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This artist’s concept of a lake at the north pole of Titan illustrates raised rims and rampartlike features such as those seen by NASA’s Cassini spacecraft around the moon’s Winnipeg Lacus. New research using Cassini radar data and modeling proposes that lake basins like these are likely explosion craters, which could have formed when liquid molecular nitrogen deposits within the crust warmed and quickly turned to vapor, blowing holes in the moon’s crust. This would have happened during a warming event (or events) that occurred in a colder, nitrogen-dominated period in Titan’s past. The study may provide evidence of these cold periods in Titan’s past, followed by a relative warming to conditions like those of today. Although Titan is frigid compared to Earth, methane in the atmosphere provides a greenhouse effect that warms the moon’s surface. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech.

Titan’s Small Methane-Filled Lakes are Explosion Craters: Study

Sep 11, 2019 by News Staff

Small methane-filled lakes on the surface of Titan were likely formed by explosive, pressurized nitrogen just under the hazy moon’s surface, according...

Cryodrakon boreas. Image credit: David Maas.

New Pterosaur Species Identified in Canada

Sep 11, 2019 by News Staff

Cretaceous pterosaur remains discovered in the Dinosaur Park Formation in Alberta have been identified as a new genus and species, Cryodrakon boreas. Cryodrakon...

Hoaxed photo of the Loch Ness ‘monster’ from April 21, 1934.

Scientists Find Significant Amount of Eel DNA in Loch Ness

Sep 10, 2019 by News Staff

An international team of researchers has announced the results of investigations into the environmental DNA (eDNA) present in Loch Ness, a large freshwater...

Mathematicians Solve Sum-of-Three-Cubes Problem for Number 42

Sep 9, 2019 by News Staff

University of Bristol’s Professor Andrew Booker and MIT Professor Andrew Sutherland have found a solution to x3 + y3 + z3 = 42, the famous 65-year-old...

An artist’s reconstruction of the gateway and drain at the ancient city of Harappa. Image credit: Chris Sloan.

Researchers Sequence Genome of Ancient Harappan Woman

Sep 9, 2019 by News Staff

A multinational team of scientists has sequenced the first genome of an individual from the Harappan Civilization. The genome, which belongs to a woman...

Life reconstruction of Kamuysaurus japonicus with a carcass of a mosasaur (Phosphorosaurus ponpetelegans), a sea turtle (Mesodermochelys undulates), and shells of ammonoids (Patagiosites compressus and Gaudryceras hobetsense) and bivalves (Nannonavis elongatus) on the beach. Image credit: Kobayashi et al, doi: 10.1038/s41598-019-48607-1.

New Duck-Billed Dinosaur Unveiled: Kamuysaurus japonicus

Sep 6, 2019 by Natali Anderson

A new genus and species of hadrosaurid (duck-billed) dinosaur has been identified from bones discovered six years ago in Japan. Life reconstruction of...

A graphic thermal image of a T. rex with its dorsotemporal fenestra glowing on the skull. Image credit: Brian Engh.

Tyrannosaurus rex Had ‘Thermostat’ in Its Head

Sep 5, 2019 by News Staff

Tyrannosaurus rex, a species of carnivorous dinosaur that lived about 68 million years ago, had an internal thermostat in its head, according to a study...

The asteroid (6478) Gault is seen with the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, showing two narrow, comet-like tails of debris that tell us that the asteroid is slowly undergoing self-destruction. The bright streaks surrounding the asteroid are background stars. Image credit: NASA / ESA / K. Meech & J. Kleyna, University of Hawaii / O. Hainaut, European Southern Observatory.

Astronomers Find Color-Shifting Asteroid

Sep 4, 2019 by News Staff

Astronomers using the NASA Infrared Telescope Facility have caught an active asteroid called (6478) Gault in the act of changing color — in the near-infrared...

A composite image of Venus as seen by JAXA’s Akatsuki spacecraft. Image credit: Institute of Space and Astronautical Science / Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency.

