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5.6-Million-Year-Old Hominin-Like Footprints in Crete Challenge Theories of Human Evolution

The Trachilos footprints were discovered by Dr. Gerard Gierlinski, a paleontologist at the Polish Geological Institute, by chance when he was on holiday on Crete in 2002. Dr. Gierlinski identified the footprints as those of a mammal. In 2010, he returned to the site together with Dr. Grzegorz Niedzwiedzki, a Polish paleontologist at Uppsala University, to study the footprints in detail. Together they came to the conclusion that the footprints were made by hominins. Image credit: Andrzej Boczarowski.
Sep 1, 2017 by News Staff

Researchers have found late Miocene footprints — which show hominin-like characteristics — near the village of Trachilos, west of Kissamos, in the Chania Prefecture of Crete, Greece. The footprints, described in a 31 August study in the Proceedings of the Geologists’ Association, may put the established narrative of early human evolution to the test. The Trachilos footprints were discovered by Dr. Gerard Gierlinski, a paleontologist...

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This artist’s concept allows us to imagine what it would be like to stand on the surface of TRAPPIST-1f. Because this planet is thought to be tidally locked to its star, meaning the same face of the planet is always pointed at the star, there would be a region called the terminator that perpetually divides day and night. If the night side is icy, the day side might give way to liquid water in the area where sufficient starlight hits the surface. One of the unusual features of TRAPPIST-1 planets is how close they are to each other -- so close that other planets could be visible in the sky from the surface of each one. In this view, the planets in the sky correspond to TRAPPIST1e (top left crescent), d (middle crescent) and c (bright dot to the lower right of the crescents). TRAPPIST-1e would appear about the same size as the Moon and TRAPPIST1-c is on the far side of the star. The star itself, an ultra-cool dwarf, would appear about three times larger than our own Sun does in Earth’s skies. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Catlech.

TRAPPIST-1’s Outer Planets May Harbor Water, New Study Finds

Sep 1, 2017 by News Staff

In a research paper to appear in the Astronomical Journal (arXiv.org preprint), astronomers from MIT, the Geneva Observatory and elsewhere report that...

Reconstruction of the ancient toothed whale Janjucetus. Image credit: Carl Buell.

Archaic Whales were Ferocious Predators, New Research Shows

Aug 31, 2017 by Enrico de Lazaro

The teeth of archaic whales were as sharp as those of terrestrial predators, and thus were capable of capturing and processing prey, according to new research...

Astronomers Detect Methylidynium in Distant Star-Forming Galaxies

Aug 31, 2017 by News Staff

For the first time, astronomers have detected the presence of CH+ — an ion of the CH molecule known as methylidynium to chemists — in distant...

The French Frigates from Voyage de La Pérouse, by Louis Antoine Milet-Mureau. Image credit: State Library of New South Wales.

Australian Anthropologist Finds Clue to Fate of Famous French Explorer Jean Francois La Perouse

Aug 30, 2017 by News Staff

Australian National University anthropologist Garrick Hitchcock has stumbled across a clue to resolving one of the most enduring mysteries of Pacific history...

Astronomers Measure Magnetic Field of Far-Off Galaxy

Aug 30, 2017 by News Staff

An international team of astronomers has measured the magnetic field of a star-forming galaxy nearly 4.6 billion light-years away. An image obtained using...

Smooth-Coated Otters Can Learn How to Solve Puzzles by Copying Each Other, Research Shows

Aug 30, 2017 by News Staff

A team of researchers in the UK created a series of puzzles baited with food, and found smooth-coated otters (Lutrogale perspicillata) watched and copied...

Life reconstruction of Lagenanectes richterae. Image credit: Frederik Spindler.

Meet Lagenanectes richterae, One of Oldest Known Elasmosaurs

Aug 29, 2017 by Enrico de Lazaro

In a study published Friday in the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, paleontologists report the discovery of a partially-preserved skeleton of one of...

Bizarre New Species of Frog Discovered in India: Nasikabatrachus bhupathi

Aug 28, 2017 by Natali Anderson

Herpetologists are claiming they have discovered a new species of purple frog living in the Western Ghats, India. The Bhupathy’s purple frog (Nasikabatrachus...

