Featured News | Sci.News

Hemimastix kukwesjijk. Image credit: Lax et al, doi: 10.1038/s41586-018-0708-8.

Newly-Discovered Protists Add New Branch to Tree of Eukaryotic Life

Nov 20, 2018 by News Staff

A team of researchers from Dalhousie University, Canada, has identified two previously undescribed species of hemimastigotes — members of the extremely...

An artist’s impression of W2246-0526, the most luminous galaxy ever discovered. Image credit: NRAO / AUI / NSF / S. Dagnello.

Universe’s Most Luminous Galaxy Is Accreting Its Smaller Neighbors

Nov 19, 2018 by News Staff

WISE J224607.55-052634.9 (W2246-0526 for short), the most luminous galaxy ever discovered, is accreting (eating) at least three of its smaller neighbors,...

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

Interstellar Comet Oumuamua is Smaller than Previously Thought, Has Highly Reflective Surface

Nov 16, 2018 by News Staff

In October 2017, a fast moving comet of extrasolar origin, 1I/2017 U1 (‘Oumuamua), was discovered close to the Earth with a ground-based telescope in...

An aerial view of the archaeological excavation site near Chiliomodi, Greece. Image credit: Greek Culture Ministry.

Archaeologists Uncover Remnants of Ancient City of Tenea

Nov 15, 2018 by News Staff

Archaeologists in Greece have unearthed what they believe are the remnants of the long-lost ancient city of Tenea. An aerial view of the archaeological...

An artist’s impression of Barnard’s star b. Image credit: Sci-News.com.

Frozen Super-Earth Found Orbiting Barnard’s Star

Nov 14, 2018 by News Staff

A potentially rocky super-Earth orbits one of our closest stellar neighbors, Barnard’s star, only 6 light-years away. An artist’s impression of Barnard’s...

Antlia 2: Enormous Dwarf Galaxy Discovered in Orbit around Milky Way

Nov 14, 2018 by News Staff

Astronomers using data from ESA’s Gaia satellite have discovered a new dwarf satellite galaxy of the Milky Way. The dwarf galaxy, named Antlia 2, is...

A reconstruction of Mirarce eatoni perched on the horns of the ceratopsian dinosaur Utahceratops gettyi. Image credit: Brian Engh, dontmesswithdinosaurs.com.

Mirarce eatoni: Newly-Discovered Cretaceous Bird Lived Among Dinosaurs, Was Strong Flier

Nov 13, 2018 by News Staff

Paleontologists have unearthed the partial skeleton of an enantiornithine (opposite bird) that lived in what is now Utah approximately 75 million years...

This image captured by NASA’s Juno orbiter shows a multitude of magnificent, swirling clouds in Jupiter’s North North Temperate Belt. The image was taken at 4:58 p.m. EDT on October 29, 2018 (1:58 p.m. PDT) as the spacecraft performed its 16th close flyby of Jupiter. At the time, Juno was about 4,400 miles (7,000 km) from the planet’s cloud tops, at a latitude of approximately 40 degrees north. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / SwRI / MSSS / Gerald Eichstaedt / Sean Doran.

Juno Takes Closer Look at Jupiter’s Magnificent, Swirling Clouds

Nov 13, 2018 by News Staff

NASA’s Juno spacecraft made its 16th close science flyby of Jupiter on October 29, 2018 and captured stunning images of the gas giant. This image captured...

A rock painting of a wild bovid from Borneo. Image credit: Pindi Setiawan.

Researchers Find 40,000-Year-Old Figurative Paintings in Bornean Cave

Nov 12, 2018 by News Staff

Cave paintings in Lubang Jeriji Saléh, a limestone cave in East Kalimantan, Indonesian Borneo, have been dated to at least 40,000 years ago. A rock painting...

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...