Articles by Enrico de Lazaro

Pyramids at Giza in Egypt. Image credit: Catharina.

Muon Detectors Reveal Hidden Chamber in Great Pyramid of Giza

Nov 3, 2017 by Enrico de Lazaro

An international team of archaeologists, physicists and engineers has found a 100-foot (30 m) long space deep inside the Great Pyramid, or Khufu’s Pyramid,...

Reconstruction of the head of an adult female Decennatherium rex. Image credit: Oscar Sanisidro / Anja Cocoparisienne / Sci-News.com.

Ancient Giraffe Relative Once Roamed Iberian Peninsula

Nov 3, 2017 by Enrico de Lazaro

A new large species of giraffid being named Decennatherium rex has been discovered by Dr. Maria Rios from the National Museum of Natural History of Spain...

Itokawa’s curious, varied terrain and lack of impact craters indicate it is a rubble pile asteroid. Image credit: Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency.

Asteroid Itokawa Had Violent Past, Planetary Researchers Say

Oct 26, 2017 by Enrico de Lazaro

New research has shed light on the collisional history of one of the most famous asteroids. Itokawa’s curious, varied terrain and lack of impact craters...

IODP-ICDP Expedition 364 drilled into the subsurface Chicxulub peak ring at borehole M0077A (red dot), which was about 30 km northwest of Progreso and the north shore of the Yucatán Peninsula. The blue circle represents the approximate diameter of the 180-200-km subsurface impact structure. The gravity signature of the structure and locations of other drilling sites are shown in the inset. The only two sites with continuous core are the ICDP Yaxcopoil-1 (Yax-1) and IODP-ICDP M0077A boreholes. Other boreholes are Yucatán-1 (Y1), Yucatán-2 (Y2), Yucatán-6 (Y6), Chicxulub-1 (C1), Sacapuc-1 (S1), and Ticul-1 (T1). Image credit: Kring et al, doi: 10.1130/GSATG352A.1.

Geologists Return from Expedition to Chicxulub Impact Crater

Oct 25, 2017 by Enrico de Lazaro

The Chicxulub crater is the only well-preserved peak-ring crater on Earth and linked to the Cretaceous-Tertiary mass extinction, an event 65 million years...

Amalthea casts a shadow on Jupiter in this image captured by NASA’s Juno spacecraft; the elongated shape of the shadow is a result of both the location of Amalthea with relation to Jupiter in this image as well as the irregular shape of the small moon itself. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / SwRI / MSSS / Gerald Eichstaedt.

Amalthea Casts Shadow on Jupiter

Oct 23, 2017 by Enrico de Lazaro

On September 1, 2017, NASA’s Juno spacecraft witnessed a remarkable cosmic event — a small Jovian moon called Amalthea blocked the sunlight and...

This Hubble image shows the massive galaxy cluster WHL J24.3324-8.477. The bright flash in the middle of the image is actually a star lying within our Milky Way Galaxy. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble.

Hubble Focuses on Massive Galaxy Cluster

Oct 23, 2017 by Enrico de Lazaro

A new image taken with the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope shows WHL J24.3324-8.477, a massive galaxy cluster some 7.1 billion light-years away in the...

Smilodon populator. Image credit: Rom-diz / CC BY-SA 3.0.

Ancient Mitochondrial DNA Sheds Light on Evolutionary History of Saber-Toothed Cats

Oct 20, 2017 by Enrico de Lazaro

An international team of researchers has used advanced DNA sequencing methods to retrieve and analyze mitochondrial genome data from two lineages of saber-toothed...

According to Hancock et al, the new genetic variant highlights the importance of genetically influenced regulation in brain on the risks of nicotine dependence, heavy smoking and consequent lung cancer. Image credit: Martin Buedenbender.

Study Identifies New Gene Variation Associated with Increased Risk of Nicotine Addiction

Oct 12, 2017 by Enrico de Lazaro

Europeans and European/African Americans with a variant of the DNA Methyltransferase 3 Beta (DNMT3B) gene have an increased risk of developing nicotine...

Dry age-related macular degeneration is one of the most common causes of vision loss in people over the age of 50. Image credit: Pexels.

New Drug Slows Progression of Dry Age-Related Macular Degeneration

Oct 11, 2017 by Enrico de Lazaro

An international team of researchers has found a way to slow the progression of an advanced form of age-related macular degeneration (AMD), a leading cause...

This image, taken with the Advanced Camera for Surveys on board the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, shows the blue compact dwarf galaxy LEDA 17302. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble.

Hubble Displays Blue Compact Dwarf Galaxy

Oct 9, 2017 by Enrico de Lazaro

This NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image shows a galaxy known as LEDA 17302. It is a galaxy type known as a blue compact dwarf galaxy. This image, taken...

