and young son, seeking asylum in Norway. “I didn’t want that life,” she said. The details of her escape remain private, but what followed was years of adaptation to a radically different society. In Norway, Karimi threw herself into a new start. She learned the language, supported her family, and trained as a nurse in Oslo. But it was in the gym — and later, on stage — that she began to rebuild her sense of identity. “Bodybuilding helped me break free from the mental and social limitations that had been imposed on me,” she said. It also introduced her to Kamal Jalaluddin, a fellow Afghan and seasoned bodybuilder. Now her husband, he encouraged her to take bodybuilding seriously. “Before I met Kamal, I was doing sports, but not at a professional level,” she explained. “His support gave me the courage to choose a competitive and taboo-breaking path.” That decision hasn’t been without backlash. In a sport where stage presence means bikinis, flowing hair, and dramatic makeup, Karimi’s public image stands in sharp contrast to what’s expected — and now legally enforced — for women in her home country. Since the Taliban returned to power in 2021, women in Afghanistan have been banned from school after age 12, most jobs, and even traveling alone. Karimi’s success — and her visibility — has made her a target. Her social media pages are flooded with criticism, insults, and death threats. She shrugs them off. “People only see my appearance and my bikini,” she said. “But behind this appearance, there are years of suffering, effort, and perseverance.” Instead, she’s using that same platform to speak directly to girls and women back in Afghanistan. Through messages and posts, she talks about physical health, self-worth, and reclaiming one’s identity — things now nearly impossible for many women under Taliban rule. "Our biggest challenge was to break through the boundaries and frameworks that others had set for us," she said. "But when you decide to innovate, you have to free yourself from those frameworks." Karimi now competes in the Wellness category of bodybuilding — a division that focuses on overall fitness and natural aesthetics rather than sheer muscle mass. Her performances are polished and powerful, but what drives her goes far beyond trophies. As she steps onto the world stage this week, cheered on by her husband and teenage son, Karimi says this moment belongs to more than just her. “I feel mentally strong and fully ready to give my all,” she said. “I hope to make history by setting this record in the name of Afghan girls and women — for the very first time.”

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This Lung Cancer Survivor is Embarking On a 12,000-Mile Journey To Raise Awareness And Save Lives

Dusty Donaldson will never forget the phone call that changed everything. It was September 27, 2005. She had just stepped out of an MBA class in High Point, North Carolina, when her doctor asked her to come in first thing the next morning—and to bring her husband. He didn’t say the words, but Donaldson knew. “I knew it,” she said. “He didn’t even have to say, ‘You have cancer.’” Donaldson was 51 at the time. She’d gone to the doctor weeks earlier after feeling a swollen lymph node in her neck. Imaging showed nothing alarming, and her pulmonologist was confident it wasn’t cancer. She had quit smoking more than two decades before. “I was also confident it was not cancer,” she said. But she pushed for more testing anyway. That decision saved her life. A bronchoscopy revealed early-stage lung cancer—an outcome that stunned both her and her doctor. She underwent major surgery and chemotherapy, and has been cancer-free ever since. Now 71, Donaldson says she feels like she “walked away from a plane crash.” And she’s made it her life’s mission to make sure others get the chance to walk away too. In the two decades since her diagnosis, Donaldson has become a tireless advocate for lung cancer awareness, education, and prevention. She founded a nonprofit, LiveLung, in 2010 to support patients, survivors, and caregivers. She co-authored a guidebook, The ABCs of Lung Cancer, with her daughter. And this year, to mark her 20th “cancer-versary,” she took that mission on the road. Donaldson drove more than 12,000 miles across the United States in a 45-day road trip, stopping in 50 cities. She met with chapter members, researchers, clinicians, military veterans, and fellow advocates—all to raise awareness about lung cancer screenings and treatments. Her message is urgent. Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death in the United States, accounting for roughly one in five cancer deaths. So far in 2025, it has claimed more than 124,000 lives, according to the American Cancer Society. But Donaldson believes it doesn’t have to be that way. “Lung cancer really is such a deadly disease, and it doesn’t have to be,” she said. “I just have this uncontrollable desire to help other people so that they cannot die from lung cancer.” Screening is one of the biggest keys to changing that. When Donaldson was diagnosed in 2005, routine screenings for lung cancer didn’t exist. Her cancer was caught early only because she pushed for more tests. “I was very fortunate,” she said. “Even though there was no screening 20 years ago, it happened to be caught early.” Since then, the science has made major strides. “I know we have a long way to go,” she said, “but we need to stop and celebrate how far we have come. Radiation is better, the surgery is better, early detection is better, the community is better.” That community is at the heart of what Donaldson is building. She encourages newly diagnosed patients to find support as soon as possible. “The anxiety and the uncertainty are difficult,” she said. “Get connected with others in this community. The sooner they do that, the more strength and support they will get from others.” “People who have been on this path before are going to be very helpful. They can help navigate troubled waters.” And as for those she met along her journey, she hopes they carry the message forward. “My hope is that [the people I meet] will inspire hope in other people and that they will carry the torch to give hope to others.” For Donaldson, surviving lung cancer wasn’t the end of her story. It was the beginning of a mission—and 12,000 miles later, she’s still going strong.

