The globular cluster Messier 30 contains some of the oldest stars in the Milky Way Galaxy. New observations from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope offer clues to how these stellar populations formed and evolved, and whether some of them originated beyond our home Galaxy. This image of Messier 30 includes the wide range of wavelengths Hubble can see: ultraviolet, visible, and near-infrared light;...

Haloferax volcanii, a model halophilic (salt-loving) archaeon, showed growth during a 160-day experiment simulating Martian subsurface brine, according to a paper published in the journal Applied and Environmental Microbiology. The authors stress the result does not mean life exists on Mars. This SEM micrograph (12,000x magnification) shows Haloferax volcanii after 160 days of anaerobic incubation...

A century after a small fossil skull from a South African limestone quarry changed ideas about human origins, it remains the only specimen that can be called, without dispute, Australopithecus africanus. A new study led by Professor Gabriele Macho from the Vrije Universiteit Brussel and University College London dates the famed fossil to about 3 million years ago and suggests South Africa’s early...

A new genus and species of tapejarid pterosaur has been identified from a specimen in the collections of the Sedgwick Museum of Earth Sciences in Cambridge, England, first described in 1870. The discovery suggests that tapejarids, long associated with Brazil, may have deep roots in Europe. Life restoration of Hintighernia edingerae, with schematic reconstruction of its skull and encephalon. Image...

Researchers from the National University of Singapore, the University of Naples Federico II and the Haus des Meeres aquarium in Austria have filmed the marine animals escaping through tight openings and found a consistent sequence of moves, one that could inform the design of soft robots. Octopus vulgaris’ three- and four-step strategies to squeeze through a larger hole. Image credit: Xin et al.,...

Physicists with the LHCb Collaboration at CERN’s Large Hadron Collider announced today evidence for an extremely rare particle decay that scientists have chased for more than four decades, and their result agrees with the Standard Model of particle physics. The LHCb magnet. Image credit: CERN. “What we found in these latest results is an incredibly rare decay of one of these beauty particles,...

Scientists have identified a receptor on sensory nerves that appears to detect a fatty-acid byproduct found at high levels in psoriasis skin, and blocking it eased itch and skin thickening in mice. Wheeler et al. identify a metabolic- to-sensory axis in which EKODE, an endogenous dietary linoleic acid derivative, acts as a potent ligand for the G protein-coupled receptor 35 (Gpr35) to drive chronic...

Humans and chimpanzees share more than 96% of their protein-coding DNA, yet human brains are roughly three times larger and far more complex. New research led by Lund University scientists suggests that part of the explanation may lie in a viral infection that struck chimpanzee ancestors millions of years ago and never reached ours. Gerdes et al. show that LINC00662, a human-specific transcript expressed...

A new analysis by University of South Wales Professor Duncan Pirrie and his colleagues undercuts the leading theory that the 6-ton slab of sandstone came from northeastern Scotland, though the geologists stop short of ruling it out entirely. The Altar Stone lies flat on the ground, sunk into the grass beneath the collapsed upright of the Great Trilithon and its lintel. Image credit: Nick Pearce,...

A century after a small fossil skull from a South African limestone quarry changed ideas about human origins, it remains the only specimen that can be called, without dispute, Australopithecus africanus. A new study led by Professor Gabriele Macho from the Vrije Universiteit Brussel and University College London dates the famed fossil to about 3 million years ago and suggests South Africa’s early...