Weekly Science Report 4-17-26
- Emergency Manager's Weekly Report
- Apr 18
- 7 min read
Weekly Science Report
April 17, 2026
“The American, by nature, is optimistic. He is experimental, an inventor and a builder who builds best when called upon to build greatly.”
President John F. Kennedy
Introduction
Steve Detwiler created this publication with the support of Graham Hancock and the late John Anthony West to share news and information on various disciplines to include but not limited to paleontology, space sciences, genetics, and archaeology. His goal behind sharing this publication has always been very simple, by sharing knowledge we can make our world a better place. This publication is Mr. Detwiler’s contribution to bring people together and share ideas and discoveries with his fellow humans.
I hope you enjoy this publication and that the content challenges and inspires you!
The Weekly Science Report is also on social media at:
Twitter: https://twitter.com/wklysciencerpt
News Articles
Paleontology, Evolution and Prehistoric Studies
Scientists Discovered a Lost Branch of Humanity That Survived the Ice Age
Mourning for dinosaurs, 65 million years too late
Fossils from China show complex life evolved millions of years earlier than once thought
UT Austin scientists discover Ice Age fossils in underwater cave in Central Texas
The Cockroach of Dinosaurs Likely Survived Extinction Because of Its Big Wet Eggs
Scientists Discover 430,000-Year-Old Wooden Tools, Rewriting Human History
Meet the Ice Age survivor: The rotifer that cheated death for 24,000 years and started reproducing after coming back to life
Triassic croc relative from Ghost Ranch, New Mexico finally identified after nearly 80 years in museum basement
Neanderthal infants were enormous compared with modern humans
Scientists just solved a 160-million-year fossil mystery “I’ve never seen anything like it”
Ten thousand years ago, human evolution went into overdrive
A matter of taste: Did Neanderthals really like sapiens women?
'They could spend 4 or 5 hours per day underwater': How humans adapted to the most challenging environments
How to eat an elephant: fossil find in Tanzania shows oldest signs of butchering these giant mammals
Neanderthals Hunted Pond Turtles, But Not for Dinner
Ancient Humans Were Running a Massive Stone Factory 220,000 Years Ago
Ancient Humans Swapped Heavy Sledgehammers for Surgical Blades as the Giants Died Out
Homo erectus' tools include stunning geodes and fossils, possibly as a way to connect with the cosmos, study finds
This Nearly 300-Million-Year-Old Mummified Reptile Reveals the Evolutionary Origins of How We Breathe
Ethiopia's Afar Rift provides glimpse into life and death 100,000 years ago
Long Misidentified, This Seal Tooth Pendant Was Carefully Crafted by a Prehistoric Human Roughly 15,000 Years Ago
Prehistoric farmers fertilised soil and grew millet
780,000-Year-Old Charcoal Reveals How Early Humans Mastered Fire
Archaeologists to reveal secrets of Welsh castle’s hidden cave that was once home to ancient hippo
History
Clearfield County father-son treasure hunters win FOIA lawsuit against FBI over gold hunt
'London Falling': A teenage imposter, an aging gangster and a body in the Thames
Underground Railroad museum sues Trump administration alleging it canceled grant on the basis of race
DNA analysis identifies members of Oregon family missing since 1958
Metal detectorist finds Viking Age gold coin that might upend history
New search engine reveals if ancestors were in Nazi party
Hezbollah rocket hits remains of 1,500-year-old Byzantine church in northern Israel
Trump administration agrees to let Pride flag fly at NYC's Stonewall site
Ancient Korean society practiced human sacrifice and high inbreeding, researchers find
DNA reveals ancestry of man buried in Stone Age monument in Spain, but his religion remains a mystery
The Unexpected World of the Odyssey
This Punjabi Princess Fought for Women’s Suffrage and Sheltered Refugees During World War II. A Goddaughter of Queen Victoria, She Rejected British Imperialism
In a New Documentary, One of Britain’s Most Famous Historians Reframes the American Revolution as a ‘Messy Divorce’
Archaeology
Stone Age tombs in Scotland reveal 'webs of descent' among male relatives
4,000-year-old clay tablets inscribed with magical spells… and beer tabs
Monumental ship burial beneath ancient Norwegian mound predates the Viking Age
Archaeologists Uncovered a Massive 6,000 Year Old Mystery Building in Romania
Anglo-Saxon burial holds an older sister cradling her little brother after they both died 1,400 years ago, possibly of an infectious disease
Archaeologists Uncover 4,000-Year-Old Water System in China
Archaeologists Didn’t Expect to Find Anything at This Site in England. Then, They Stumbled Upon a Roman Villa and a Bronze Artifact Dubbed ‘Norfolk Nessie’
16th-century silver coin discovered near Strait of Magellan marks the spot of a doomed Spanish colony
Pioneers of Lakefront Living
A Sudden Squall Doomed This Stone-Hauling Vessel in Lake Erie. More Than 150 Years Later, Divers Just Found the Shipwreck
Egyptology
Why Does This Newly Discovered 2,000-Year-Old Stone Slab Depict a Roman Emperor as an Egyptian Pharaoh?
