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Watch 3 astronauts return from the ISS
Three astronauts — NASA’s Jonny Kim and Russian cosmonauts Sergey Ryzhikov and Alexey Zubritsky — will be making the long journey home tonight. The trio has orbited Earth together 3,920 times, traveling a mind-boggling 104 million miles (167 million kilometers) since they launched to the International Space Station (ISS) in April, according to NASA.
The trio is scheduled to leave the ISS via a Soyuz spacecraft today at 8:41 p.m. EST (0141 GMT on Dec. 9) and will land in Kazakhstan near the city of Dzhezkazgan, Live Science’s sister site Space.com is reporting.
The journey is scheduled to last around 3.5-hours — a speedy trip when you consider that it takes about 6 hours to fly between New York and San Francisco on a commercial plane.
Space.com is streaming the return trip live, so you can watch the journey there.
Dark matter hunt fails — and scientists are excited
A Herculean effort to search for dark matter has found no evidence for the elusive substance. That’s the takeaway from a gigantic particle detector located a mile underground in South Dakota.
The 417-day-long experiment, known as LUX-ZEPLIN (LZ), looked at the light signatures released as particles collide with xenon atoms in a giant vat, which is placed deep underground so that most particles from space cannot muddy the results.
Dark matter, which emits no light yet exerts gravitational force, is thought to make up most of the universe. And the new findings tightly constrain the properties of one the leading candidates for dark matter.
You can read all about why scientists are actually happy about these negative results in contributor Elizabeth Howell‘s story here.
Tia Ghose
You blockhead!
In Charles Schultz’s Peanuts comic strip, Lucy often calls Charlie Brown a “blockhead.” Archaeologists in Mexico recently discovered another kind of blockhead — a man whose skull had been shaped as an infant into something resembling a cube.
While head-shaping (also called cranial vault modification) is a practice that people around the world and through time have done to their kids, this particular shape was a surprise to researchers, who’d never seen it in that area of Mexico before.
For more information on the skull and the man it belonged to over a millennium ago, check out my coverage here.
Kristina Killgrove
Earthquake injuries and damage
There have been some reports of injuries and damage in Japan as a result of the magnitude 7.6 earthquake that struck off Japan’s main island earlier today. However, these initial reports are limited.
Sky News reported that several people have been injured in coastal communities, but that it was unclear how many.
A hotel employee in Hachinohe City told the Japan Broadcasting Corporation, NHK, of multiple injuries. In this case, everyone involved was conscious.
Japan’s Prime Minister, Sanae Takaichi, told reporters on Tuesday morning local time that seven injuries had been reported, according to Reuters. The government has set up a task force in response to the earthquake.
Nuclear power plants appear to be working normally, according to NHK.
This is a developing story and we expect more details to emerge over the next 24 hours.
Tsunami hits Japan
A tsunami has hit Japan following a magnitude 7.6 earthquake off the northeastern coast of Honshu, the country’s main island, earlier today.
The Japan Meteorological Agency has recorded tsunami waves hitting Japan’s eastern coastline. The precise height of the waves is unclear at this time, but most are in the 3-foot-tall (1 meter) or less category.
There are no reported deaths at this time, although there are some reports of injuries.
Japan downgrades tsunami warning
Japan has downgraded its tsunami warning to a tsunami advisory. The initial warning meant that the authorities expected a maximum tsunami height of between 3.3 feet and 9.8 feet (1 and 3 m).
However, an “advisory” level means that the expected maximum height has been reduced to 3.3 feet, in keeping with the wave heights recorded thus far.
Look out for Northern Lights
NOAA’s Space Weather Prediction Center has issued a strong G3 geomagnetic storm watch for tomorrow (Dec. 9), with the potential for visible auroras over many U.S. states from the lower Midwest to Oregon.
The aurora forecast comes as multiple blasts of plasma, or coronal mass ejections (CMEs), hurtle toward Earth from the sun. CMEs have the potential to clash with Earth’s magnetic field and trigger geomagnetic storms.
