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James Clark and Dr. Kerri Cahoy propose that laser technology on Earth could emit a beacon strong enough to attract attention of alien astronomers from as far as 20,000 light-years away. Image credit: A. Fitzsimmons, ESO / Sci-News.com.

Megawatt-Class Lasers from Earth Could Attract Alien Astronomers, Says New Study

Nov 9, 2018 by News Staff

A new study, published in the Astrophysical Journal, suggests that if a 1- to 2-megawatt (MW) laser were focused through a 30- to 45-m telescope and aimed...

A rare triple-hybrid warbler. Image credit: Lowell Burket.

Rare Triple-Hybrid Warbler Spotted in Pennsylvania

Nov 8, 2018 by News Staff

A three-species hybrid warbler found in Pennsylvania is the offspring of a hybrid warbler mother and a warbler father from an entirely different genus...

The remains of the 4,500-year-old ramp were found at the site of Hatnub, Egypt. Image credit: Yannis Gourdon / French Institute for Oriental Archaeology / University of Liverpool.

Archaeologists Uncover 4,500-Year-Old Ramp System at Alabaster Quarry in Egypt

Nov 7, 2018 by News Staff

An international team of archaeologists from the French Institute for Oriental Archaeology in Cairo, Egypt, and the University of Liverpool, UK, has discovered...

This image shows the binary star system 2MASS J18082002-5104378. Image credit: Centre de Données astronomiques de Strasbourg / SIMBAD / DSS2.

One of Milky Way’s Oldest Stars Discovered

Nov 6, 2018 by News Staff

2MASS J18082002-5104378 B, an ultra metal-poor star located some 1,950 light-years away from Earth, is approximately 13.53 billion years old, making it...

Polar bears’ habitat and food sources are shrinking at an alarming rate. Image credit: Skeeze.

WWF Study Shows 60% Decrease in Vertebrate Population Counts

Nov 5, 2018 by Sam Sander Effron

It is no secret that climate change and environmental negligence have been worsened by human activity and accelerated industrialization over the past century,...

This artist’s concept shows NASA’s Dawn spacecraft arriving at Ceres. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech.

NASA’s Dawn Mission Ends as Spacecraft Runs Out of Fuel

Nov 2, 2018 by News Staff

NASA declares Dawn, a mission to the two largest bodies in the Solar System’s main asteroid belt, Vesta and Ceres, over after the spacecraft depletes...

An artist’s interpretation of elephant birds foraging in the ancient forests of Madagascar at night. Image credit: John Maisano / University of Texas at Austin Jackson School of Geosciences.

Study: Elephant Birds were Nocturnal, Possibly Blind

Nov 1, 2018 by News Staff

The recently extinct Malagasy elephant birds included the largest birds ever discovered. Seven species are recognized across two genera, including the...

This mosaic of images from the MDIS Narrow Angle Camera on NASA’s MESSENGER spacecraft shows the impact crater Hokusai, located on Mercury at a latitude of 58°N. The crater has an impressive system of rays, which extend as much as a thousand kilometers (more than 600 miles) across the planet and are the longest that have yet been identified on Mercury. Image credit: NASA / Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory / Carnegie Institution of Washington.

The Great Wave that Brought Water to Mercury

Nov 1, 2018 by James Romero

The impact that formed Mercury’s spectacular 100-km (62-mile) wide Hokusai crater, named after the famous Japanese artist, who created the Great Wave...

Artist’s conception of NASA’s Kepler space telescope. Image credit: NASA / Ames / Dan Rutter.

NASA Ends Kepler Space Telescope’s Science Operations

Oct 31, 2018 by News Staff

NASA’s Kepler Space Telescope, which spent nine years in deep space collecting data that detected thousands of exoplanets, has run out of fuel needed...

New Research Confirms Six Living Tiger Subspecies

Oct 30, 2018 by News Staff

Today, fewer than 4,000 free-ranging tigers survive in the wild, covering only 7% of their historical range. Efforts to protect these animals have been...

