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The high-quality genome sequence of the bottle gourd (Lagenaria siceraria) provides a useful resource for plant comparative genomics studies and cucurbit improvement. Image credit: Alice Paipai.

Scientists Sequence Calabash Genome

Dec 4, 2017 by News Staff

An international team of researchers has produced the first high-quality genome sequence for the bottle gourd, also known as calabash, and reconstructed...

Ancient DNA Shakes Up Horse Family Tree

Dec 3, 2017 by News Staff

An analysis of mitochondrial and nuclear DNA from fossils of extinct New World stilt-legged horses reveals that, contrary to previous findings, these enigmatic...

According to Alvarenga et al, dogs are brainier than cats. Image credit: Rihaij.

Dogs Have More Brain Neurons Than Cats, New Study Says

Dec 1, 2017 by News Staff

According to the first study to count the number of cortical neurons in the brains of a number of carnivores, dogs have about 530 million cortical neurons...

Colony of Hamipterus tianshanensis. Image credit: Chuang Zhao.

Paleontologists Find Cache of 215 Pterosaur Eggs in China

Dec 1, 2017 by News Staff

An international team of paleontologists has discovered a fossil-rich site with more than 200 fossilized eggs of the Cretaceous pterosaur species Hamipterus...

A still frame from the Patterson-Gimlin film, a famous motion picture of an unidentified subject filmed on October 20, 1967 by Roger Patterson and Robert Gimlin on Bluff Creek, a tributary of the Klamath River about 25 road miles north-west of Orleans, California.

Purported Yeti Samples Are Genetically Identical to Asian Bears, DNA Study Says

Nov 30, 2017 by News Staff

The Yeti, a mysterious ‘hominid’-like creature said to inhabit the high mountains of Asia, looms large in the mythology of Nepal and Tibet. Now, a...

An ALMA image of the center of the Milky Way Galaxy showing the location of 11 young protostars within about 3 light-years of Sagittarius A*. The lines indicate the direction of the bipolar lobes created by high-velocity jets from the protostars. The illustrated star in the middle of the image indicates the location of Sagittarius A*. Image credit: ALMA / Yusef-Zadeh et al / B. Saxton / ESO / NAOJ / NRAO / AUI / NSF.

ALMA Spots Eleven Protostars near Milky Way’s Central Black Hole

Nov 30, 2017 by News Staff

The Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) has revealed the telltale signs of 11 low-mass stars forming close – within just 3 light-years...

The Mariana snailfish (Pseudoliparis swirei). Image credit: Mackenzie Gerringer, University of Washington.

Meet Mariana Snailfish, World’s Deepest-Dwelling Fish

Nov 29, 2017 by News Staff

In the frigid darkness of the Mariana Trench swims the world’s deepest-living fish — the Mariana snailfish (Pseudoliparis swirei). The Mariana...

This image, taken with the Wide Field Imager camera on the 2.2-m MPG/ESO telescope at ESO’s La Silla Observatory in Chile, shows the Sculptor dwarf galaxy. Image credit: ESO.

3D Motions of Stars in Sculptor Dwarf Galaxy Hint at Underlying Dark Matter

Nov 28, 2017 by News Staff

Based on the combination of data taken 12 years apart by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope and ESA’s Gaia mission, astronomers have pinned down for...

Proton is a subatomic particle found in the nucleus of every atom. This artist’s impression shows a proton and a neutron. Image credit: Joanna Griffin / Jefferson Lab / Penn State.

Physicists Precisely Measure Proton’s Magnetic Moment

Nov 27, 2017 by Enrico de Lazaro

In a paper published in the journal Science, a team of physicists from Japan and Germany reports the most precise measurement ever made of the magnetic...

