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3.465-billion-year-old fossil microbes indicate that life in the Universe is common. Image credit: Reimund Bertrams.

Study: Simple Life Forms are Common throughout Universe

Dec 19, 2017 by News Staff

A detailed analysis of 3.465-billion-year-old microbial microfossils provides evidence to support an increasingly widespread understanding that life in...

This artist’s impression shows ‘Oumuamua. Image credit: Joy Pollard / Gemini Observatory / AURA / NSF.

Interstellar Asteroid Oumuamua Has Grayish-Red Organic-Rich Surface Layer, Astronomers Say

Dec 19, 2017 by News Staff

In October 2017, astronomers made a surprising discovery with the Pan-STARRS1 telescope in Hawai’i — 1I/2017 U1 ‘Oumuamua, the first asteroid...

Viruses Can Transfer Genes Across Domains of Life, Research Shows

Dec 19, 2017 by News Staff

Viruses can transfer genes to organisms they are not known to infect, including organisms in different domains (superkingdoms) of life, according to a...

Reconstruction of Protarctos abstrusus in the Beaver Pond site area during the late summer. An extinct beaver, Dipoides, is shown carrying a tree branch in water. Plants include black crowberry (Empetrum nigrum) with ripened berries along the path of the bear, dwarf birch (Betula nana) in foreground; sweet gale (Myrica gale) carried by the beaver, sedges in water margins, flowering buckbeans along the mounds behind the beaver, and larch trees in distant background. Image credit: Mauricio Antón / Alice Telka.

Protarctos abstrusus: Ancient Primitive Bear Had a Sweet Tooth

Dec 18, 2017 by Enrico de Lazaro

An international team of paleontologists has found the remains of an unusual prehistoric bear that lived 3.5 million years ago (Pliocene epoch) in Canada’s...

Cordillera Azul Antbird: New Bird Species Discovered in Peru

Dec 15, 2017 by Enrico de Lazaro

A distinctive new species of antbird has been discovered in the humid montane forests of the San Martin region in north-central Peru. The Cordillera Azul...

Eight Exoplanets Orbit Sun-Like Star Kepler-90

Dec 15, 2017 by News Staff

A team of researchers reports the discovery of an eighth planet orbiting Kepler-90, a Sun-like star approximately 2,545 light-years from Earth in the constellation...

Andatu, the first Sumatran rhino to be born at the Sumatran Rhino Sanctuary, and his mother, Ratu. Image credit: S. Ellis / International Rhino Foundation / CC BY 2.0.

Sumatran Rhinoceros Genome Sequenced

Dec 15, 2017 by News Staff

An international team of scientists has produced the first whole-genome sequence for the endangered Sumatran rhinoceros (Dicerorhinus sumatrensis), the...

Plants infused with the luminescence of fireflies could help reduce our dependence on conventional lighting. Image credit: Seon-Yeong Kwak.

Researchers Create Nanobionic Light-Emitting Plants

Dec 14, 2017 by News Staff

A team of scientists from the University of California and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) has found a way to infuse plants with the luminescence...

Vaderlimulus tricki. The specimen came from a locality in the Olenekian Thaynes Group near Paris, Idaho, the United States. Image credit: New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science.

First Triassic Horseshoe Crab Fossil Found in North America

Dec 14, 2017 by Natali Anderson

A mostly complete and moderately well-preserved fossilized specimen is thought to represent the first Triassic horseshoe crab found in North America, according...

Hard tick grasping a dinosaur feather preserved in 99 million-year-old Burmese amber. Image credit: Peñalver et al.

Ticks Sucked Blood of Feathered Dinosaurs, Fossil Discovery Shows

Dec 13, 2017 by News Staff

Preserved in 99 million-year-old Burmese amber paleontologists found a tick grasping a dinosaur feather. The discovery, reported in the journal Nature...

This artist’s impression shows the first interstellar asteroid -- 1I/2017 U1 (’Oumuamua). Image credit: M. Kornmesser / ESO.

Breakthrough Listen Initiative to Observe First Interstellar Asteroid

Dec 12, 2017 by News Staff

The Breakthrough Listen initiative — the largest ever scientific research program aimed at finding evidence of alien civilizations — announced...

The silky anteater (Cyclopes didactylus). Image credit: Quinten Questel / CC BY-SA 3.0.

DNA Reveals that Silky Anteaters Are Seven Species

Dec 12, 2017 by Natali Anderson

The silky anteater (Cyclopes didactylus) has previously been recognized to be a single species divided into several sub-species. But a new genetic analysis,...

An old man diagnosed as suffering from senile dementia. Color lithograph, 1896, J. Williamson, Byrom Bramwell. Image credit: Wellcome Images / CC BY 4.0.

Scientists May Have Discovered Major Cause of Dementia

Dec 12, 2017 by News Staff

The build-up of urea, also known as carbamide, in the brain to toxic levels can cause brain damage — and eventually dementia, according to new research. An...

Physicists Prove Existence of New Form of Matter: Excitonium

Dec 11, 2017 by News Staff

New research led by a University of Illinois physicist has proved the existence of a new form of matter — ‘excitonium,’ a solid crystal of excitons....

One diet doesn’t fit all, and what works for some may not be best for others. Image credit: Rita E.

Study: Diet Success Depends on Your Genes

Dec 11, 2017 by News Staff

A diet that makes one individual lean and healthy might have the complete opposite effect on another, according to a new study published in the journal...

New Research Shows Black Holes Have Significantly Weaker Magnetic Fields than Originally Thought

Dec 8, 2017 by News Staff

A sudden flare from a low-mass black hole in the binary system V404 Cygni has offered astrophysicists a unique opportunity to make precise measurements...

Reconstruction of Wakaleo schouteni challenging the thylacinid Nimbacinus dicksoni over a kangaroo carcass in the late Oligocene forest at Riversleigh, Australia. Image credit: Peter Schouten.

Dog-Sized Marsupial Lion Once Lived in Australia: Wakaleo schouteni

Dec 7, 2017 by News Staff

Paleontologists have discovered a new species of carnivorous marsupial lion that lived 26 to 18 million years ago (late Oligocene to early Miocene) in...

Artist’s conception of the most-distant supermassive black hole ever discovered, which is part of ULAS J134208.10+092838.61, a quasar from just 690 million years after the Big Bang. It is surrounded by neutral hydrogen, indicating that it is from the period called the Epoch of Reionization, when the Universe’s first light sources turned on. Image credit: Robin Dienel / Carnegie Institution for Science.

Astronomers Discover Most Distant Known Supermassive Black Hole

Dec 7, 2017 by News Staff

An international group of astronomers has discovered and measured the distance to the most distant supermassive black hole ever found. Artist’s conception...

This artist’s concept shows two super-Earth exoplanets, K2-18b and c, orbiting the red dwarf star K2-18. Image credit: Alex Boersma.

Nearby Red Dwarf Hosts Two Super-Earth-Sized Exoplanets — One in Its ‘Habitable Zone’

Dec 6, 2017 by News Staff

An international team of astronomers has found that a little-known exoplanet called K2-18b could be a scaled-up version of Earth, and also discovered the...