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Bumblebees Stun Scientists By Learning To Read Simple "Morse Code"

Bumblebees might be even smarter than we thought — and now they’ve cracked a version of Morse code. In a new study from Queen Mary University of London, researchers found that Bombus terrestris, a common bumblebee species, can distinguish between visual signals based solely on how long they last. That ability was previously thought to exist only in humans and a few vertebrates like pigeons and macaques. Led by PhD student Alex Davidson and psychologist Dr. Elisabetta Versace, the team trained bees using a custom-built maze with flashing light cues. In each trial, two circles blinked: one with a short flash, or "dot," and the other with a longer "dash." One of the flashes led to a sweet sugar reward; the other led to a bitter taste that bees naturally avoid. The bees weren’t just following location. The researchers frequently swapped the positions of the two lights, forcing the insects to rely on the duration of the flash rather than its spot in the maze. Once the bees had learned which flash led to sugar, the team removed the reward entirely — and still, most bees flew straight to the correct light based on timing alone. “We wanted to find out if bumblebees could learn the difference between these different durations,” said Davidson. “And it was so exciting to see them do it.” The finding is striking because bees don’t encounter flashing lights in the wild. Yet they were able to track the difference between short and long flashes — a skill that could hint at a broader timing ability in their tiny brains. “The fact that they could track the duration of visual stimuli might suggest an extension of a time processing capacity that has evolved for different purposes,” Davidson said, such as tracking movement or navigation. Alternatively, he noted, this ability may be baked into the most basic wiring of the nervous system. “Only further research will be able to address this issue.” How animals perceive time — especially short bursts like the difference between a dot and a dash — remains largely mysterious. Systems that govern daily rhythms, like circadian clocks, don’t work fast enough to explain this kind of precise timing. Some scientists believe animals may have multiple internal clocks running on different scales, and now, bees could offer a new model for studying how those clocks work in miniature brains just a fraction of a cubic millimeter in size. For Dr. Versace, the implications go beyond insects. “Many complex animal behaviors, such as navigation and communication, depend on time processing abilities,” she said. By studying species with vastly different nervous systems, she believes researchers can better understand how time perception evolved — and how cognitive tasks can be carried out with very limited neural resources. “This has implications for complex cognitive-like traits in artificial neural networks,” she added, noting that biological intelligence, especially in insects, can be a blueprint for scalable and efficient AI design. In other words, bees are not just buzzing around aimlessly. They’re offering insights into how intelligence works — and how we might build it ourselves.

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Could the Rarest Element On Earth Revolutionize Cancer Treatment?

