News Archive for December 2013

Every year, hundreds of new dinosaurs, prehistoric marine reptiles and fishes are discovered, and among them are always a few really weird or funny species. 2013's list includes a giant hedgehog, the oldest big cat species, a toothed platypus, dinosaurs, prehistoric fishes and birds.

Top 20 Fossil Species Discovered in 2013 – Part 2

Dec 31, 2013 by Natali Anderson

Every year, hundreds of new dinosaurs, prehistoric marine reptiles and fishes are discovered, and among them are always a few really weird or beautiful...

Top 20 Fossil Species Discovered in 2013

Dec 31, 2013 by Sergio Prostak

Every year, hundreds of new dinosaurs, prehistoric marine reptiles and fishes are discovered, and among them are always a few really weird or beautiful...

Meet the gorgeous and colorful new birds discovered this year: Cambodian Tailorbird, Guerrero Brush Finch, Sierra Madre Ground-Warbler, Junin Tapaculo and Rinjani Scops Owl.

Amazing New Species of Birds Discovered in 2013

Dec 31, 2013 by Natali Anderson

Meet the gorgeous and colorful new birds discovered this year: Cambodian Tailorbird, Guerrero Brush Finch, Sierra Madre Ground-Warbler, Junin Tapaculo...

Top 20 New Species Discovered in 2013 – Part 2

Dec 30, 2013 by Natali Anderson

Sci-News.com presents some of the best species officially described in 2013. A walking shark, a snail with semi-transparent shell, a venomous crustacean,...

Top 20 New Species Discovered in 2013

Dec 30, 2013 by Sergio Prostak

Sci-News.com presents some of the best species officially described in 2013. A walking shark, a snail with semi-transparent shell, a venomous crustacean,...

Titan and Rhea. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / Space Science Institute.

Cassini Captures New Images of Saturn, Titan, Rhea, Enceladus

Dec 29, 2013 by News Staff

NASA’s Cassini team has released stunning new images of Saturn and its three moons – Titan, Enceladus and Rhea. Saturn. Image credit: NASA...

Braunsapis maxschwarzi, female. Image credit: Michael Engel.

Braunsapis maxschwarzi: New Species of Bee from Central African Republic

Dec 29, 2013 by News Staff

Dr Michael Engel, an entomologist with the University of Kansas’ Natural History Museum, has reported the discovery of a new species of bee in the...

Galactic distribution of massive young stars and compact and ultra-compact H II regions with luminosities greater than 10^4 times that of the Sun. The map shows the positions of the complexes and individual sources as red and blue circles, respectively. The sizes of the markers give an indication of their luminosity, as depicted in the upper-right corner. The position of the Sun is shown by the small circle above the Galactic Centre. The two solid lines enclose the Galactic Center region that was excluded from survey due to problems with source confusion and distance determination. The smaller of the two dot–dashed circles represents the locus of tangent points, while the larger circle shows the radius of the solar circle. Image credit: Urquhart JS et al / Robert Hurt, the Spitzer Science Center / Robert Benjamin.

Milky Way Galaxy Has Four Spiral Arms, New Study Confirms

Dec 29, 2013 by News Staff

A 12-year study published in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society has confirmed that our Milky Way Galaxy has four spiral arms, following...

The veiled chameleon, Chamaeleo calyptratus. Image credit: Russell Ligon.

Chameleons Use Color to Communicate, Biologists Say

Dec 28, 2013 by News Staff

Biologists at Arizona State University have discovered that veiled chameleons (Chamaeleo calyptratus) change colors in unusual ways when they interact...

Stylized structural diagram of oxytocin (DARPA).

Oxytocin Receptor Gene Influences Face Recognition, Study Shows

Dec 28, 2013 by News Staff

OXTR (oxytocin receptor) – a gene that influences a range of social interactions including mother-infant bonding – also plays a key role in our...

Life reconstruction of a pair of Chasmaporthetes gangsriensis. Image credit: Julie Selan.

Chasmaporthetes gangsriensis: New Fossil Hyena Found in Tibet

Dec 28, 2013 by Sergio Prostak

Paleontologists have discovered fossils of a previously unknown species of cursorial hyena that lived in what is now Tibetan Plateau during the middle...

The Great spotted kiwi, Apteryx haastii: a male with a juvenile. Artwork by John Gerrard Keulemans, 1876.

Proapteryx micromeros: Kiwi’s Ancestor Could Have Flown from Australia

Dec 26, 2013 by Sergio Prostak

A 19 to 16-million-year-old fossil of a kiwi-like bird unearthed at St Bathans, New Zealand, suggests that the kiwi is not a dwarf version of a distant...

This image shows the variable star RS Puppis. Image credit: NASA / ESA / the Hubble Heritage Team / STScI / AURA / Hubble-Europe Collaboration / H. Bond, STScI and Penn State University.

Hubble Zooms in on Variable Star RS Puppis

Dec 26, 2013 by News Staff

Astronomers using NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope have observed RS Puppis – a type of star known as a Cepheid variable star – over a period...

Sanford-Burnham Medical Research Institute researchers found that retinoid-related orphan receptor gamma-t (RORγt) and interleukin-7 (IL-7) influence gamma-delta T-cell homeostasis and function by regulating expression of the inhibitory receptor, B and T lymphocyte attenuator (BTLA). Image credit: Bekiaris V et al

Molecular Pathway Discovery May Help Treat Psoriasis, Crohn’s Disease, Arthritis

Dec 26, 2013 by News Staff

A team of scientists at Sanford-Burnham Medical Research Institute has found a new molecular pathway that rebalances the immune system by turning down...

Pristiophorus lanae. Image credit: David Ebert.

Pristiophorus lanae: New Species of Sawshark Discovered

Dec 26, 2013 by Natali Anderson

Scientists from the United States have described a new sawshark species from off the Philippine Islands. Pristiophorus lanae. Image credit: David Ebert. Sawsharks...

Andrew Williams, a multimedia composer at the University of Leicester, provides insight into the sounds of space. Image credit: Andrew Williams.

British Project Reveals ‘Animalistic’ Sounds of Space

Dec 25, 2013 by News Staff

A project led by Andrew Williams from the University of Leicester’s Space Center has revealed the ‘animalistic’ sounds in the dark, cold...

African Slender-Snouted Crocodile Actually Two Species

Dec 25, 2013 by News Staff

The African slender-snouted crocodile (Mecistops cataphractus), long thought to be a single species, is actually two distinct species, according to an...

This map shows locations of the perennial aquifer on the Greenland ice sheet detected by radar and cores in 2011. NASA’s airborne radar flight lines are grey and locations of detected aquifer are magenta dots. Image credit: Forster RR et al.

Scientists Discover Huge Aquifer under Greenland Ice Sheet

Dec 25, 2013 by News Staff

An international team of researchers has uncovered a giant reservoir of water beneath the ice sheet in Southeast Greenland. This map shows locations of...

This is an artist's impression of a gamma-ray burst. Image credit: NASA.

Astronomers Discover New Kind of Gamma-Ray Burst

Dec 24, 2013 by News Staff

Australian researchers have discovered a new type of gamma-ray burst (GRB) called radio faint GRB. This is an artist’s impression of a gamma-ray...

Cyatta abscondita. Image credit: Jeffrey Sosa-Calvo / Smithsonian.

Cyatta abscondita: New Genus, Species of Fungus-Growing Ant Discovered

Dec 23, 2013 by News Staff

An international group of entomologists has described a new genus and species of fungus-farming ant from Brazil. Cyatta abscondita. Image credit: Jeffrey...

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