Oxo Crater is the second-brightest feature on Ceres. Only Occator’s central area is brighter. Oxo lies near the 0 degree meridian that defines the edge of many Ceres maps, making this small feature easy to overlook. NASA’s Dawn spacecraft took this image in its low-altitude mapping orbit, at a distance of 385 km from the surface of Ceres. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / UCLA / MPS / DLR / IDA / PSI.

Crater Slope Avalanches Reveal Ceres’ Surface Water Ice

Aug 25, 2017 by James Romero

Surface water ice found within a brilliantly bright crater on the dwarf planet Ceres is being exposed by avalanches reprocessing impact deposits in just...

Plimpton 322, a 3,700-year-old Babylonian tablet held in the Rare Book and Manuscript Library at Columbia University in New York.

Mathematicians Crack Mystery of Babylonian Clay Tablet ‘Plimpton 322’

Aug 25, 2017 by News Staff

Plimpton 322, the most famous of Old Babylonian tablets (1900-1600 BC), is the world’s oldest trigonometric table, possibly used by Babylonian scholars...

A rendering of Inermorostrum xenops. Image credit: Robert Boessenecker.

Toothless Dwarf Dolphin Provides Insights into Cetacean Evolution

Aug 24, 2017 by News Staff

A new species of extinct dwarf dolphin that lived about 30 million years ago (Oligocene epoch) and possessed adaptations for suction feeding has been identified...

Life reconstruction of Shingopana songwensis. Image credit: Mark Witton, www.markwitton.com.

Shingopana songwensis: New Titanosaur Species Discovered in Tanzania

Aug 24, 2017 by News Staff

A new species of long-necked titanosaurian dinosaur has been unearthed in southwestern Tanzania. Life reconstruction of Shingopana songwensis. Image credit:...

This is the most detailed image ever of the red supergiant star Antares, or any other star apart from the Sun. Image credit: K. Ohnaka / ESO.

Antares: Astronomers Snap Most Detailed Image of Star That’s Not the Sun

Aug 23, 2017 by News Staff

An international team of astronomers from Chile and Germany has managed to capture an image of unprecedented detail of another star — that isn’t...

Underwater archaeologists explore the submerged portion of Port Royal. Image credit: Texas A&M University.

Underwater Archaeologists Uncovering Secrets of Sunken Pirate City

Aug 23, 2017 by News Staff

Underwater archaeologists using a new state-of-the-art technology are mapping out the submerged portion of the 17th-century town of Port Royal in Jamaica. Underwater...

Moon (Gregory H. Revera / CC BY-SA 3.0)

Moon’s Interior Likely Contains No Water, New Research Says

Aug 22, 2017 by News Staff

A new study led by a Scripps Institution of Oceanography researcher contradicts a recently published paper, which suggested the interior of Earth’s only...

This illustration depicts a 3D computer-generated image of a group of clindamycin-resistant GBS bacteria, which were arranged in chains. The artistic recreation was based upon scanning electron microscopic (SEM) imagery. If you look carefully, you’ll be able to see a number of these organisms undergoing the process of cell division along the long axis of their respective chains. Image credit: James Archer / CDC.

Study: Breast Milk Oligosaccharides Kill Group B-Streptococcus, Block Biofilm Formation

Aug 21, 2017 by News Staff

Streptococcus agalactiae (Group B-Streptococcus, or GBS) is a type of bacteria that can cause invasive infections in people of all ages. A research team...

(3122) Florence will pass safely by Earth on September 1, at a distance of about 4.4 million miles. Image credit: University of Colorado.

Asteroid Florence to Fly Safely Past Earth on September 1

Aug 21, 2017 by Enrico de Lazaro

A relatively large near-Earth asteroid will safely fly by pur planet on September 1, 2017, according to NASA. (3122) Florence will pass safely by Earth...

An artist’s reconstruction of Anatoliadelphys maasae. Image credit: Peter Schouten.

Cat-Sized Marsupial Relative Lived in Turkey 43 Million Years Ago

Aug 18, 2017 by Enrico de Lazaro

Fossils discovered in Turkey represent a new species that is a previously unknown relative of modern-day marsupials, according to a new paper published...

Gliese 832 Hosts at Least Three Exoplanets, Astrophysicists Say

Aug 18, 2017 by Natali Anderson

An international team of researchers from the Kiepenheuer Institute for Solar Physics and the University of Texas at Arlington has spotted signs of an...

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