Tomorrow’s strong geomagnetic storm forecast is associated with the eruption of a solar flare on Saturday. The resulting CME is predicted to arrive at midday tomorrow.
The Space Weather Prediction Center noted that the CME could also have limited, minor effects on technological infrastructure, but this can usually be mitigated.
And tonight…
Parts of the Northern Hemisphere could see some auroras on Monday, according to Live Science’s sister site Space.com.
The Space Weather Prediction Center has forecast a less intense G1 geomagnetic storm as a result of a separate CME that left the sun on Dec. 4, while the U.K.’s Met Office has the more intense G3 watch in place for tonight and tomorrow.
Our sun is very active at the moment. The Space Weather Prediction Center recorded another powerful solar flare earlier today. The X1.1-level flare triggered high-frequency radio disruptions over parts of Australia and southern Asia, according to NOAA.
Patrick Pester
Rare sacrificial complex found in Russia
Russian archaeologists recently discovered a collection of hundreds of horse bridle bits and bronze beads near the burial mounds of high-status nomads from the fourth century B.C.
While the artifacts themselves are not exactly surprising — after all, these nomadic peoples relied on horses for travel — their collection as a kind of “sacrifice” is unusual.
To learn more about this discovery, which oddly included a gold plaque depicting a tiger, check out my coverage here.
Kristina Killgrove
Japan hit by major earthquake
A magnitude 7.6 earthquake has hit off the northeastern coast of Japan’s main island, Honshu. The earthquake struck at 11:15 p.m. local time (9:15 a.m. EST).
The Japan Meteorological Agency has issued tsunami warnings in three regions: the central part of the Pacific Coast of Hokkaido region, the Pacific Coast of Aomori Prefecture and Iwate Prefecture. The expected maximum tsunami height is between 3.2 and 9.8 feet (1 and 3 meters).
The earthquake was most intense in Hachinohe City where there was a seismic intensity of 6+ — such intensity means it is “impossible to remain standing or to move without crawling,” according to the Japan Meteorological Agency’s explanation of seismic intensity.
Tsunami Info Stmt: M7.6 Hokkaido, Japan Region 0615PST Dec 8: Tsunami NOT expected; CA,OR,WA,BC,and AKDecember 8, 2025
The U.S. National Tsunami Warning Center tweeted at 9:32 a.m. EST that a tsunami was not expected in California, Oregon, Washington, British Columbia or Alaska.
Sophie Berdugo
‘Hobbit’ extinction
A drought may have doomed the small ancient human species Homo floresiensis, nicknamed “the hobbit,” Live Science contributor Owen Jarus reports.
New research suggests that declining rainfall could have reduced the population of Stegodon (extinct elephant relatives) that H. floresiensis relied on for food, and, in turn, forced the Hobbit to compete with modern humans (us).
H. floresiensis lived in Indonesia from at least 100,000 years ago until about 50,000 years ago. Researchers still have a lot to learn about these enigmatic ancient humans, the remains of which have only ever been found in one cave, and it remains uncertain whether they interacted with us.
Species typically go extinct for multiple reasons. In the case of H. floresiensis, a volcanic eruption may have also been a significant factor in their demise.
Read the full story here.
Camera lost in lava fountain
Good morning, science fans! Patrick here to launch another week of our science news blog coverage.
Hawaii’s Kilauea volcano erupted with spectacular, giant lava fountains over the weekend and consumed a U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) camera.
The remotely operated camera filmed its own demise inside the Halema’uma’u crater on Saturday (Dec. 6) as a wall of volcanic debris approached and knocked it offline.
Kilauea volcano is one of the world’s most active volcanoes and has erupted almost continuously on Hawaii’s Big Island for more than 30 years.
The latest activity marked the 38th episode of the Kilauea summit’s eruption cycle, which began on Dec. 23, 2024. We’ve seen plenty of lava fountains before, but the USGS’s cameras are rarely this close to the action.
Patrick Pester
