Articles by News Staff

An artist’s impression of a Jupiter-like exoplanet and a cool red dwarf. Image credit: CARMENES / RenderArea / J. Bollain / C. Gallego.

Massive Gas Giant in Orbit around Red Dwarf Challenges Current Models of Planet Formation

Oct 8, 2019 by News Staff

Astronomers have discovered a massive exoplanet orbiting Gliese 3512 (GJ 3512), an M-dwarf star (red dwarf) located 31 light-years away. Dubbed Gliese...

An artist’s impression of the massive bursts of ionizing radiation exploding from the center of the Milky Way and impacting the Magellanic Stream. Image credit: James Josephides / ASTRO 3D.

Highly Energetic Explosion Occurred in Milky Way’s Center 3.5 Million Years Ago

Oct 7, 2019 by News Staff

About 3.5 million years ago, a Seyfert flare from Sagittarius A*, a supermassive black hole in the center of the Milky Way Galaxy, created two enormous...

In human skulls, division of the nasioiniac arc (from nasion to inion, NI) by bregma into a shorter frontal arc (from nasion to bregma, NB) and longer parietooccipital arc (from bregma to inion BI), creates a geometrical relationship in which the ratio of the nasioiniac arc over the bregma-inion arc (NI/BI) coincides with the ratio of the bregma-inion arc over the nasion-bregma arc (BI/NB), both 1.6. The subdivision of the nasioiniac arc by bregma into two unequal arcs emulates the geometrical division of a line into the Golden ratio. Image credit: Tamargo & Pindrik, doi: 10.1097/SCS.0000000000005610.

Human Skull Dimensions Follow Golden Ratio: Study

Oct 7, 2019 by News Staff

The Golden ratio principle is present in the architecture and evolution of the human skull, suggests a new study by researchers from the Johns Hopkins...

Andromeda Galaxy Swallowed Many Dwarf Galaxies During Its Lifetime

Oct 5, 2019 by News Staff

An analysis of data from the Pan-Andromeda Archaeological Survey (PAndAS) has uncovered two major episodes of accretion, probably separated by billions...

This ALMA image shows the binary protostar [BHB2007] 11. Image credit: ALMA / ESO / NAOJ / NRAO / Alves et al.

Double Protostar Caught in Process of Forming

Oct 4, 2019 by News Staff

Astronomers using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) have captured a stunning image of two circumstellar disks in which two protostars...

Cores from Phase D (48,000-34,000 years ago) and Phase C (13,000-12,000 years ago) of Fa-Hien Lena Cave, Sri Lanka: bipolar core (4, 5, 6), bipolar orthogonal core (1, 2, 7, 8), unidirectional abrupt core (3). Image credit: Wedage et al, doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0222606.

45,000-Year-Old Tiny Stone Tools Found in Sri Lanka

Oct 4, 2019 by News Staff

An international team of archaeologists has found a collection of microliths — small, retouched, often-backed stone tools — at the cave site...

A pair of thylacines, a male and female, c. 1905. Image credit: Smithsonian Institutional Archives / E. J. Keller, National Zoological Park.

Study Sheds New Light on Striking Similarities between Tasmanian Tiger and Wolves

Oct 3, 2019 by News Staff

The Tasmanian tiger (Thylacinus cynocephalus), also known as the thylacine, was a carnivorous marsupial found throughout most of Tasmania before European...

Baumgartner et al provide exceptional evidence for the biogenicity of some of Earth’s oldest stromatolites through preservation of organic matter, including microbial remains, by sulfidization. Image credit: Paul Harrison.

Organic Matter Found in 3.5-Billion-Year-Old Stromatolites

Oct 3, 2019 by News Staff

Researchers have found exceptionally preserved organic matter inside samples of rock from the 3.5-billion-year-old Dresser Formation in the Pilbara region...

High-Energy IceCube Neutrino Generated by Cosmic Collision within Distant Active Galaxy

Oct 3, 2019 by News Staff

IceCube 170922A, a high-energy neutrino detected by the IceCube Neutrino Observatory in 2017, was generated by a jet-jet collision within TXS 0506+056,...

This artist’s painting of the south polar region of Enceladus shows massive jets of water ice being blasted into space. Image credit: Karl Kofoed / NASA.

Scientists Find Low-Mass Organic Compounds in Ice Grains from Enceladus’ Plume

Oct 3, 2019 by News Staff

Saturn’s moon Enceladus is erupting a plume of gas and ice grains from its south pole. According to new research using data from NASA’s Cassini mission,...

Younger and paler old male giraffes (Giraffa camelopardalis) are gregarious while darker males are more solitary. Image credit: Albert Dezetter.

Darker Male Giraffes are Less Social than Their Lighter-Colored Counterparts, Study Reveals

Oct 2, 2019 by News Staff

A new University of Queensland-led study has revealed that the color of spots in male giraffes (Giraffa camelopardalis) more strongly relates to their...

Dorsal view of the left hand of a 10-week old human embryo. The dorsometacarpales are highlighted: these muscles are present in adults of many other limbed animals, while in humans they normally disappear or become fused with other muscles before birth. Image credit: Diogo et al, doi: 10.1242/dev.180349.

Human Embryos Have ‘Lizard-Like’ Limb Muscles: Study

Oct 2, 2019 by News Staff

A new study, published in the journal Development, has confirmed the transient presence of atavistic muscles — present in our ancestors, but normally...

