Articles by Enrico de Lazaro

An aye-aye (Daubentonia madagascariensis). Image credit: David Haring.

Study with Aye-Ayes, Slow Loris Sheds Light on Origins of Alcohol Consumption

Jul 20, 2016 by Enrico de Lazaro

In the first controlled study of its kind, a team of scientists at Dartmouth College has found that two species of non-human primates – the slow loris...

Talamancan palm-pitvipers (Bothriechis nubestris) are found in trees where their green and black pattern provides excellent camouflage. Image credit: University of Central Florida.

Talamancan Palm-Pitviper: Cryptic New Species of Venomous Snake Identified in Costa Rica

Jul 19, 2016 by Enrico de Lazaro

An international team of researchers led by University of Central Florida biologist Chris Parkinson has announced the discovery of a new species of venomous...

Escherichia coli. Image credit: Janice Haney Carr / CDC.

Second Case in the US of Bacteria with Colistin Resistance Gene

Jul 14, 2016 by Enrico de Lazaro

For the second time, a clinical strain of Escherichia coli with the colistin resistance gene mcr-1 has been detected in humans in the United States, according...

This color view from NASA’s Juno spacecraft shows atmospheric features on Jupiter, including the Great Red Spot. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / SwRI / MSSS.

Juno Beams Back First In-Orbit Images of Jupiter, Galilean Moons

Jul 13, 2016 by Enrico de Lazaro

Juno’s low-resolution in-orbit images of Jupiter and three of its largest moons — Europa, Io, and Ganymede — have made their way back to...

Dwarf planet Sedna. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / R. Hurt, SSC-Caltech.

2015 RR245: New Dwarf Planet Discovered in Solar System’s Kuiper Belt

Jul 12, 2016 by Enrico de Lazaro

Astronomers have discovered a new dwarf planet in the Kuiper Belt, a vast ring of icy debris that is encircling the outer rim of our Solar System just...

The Pauli exclusion principle predicts a forbidden zone along a meridian of the spherical halo of scattered particles, which the experiments indeed unveiled. The dark band in the graphic shows a rule derived from the principle in action. This rule is that indistinguishable fermions cannot scatter out at 90 degrees to the collision axis. Image credit: Niels Kjærgaard.

Pauli Exclusion: Physicists Directly Observe Key Principle of Quantum Mechanics

Jul 11, 2016 by Enrico de Lazaro

An international team of scientists, led by Dr. Niels Kjærgaard from the University of Otago in Dunedin, New Zealand, has used steerable ‘optical tweezers’...

This artist’s impression shows a view of the triple-star system HD 131399 (also known as HIP 72940 and 2MASS J14542529-3408342) from close to the Jupiter-like exoplanet orbiting in the system. HD 131399Ab and appears at the lower-left of the picture. Image credit: L. Calcada / ESO.

HD 131399Ab: Astronomers Find Super-Jupiter in Triple-Star System

Jul 7, 2016 by Enrico de Lazaro

Using ESO’s Very Large Telescope (VLT), astronomers have found a young Jupiter-like planet in a triple-star system. This artist’s impression shows...

View of the LHCb detector. Image credit: CERN.

CERN Physicists Observe Three New Tetraquark Particles

Jul 6, 2016 by Enrico de Lazaro

Physicists on CERN’s LHCb collaboration say they’ve observed three new exotic particles – X(4274), X(4500) and X(4700) – and also confirmed the...

Deep-sea one-jawed eel (Monognathus) is shown with a venomous fang on the roof of the mouth. Image credit: W. Leo Smith.

Study Finds Venom Has Evolved 18 Times in Marine and Freshwater Fishes

Jul 6, 2016 by Enrico de Lazaro

Venom is so useful to fish that it evolved at least 18 times, according to a new study led by Dr. William Leo Smith of the University of Kansas Biodiversity...

Artist’s impression of New Horizons encountering a Pluto-like object in the distant Kuiper Belt. Image credit: NASA / JHUAPL / SwRI / Alex Parker.

NASA Officially Extends New Horizons Mission

Jul 4, 2016 by Enrico de Lazaro

NASA’s New Horizons robotic probe has received the green light to fly onward to the Kuiper Belt object (KBO) 2014 MU69. Artist’s impression of New...

Two sizes of ripples are evident in this December 13, 2015, view of a top of a Martian sand dune, from Curiosity. Sand dunes and the smaller type of ripples also exist on Earth. The larger ripples -- roughly 10 feet (3 m) apart -- are a type not seen on our planet nor previously recognized as a distinct type on Mars. Scale bar - 2 m (79 inches). Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / MSSS.

Scientists Discover New Type of Sand Dune — on Mars

Jul 1, 2016 by Enrico de Lazaro

A team of planetary scientists led by researchers at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) has discovered a type of dune on Mars intermediate...

Kankuamo marquezi, male. Image credit: Dirk Weinmann.

Newly-Discovered Species of Tarantula Named after Gabriel Garcia Marquez

Jun 30, 2016 by Enrico de Lazaro

A relatively large species of tarantula discovered in an isolated mountain range in Colombia has been named after the famed Colombian novelist and 1982...

A false-color image of the narrow opal rim surrounding a bright metallic mineral inclusion in the Antarctic meteorite EET 83309; the circular holes in this image are spots where laser analyses have been performed. Image credit: Hilary Downes et al.

Scientists Find Tiny Pieces of Opal in Meteorite

Jun 29, 2016 by Enrico de Lazaro

Small pieces of the mineral opal have been found within a brecciated ureilite meteorite from Antarctica. According to a team of scientists led by Prof....

Left: phytoliths from Poaceae bulliform cells and bi-peaked tubercles from rice husks recovered from Huxi: 1, 2, 3 - rice; 4 - reed; 5 - bamboo; 6, 7, 8 - silvergrass; 9, 10 - bi-peaked tubercles of rice. Right: charred plant remains from Huxi: 1 - self-heal; 2 - cupgrass; 3, 17 - sedge family; 4-6 - carbonized rice; 7-13 - rice rachillae; 14-15 - rice husks fragments; 16 - knotweed/smartweed; 18 - bristlegrass; 19 – crabgrass; 20 - tall fringe-rush; 21, 22 – foxnut. Image credit: Y. Zheng et al.

Archaeologists Find Evidence of Domesticated Rice in China 9,000 Years Ago

Jun 23, 2016 by Enrico de Lazaro

The earliest evidence of domesticated rice (Oryza sativa), one of the world’s most important cereal grains, has been found in China, and it’s 9,000...

This New Horizons image shows Pluto’s small moon Nix. Image credit: NASA / Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory / Southwest Research Institute.

Pluto’s Small Moon Nix is Covered in Relatively Pure Water Ice

Jun 23, 2016 by Enrico de Lazaro

The latest data from NASA’s New Horizons probe reveal a water-ice signature on the surface of Nix, one of Pluto’s five known moons. This New Horizons...

$Four of the projectile point fragments recovered from Kuumbi Cave: (A, C and G) impact fractures; (B and D) possible retrieval cut marks; (E) rounded tip; (F) post-depositional fracture revealing bone surface; (H) change in surface appearance. Magnification: A, C, G, and H at 65x; B at 85x; D at 100x; E at 200x. Image credit: Michelle C. Langley et al.$