News Archive for February 2024

Structural color in wax bloom produces blue appearance on fruits across a wide phylogeny: (A) undamaged highbush blueberries growing on the plant; (B) blueberry with (i) unmodified wax, (ii) mechanical wax removal, (iii) chloroform wax removal, (iv) surface application of (almost) index-matching oil, (v) surface application of water, (vi) outer skin peeled to reveal flesh, and (vii) underside of peeled skin; (C) transmission optical microscopy of peeled blueberry skin from internal edge showing red pigmentation in epidermal cells. Scale bar - 200 μm; (D) (i and ii) a selection of plum (Prunus domestica) fruits with different cell pigmentation, (i) with wax intact and (ii) with wax removed. Image credit: Middleton et al., doi: 10.1126/sciadv.adk4219.

Study: Tiny Structures in Wax Coating of Blue-Pigmented Fruits Give Them Their Blue Color

Feb 7, 2024 by News Staff

Many visually guided fruit-eaters have eyes highly adapted for blue sensitivity, which makes it perhaps surprising that blue pigmented fruits are not more...

Mimas’ surface, like the surfaces of most of the other major Saturnian moons without atmospheres, is not pure ice but contains some dark impurities; the relatively dark markings appear along the lower portion of the walls of the 130-km-wide Herschel Crater (the peak in the middle of the crater is about as tall as Mount Everest; the impact that made it likely almost destroyed the moon) and some of the smaller craters; scientists interpret this darkening as evidence for the gradual concentration of impurities from evaporating icy materials in areas where the dark impurities slide slowly down the crater wall. Image credit: NASA / JPL / Space Science Institute.

Saturn’s Moon Mimas Harbors Global Ocean beneath Its Icy Shell, Study Suggests

Feb 7, 2024 by News Staff

From detailed analysis of Mimas’ orbital motion based on data from NASA’s Cassini mission, planetary researchers from Sorbonne Université, Nantes...

Glikmanius careforum. Image credit: Benji Paynose.

Two New Species of Carboniferous Ctenacanth Sharks Identified in the United States

Feb 7, 2024 by News Staff

A focused search for ancient marine vertebrates during a paleontological resource inventory of Mammoth Cave National Park has yielded a wealth of new fossil...

This Hubble image shows UGC 3912, a small spiral galaxy located 63 million light-years away in the constellation of Canis Minor. Image credit: NASA / ESA / C. Kilpatrick, Northwestern University / Gladys Kober, NASA & Catholic University of America.

Hubble Space Telescope Looks at Distorted Spiral Galaxy

Feb 7, 2024 by Enrico de Lazaro

Astronomers using the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope have obtained a remarkable new view of the spiral galaxy UGC 3912. This Hubble image shows UGC 3912,...

Life reconstruction of Inawentu oslatus. Image credit: Gabriel Lio.

New Cretaceous-Era Titanosaur Species Discovered in Argentina

Feb 6, 2024 by Enrico de Lazaro

A new genus and species of rebbachisaurid-mimicking titanosaurian sauropod that stretched over 15 m (50 feet) has been unearthed in Patagonia, Argentina. Life...

This artist’s impression shows the evolution of the Universe beginning with the Big Bang on the left followed by the appearance of the Cosmic Microwave Background. The formation of the first stars ends the cosmic dark ages, followed by the formation of galaxies. Image credit: M. Weiss / Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics.

Which Came First: Supermassive Black Holes or Galaxies? New Insights from Webb

Feb 6, 2024 by News Staff

New insights from the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope upend theories of how black holes shape the cosmos, challenging classical understanding that...

This Hubble image shows the NGC 5410-LEDA 49896 galaxy pair. Image credit: NASA / ESA / D. Bowen, Princeton University / Gladys Kober, NASA & Catholic University of America.

Hubble Space Telescope Captures Collision of Two Small Galaxies

Feb 6, 2024 by Enrico de Lazaro

The Hubble team has released a beautiful image of two small, interacting galaxies: NGC 5410 (larger galaxy) and LEDA 49896. This Hubble image shows the...

Life reconstruction of Harajicadectes zhumini. Image credit: Brian Choo, Flinders University.

380-Million-Year-Old Fossils of Air-Breathing Tetrapod Fish Found in Australia

Feb 6, 2024 by Enrico de Lazaro

Flinders University paleontologist Brian Choo and his colleagues have described a new genus and species of Devonian tetrapodomorph fish based on several...

This image from the Gemini South telescope, one half of the International Gemini Observatory operated by NSF’s NOIRLab, shows NGC 4753, a lenticular galaxy some 60 million light-years away in the constellation Virgo. Image credit: International Gemini Observatory / NOIRLab / NSF / AURA / J. Miller, International Gemini Observatory & NSF’s NOIRLab / M. Rodriguez, International Gemini Observatory & NSF’s NOIRLab / M. Zamani, NSF’s NOIRLab.