General Science
Nothing to report
Physics, Earth and Space Sciences
White House budget seeks to scrap 54 major NASA science missions
High nickel concentrations in Martian bedrock point to potential biosignatures
Do the Moon’s Poles Hold Less Water Than We Thought?
Artemis II astronauts swung by the moon, broke an Apollo record, and saw an eclipse
What the Astronauts See That Trump Cannot
Astronauts suggest naming a moon crater 'Carroll' after their commander's late wife
The powerful new Rubin Observatory just found 11,000 new asteroids and measured 'tens of thousands more'
Satellite mirror plans could disrupt sleep and ecosystems worldwide, scientists say
NASA telescope uncovers new mystery in supernova first spotted by Chinese astronomers 2,000 years ago
Bennu sample reveals how water flowed through the newly forming asteroid
This New Image of Mars Is Not the Same Thing NASA Saw in 1976
'We all screamed when it happened': Bright-green fireball meteor caught exploding over famous Viking raid site in UK
Private Japanese spacecraft will inspect 2 dead satellites in 2027
Stephen Hawking's black hole information paradox could be solved — if the universe has 7 dimensions
How do supergiant exoplanets form? James Webb Space Telescope finds a clue
Check out NASA’s new space telescope
China’s space station crew to ‘maximize opportunities’ with extra month in orbit
3D dark energy map is mind-blowing
2 supermassive black holes may collide 100 years from now — and Earth would feel it
Artemis II astronauts detail 'intense' reentry in interview with ABC News' David Muir
https://abcnews.com/US/artemis-ii-astronauts-detail-intense-reentry-interview-abc/story?id=132112982
Christina Koch Shares Strong Message After Artemis II Return to Earth
The sun is tearing an asteroid to pieces, and Earth is now flying through the fallout
Huge Northrop Grumman Cygnus XL cargo ship arrives at space station
Physicists just witnessed pinpricks of darkness moving faster than the speed of light — without breaking the laws of relativity
White House Releases Space Nuclear Initiative
NASA science faces 'very serious threat' from new White House budget, experts say
Environment, Climate Change and Alternative Energy Sources
Sea-level rise is a health crisis and we must hold polluters accountable
Exploring the green side of Rio de Janeiro: a vast urban rain forest
Amazon at risk from mineral extraction for clean energy
Biological, Genetics and Medical Sciences
Mysterious pod of killer whales never seen before visits Seattle
A gray whale that swam 20 miles up a Washington state river is found dead
Toddler injured after sticking hand into wolf habitat at Zoo America
Drowned chicks and food scarcity: Emperor penguin and Antarctic fur seal now endangered
Sperm whales’ communication closely parallels human language, study finds
"Weird blob" creature thought to be the world's oldest octopus isn't an octopus after all. Here's what scientists found.
For regrowing human limbs, this salamander gene could hold the key
Scientists create living tissues capable of changing shape in a programmed manner
Other
Popular UFO expert dead at 60: ‘He challenged us to look beyond’
Is the ‘Ghost Murmur’ quantum device possible? Scientists are skeptical
Speculation swirls around deaths and disappearances of staff at secretive government laboratories. Here's what we know.
Additional Informational
The Planetary Society urges Congress to reject historic cuts to NASA, again
Early Data from NSF–DOE Vera C. Rubin Observatory Reveals Over 11,000 New Asteroids
The best images from Artemis II
These photos of the moon weren’t taken by Artemis II, they are AI or taken from Earth
New Earth photos appear dull because of cameras and lighting, not climate change
Eyeing the Richat Structure
Massive Ancient-DNA Study Reveals Natural Selection Has Accelerated in Recent Human Evolution
The Planetary Society urges Congress to reject historic cuts to NASA, again
Different architecture of Jupiter and Saturn satellite systems from magnetospheric cavity formation
AASLH’s History & Democracy Initiative
Mapping the First Lunar Sites: A Tool to Support the Development of Transparent and Informed Lunar Governance
Graphene and lasers for space propulsion
UNESCO Dive into Heritage Website
United States and ASEAN Partners Deepen Cooperation to Combat Cultural Property Trafficking
A Match Made Under Heaven: The Emerging Role of China’s Private Sector in Space
Aurelia Prize in Design for Space Urbanism
China’s High-Tech Drive in 10 Charts
Space-to-Space Call: NASA's Artemis II Astronauts and the International Space Station- Video
A time capsule of human civilization, bound for the Moon
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