News Archive for June 2023

Parker Solar Probe has flown through the solar corona and sampled particles and magnetic fields there. Image credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center.

Parker Solar Probe Identifies Mechanism Driving Fast Solar Wind

Jun 12, 2023 by News Staff

NASA’s Parker Solar Probe has flown close enough to the Sun to detect the fine structure of the solar wind close to where it is generated at the solar...

Strong evidence suggesting that frying in space is possible. Image credit: Lioumbas et al., doi: 10.1016/j.foodres.2022.112249.

Is Frying Possible in Space?

Jun 12, 2023 by Natali Anderson

French fries are a very popular food commodity across many cultural backgrounds on Earth and as such they may be appreciated by long-term space travelers....

This Hubble image shows NGC 7292, an irregular galaxy some 44 million light-years away in the constellation of Pegasus. The color image was made from separate exposures taken in the visible and near-infrared regions of the spectrum Hubble’s Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS). Two filters were used to sample various wavelengths. The color results from assigning different hues to each monochromatic image associated with an individual filter. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble / C. Kilpatrick.

Hubble Space Telescope Inspects NGC 7292

Jun 12, 2023 by Enrico de Lazaro

The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has produced this beautiful image of the remarkable low surface brightness galaxy NGC 7292. This Hubble image shows...

The 12,000-year-old sound-making instruments from Eynan-Mallaha, Israel. Image credit: Davin et al., doi: 10.1038/s41598-023-35700-9.

12,000-Year-Old Flutes Unearthed in Israel

Jun 9, 2023 by Enrico de Lazaro

Archaeologists have found seven flutes made of perforated bird bones at the Natufian site of Eynan-Mallaha in northern Israel. These instruments were intentionally...

SN 2023ixf (lower left) exploded in one of the spiral arms of Messier 101. Image credit: International Gemini Observatory / NOIRLab / NSF / AURA / J. Miller, Gemini Observatory & NSF’s NOIRLab / M. Rodriguez, Gemini Observatory & NSF’s NOIRLab / M. Zamani, NSF’s NOIRLab / T.A. Rector, University of Alaska Anchorage & NSF’s NOIRLab / D. de Martin, NSF’s NOIRLab.

Gemini North Telescope Observes Supernova Explosion in Messier 101

Jun 9, 2023 by Enrico de Lazaro

A supernova dubbed SN 2023ixf was discovered on May 19, 2023 by the Japanese astronomer Koichi Itagaki. SN 2023ixf (lower left) exploded in one of the...

Xiong et al. observed a correlated insulator of interlayer excitons in a bilayer consisting of tungsten diselenide, which hosted holes, and tungsten disulfide, which hosted electrons. Image credit: Xiong et al., doi: 10.1126/science.add5574.

Physicists Create New Exotic State of Matter: Bosonic Correlated Insulator

Jun 9, 2023 by News Staff

This is the first time a highly ordered crystal of bosonic particles called excitons has been created in a real — as opposed to synthetic —...

Life reconstruction of the extinct bear-dog Amphicyon ingens, a very distant relative of Eoarctos vorax. Image credit: Roman Uchytel.

Oligocene-Period Raccoon-Like Mammal Had Mollusk-Based Diet

Jun 8, 2023 by Enrico de Lazaro

Paleontologists in the United States have identified a new genus and species of early arctoid from an exquisitely preserved skeleton found in North Dakota’s...

Eukaryotic life appears to have flourished surprisingly late in the history of Earth. This view is based on the low diversity of diagnostic eukaryotic fossils in marine sediments of mid-Proterozoic age (around 1.6 billion to 800 million years ago) and an absence of steranes, the molecular fossils of eukaryotic membrane sterols. This scarcity of eukaryotic remains is difficult to reconcile with molecular clocks that suggest that LECA had already emerged between around 1.2 and more than 1.8 billion years ago. LECA, in turn, must have been preceded by stem-group eukaryotic forms by several hundred million years. Brocks et al. report the discovery of abundant protosteroids in sedimentary rocks of mid-Proterozoic age. Image credit: Arek Socha.

Molecular Remains of Ancient Complex Life Found in 1.6-Billion-Year-Old Rocks

Jun 8, 2023 by Enrico de Lazaro

Paleontologists have detected abundant protosteroids — traces of ancient life forms — in 1.6-billion-year-old sedimentary rocks that had formed...

An adult American crocodile (Crocodylus acutus) at La Manzanilla, Jalisco, Mexico. Image credit: Tomás Castelazo.

Facultative Parthenogenesis Recorded in Crocodilians for First Time Ever

Jun 8, 2023 by Enrico de Lazaro

Using whole-genome sequencing and bioinformatic analysis, scientists provide the first evidence of facultative parthenogenesis in a crocodilian —...

Life reconstruction of Iani smithi. Image credit: Jorge Gonzalez.

