A Mars rover has discovered strange, bleached rocks that suggest Mars may have once been wet and warm. Researchers at Purdue University in Indiana have examined rock fragments and found what they believe is evidence that the Red Planet once had a tropical climate. The rocks found in the Jezero Crater by the Perseverance rover are “Probably some of the most important outcrops we’ve seen,” said Briony Horgan, professor of planetary science at Purdue University. “We think [they] could be evidence of an ancient warmer and wetter climate where there was rain falling for millions of years.” The discovery bolsters the theory that moisture and heat were present there billions of years ago, and therefore may have once supported life. Analysis found that the fragments were composed of kaolinite, which forms on Earth after millions of years of rain and moisture. Prof. Hogan said, “Right now, the evidence in these rocks really points toward these kinds of ancient warmer and wetter environments. When we think about the possibility of these rocks on Mars representing a rainfall-driven environment, that is a really incredible, habitable place where life could have thrived if it were ever on Mars.”

A rogue wave swept several people into the ocean at a popular tourist destination in Spain, killing three people and injuring three others. Tourists at a natural pool in the Los Gigantes cliffs on the Spanish island of Tenerife were knocked into the water Sunday afternoon after they were “surprised by a wave,” the Emergency and Rescue Group of the Government of the Canary Islands (GES) said. Emergency responders said three people died at the scene, including one whose body was recovered from the water. They were identified as a 35-year-old man, a 55-year-old woman, and a man whose age is unknown. Three additional people were rescued. A 39-year-old woman was taken to a local hospital, while another woman in cardiac arrest was rushed to the pier, resuscitated, stabilized, and then flown by helicopter to a separate hospital. Authorities have not released the names of the victims.

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The mystery behind bright-blue dogs spotted wandering the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone has been solved, according to one expert. Timothy Mousseau of the University of South Carolina, a scientific adviser to the group that cares for the site’s roughly 700 strays, said in a statement shared on the Dogs of Chernobyl Facebook account that any radiation-mutant narrative could not “be further from the truth.” Instead, he said, the dogs likely picked up their electric hue while rolling in the chemical dye from a spilled port-a-potty—behavior he noted tracks with “how some dogs are drawn to cat litter boxes.” “The blue coloration was simply a sign of the dog’s unsanitary behavior!” Mousseau said. “As any dog owner knows, most dogs will eat just about anything, including feces!” The photos first circulated after the nonprofit-affiliated Dogs of Chernobyl program posted images of three blue-tinted animals, saying staff had been unable to capture them to determine the source. “We are not sure exactly what is going [on]… We do not know the reason, and we are attempting to catch them so we can find out what is happening,” the organization wrote at the time. Mousseau’s conclusion, however, leaves little mystery. The vivid coloring has nothing to do with radiation and “does not reflect any kind of mutation or evolutionary adaptation.”

A safari park worker was attacked in front of the bear he’d trained since it was a cub twice in front of spectators. The incident on Saturday in China saw multiple members of the park’s staff rush to save trainer Zhou Jiazhen from the animal, named Xiong Er, during a live show. One could be seen holding a basketball hoop at Hangzhou Safari Park, another a piece of bamboo, and a third carried a parrot. When Jiazhen managed to break free, he then reapproached the bear. Again, the bear lunged towards him. Despite the scare, Xiong Er’s trainer claims that it wasn’t fueled by aggression but greed, and that the bear wanted his bag of carrots. Trainers managed to get the bear backstage, although the remainder of the show was canceled. “If it really wanted to attack, I wouldn’t be standing here now,” Jiazhen said. He is understood to have been bitten during the incident but the park said later that neither he nor Xiong Er was hurt. Xiong Er has been moved to a different location and won’t be doing any more shows. People report Jiazhen still regularly visits Xiong Er.

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A major water leak in the Louvre’s Egyptology department has damaged about 400 rare books, some of which date back hundreds of years. The incident was caused by a malfunctioning valve in a pipe above a book storage area, causing gallons of “dirty water” to drench the books and soak the carpet so thoroughly that it dripped through to a lower floor, narrowly avoiding an electrical cabinet and creating a potential fire risk. The malfunctioning pipe had reportedly been a known problem for years, with staff warning it could cause severe damage to exhibits and reference materials. Requests to move the library to a safer area had been repeatedly denied. Francis Steinbock, the museum’s deputy director, told French media that no “precious books” were affected by the flood, and the waterlogged volumes were being rebound and dried page by page. “No heritage artifacts have been affected by this damage,” he added. The spillage is the third major issue to rock the world’s most-visited museum in as many months, after a gang of thieves stole crown jewels worth over $100 million in an audacious daytime heist in October. The heist was followed by the closure of an exhibit on ancient Greek vases weeks later over structural safety concerns. A report published in October criticized the Louvre for its excessive spending on artwork, which it claimed was “to the detriment of the maintenance and renovation of buildings.”