The rarest naturally occurring element on Earth is now at the forefront of a potential revolution in cancer treatment. Astatine, named after the Greek word for “unstable,” barely exists in nature. But at Texas A&M University, scientists have figured out how to produce it in useful amounts—and they’re turning it into a powerful weapon against cancer. Using a particle accelerator and advanced chemical processing, researchers at Texas A&M’s Cyclotron Institute have developed a system to generate, isolate, and ship astatine-211 (At-211), a short-lived radioactive isotope that emits alpha particles. Despite its fleeting 7.2-hour half-life, At-211 is turning heads for its ability to precisely target and destroy cancer cells while leaving surrounding tissue largely untouched. “We are one of a handful of U.S. centers capable of routinely producing astatine in medically relevant quantities and delivering it to nearby facilities,” said Dr. Sherry J. Yennello, director of the Cyclotron Institute and a Distinguished Professor of Chemistry at Texas A&M. Often called the “Goldilocks” isotope, At-211 delivers a “just right” amount of radiation. Its alpha emissions travel only a short distance—just a few cell diameters—making them highly effective in localized tumor destruction without spilling damage into healthy tissue. It’s already being tested in clinical trials for blood cancers and explored for use against ovarian and brain tumors, and even neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s. Because At-211 decays so quickly and cleanly, it poses less risk than many other radiopharmaceuticals. Unlike some isotopes, it doesn’t create harmful secondary decay products, meaning the bulk of its energy goes straight to attacking the tumor. But the biggest obstacle has always been availability. Producing At-211 in usable quantities is difficult. That’s where Texas A&M’s new approach comes in. Working with support from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Isotope Program, the Texas A&M team uses the K150 cyclotron to bombard bismuth targets and produce At-211. From there, they’ve developed a patent-pending resin-column system that isolates the isotope and prepares it for shipping—quickly enough that it doesn’t lose potency en route. “Targeted alpha therapy is a potentially transformative cancer therapeutic,” Yennello said. “And the advances we’re making here at Texas A&M will go a long way toward addressing the supply issue.” So far, the university has shipped more than two dozen batches to research partners, including the University of Alabama at Birmingham and MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston. These collaborations are helping refine At-211-based cancer drugs and expand understanding of the element’s unique properties. Next year, Yennello and Dr. Federica Pisaneschi—formerly of MD Anderson, now at UT Health—will present their work at the 2025 World Astatine Community Meeting in New Orleans. Their talk, titled “The Texas Two-Step,” will cover the entire pipeline: production, transport, and application. Yennello also spoke recently at the 26th International Symposium on Radiopharmaceutical Sciences in Queensland, Australia, where she emphasized that global interest in At-211 is heating up. Research is already underway in Japan, the U.S., and several European countries. Although clinical use in humans is still in early stages, the combination of precision, power, and safety makes At-211 one of the most promising tools in nuclear medicine today. “This is more than just a scientific curiosity,” Yennello said. “It’s a path toward better treatment, fewer side effects, and a real step forward in how we fight cancer.”

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Solar Park Powers 20,000 Homes and Sets Precedent for UK's Clean Energy Future

The UK’s largest solar park is quietly reshaping the country’s energy future — one panel at a time. Cleve Hill Solar Park, perched just outside Faversham in Kent, has been online for five months and is already proving its worth. With more than half a million solar panels raised nearly three meters off the ground, it is almost five times the size of the next largest solar site in the country. On sunny days this summer, it supplied up to 0.7% of Great Britain’s entire electricity demand. This isn’t just a milestone project — it’s a preview of what’s coming. The UK government wants to more than double its solar capacity by 2030, and parks like Cleve Hill will be central to that effort. Hitting those targets would require building around 80 solar farms the size of Cleve Hill in just five years. “We’re going to need big projects,” said Keith Gains, managing director of Quinbrook, the company behind the site. “They enable us to generate electricity at a cheaper rate than a series of smaller projects.” Even under grey November skies, the solar farm is still pulling its weight, producing enough energy to power about 20,000 homes. Gains says the project is delivering not just clean energy, but energy security — a key part of the UK’s push to decarbonize its power grid. The 373MW site was the first solar project in the UK to receive planning permission under the government’s Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects framework. Since then, 11 others have followed. Three more large-scale solar farms are planned in Kent’s Romney Marsh area, and just last month the government approved a 99.9MW project near Ashford. Cleve Hill wasn’t without controversy. When planning permission was granted in 2020, groups like Kent Wildlife Trust and the Campaign to Protect Rural England opposed the development, citing concerns about local ecosystems and the potential impact on species like marsh harriers. Today, the developers point to signs of nature adapting — or even returning — to the site. The park now includes 136 acres of habitat specifically managed for bird species. Brent geese, golden plovers, and water voles have all been spotted around the solar array. While official wildlife surveys haven’t yet been published, Gains said, “Some [wildlife] has returned and some has always been here.” Cleve Hill’s location was strategic. It shares a substation with the London Array offshore wind farm, allowing it to tap directly into the national grid. Beneath the fields, three massive 2,500 mm² cables run underground, transporting electricity from the site to homes and businesses across Kent and beyond. “There are three of them in the ground,” explained Jonny Sampson, a senior engineer from Fichtner Consulting Engineers. “It allows us to connect to the national grid and for the energy to be exported throughout Kent and across the country.” The park hit its peak output over the summer. As winter sets in, shorter daylight hours mean less generation — but the momentum continues. The UK passed 20GW of total solar capacity this summer, helped by Cleve Hill coming online in July. The government's Clean Power 2030 plan aims to more than double that figure to 45-46GW within the next five years. Cleve Hill alone won’t get the UK there. But as the first of many solar giants in the pipeline, it's already proving what’s possible.