New Iguanodontian Dinosaur Unearthed in Utah

Jun 7, 2023 by News Staff

Paleontologists have identified a new species of iguanodontian dinosaur from a partial skeleton found in the Cedar Mountain Formation, Utah, the United...

Life reconstruction of Bohra illuminata, a species of giant tree-kangaroo that lived in Nullarbor region, Australia, 250,000 years ago. Image credit: Peter Schouten.

Giant Tree-Kangaroos Were Once Widespread across Australia

Jun 7, 2023 by News Staff

Tree-kangaroos (genus Dendrolagus) today are found only in tropical forests of Queensland and New Guinea, but between 3.5 million and 250,000 years ago,...

The very massive first-generation stars with a mass range from 140 to 260 solar masses are predicted to enrich the early interstellar medium through pair-instability supernovae; decades of observational efforts, however, have not been able to uniquely identify the imprints of such very massive stars on the most metal-poor stars in the Milky Way. Image credit: NAOC.

Galactic Halo Star’s Chemical Signature Indicates Existence of Very Massive Stars in Early Universe

Jun 7, 2023 by News Staff

Early Universe’s stars had up to several hundred solar masses. The earliest stars of 140-260 solar masses became pair-instability supernovae (PISNe)....

The only known dinosaur adapted to life in water, Spinosaurus aegyptiacus swam the rivers of North Africa about 95 million years ago. Image credit: © Davide Bonadonna / National Geographic magazine.

Fossil Reveals Hidden Spinosaurid Dinosaur Diversity in Cretaceous Britain

Jun 7, 2023 by Enrico de Lazaro

A new analysis of an isolated spinosaur tooth from East Sussex shows that several distinct spinosaur lineages inhabited Britain during the Cretaceous period. Spinosaurus...

Tinnitus, the ringing, buzzing or hissing sound of silence, varies from slightly annoying in some to utterly debilitating in others. Image credit: Gerd Altmann.

Precisely Timed Bi-Sensory Treatment Effective for Adults with Somatic Tinnitus

Jun 7, 2023 by News Staff

In a randomized clinical trial involving 99 participants with somatic tinnitus, statistically significant reductions in tinnitus loudness level were observed...

The hyperluminous star-forming galaxy GN-z11 hosts an accreting black hole. Image credit: NASA / ESA / P. Oesch, Yale University / G. Brammer, STScI / P. van Dokkum, Yale University / G. Illingworth, University of California, Santa Cruz / Sci.News.

Webb Detects Small and Vigorous Black Hole in Early Universe

Jun 6, 2023 by Sergio Prostak

The newly-discovered black hole resides in the hyperluminous galaxy GN-z11 at a redshift of 11 and could have originated from a stellar mass seed at redshifts...

Macroevolution of pollination modes across angiosperms, showing the proportional marginal likelihood of pollination mode at the ancestral nodes for each angiosperm order. Image credit: Stephens et al., doi: 10.1111/nph.18993.

Study: Earth’s Earliest Flowering Plants Were Insect Pollinated

Jun 6, 2023 by Natali Anderson

Most living angiosperms (flowering plants) are pollinated by insects, and the new reconstruction of the ancestral pollination mode of angiosperms suggests...

The southern stuttering frog (Mixophyes australis) at Sharpes Creek, Gloucester Top NP, Australia. Image credit: Ross Knowles.

New Species of Barred Frog Discovered in Australia

Jun 6, 2023 by Natali Anderson

The newly-identified species belongs to Mixophyes, an Australo-Papuan group of ground-dwelling frogs. The southern stuttering frog (Mixophyes australis)...

In this image of NGC 5068, from Webb’s MIRI instrument, the dusty structure of the spiral galaxy and glowing bubbles of gas containing newly-formed star clusters are particularly prominent. Three asteroid trails intrude into this image, represented as tiny blue-green-red dots. Image credit: NASA / ESA / CSA / Webb / J. Lee / PHANGS-JWST Team.

Webb Observes Hidden Depths of NGC 5068

Jun 6, 2023 by Enrico de Lazaro

Astronomers using the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope have captured stunning images of the face-on barred spiral galaxy NGC 5068. In this image...

Peng et al. demonstrate that eyebrow appearance has partly the same and partly different underlying genes in people from different parts of the world. Image credit: Zehra Soy.

New Study Identifies DNA Variants that Influence Eyebrow Thickness in Europeans

Jun 6, 2023 by News Staff

The appearance of human eyebrows is not just a matter of grooming but is in the genes. Eyebrow thickness, as any other appearance trait, is highly heritable....

In this false-color Webb image, the foreground galaxy is shown in blue, while the SPT0418-47 galaxy is red; the organic molecules are highlighted in orange. Image credit: J. Spilker / S. Doyle / NASA / ESA / CSA.

Webb Finds Complex Organic Molecules in Early Universe

Jun 5, 2023 by Enrico de Lazaro

Using the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope, astronomers have detected polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in SPT-S J041839-4751.9 (SPT0418-47 for short),...

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