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July 01, 2026
 

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ASTRONOMY

A SpaceX Super Heavy booster carrying the Starship spacecraft lifts off on its 12th test flight at Starbase, Texas, on Friday.
WORLD / Science & Health
May 23, 2026
SpaceX’s Starship flight hits most targets in pre-IPO test
The outcome could boost investor confidence ahead of SpaceX’s initial public offering next month, expected to be the largest in history.
Masami Ouchi (left), a professor at the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan, and Kimihiko Nakajima, an associate professor at Kanazawa University, at the education ministry on Tuesday
JAPAN / Science & Health
May 15, 2026
Japanese researchers gain glimpse into the universe’s first stars
The team observed an ultra-faint galaxy dating to roughly 800 million years after the Big Bang.
An artist’s impression of the trans-Neptunian object 2002 XV93, the first such object beyond Pluto on which an atmosphere has been detected. The background shows the object as it occults a distant star.
JAPAN / Science & Health
May 5, 2026
Japan astronomers find thin atmosphere on small celestial body beyond Neptune
Previously Pluto was the only such body thought to have supported an atmosphere, due to its stronger surface gravity.
A young boy wearing an astronaut costume cheers next to a woman waving a flag as they watch a live broadcast of the return of the Artemis II crew members to Earth at the San Diego Air and Space Museum during a watch party for the crew's splashdown in the Pacific Ocean, in San Diego on Friday.
WORLD / Science & Health
Apr 11, 2026
Artemis II lunar mission draws flood of conspiracy theories
Hashtags such as “fake space” and “fake NASA” have gained traction online since NASA’s lunar fly-by sent astronauts farther from Earth than any human before.
Crowds watch the Artemis II Orion capsule splash down off the coast of San Diego at the Air and Space Museum on Friday.
WORLD / Science & Health / FOCUS
Apr 11, 2026
‘Howl at the moon’: NASA’s bid to boost space enthusiasm
From social media posts clipped from livestreamed events with the astronauts to an extraordinary portfolio of photos, viewers caught an eyeful of Artemis II.
The Artemis II crew capsule splashes down in the Pacific Ocean on Friday in this screenshot from a livestreamed video.
WORLD / Science & Health
Apr 11, 2026
Splashdown of Artemis II astronauts concludes 10-day moon mission
The splashdown capped the first voyage by humans to the vicinity of the moon in over half a century.
The moon is seen as the Artemis II mission's Orion spacecraft approaches its furthest distance from Earth, in this screen shot taken from livestreamed video.
WORLD / Science & Health
Apr 7, 2026
Artemis II moon crew flies farther than humans have ever gone before
The six-hour flyby, which swooped to ​within 6,550 km of the lunar surface, came six days into the world’s first voyage of astronauts to the vicinity of the moon.
NASA astronaut and Artemis II mission specialist Christina Koch peers out of one of the Orion spacecraft's main cabin windows, looking back at Earth, as the crew travels toward the moon on Thursday.
WORLD / Science & Health
Apr 5, 2026
Artemis astronauts preparing for historic lunar flyby
The next major milestone of the approximately 10-day journey is expected overnight Sunday into Monday, at which point the astronauts will enter the “lunar sphere of influence.”
This screen shot from a live broadcast shows NASA astronaut and Artemis II mission specialist Christina Koch (left), NASA astronaut and Artemis II pilot Victor Glover (second left), Canadian Space Agency astronaut Artemis II mission specialist Jeremy Hansen (second right) and NASA astronaut and Artemis II commander Reid Wiseman during a press call as they travel toward the moon in the Orion spacecraft on Friday.
WORLD / Science & Health
Apr 4, 2026
Artemis astronauts more than halfway to moon, putting Earth in rearview
NASA’s online dashboard showed Saturday that the Orion spacecraft was more than 229,000 kilometers from Earth.
The Orion spacecraft on its second day into the Artemis II mission on Friday
WORLD
Apr 4, 2026
58 tortillas, five hot sauces and one toilet: life aboard spacecraft Orion
They’re sipping smoothies, snapping phone pics, dealing with crashed email and fixing broken toilets — astronauts, they’re just like us.
An artist's impression shows a stellar explosion with subtle hints of a black hole binary in the background.
WORLD / Science & Health
Apr 4, 2026
Scientists find evidence for theorized gargantuan star explosions
Scientists since the 1960s have theorized the existence of ultra-powerful supernovas, and have now come up with evidence for them — albeit indirect.
NASA administrator Jared Isaacman speaks about the Artemis program at a news conference at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida, on Friday.
WORLD
Feb 28, 2026
NASA announces overhaul of Artemis lunar program amid technical delays
NASA on Friday abruptly said it was shaking up its Artemis lunar program that has suffered multiple delays in recent years, a bid to ensure Americans can return to the moon's surface by 2028.
Asteroid Ryugu (left) and samples brought back by Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency’s Hayabusa2 spacecraft
JAPAN / Science & Health
Sep 11, 2025
