News Archive for April 2024

Chettih et al. propose that animals recall episodic memories by reactivating hippocampal barcodes. Image credit: Chettih et al., doi: 10.1016/j.cell.2024.02.032.

Chickadees Have Unique Neural Barcodes for Episodic Memories, Researchers Say

Apr 2, 2024 by News Staff

Black-capped chickadees (Poecile atricapillus), small North American passerine birds that live in deciduous and mixed forests, have extraordinary memories...

This composite image of Ultima Thule was compiled from data obtained by NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft as it flew by the object on January 1, 2019. The image combines enhanced color data (close to what the human eye would see) with detailed high-resolution panchromatic pictures. Image credit: NASA / Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory / Southwest Research Institute / Roman Tkachenko.

Arrokoth and Other Kuiper Belt Objects Contain Pristine Ices, Study Suggests

Apr 2, 2024 by News Staff

A duo of planetary scientists from Brown University and the SETI Institute has found that the Kuiper Belt object (486958) Arrokoth, which was the target...

An artist’s impression of the center of the starburst galaxy NGC 253. Image credit: NRAO / AUI / NSF.

ALMA Detects Over One Hundred Molecular Species in Nearby Starburst Galaxy

Apr 2, 2024 by News Staff

Astronomers using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) have detected over 100 molecular species in the center of the starburst galaxy...

A compilation of evidence for ancient chickens in Central Asia: SEM images of a Bash Tepa egg shell, emphasizing morphologically distinct breathing pores at magnifications x30 (a), x150 (b), x750 (e, f); (c) a ceramic egg with clay balls from Bukhara dating between the tenth and twelfth centuries CE; (d) the Sophytes coin from Bactria in 300 BCE; (g) a fragment of an ossuary from Bash Tepa dating to the last centuries BCE, with an apparent chicken on the top; (h) a selection of eggshells from the Bukhara site, showing color (essentially all white) and burning, which was evident on many of the shells. Image credit: Peters et al., doi: 10.1038/s41467-024-46093-2.

Study: Chickens Were Widely Raised across Southern Central Asia as Early as 400 BCE

Apr 2, 2024 by Enrico de Lazaro

The origins and dispersal of the chicken (Gallus gallus) across the ancient world is one of the most enigmatic questions regarding Eurasian domesticated...

This Hubble image of a star-forming region containing massive, young, blue stars in the Tarantula Nebula. Image credit: NASA / ESA / STScI / Francesco Paresce, INAF-IASF Bologna / Robert O’Connell, UVA / SOC-WFC3 / ESO.

Hubble Space Telescope Focuses on Young Stars

Apr 2, 2024 by News Staff

Astronomers using the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope have collected information on almost 500 stars as part of the Ultraviolet Legacy Library of Young...

Udelartitan celeste. Image credit: Soto et al., doi: 10.1016/j.cretres.2024.105894.

New Titanosaur Species Uncovered in Uruguay

Apr 1, 2024 by Enrico de Lazaro

Paleontologists have announced the discovery of a new genus and species of saltasauroid titanosaurian dinosaur, based on the fossilized remains found in...

The updated bird family tree delineating 93 million years of evolutionary relationships between 363 bird species. Image credit: Jon Fjeldså / Josefin Stiller.

Scientists Create Largest and Most Detailed Bird Family Tree to Date

Apr 1, 2024 by Natali Anderson

The updated family tree, detailed in two complementary papers published today in the journal Nature and the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences,...

Hidden in this deep sky image (left) is Uma3/U1, a miniscule group of stars (right) bound together by their own gravity in orbit around the Milky Way Galaxy. Image credit: CFHT / S. Gwyn / S. Smith.

Astronomers Discover Faintest Known Milky Way Satellite

Apr 1, 2024 by Enrico de Lazaro

Ursa Major III/UNIONS 1 (UMa3/U1 for short) is the least luminous and lowest-mass Milky Way satellite ever discovered, and possibly one of the most dark...

Myrmarachne colombiana. Image credit: George Poinar Jr. / Oregon State University.

New Species of Ant-Mimic Spider Found Preserved in Colombian Copal

Apr 1, 2024 by News Staff

Myrmarachne colombiana is the first species of ant-mimicking spider ever found in copal (fossilized resin) from Colombia. Myrmarachne colombiana. Image...

This image shows Arp 72, a galaxy pair that includes NGC 5996 (large spiral galaxy) and NGC 5994 (its smaller companion, in the lower left of the image). The color image was made from separate exposures taken in the visible and infrared regions of the spectrum with Hubble’s Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS) and the Dark Energy Camera (DECam), which is mounted on NSF’s Víctor M. Blanco 4-m telescope at Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory in Chile. Four 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 / L. Galbany / J. Dalcanton / Dark Energy Survey / DOE / FNAL / DECam / CTIO / NOIRLab / NSF / AURA.

Hubble Captures Star-Forming and Interacting Galaxy Pair

Apr 1, 2024 by Enrico de Lazaro

This amazing view of a pair of spiral galaxies called Arp 72 is a violent collision happening in slow motion, according to the Hubble team. This image...

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