News Archive for February 2017

Geckolepis megalepis in life. Image credit: Frank Glaw.

Geckolepis megalepis: New Gecko Species Has Exceptionally Large, Fish-Like Scales

Feb 7, 2017 by News Staff

A bizarre new species of the fish-scale gecko genus Geckolepis has been found living in the ‘tsingy’ karst formations of northern Madagascar. Geckolepis...

According to Kathrin Andrich et al, the Epigallocatechin gallate -- a compound found in green tea leaves -- may be of particular benefit to patients struggling with multiple myeloma and amyloidosis. Image credit: Ascyrafft Adnan.

Green Tea Compound Could Have Lifesaving Potential for Patients with Amyloidosis, Multiple Myeloma

Feb 7, 2017 by News Staff

The green-tea polyphenol Epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG) may be of particular benefit to patients struggling with amyloidosis and multiple myeloma, according...

NASA’s Cassini robotic orbiter obtained this image of Saturn’s moon Enceladus on November 27, 2016. This view looks toward the Saturn-facing hemisphere of the moon. North on Enceladus is up and rotated 6 degrees to the right. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / Space Science Institute.

Cassini Captures Stunning View of Enceladus

Feb 7, 2017 by Enrico de Lazaro

NASA has released a new image of Enceladus, the sixth-largest of Saturn’s moons, taken by the agency’s Cassini orbiter. NASA’s Cassini robotic orbiter...

Calvapilosa kroegeri from the Lower Ordovician epoch (Tremadocian age) Fezouata Formation, near Zagora, Morocco: part, imaged and illuminated from north west (left), interpretative drawing (right). Image credit: Jakob Vinther et al, doi: 10.1038/nature21055.

Ordovician Fossil Sheds New Light on Early Evolution of Mollusks

Feb 6, 2017 by News Staff

Paleontologists have unearthed the remains of a previously unknown slug-like creature that lived during the Early Ordovician epoch, 478 million years ago....

Mark Rylance, Brie Larson, Leonardo Dicaprio, Alicia Vikander at the 88th Oscars. Image credit: ABC Television Group / CC BY-ND 2.0.

Psychology Researchers Reveal How to Win an Oscar

Feb 6, 2017 by News Staff

If you want to win an Oscar it is best to be an American actor in a movie that portrays American culture. That is the conclusion of a paper by an international...

The Sheth’s dwarf lemur (Cheirogaleus shethi) at Ankarana Special Reserve, Madagascar. Image credit: Richard Randriamampionona.

Cheirogaleus shethi: New Species of Dwarf Lemur Found in Madagascar

Feb 6, 2017 by Natali Anderson

A new dwarf lemur species has been discovered in the dry and transitional forests of northern Madagascar, according to a paper published in the latest...

This Hubble image shows the barred spiral galaxy NGC 7640, which lies in the constellation Andromeda, about 38.8 million light-years away. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble.

Hubble Space Telescope Observes NGC 7640

Feb 6, 2017 by News Staff

The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has taken a picture of the galaxy NGC 7640. This Hubble image shows the barred spiral galaxy NGC 7640, which lies in...

Cyclones swirl around the south pole, and white oval storms can be seen near the limb -- the apparent edge of the planet -- in this image of Jupiter’s south polar region taken by the JunoCam imager aboard NASA’s Juno spacecraft. The image was acquired on February 2, 2017, from an altitude of 47,600 miles (76,600 km) above Jupiter’s swirling cloud deck. Prior to the Feb. 2 flyby, the public was invited to vote for their favorite points of interest in the Jovian atmosphere for JunoCam to image. The point of interest captured here was titled ‘Jovian Antarctica’ by a member of the public, in reference to Earth’s Antarctica. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / SwRI / MSSS.

Juno Completes Its Fourth Flyby of Jupiter

Feb 4, 2017 by News Staff

NASA’s Juno spacecraft successfully completed a close flyby of Jupiter on February 2, 2017. Cyclones swirl around the south pole, and white oval storms...

Close-up of critically endangered Dryas monkeys (Cercopithecus dryas) now inhabiting the Lomami National Park in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Image credit: Pablo Ayali, Lukuru Foundation.

Critically Endangered Dryas Monkeys Caught on Video

Feb 3, 2017 by News Staff

Using camera traps, primatologists from the Lukuru Foundation Tshuapa-Lomani-Lualaba (TL2) Project are the first to capture video footage of a previously...

Ahuna Mons, Ceres’ lonely mountain, is seen in this simulated perspective view. The elevation has been exaggerated by a factor of two. The view was made using enhanced-color images from NASA’s Dawn orbiter. Images taken using blue (440 nm), green (750 nm) and infrared (960 nm) spectral filters were combined to create the view. The spacecraft’s framing camera took the images from Dawn’s low-altitude mapping orbit, from an altitude of 240 miles (385 km) in August 2016. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / UCLA / MPS / DLR / IDA / PSI.

Ceres May Have Vanishing Cryovolcanoes

Feb 3, 2017 by News Staff

Ahuna Mons, a 2.5-mile- (4 km) tall mountain on Ceres interpreted as a geologically young cryovolcano, may have some hidden older siblings, according to...

