News Archive for January 2017

Roman theater at Hippos-Sussita; the results of the trial excavation: semicircular passage between the lower and upper seating arrangements (praencinctio) and entrance to a vaulted corridor (vomitorium). Image credit: Michael Eisenberg, University of Haifa.

Archaeologists Uncover Roman Theater, Bathhouse at Hippos-Sussita

Jan 31, 2017 by News Staff

A team of archaeologists from the the University of Haifa has discovered a large theater and a public bathhouse at the archaeological site of the ancient...

Heat-driven transistor. Image credit: Linköping University.

Researchers Create World’s First Heat-Driven Transistor

Jan 31, 2017 by News Staff

Researchers at Linköping University in Sweden have created what they say is a heat-gated organic transistor. Heat-driven transistor. Image credit: Linköping...

Reconstruction of Saccorhytus coronaries. Image credit: Jian Han et al, doi: 10.1038/nature21072.

Meet Saccorhytus coronarius, Humans’ Earliest-Known Ancestor

Jan 31, 2017 by News Staff

A microscopic, bag-like marine creature that lived approximately 540 million years ago (Fortunian stage of the Cambrian period) has been identified from...

This Cassini image features a density wave in Saturn’s A ring (at left) that lies around 83,575 miles (134,500 km) from Saturn. Density waves are accumulations of particles at certain distances from the planet. This feature is filled with clumpy perturbations, which researchers informally refer to as ‘straw.’ The wave itself is created by the gravity of Saturn’s moons Janus and Epimetheus, which share the same orbit around the gas giant. Elsewhere, the scene is dominated by ‘wakes’ from a recent pass of the ring moon Pan. The image was taken in visible light with Cassini’s wide-angle camera on December 18, 2016. The view was obtained at a distance of approximately 34,000 miles (56,000 km) from the rings and looks toward the unilluminated side of the rings. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / Space Science Institute.

Saturn’s Main Rings Up Close

Jan 31, 2017 by News Staff

NASA’s Cassini spacecraft took these stunning photos of Saturn’s rings on December 18, 2016, while it was performing one of its ‘ring-grazing’...

Limestone block engraved with an aurochs. Image credit: P. Jugie, Musée National de Préhistoire Collections.

38,000-Year-Old Aurignacian Artwork Found in France

Jan 30, 2017 by News Staff

Researchers have uncovered a 38,000-year-old engraved image at Abri Blanchard, an Upper Paleolithic site of the Aurignacian culture — a finding that...

Hubble Frontier Fields view of a distant galaxy cluster. Image credit: NASA / ESA / HST Frontier Fields Team / STScI.

First Observational Evidence of Holographic Universe?

Jan 30, 2017 by News Staff

A ground-breaking study released in the journal Physical Review Letters (arXiv.org version) offers what its authors call ‘the first observational evidence...

Photo of metallic hydrogen at a pressure of 495 GPa; the sample is non-transmitting and is observed in reflected light; the central region is clearly more reflective than the surrounding metallic rhenium gasket; the sample dimensions are approximately 8-10 microns with thickness 1.2 microns. Image credit: Ranga P. Dias & Isaac F. Silvera, doi: 10.1126/science.aal1579.

Physicists Produce World’s First Sample of Metallic Hydrogen

Jan 30, 2017 by News Staff

A duo of physicists at Harvard University has succeeded in creating a metallic modification of hydrogen. The research is published in the journal Science. Photo...

This Hubble image shows the Calabash Nebula, which lies in the constellation of Puppis, about 5,000 light-years away. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble / Judy Schmidt, www.geckzilla.com.

Hubble Space Telescope Spots ‘Cosmic Calabash’

Jan 30, 2017 by Enrico de Lazaro

A stunning new image of a little-known protoplanetary nebula, the Calabash Nebula, has been captured by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope. This Hubble...

The study by N.F. Watson et al shows the transcriptomic effects of habitual short sleep on dysregulated immune response and provides a potential link between sleep deprivation and adverse metabolic, cardiovascular, and inflammatory outcomes. Image credit: Geralt.

Sleep Deprivation Suppresses Your Immune System, Study of Twins Shows

Jan 29, 2017 by Enrico de Lazaro

A University of Washington-led team of researchers studying monozygotic (identical) twins has found that chronic sleep deprivation suppresses immune system....

Juno snapped this shot of Jupiter’s northern latitudes on Dec. 11, 2016, as the orbiter performed a close flyby of the gas giant. The spacecraft was at an altitude of 10,300 miles (16,600 km) above Jupiter’s cloud tops. The image was processed by citizen astronomers Gerald Eichstaedt and John Rogers. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / SwRI / MSSS / Gerald Eichstaedt / John Rogers.