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Bagpipers Claim World Record With Ac/dc's 'It's A Long Way To The Top'

It took 374 bagpipers, a thundering AC/DC anthem, and a whole lot of kilts—but Melbourne has officially blown past a world record. On Wednesday, a sea of bagpipers packed into Federation Square and let loose with a roaring rendition of “It’s a Long Way to the Top,” the AC/DC classic that famously features the pipes. The mass performance was dubbed “The Great Melbourne Bagpipe Bash,” and it set a new world record for the largest bagpipe ensemble playing a rock song. The choice of location was no accident. The square sits just blocks from where AC/DC filmed the original 1976 music video, blasting the same song atop a moving truck through Melbourne’s downtown traffic. It’s also near the Melbourne Cricket Ground, where the band kicked off their first Australian tour in ten years that same night. Guitarist Angus Young, now 70, remains the only member from the original video still touring. He was set to perform at the MCG just minutes after the record attempt. Organizers said thousands of fans packed the square to witness the performance. Many of the pipers had to squeeze through the crowd to get to the stage area. The youngest player was in their teens; the oldest was 98. Among the performers were two veterans of the original truck performance nearly five decades ago—Les Kenfield and Kevin Conlon of the Rats of Tobruk Memorial Pipes and Drums. “It didn't strike you at the time how big this event is until now,” Kenfield told ABC Australia. “Now it’s one of the greatest things — probably the greatest thing I’ve ever done in my life.” After the official record was declared, the ensemble broke into “Happy Birthday,” followed by a spontaneous version of “Amazing Grace,” to cheers from the crowd and a sea of phones capturing the moment. The Australian Book of Records confirmed that 374 pipers had taken part, beating the previous mark of 333, set in Bulgaria in 2012. Guinness World Records, which officially recognized the Bulgarian feat, said it hadn’t been contacted to verify the Melbourne attempt. Many spectators wore AC/DC shirts and raised their hands when asked who was heading to the concert afterwards. One fan who missed the record entirely was Keegan Kohler, a 23-year-old electrician from Columbus, Ohio, who had been camped out outside the stadium since before 5 a.m. to make sure he was first through the gates. “I think Aussie crowds are going to be way better than the U.S.,” he said. “More eventful, more head banging, more excitement.” Kohler is attending two Melbourne shows and another in Sydney, bringing his AC/DC tally to seven cities on this tour alone. Also waiting outside was Stephen Scott, 33, from Charlotte, North Carolina, who had met Kohler at a previous concert in Detroit. Scott has already seen the band in both the U.S. and Europe, but said seeing AC/DC in their home country was something he couldn’t pass up. “I’ve always talked about wanting to see them here,” he said. “This is the first opportunity really to do it — and maybe the last.” His fiancée, Amber Thompson, added, “I enjoy it, but I probably wouldn’t be here if I didn’t know him.” She called Scott the “true fan” in the relationship. AC/DC may have written the song, but on Wednesday, it was Melbourne’s pipers who took it all the way to the top.

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Geomagnetic Storm Brings Dazzling Northern Lights To U.S. Skies

