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A new map of the Milky Way by Japanese space experts has put Earth 2,000 light years closer to the supermassive black hole at the center of our galaxy. This map has suggested that the center of the Milky Way, and the black hole which sits there, is located 25,800 light-years from Earth. Source

If you were to greet a Neanderthal with a handshake, it might feel a little awkward. The digits of the Stone Age people, who went extinct about 40,000 years ago, were much chunkier than ours. Source

The Nature Trust of New Brunswick is warning that an amphibian reserve in Fredericton has high levels of heavy metal contaminants in the sediment, which could be affecting the frogs. A 2016 Nature Trust report showed levels of arsenic, cadmium, copper, lead and zinc all above the probable effect level value set out by the Canadian Sediment Quality guidelines. Source

Billionaire Elon Musk's satellite internet service is now streaming to some homes in New Brunswick. Starlink has enlisted some households in rural areas of Canada and the northern US to test the service before a full launch, possibly in mid 2021. Source

TOKYO -- A Japanese spacecraft is nearing Earth after a yearlong journey home from a distant asteroid with soil samples and data that could provide clues to the origins of the solar system, a space agency official said Friday. Source

In September, scientists announced they had found a chemical signature in the clouds of Venus that they said could be associated with life. However, in a new follow-up, pre-print study, the authors announced that the level of the chemical is seven times lower than they had initially reported. Source

A team of Canadian scientists is urging the federal government to step up its conservation efforts in the eastern Arctic to try and save some of the last remaining year-round sea ice and the undiscovered organisms that live within it. Source

The holidays may look a little different this year due to the pandemic, but they will still happen -- even in space. The International Space Station will host seven crew members throughout the holiday season, the most ever for the orbiting laboratory in its 20 years of having humans living aboard. Source

BERLIN -- The European Space Agency says it is signing a 86 million-euro (US$102 million) contract with a Swiss start-up company to bring a large piece of orbital trash back to Earth. The agency said Thursday that the deal with ClearSpace SA will lead to the "first active debris removal mission" in 2025, in which a custom-made spacecraft will capture and bring down part of a rocket once used to deliver a satellite into orbit. Source

Large meat-eating dinosaurs attained their great size through very different growth strategies, with some taking a slow and steady path and others experiencing an adolescent growth spurt, according to scientists who analyzed slices of fossilized bones. Source