NASA’s InSight lander placed its seismometer on Mars on December 19, 2018. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech.

Listen to Sounds of Marsquakes, Strange ‘Dinks and Donks’ on Mars

Oct 2, 2019 by News Staff

The Seismic Experiment for Interior Structure (SEIS), a highly sensitive seismometer onboard NASA’s InSight lander, was designed to listen for marsquakes....

This infrared image from Spitzer shows a cloud of gas and dust full of cosmic bubbles in the constellation of Aquila. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech.

NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope Sees Cosmic Bubbles in Aquila

Oct 2, 2019 by News Staff

NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope has imaged an active star-forming region in the constellation of Aquila. The region is full of cosmic bubbles, which are...

Dietary fructose, but not glucose, supplementation of high-fat diet (HFD) impairs mitochondrial size, function, and protein acetylation, resulting in decreased fatty acid oxidation and development of metabolic dysregulation. Image credit: Softic et al, doi: 10.1016/j.cmet.2019.09.003.

High-Fat Plus Fructose Diet Alters Size and Function of Liver Mitochondria, New Study Says

Oct 2, 2019 by News Staff

A research team led by Harvard Medical School scientists has found that high levels of fructose — but not glucose — in the high-fat diet inhibit...

This scanning electron microscope image shows a tardigrade. Image credit: Diane Nelson, National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior.

Study: Tardigrades’ Unique Protein Forms Protective Cloud against Extreme Survival Threats

Oct 1, 2019 by News Staff

Tardigrades, also known as water bears and moss piglets, are small invertebrate animals that are found in marine, freshwater, and terrestrial habitats...

An artist’s impression of ‘Oumuamua. Image credit: M. Kornmesser / ESO.

We Can Expect Few Large Interstellar Objects Showing Up Every Year, Astronomers Say

Oct 1, 2019 by News Staff

Yale University astronomers Gregory Laughlin and Malena Rice propose that interstellar objects such as the interstellar asteroid ‘Oumuamua and the interstellar...

The Hall’s New Guinea crocodile (Crocodylus halli) at St. Augustine Alligator Farm Zoological Park. Image credit: Murray et al, doi: 10.1643/CG-19-240.

New Freshwater Crocodile Species Found in New Guinea

Oct 1, 2019 by News Staff

Scientists had known that New Guinea was home to a unique species of crocodile since the New Guinea crocodile (Crocodylus novaeguineae) was officially...

The z66OD protocluster: the blue shading shows the calculated extent of the protocluster, and the bluer color indicates higher density of galaxies in the protocluster; the red objects in zoom-in figures are the 12 galaxies found in it. Image credit: NAOJ / Harikane et al.

13-Billion-Year-Old Galaxy Protocluster Found

Oct 1, 2019 by News Staff

Using the Subaru, Keck, and Gemini telescopes, astronomers have discovered a young cluster of galaxies in the early Universe. Named z66OD, the protocluster...

Model of dynamic interactions between the skin immune system (SIS) and its microbial/chemical milieu in human facial skin: (A) infancy -- before the development of stabilized microbial communities, an early tolerogenic interaction between the maturing SIS and the microbiota is prevalent; (B) after this initial period, a homeostatic crosstalk evolves between the developed SIS and a childhood-type stable microbiota; (C) adolescence -- enhanced sebum secretion and shift in the microbiota composition (and probably other uncovered events, e.g., barrier breach) might contribute to a dynamic change in the communication between the SIS and the microbiota in the skin, leading to inflammatory interactions; cytokines associated with a homeostatic dialog may become highly increased in acne lesions (relative to non-lesions), promoting inflammation together with newly secreted proinflammatory mediators produced by keratinocytes, dendritic cells (DCs), and subsequently, infiltrating inflammatory T helper (Th)1 and Th17(23) (for IL-23) cells, neutrophils, and macrophages; these mediators initiate follicular hyperkeratinization, closure of the follicular infundibulum, comedone formation, and the development of acne papules, pustules, and nodules; the extent and time course of inflammation can vary across a wide spectrum among teenagers; (D) following the resolution of acne, in adult SGR skin, under steady-state, SIS and region-specific microbes carry on a homeostatic dialog with the microbiota again, mediated by the controlled production of innate immune-cell-derived factors, including complement components, AMPs, IL-1, TSLP, and IL-7; hair follicles may play a pivotal role in this crosstalk, supporting the residency and recruitment of LCs, Tregs, ILCs, as well as nonpathogenic Th17(β) cells to maintain homeostasis; upward arrows depict increases (expression, concentrations, and ratios). Propionibacterium acnes (Propionibacteriaceae) = Cutibacterium acnes. Other relevant bacterial genera are noted in the schematic. Abbreviations: AMP - antimicrobial peptide, IL – interleukin, ILC - innate lymphoid cell, LC - Langerhans cell, mDC - myeloid dendritic cell, RORγt - RAR-related orphan receptor γt, SGR - sebaceous gland rich, SIS - skin immune system, TGF - transforming growth factor, Th - T helper, Treg - regulatory T cell, TSLP - thymic stromal lymphopoietin. Image credit: Szegedi et al, doi: 10.1016/j.it.2019.08.006.

Adolescent Acne Vulgaris is Naturally Developing, Transient Inflammatory State, Researchers Say

Oct 1, 2019 by News Staff

Acne vulgaris, which occurs in 44-95% of teenagers of varying ethnicities, represents a natural, transient inflammatory interaction of adolescent facial...

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