Airstrikes and land-mine blasts have blown apart one of Donald Trump’s claimed peace deals, even as the president basks in the glow of receiving a peace prize created especially for him. The 79-year-old president was awarded the inaugural FIFA Peace Prize on Friday at the draw for the soccer World Cup finals, hanging the medal around his own neck at a Kennedy Center ceremony. But one of the eight or so global truces Trump claims to have brokered, between the Southeast Asian neighbors Thailand and Cambodia, is now buckling. Thai warplanes struck Cambodian positions along their disputed frontier on Monday, with Thailand’s military claiming its neighbor had massed “heavy weaponry” and “prepared fire support elements,” warranting air power, the Washington Post reported. Cambodia, which denies laying the land mines that injured four Thai soldiers in November, accused Bangkok of “numerous provocative actions for many days” and said it did not fire back. Trump had threatened to halt tariff talks to push both sides into an October peace accord and boasted at the signing: “We did something that a lot of people said couldn’t be done… something I’m good at and something I love to do.” He has often forgotten the names of the countries he supposedly helped broker peace deals, while regularly saying how much he deserves the Nobel Peace Prize for stopping numerous world conflicts, even though his involvement and the exact number are disputed.

A United Airlines flight from London to San Francisco was forced to make an emergency landing after crew members became alarmed by a “burning smell” on board, according to the Independent. United Flight UA949 was approximately 90 minutes into a 10-hour transatlantic flight when a mysterious smell began to fill the cabin and alarmed those on board, the outlet reported. Fearing the worst, the Boeing 777, which was heading north across the U.K. towards Iceland, declared a general emergency by sending a “squawk 7700” transponder message, and made an emergency landing at Edinburgh Airport after executing a mid-air U-turn. Emergency services were on standby as the plane touched down in Scotland, although no injuries were reported. United Airlines claimed the diversion was to “address a burning smell.” All 162 passengers on board were rebooked on an alternative flight to San Francisco the next day. The origin of the odour remains unclear and is being investigated by authorities.

Armed thieves stole more than a dozen priceless works of art from a library in Brazil after holding two people hostage, local media reports. At least eight engravings by French painter Henri Matisse and five works from Brazilian painter Candido Portinari were swiped from the Mário de Andrade Library in São Paulo on Sunday. One of the two thieves reportedly held a security guard and an elderly couple hostage in a glass-domed exhibition area while their accomplice stuffed the items into a canvas bag before escaping through the library’s main entrance. The pair was last spotted heading in the direction of the Anhangabau Metro Station, according to the governor’s office, and are still at large as of Monday morning. Security footage shows one of the thieves dropping some of the pieces on the side of the road as they make their escape, with it being unclear whether they or an accomplice later returned to collect them. Among the stolen works are believed to be collages printed by Matisse in his famed 1947 art book, Jazz, which had been loaned to the library from the Museum of Modern Art of São Paulo.

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Universal Pictures’ Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 overtook Zootopia 2 at the box office this weekend. The PG-13 horror movie, based on a 2014 video game series, grossed an estimated $63 million domestically, surpassing Zootopia 2, which earned $43 million. The film, which centers on a pizzeria haunted by homicidal animatronics, was initially projected to gross around $55 million, but it has surpassed box-office expectations. Starring Josh Hutcherson and Elizabeth Lail, and directed by Emma Tammi, the film has received a 12 percent critics score and an 88 percent audience score on Rotten Tomatoes. The original Five Nights at Freddy’s, which premiered in 2023, was the highest-grossing domestic horror movie of that year, earning over $137 million. However, this year the sequel faces tough competition in the horror genre, with Sinners currently at number one, grossing over $279 million, and The Conjuring: Last Rites in second place with $177 million. According to David A. Gross, publisher of the FranchiseRe newsletter, this year’s horror titles could earn around $2.65 billion in total, roughly 14 percent of Hollywood’s global box office.

Adrien Brody has not taken a film role since his Oscar-winning portrayal in The Brutalist, and he has now revealed why. “It’s not because I have not had interesting opportunities, but it didn’t feel quite right,” the 52-year-old said at Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea Film Festival on Saturday. Brody revealed that he became more selective about the roles he chose after winning his first Academy Award in 2003 for The Pianist. “I assumed that I had less to prove, that I am a good actor,” the two-time Academy Award winner said. The actor also spoke about the intensity of filming The Brutalist, which he said was completed in just 23 days. “I have no personal life when I’m filming. As much as I love the people I work with, I don’t hang out with my fellow actors and crew when I have any heavy day,” Brody said, telling the audience that sometimes he doesn’t eat during filming to preserve energy and avoid tiring his body with digestion. “It’s not a science and you’re not a machine. So some days you’re not going to be your best,” the actor said.