Gemini South Telescope Focuses on Peculiar Lenticular Galaxy NGC 4753

Feb 6, 2024 by News Staff

NGC 4753’s prominent and complex network of dust lanes that twist around its galactic nucleus define its ‘peculiar’ classification and are the likely...

An artist’s reconstruction of Ceoptera evansae. Image credit: Mark Witton / Natural History Museum, London.

New Pterosaur Species Identified from Skye Fossils

Feb 5, 2024 by Enrico de Lazaro

A new genus and species of pterosaur has been identified from the fossilized material found in the Kilmaluag Formation of the Isle of Skye, Scotland. An...

An artist’s impression of the super-Earth exoplanet TOI-715b. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech.

Astronomers Find Super-Earth Exoplanet in Habitable Zone of TOI-715

Feb 5, 2024 by Natali Anderson

Using data from NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS), astronomers have discovered and characterized a habitable zone planet orbiting the...

The lenticular galaxy NGC 274 is visible on the right side of this Hubble image, and the barred spiral galaxy NGC 275 is at left. Image credit: NASA / ESA / R. Foley, University of California - Santa Cruz / Gladys Kober, NASA & Catholic University of America.

Hubble Space Telescope Snaps Close-Up of Arp 140

Feb 5, 2024 by Enrico de Lazaro

The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has produced an outstanding image of the interacting, spiral-lenticular galaxy pair Arp 140. The lenticular galaxy...

Sanfordiacaulis densifolia. Image credit: Tim Stonesifer.

Early Carboniferous Tree Species Had Unique Crown Shape

Feb 5, 2024 by Natali Anderson

Sanfordiacaulis densifolia is an extinct tree species that existed between 359 and 347 million years ago (Carboniferous period) in what is now New Brunswick,...

This Hubble image shows LEDA 6430, an irregular galaxy some 15 million light-years away in the constellation of Phoenix. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble / M. Messa.

Hubble Observes Irregular Galaxy LEDA 6430

Feb 5, 2024 by Enrico de Lazaro

NASA has released a stunning new image captured by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope of the irregular galaxy LEDA 6430. This Hubble image shows LEDA...

Agasthyagama edge, an uncollected female in its habitat at the type locality in Kulamavu, Idukki district, Kerala, India. Image credit: Sandeep Das.

New Species of Kangaroo Lizard Discovered in India

Feb 2, 2024 by Natali Anderson

A research team led by University of Calicut scientists has described a new species of agamid lizard from the Indian state of Kerala. Agasthyagama edge,...

This artist impression shows ultra-fast winds blasting out from the center of galaxy Markarian 817. These winds, moving at many millions of km per hour, clear out interstellar gas from a vast region of space. Without this gas, the galaxy can’t form new stars and the black hole in the galactic center has little left to eat. The inset shows what is happening at galaxy’s heart. A supermassive black hole draws in gas from its surroundings, which forms a hot, brightly lit accretion disk (orange). The cause of the winds (white) is magnetic fields within the disk, which fling particles out in all directions at incredibly high speeds. These winds effectively block out X-rays (blue) which are sent out by the extremely hot plasma surrounding the black hole, called the corona. Zak et al. caught Markarian 817 blasting out ultra-fast winds using ESA’s X-ray telescope XMM-Newton. Lasting for around a year, the winds will have significantly affected star formation in the galaxy. The fact that the black hole at the center of the galaxy was showing rather average activity levels before producing the winds suggests that ultra-fast black hole winds are much more common than previously thought. In other words, black holes and their host galaxies strongly affect each other’s evolution. Image credit: ESA / CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO.

XMM-Newton Detects Ultra-Fast Black Hole Wind in Markarian 817

Feb 1, 2024 by News Staff

Markarian 817 is a Seyfert 1 galaxy located 430 million light-years away in the constellation of Draco. Also known as Mrk 817 or QSO J1436+5847, it hosts...

A new octopus hatchling swims away from its egg near a small outcrop of rock unofficially called El Dorado Hill. Image credit: Schmidt Ocean Institute.

Four New Deep-Sea Octopus Species Discovered in Pacific Ocean

Feb 1, 2024 by News Staff

Marine biologists aboard Schmidt Ocean Institute’s R/V Falkor discovered at least four new species of deep-sea octopuses during two 2023 expeditions...

This Hubble image shows NGC 5427, a spiral galaxy located some 120 million light-years away in the constellation of Virgo. Image credit: NASA / ESA / R. Foley, University of California - Santa Cruz / Gladys Kober, NASA & Catholic University of America.

Hubble Space Telescope Zooms in on NGC 5427

Feb 1, 2024 by Enrico de Lazaro

Astronomers using the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope have captured a striking photo of NGC 5427, which is part of the interacting galaxy pair Arp 271. This...

Consumption of 1-3 servings/day of total kimchi is associated with a lower risk of obesity in men. Image credit: Dongwon Lee.

Daily Consumption of Kimchi May Reduce Men’s Obesity Risk

Feb 1, 2024 by News Staff

In a cross-sectional study, researchers from Chung Ang University and elsewhere analyzed the data from the HEXA cohort study in Korea to investigate the...

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