Asteroid ice discovery may change ideas about origin of water on Earth
The parent body of near-Earth asteroid Ryugu appears to have harbored water in the form of ice for over a billion years, Japanese researchers have found.
An artist's rendition of events immediately preceding a powerful collision between two black holes. It depicts the view from one of the black holes as it spirals toward its cosmic partner.
WORLD / Science & Health
Sep 11, 2025
Astronomers get best view yet of two merging black holes
The merger of the black holes unleashed a tremendous amount of energy that radiated outward as gravitational waves, which were detected on Jan. 14 at research sites in the U.S.
A blood moon is seen during a partial eclipse in the sky over Lake George near Canberra on March 14.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Sep 5, 2025
Japan to experience blood moon lunar eclipse on Monday
The full lunar eclipse, which is set to occur in the early hours, will be Japan’s first since November 2022.
A computer-generated image of the new HTV-X space station supply vehicle immediately after rocket separation
JAPAN / Science & Health
Aug 23, 2025
Japan to launch new ISS resupply vehicle in October
The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) has said that it will launch the first HTV-X new resupply vehicle to the International Space Station on Oct. 21.
People visit the exhibition "Space: Could Life Exist Beyond Earth?" at the Natural History Museum in London on May 16.
WORLD / Science & Health
May 24, 2025
Doubt cast on claim of ‘hints’ of life on faraway planet
There is not enough evidence to support such lofty claims some studies say, with one scientist accusing the astronomers of “jumping the gun.”
A handout artist's impression released on Thursday by N. Madhusudhan/University of Cambridge shows the K2-18b super-Earth, a hycean world, in which astronomers say they have found the strongest yet “hints” of life outside our solar system.
WORLD
Apr 17, 2025
Scientists find strongest evidence yet of life on an alien planet
The scientists stressed they are not announcing the discovery of actual living organisms and that the findings should be viewed cautiously.
A panoramic view of Earth taken by astronauts aboard the International Space Station (ISS)
WORLD / Science & Health
Feb 15, 2025
Was the emergence of intelligent life on Earth just a fluke? Some scientists think not.
Some scientists says that Homo sapiens may be the probable end result when a planet has a certain set of attributes that make it habitable.
Hindu pilgrims take a dip along the banks of Sangam, ahead of the <i>maha</i> Kumbh Mela festival in the city of Prayagraj on Sunday. Beside India's holy rivers, a makeshift city is being built for a Hindu religious festival expected to be so vast it will be seen from space.
ASIA PACIFIC / Society
Dec 26, 2024
India readies for 400 million pilgrims at mammoth festival
The Kumbh Mela, a millennia-old festival, is held once every 12 years at the site where the holy Ganges, Yamuna and the mythical Saraswati rivers meet.
Uruguay federation reportedly cancels charter flight after World Cup exit
Uruguay&#039;s Jose Maria Gimenez reacts after the team&#039;s loss against Spain at the 2026 FIFA World Cup on Friday.
Inside Japan’s rigid adoption system, a British family finds a way
James Benstead, his wife, Jesse, and their three children. Their adopted son is in the rear stroller.
India’s gig workers pay the price for exposure to New Delhi’s hazardous air
Rohit Kushwaha waits for a customer as he delivers his last parcel of the day, in New Delhi in January. His work as a delivery driver has helped pay the family’s bills, but has had a significant impact on his health.
Life inside Japan’s largest prison for women
Western-style rooms spanning the size of four tatami mats with hardwood floors, a toilet and soft mattresses on bed frames are designated for foreign nationals and those with health conditions at Tochigi Prison.
Yen hits 40-year low against the dollar, breaking ¥162 level
Japan&#039;s currency broke ¥162 to the dollar on Tuesday in Tokyo.
Japan’s fertility system offers few safe paths for same-sex couples
A Tokyo Pride parade participant holds a sign that says "we want to be a married couple, not a couple."
Life inside Japan’s largest prison for women
Western-style rooms spanning the size of four tatami mats with hardwood floors, a toilet and soft mattresses on bed frames are designated for foreign nationals and those with health conditions at Tochigi Prison.
Inside Japan’s rigid adoption system, a British family finds a way
James Benstead, his wife, Jesse, and their three children. Their adopted son is in the rear stroller.
A French ship with close ties to Japan combines arts and sciences on the high seas
Romain Troublé, the executive director of Tara Ocean Foundation, speaks to visitors aboard the Tara during a rare port call in Tokyo in April.
In Kyushu’s far south, Senti.U sparks a culinary destination
Chef Yasuhiko Uchida was born in Saga Prefecture but has made his home in Kanoya, Kagoshima Prefecture, since 2012.

Podcast

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.
Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

Longform

The Terasaka Rice Terraces are seen with Mount Buko in the background.
What Yokoze can teach Japan about rural revival
By Alex K.T. Martin

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