Juno Sees Massive Storm on Jupiter

Jan 28, 2017 by Enrico de Lazaro

NASA’s Juno spacecraft has spotted a huge anticyclonic storm in Jupiter’s high north temperate latitudes. Juno snapped this shot of Jupiter’s northern...

Eggs of the Ordovician trilobite Triarthrus eatoni. Image credit: Thomas A. Hegna et al, doi: 10.1130/G38773.1.

Paleontologists Find 450-Million-Year-Old Fossilized Trilobite Eggs

Jan 27, 2017 by Natali Anderson

A research team led by Western Illinois University scientist Thomas Hegna has announced the discovery of two pyritized, egg-bearing specimens of the Ordovician...

Following a blueprint created by N.Y. Yao et al, University of Maryland physicists made the first time crystal using a one-dimensional chain of ytterbium ions; each ion behaves like an electron spin and exhibits long-range interactions indicated by the arrows. Image credit: J. Zhang et al.

Physicists Unveil ‘Time Crystals’

Jan 27, 2017 by News Staff

Thanks to a breakthrough by a research team led by University of California Berkeley physicist Norman Yao, time crystals are now a reality. Following a...

HE0435-1223, located in the centre of this wide-field image, is among the five best lensed quasars discovered to date. The foreground galaxy creates four almost evenly distributed images of the distant quasar around it. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble / S.H. Suyu et al.

Astronomers Use Gravitational Lensing to Measure Hubble Constant

Jan 27, 2017 by News Staff

Astronomers from the international H0LiCOW (H0 Lenses in COSMOGRAIL’s Wellspring) collaboration have made a new measurement of the Hubble constant —...

Slaves’ Hill in the center of the Timna Valley (looking east); the black slag mounds on the hilltop are visible, as well as the only access path to the site; the arrow indicates the gatehouse complex. Image credit: Erez Ben-Yosef et al.

King Solomon-Era Fortification Unearthed in Israel’s Timna Valley

Jan 26, 2017 by News Staff

A team of Tel Aviv University archaeologists has uncovered a gatehouse and associated livestock pens — dating to the reign of Kings Solomon and David...

This SDSS image shows a group of dwarf galaxies that are gravitationally bound together. The detection of seven such groups lends support to the idea that large galaxies formed by the collision and merger of smaller galaxies in the early Universe. Image credit: Sloan Digital Sky Survey.

Researchers Find Seven Isolated Clusters of Dwarf Galaxies

Jan 26, 2017 by News Staff

An international team of researchers led by National Radio Astronomy Observatory and University of Virginia astrophysicist Sabrina Stierwalt has spotted...

Head of Aethiocarenus burmanicus. Image credit: G. Poinar Jr. / A.E. Brown.

Mid-Cretaceous Burmese Amber Preserves Alien-Looking Insect

Jan 26, 2017 by News Staff

In a paper published in the journal Cretaceous Research, Oregon State University researchers described a never-before-seen insect species found in a piece...

Cassini’s narrow-angle camera took this image of Tethys on November 10, 2016. The view was acquired at a distance of approximately 228,000 miles (367,000 km) from Tethys. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / Space Science Institute.

Cassini’s New Breathtaking Image of Tethys

Jan 26, 2017 by Enrico de Lazaro

NASA’s Cassini spacecraft has sent back a breathtaking image of Tethys, a small, icy moon of Saturn. Cassini’s narrow-angle camera took this image...

This composite color full-disk visible image of the Western Hemisphere was captured from NOAA’s GOES-16 satellite on Jan. 15, 2017. Image credit: NOAA / NASA.

NOAA’s GOES-16 Weather Satellite Captures Its First Images of Earth

Jan 25, 2017 by News Staff

NOAA’s GOES-16 (formerly known as GOES-R), the first spacecraft in a new series of NASA-built advanced geostationary weather satellites, has sent the...

This is an artist’s rendering of the space collision 466 million years ago that gave rise to many of the meteorites falling today. Image credit: Don Davis, Southwest Research Institute.

Study: Today’s Rare Meteorites Were Common in Ordovician Period

Jan 25, 2017 by News Staff

A new study published in the journal Nature Astronomy is the first to look at meteorites from before giant space collision 466 million years ago. This...

At an extremely high magnification of 44,818x, this colorized scanning electron microscopic (SEM) image reveals some of the morphologic details displayed by Escherichia coli. Image credit: Janice Haney Carr / CDC.

Stable Semi-Synthetic Bacterium Created

Jan 25, 2017 by News Staff

Researchers from the United States, China and France have created what they say is the world’s first stable semi-synthetic microorganism. The research...

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