This image from NASA’s Cassini spacecraft shows Saturn and its rings. Six of Saturn’s moons make a faint appearance in this image: the ice-covered moon Enceladus can be seen at the 1 o’clock position; directly below Enceladus, just outside the F ring (the thin, farthest ring from the planet seen in this image) lies the small moon Epimetheus; following the F ring clock-wise from Epimetheus, the next moon seen is Janus; at about the 4:30 position and outward from the F ring is Mimas; inward of Mimas and still at about the 4:30 position is the F-ring-disrupting moon, Pandora; moving around to the 10 o’clock position, just inside of the F ring, is the moon Prometheus. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / Space Science Institute.

NASA’s Cassini Team Releases Stunning Natural-Color Image of Saturn

Nov 23, 2017 by News Staff

After more than 13 years at Saturn, NASA’s Cassini spacecraft bid farewell to the Saturnian system by firing the shutters of its wide-angle camera and...

Rafflesia kemumu. Image credit: Susatya et al / Ministry of Environment and Forestry Republic of Indonesia.

New Species of Rafflesia Discovered in Indonesia

Nov 22, 2017 by Enrico de Lazaro

An international team of scientists from the United States and Indonesia has described a new species of flowering plant of the genus Rafflesia from the...

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

Interstellar Asteroid Oumuamua is Dark Red, Highly-Elongated Rocky or Metallic Object, Astronomers Say

Nov 21, 2017 by News Staff

In October 2017, astronomers were surprised by an asteroid that came racing into our Solar System from interstellar space. Now, they have determined that...

This artist’s impression shows the super-Earth 55 Cancri e orbiting the Sun-like star 55 Cancri A. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech.

Super-Earth 55 Cancri e Could Have Thick, Earth-Like Atmosphere

Nov 20, 2017 by News Staff

A hot, rocky exoplanet called 55 Cancri e likely has an atmosphere thicker than Earth’s, with ingredients that could be similar to those of Earth’s...

HAWC map for the region around Geminga (about 815 light-years away in the constellation Gemini) and PSR B0656+14 (about 940 light-years away). Image credit: John Pretz.

Nearby Pulsars Shed Light on Origin of Excess Antimatter

Nov 17, 2017 by News Staff

Astrophysicists using the High-Altitude Water Cherenkov (HAWC) Gamma-Ray Observatory in Mexico have detected the extended emission of high-energy gamma...

This illustration shows a stream of material from a star as it is being devoured by a supermassive black hole in a tidal disruption flare. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech.

New Type of Highly Energetic Cosmic Explosion Discovered

Nov 16, 2017 by Natali Anderson

Astronomers have spotted a new type of extremely energetic cosmic explosion they think originates from a very massive star or the environment of a supermassive...

The 110-step trackway represents a new ichnospecies, Brontopodus plagnensis, and extends over 508 feet -- a world record for sauropods, which were the largest of the dinosaurs. Image credit: P. Dumas.

World’s Longest Sauropod Trackway Found in France

Nov 16, 2017 by Enrico de Lazaro

The trackway of a plant-eating sauropod dinosaur has been excavated in the Jura Mountains, France. This 508-foot (155 m) line of footsteps is the longest...

This artist’s impression shows Ross 128b, with its red dwarf parent star in the background. Image credit: M. Kornmesser / ESO.

Ross 128b: Astronomers Find Exo-Earth Orbiting Nearby Red Dwarf

Nov 15, 2017 by Natali Anderson

A rocky exoplanet roughly the same size as Earth has been discovered orbiting a nearby low-mass star, thanks to new data gathered by ESO’s High Accuracy...

Huge Trove of Medieval Gold and Silver Coins Unearthed in France

Nov 15, 2017 by Enrico de Lazaro

A hoard of 21 Islamic gold dinars, 2,200 silver coins, and gold artifacts dating to the 12th century CE has been unearthed by archaeologists digging at...

Typophyllum spurioculis. Image credit: Andrew Baker.

New Species of Leaf-Mimicking Insect Discovered in South America

Nov 14, 2017 by News Staff

A team of entomologists from the University of Toronto Mississauga, Canada, and the University of Lincoln’s Joseph Banks Laboratories, UK, has discovered...