According to Ellen Stothard et al, a weekend camping trip prevents the typical weekend circadian and sleep delay. Image credit: Unsplash.

Weekend Camping Trip Can Help Re-Set Body’s Internal Clock, New Study Says

Feb 3, 2017 by News Staff

New research published in the journal Current Biology shows that as little as 48 hours of camping can help re-set the body’s circadian rhythm, or internal...

Hand sample images of the cut NWA 7635 stone and a representative backscattered electron image of the igneous texture of the stone. Image credit: Thomas J. Lapen et al, doi: 10.1126/sciadv.1600922.

Rare Martian Meteorite Provides Clues to Red Planet’s Evolution

Feb 2, 2017 by News Staff

Northwest Africa (NWA) 7635 — a Martian meteorite found in Algeria in 2012 — has given planetary researchers information about volcanic activity...

This is Indian Ocean topography showing the location of Mauritius as part of a chain of progressively older volcanoes extending from the presently active hot-spot of Reunion toward the 65-million-year-old Deccan traps of northwest India. Image credit: Wits University.

Piece of Ancient Continent Mauritia Lies beneath Indian Ocean Island, Say Geologists

Feb 2, 2017 by News Staff

Geologists at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, South Africa, have confirmed the existence of a small piece of an ancient continent,...

A northern leopard frog (Rana pipiens) catches a cricket. Image credit: Candler Hobbs.

Unique Reversible Saliva Keeps Frog Tongues Sticky

Feb 2, 2017 by News Staff

According to a new study published in the Journal of the Royal Society Interface, a frog’s saliva is thick and sticky during prey capture, then turns...

CO2-dependent dye loading of HeLa cells expressing Cx26 from human. The top images (green) show the CO2-dependent loading of 5(6)-CBF at three different levels of PCO2. The Cx26 was tagged at the C-terminal with mCherry. The bottom images (red) in each panel show the mCherry fluorescence and hence Cx26 expression corresponding to the cells that were loaded in the images above. Image credit: Elizabeth de Wolf et al, doi: 10.1098/rspb.2016.2723.

Biologists Identify Crucial Molecule that Regulates Breathing

Feb 2, 2017 by News Staff

A team of researchers at the University of Warwick, UK, has identified Connexin26 (Cx26) as a key molecule that reacts to carbon dioxide (CO2) in our bodies...

Eirini Marouli et al report 83 height-associated coding variants with lower minor-allele frequencies and effects of up to 2 cm per allele, greater than ten times the average effect of common variants. Image credit: Popular Science Monthly, D. Appleton and Company, 1887.

Researchers Find New Genetic Variants that Influence Human Adult Height

Feb 1, 2017 by News Staff

Eighty-three height-associated genetic variants have been discovered in a large-scale study led by researchers from Queen Mary University of London, Montreal...

In the heart of an active galaxy, matter falling toward a supermassive black hole creates jets of particles traveling near the speed of light. For active galaxies classified as blazars, one of these jets beams almost directly toward Earth. Image credit: NASA / Goddard Space Flight Center Conceptual Image Lab.

NASA’s Fermi Spacecraft Finds Five High Redshift Blazars

Feb 1, 2017 by News Staff

NASA’s Fermi Gamma-Ray Space Telescope has spotted the five most distant gamma-ray blazars — a type of galaxy whose intense emissions are powered...

This spectacular image from ESO’s VLT Survey Telescope shows the Cat’s Paw Nebula (upper right) and the Lobster Nebula (lower left); these dramatic objects are regions of active star formation where the hot young stars are causing the surrounding hydrogen gas to glow red; the very rich field of view also includes dark clouds of dust; with around two billion pixels this is one of the largest images ever released by ESO. Image credit: ESO.

Spectacular Photo from ESO’s VLT Survey Telescope Shows Cat’s Paw and Lobster Nebulae

Feb 1, 2017 by News Staff

A gigantic new image from ESO’s VLT Survey Telescope (VST) gives a detailed view of the stellar nurseries NGC 6334 and NGC 6357. This spectacular image...

A DNA coverage plot for Escherichia coli following 60 generations (96 h) of growth in the presence and absence of doxycycline: data in the presence (three inner annuli, ‘Dox’) and absence (three outer annuli, ‘No-Dox’) indicate potential genetic mechanisms supporting positive r (growth rate), K (carrying capacity) and resistance adaptation; a change in DNA detected in the sequencing protocol is shown in red (reduction) and blue (increase; and white is complete loss), respectively, with respect to no mean change (in grey); the inner ring (black) indicates genome position and three replicates for each treatment were sequenced; the white region marked dlp12 shows the deletion of prophage dlp12 only during doxycycline treatment; the outer text labels summarize the estimated frequencies of mutations common to all three replicate populations, indicating positive selection for the doxycycline efflux operon, acr, with the prophage deletion at even higher frequency. Image credit: C. Reding-Roman et al, doi: 10.1038/s41559-016-0050.

New Study Highlights How Antibiotics Can Stimulate Bacterial Reproduction

Feb 1, 2017 by News Staff

The growth of bacteria can be stimulated by antibiotics, according to a study published in the journal Nature Ecology & Evolution. A DNA coverage plot...

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