Unidentified ‘Absorbers’ Soak Up Solar Energy in Upper Cloud Layer of Venus

Sep 4, 2019 by News Staff

Venus’ surface has never been seen by the human eye because of opaque, highly reflective clouds which permanently cover the planet. What is curious about...

Trio of Super-Earths Found Orbiting Red Dwarf Gliese 1061

Sep 3, 2019 by Natali Anderson

Astronomers from the Red Dots Collaboration have detected three rocky exoplanets orbiting Gliese 1061, which is the 20th nearest star to the Sun. The outermost...

A basket of peas (Pisum sativum) in pods in Vinnytsia district, Ukraine. Image credit: George Chernilevsky.

Scientists Sequence Genome of Common Pea

Sep 3, 2019 by Enrico de Lazaro

An international consortium of researchers has sequenced the genome of the common pea (Pisum sativum), the second most important grain legume in the world...

Kim et al developed robotic thread that can be steered magnetically and is small enough to work through narrow spaces such as the vasculature of the human brain; the researchers envision the technology may be used in the future to clear blockages in patients with stroke and aneurysms. Image credit: MIT.

Thread-Like Robot Could Deliver Clot-Reducing Therapies

Sep 2, 2019 by News Staff

A team of researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) has developed a thread-like ferromagnetic robot that can glide through complex...

The Cooper’s Ferry site located in Idaho’s lower Salmon River canyon. White arrow points to the site. Image credit: Davis et al, doi: 10.1126/science.aax9830.

16,000-Year-Old Stone Artifacts Unearthed in Idaho

Aug 30, 2019 by News Staff

Archaeologists have uncovered almost two hundred stone artifacts, including projectile points and flake tools, and bone fragments from large mammals at...

An artist’s impression of an exo-Io undergoing extreme mass loss. The hidden exomoon is enshrouded in an irradiated gas cloud shining in bright orange-yellow, as would be seen with a sodium filter. Patches of sodium clouds are seen to trail the lunar orbit, possibly driven by the gas giant’s magnetosphere. Image credit: Thibaut Roger / University of Bern.

Astronomers Find Evidence for Volcanic Moon Orbiting Jupiter-Like Exoplanet WASP-49b

Aug 30, 2019 by News Staff

A volcanically active rocky exomoon may orbit WASP-49b, a hot gas giant approximately 550 light-years away in the constellation of Lepus. An artist’s...

3.8-Million-Year-Old Skull of Australopithecus anamensis Found

Aug 29, 2019 by News Staff

Australopithecus anamensis is the earliest-known species in the genus Australopithecus. The species is widely accepted as the ancestor of Lucy’s species,...

An artist’s concept of a giant exoplanet. Image credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center / S. Wiessinger.

Astronomers Find Giant Exoplanet with Extreme Orbit

Aug 29, 2019 by News Staff

Using data from several ground-based telescopes, astronomers found that a nearby star called HR 5183 hosts a giant planet with an orbital period of between...

GRB 160821B occurred in the outskirts of a spiral galaxy about two billion light-years away, at a projected offset of 52,185 light-years from the galaxy’s center. Image credit: Troja et al, doi: 10.1093/mnras/stz2255.

Astronomers Detect New Kilonova Explosion

Aug 28, 2019 by News Staff

Astronomers have re-examined data from GRB 160821B, a short duration gamma-ray burst spotted on August 21, 2016, and found evidence for a kilonova, an...

An artist’s impression of Pseudotherium argentinus. Image credit: Agencia CTyS-UNLaM.

Triassic-Era Mammal Relative Had Saber Teeth

Aug 27, 2019 by Enrico de Lazaro

A new species of cynodont has been identified from a fossilized skull found in the San Juan province, Argentina. An artist’s impression of Pseudotherium...

It’s raining on Titan. Image credit: David A. Hardy, AstroArt / NASA.

Astronomers Detect Propadiene on Saturn’s Moon Titan

Aug 26, 2019 by Sergio Prostak

Astronomers using the NASA Infrared Telescope Facility (IRTF) have spotted propadiene — a colorless, flammable gas, best known as a fuel for specialized...