This image of Jupiter, Io and Europa was taken by NASA’s Juno spacecraft on September 1, 2017 at 6:14 p.m. EDT (3:14 p.m. PDT), and then processed by citizen scientist Roman Tkachenko. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / SwRI / MSSS / Roman Tkachenko.

NASA’s Juno Orbiter Observes Jupiter and Two Galilean Moons

Oct 8, 2017 by Enrico de Lazaro

Juno captured this color portrait of the edge of Jupiter and two of the gas giant’s largest moons — Io and Europa — as it performed its eighth...

Ieldraan melkshamensis -- nicknamed the Melksham Monster after the town where it was unearthed -- closely resembled the species shown in this artist’s impression (Plesiosuchus manselii), which also belongs to the Geosaurini group. Image credit: Fabio Manucci.

Paleontologists Identify New Species of Prehistoric Marine Crocodile: Ieldraan melkshamensis

Oct 6, 2017 by Enrico de Lazaro

A new species of marine reptile that lived about 163 million years ago (Middle Jurassic epoch) has been identified from a fossil found near Melksham, Wiltshire,...

Ambrosia arborescens is a species of plant native to the Andes from Colombia south to Bolivia. Image credit: Dick Culbert / CC BY 2.0.

South American Medicinal Plant Compound Shows Anti-Cancer Stem Cell Activity

Oct 3, 2017 by Enrico de Lazaro

Damsin, a natural compound isolated from the South American medicinal plant Ambrosia arborescens, has been found to inhibit the growth of cancer stem cells,...

This is an illustration of Uromys vika. Image credit: Velizar Simeonovski, Field Museum.

Uromys vika: New Species of Tree-Dwelling Giant Rat Found in Solomon Islands

Sep 27, 2017 by Enrico de Lazaro

A new rodent species with an unusual lifestyle has been discovered on Vangunu — an island, part of the New Georgia Islands in the Solomon Islands...

Aeolis Dorsa, Mars: the dotted white arrow points to curved strata recording point bar growth and river migration; the boundaries of ancient valley walls are defined by textural and albedo changes and are also associated with lateral river migration; stacked above the point bars and completely confined within the dotted white and black lines are topographically inverted river deposits outcropping as ridges (e.g., black arrow); in places (e.g., south of the dotted white arrow), the ridges run against the dotted boundaries, suggesting flow was once redirected along a valley wall. Image credit: Cardenas et al, doi: 10.1130/B31567.1.

Planetary Researchers Find More Evidence of Water on Early Mars

Sep 19, 2017 by Enrico de Lazaro

River deposits exist across the Martian surface. A large sedimentary basin named Aeolis Dorsa contains some of the planet’s most spectacular and densely...

Photomicrograph of Linguamyrmex vladi. Image credit: Barden et al, doi: 10.1111/syen.12253.

98-Million-Year-Old Burmese Amber Preserves Hell Ants

Sep 13, 2017 by Enrico de Lazaro

In a paper published in the journal Systematic Entomology, researchers described an unusual species of prehistoric trap-jaw ant found in several pieces...

Limusaurus inextricabilis is the only known reptile to lose its teeth and form a beak after birth. Image credit: Yu Chen.

Oviraptors Roosted Together Like Modern Birds, Paleontologists Say

Sep 6, 2017 by Enrico de Lazaro

The 70-million-year-old fossilized remains of three juvenile oviraptorids from the Nemegt Formation of Southern Mongolia are the first evidence of ‘communal...

Reconstruction of the cave bear (Ursus spelaeus). Image credit: Sergio de la Larosa / CC BY-SA 3.0.

Research Sheds New Light on Biology of Extinct Cave Bear

Sep 5, 2017 by Enrico de Lazaro

According to new research from the University of Zürich, the cave bear (Ursus spelaeus) — one of the biggest bear species in history — had...

This radar image shows the near-Earth asteroid Florence and its two moons. Image credit: NASA / JPL.

Asteroid Florence Has Two Small Moons, NASA Radar Reveals

Sep 4, 2017 by Enrico de Lazaro

Astronomers working with NASA’s 230-foot (70-m) Deep Space Network antenna in Goldstone, CA, have released the first radar images of the near-Earth asteroid...

Reconstruction of the ancient toothed whale Janjucetus. Image credit: Carl Buell.

Archaic Whales were Ferocious Predators, New Research Shows

Aug 31, 2017 by Enrico de Lazaro

The teeth of archaic whales were as sharp as those of terrestrial predators, and thus were capable of capturing and processing prey, according to new research...

«‹75 767778 79 ›»