Skies over the United States have turned into a natural light show this week, with brilliant waves of red, green, and purple stretching far beyond their usual Arctic haunts. The display is thanks to a powerful geomagnetic storm triggered by a series of solar eruptions—specifically, coronal mass ejections (CMEs)—that are slamming into Earth’s magnetic field. The colorful phenomenon, known as the aurora borealis or northern lights, was visible as far south as Florida, with sightings in Texas, Ohio, Alabama, and Wisconsin. Forecasters at NOAA’s Space Weather Prediction Center said the storm had already reached G4 status—the second-highest on a five-level scale—after two CMEs hit Earth earlier this week. But the most energetic eruption is still on its way and could arrive as early as Wednesday afternoon. “We believe that the ‘heart’ of the current CME — the magnetic cloud — is passing over the Earth and will continue to do so through the overnight hours,” the agency said in a statement. If that third CME is strong enough, it could push the geomagnetic storm to G5—the highest alert level—and extend the reach of the aurora even further south. A CME is a burst of charged particles and magnetic fields ejected from the Sun’s outer atmosphere at extreme speeds. When those particles collide with Earth’s magnetosphere, they excite gases in the atmosphere, producing colorful waves of light near the poles. But during particularly strong storms, the auroras can be seen at much lower latitudes. “The overall strength of the magnetic field from the passing CMEs was not only eight times stronger than what’s normal but is also favorable at the moment for continued activity,” said Shawn Dahl, a forecaster at NOAA’s Space Weather Prediction Center, in a video update. Photos and videos shared across social media show deep pinks glowing over Monroe, Wisconsin, green veils dancing in Minneapolis, and violet flashes streaking over Athens, Ohio. But the spectacle isn’t without consequences. NOAA has warned of potential “power fluctuations, GPS degradation and intermittent disruptions to radios.” While the effects are mostly expected to be minor, forecasters noted that “watches at this level are very rare,” and that people should remain alert in case the next CME intensifies the situation. For now, skywatchers from the Midwest to the Deep South are getting a rare look at the kind of auroras usually reserved for places like Alaska or Scandinavia. And with another blast from the Sun on the way, the show may not be over just yet.

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Netherlands Returns Looted 3,500-Year-Old Stone Bust To Egypt

The Netherlands will return an ancient stone sculpture to Egypt, more than a decade after officials say it was looted during the chaos of the Arab Spring. The 3,500-year-old artifact — a carved granodiorite head measuring about 19 centimetres tall — dates back to the reign of Pharaoh Thutmose III, one of ancient Egypt’s most powerful rulers. Experts say the sculpture, which likely depicts a high-ranking official, was taken from Egypt around 2011 or 2012 and smuggled into Europe. It resurfaced in 2022 at the annual TEFAF art fair in Maastricht, one of the world’s most prestigious venues for fine art and antiquities. The dealer attempting to sell it voluntarily surrendered the object after suspicions were raised about its origins. “Things don’t show up at Maastricht unless they are museum quality,” said Christopher A. Marinello, founder of Art Recovery International, in an interview with the New York Times. He noted that many high-value artifacts looted during the Arab Spring are still missing and that their historical and cultural value is “incalculable.” Dutch Prime Minister Dick Schoof confirmed the repatriation this week, calling it a gesture of goodwill. Speaking to Dutch public broadcaster NOS, he said that the Netherlands would not receive anything in return and that Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi was pleased with the decision. In a statement, Dutch officials said the sculpture represents an important part of Egypt’s cultural identity and reaffirmed the country’s commitment to returning looted heritage items to their rightful owners. The bust will be formally handed over to Egypt’s ambassador to the Netherlands before the end of the year. The announcement coincides with the long-awaited opening of Egypt’s Grand Egyptian Museum, located near the pyramids of Giza. First proposed in 1992, the $1 billion museum has been plagued by decades of delays — but its debut has been met with fanfare and national pride. “This is Egypt’s gift to the world,” said Nevine El-Aref, media advisor to Egypt’s Minister of Tourism and Antiquities, in an interview with CBS News. “It’s a dream come true, after all these years.” The museum, one of the largest on the planet, boasts over 24,000 square metres of permanent exhibition space — the size of four football fields — and displays more than 57,000 artifacts, including many from the tomb of Tutankhamun. Its grand opening featured fireworks, a full orchestra, and dancers in elaborate pharaonic costumes, according to ABC News. Thutmose III, who ruled between 1479 and 1425 BCE, was known as a brilliant military commander who expanded Egypt’s empire through a series of campaigns in the Levant and Nubia. Artifacts from his reign are highly prized for their craftsmanship and historical value. Egypt has not yet announced where the returned sculpture will be displayed. But its homecoming adds to a growing list of ancient objects being repatriated as part of a global reckoning over colonial-era and illicit acquisitions. For now, it marks another symbolic moment: the return of a piece of Egypt’s past, just as the country is celebrating its future as a cultural hub.

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