An artist’s impression of the Kordylewski dust cloud in the night sky. Image credit: Gábor Horváth.

Astronomers Confirm Existence of Kordylewski Dust Clouds

Oct 29, 2018 by News Staff

A research team from Hungary has confirmed the existence of two enigmatic celestial objects called Kordylewski dust clouds (KDCs) — large concentrations...

A 15,000-year-old stemmed point at the Debra L. Friedkin site, Texas. Image credit: Waters et al, doi: 10.1126/sciadv.aat4505.

Archaeologists Find 15,500-Year-Old Spear Points in Texas

Oct 26, 2018 by News Staff

Through excavation of the Debra L. Friedkin site northwest of Austin, Texas, a team of archaeologists has identified a particular style of projectile point...

Reconstruction of Archaeopteryx albersdoerferi. Image credit: Zhao Chuang / Martin Kundrát.

Paleontologists Discover New Species of Archaeopteryx

Oct 26, 2018 by News Staff

Archaeopteryx was first described as the ‘missing link’ between reptiles and birds in 1861 — and is now regarded as the link between dinosaurs...

The Central African slender-snouted crocodile (Mecistops leptorhynchus). Image credit: Shirley et al, doi: 10.11646/zootaxa.4504.2.1.

Cryptic New Species of Crocodile Identified in Africa

Oct 26, 2018 by News Staff

An international team of researchers has identified a cryptic new species of slender-snouted crocodile living in Central Africa. The Central African slender-snouted...

A new oxygen-delivery therapeutic restored the function of oxygen-starved heart tissue in an animal model of global hypoxia.

Novel Therapeutic Delivers Oxygen to Hypoxic Tissues

Oct 25, 2018 by Sam Sander Effron

Researchers from the University of California at San Francisco (UCSF) have developed a novel therapeutic that can deliver oxygen specifically to under-oxygenated...

This vivid picture of NGC 2467 was captured with the FORS2 instrument on ESO’s Very Large Telescope. Image credit: ESO.

ESO’s Very Large Telescope Observes NGC 2467

Oct 25, 2018 by News Staff

The Very Large Telescope (VLT), a telescope facility operated by the European Southern Observatory (ESO) on Cerro Paranal in the Atacama Desert of northern...

This image of the rectangular iceberg was taken during an Operation IceBridge flight over the northern Antarctic Peninsula on October 16, 2018. Image credit: Jeremy Harbeck, NASA.

NASA’s IceBridge Researchers Find Rectangular Icebergs in Southern Ocean

Oct 24, 2018 by News Staff

Members of the Operation IceBridge, NASA’s decade-long airborne survey of polar ice, spotted two rectangular icebergs during a flight over the northern...

Mosaic of the Valles Marineris hemisphere of Mars projected into point perspective, a view similar to that which one would see from a spacecraft. The distance is 1,550 miles (2,500 km) from the surface of the planet. The mosaic is composed of 102 Viking Orbiter images of Mars. The center of the scene shows the entire Valles Marineris canyon system, over 1,240 miles (2,000 km) long and up to 5 miles (8 km) deep, extending form Noctis Labyrinthus, the arcuate system of graben to the west, to the chaotic terrain to the east. Many huge ancient river channels begin from the chaotic terrain from north-central canyons and run north. The three Tharsis volcanoes (dark red spots), each about 15.5 miles (25 km) high, are visible to the west. South of Valles Marineris is very ancient terrain covered by many impact craters. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech.

Salty, Oxygenated Water on Mars Could Host Simple Aerobic Life

Oct 23, 2018 by News Staff

Caltech researcher Vlada Stamenković and co-authors calculated that if liquid water exists on the Red Planet, it could contain more oxygen than previously...

The Rote leaf warbler (Phylloscopus rotiensis). Image credit: Philippe Verbelen.

Rote Leaf Warbler: New Bird Species Discovered in Indonesia

Oct 23, 2018 by News Staff

A striking new species of leaf warbler has been discovered in the forests of the Indonesian island of Rote by an international team of researchers. The...