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Boophis picardi, a male paratype from An’Ala, Madagascar. Image credit: Vences et al., doi: 10.3897/vz.74.e121110.

Seven New Species of ‘Star Trek’ Treefrogs Found in Madagascar

Oct 15, 2024 by News Staff

In reference to the otherworldly sounds by which these treefrogs of the genus Boophis fill Malagasy rainforests, some of them reminiscent of sounds of...

Europa Clipper lifts off from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 12:06 p.m. EDT on October 14, 2024. Image credit: NASA / Kim Shiflett.

NASA’s Europa Clipper Spacecraft Launches to Jupiter’s Icy Moon

Oct 14, 2024 by News Staff

Europa Clipper lifted off from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 12:06 p.m. EDT on October 14, 2024 to begin a six-year journey to Jupiter’s...

A pair of Platypterigius sp. Image credit: Dmitry Bogdanov / CC BY 3.0.

New Species of Ichthyosaur Identified from Colombian Fossils

Oct 11, 2024 by Enrico de Lazaro

Paleontologists say they’ve identified a new species of marine reptile in the ophthalmosaurid genus Platypterygius that lived approximately 125 million...

The region of the nuclear chart 87≤Z≤97 and 112≤N≤136 shows the new isotope plutonium-227 (red star) and the 12 nuclides (blue star) that were discovered at the Institute of Modern Physics at the Chinese Academy of Sciences. Image credit: Huabin Yang.

Physicists Synthesize New Isotope of Plutonium

Oct 11, 2024 by News Staff

The newly-discovered isotope, plutonium-227, has a half-life of 0.78 seconds, according to a team of physicists from China. The region of the nuclear chart...

Life reconstruction of Ardetosaurus viator. Image credit: Ole Zant.

New Sauropod Dinosaur Discovered in Wyoming: Ardetosaurus viator

Oct 10, 2024 by Enrico de Lazaro

Paleontologists have identified a new genus and species of sauropod dinosaur from a semi-articulated specimen found in the 1990s in northern Wyoming, the...

Morphological features of Sheba. Image credit: Guy Eisner / Elaine Solowey / Sallon et al., doi: 10.1038/s42003-024-06721-5.

Long-Lost Myrrh Species Resurrected from 1,000-Year-Old Seed

Oct 8, 2024 by Natali Anderson

A team of biologists in Israel has grown an extinct — or at least extirpated — tree species of the myrrh genus Commiphora from an ancient seed...

While maintaining a population of Mnemiopsis leidyi in a seawater tank, Jokura et al. noticed an atypically large individual with two aboral ends and two apical organs. Image credit: Jokura et al., doi: 10.1016/j.cub.2024.07.084.

Two Injured Comb Jellies Can Fuse into Single Entity, Scientists Discover

Oct 7, 2024 by News Staff

Two injured individuals of Mnemiopsis leidyi, a species of planktonic animals known as comb jellies or ctenophores, are capable of rapidly fusing into...

A lower-fungus-farming worker of the rare fungus-farming ant species Mycetophylax asper, collected in Santa Catarina, Brazil, in 2014, on its fungus garden. Image credit: Don Parsons.

Dinosaur-Killing Asteroid Impact Turned Ants into Fungus Farmers, Study Says

Oct 4, 2024 by News Staff

Fungus-farming ants cultivate multiple species of fungi for food, but the history of fungus-ant co-evolution is poorly known. In a new study published...

Gondwanax paraisensis. Image credit: Rodrigo Temp Müller, doi: 10.1016/j.gr.2024.09.007.

New Species of Dinosaur Relative Discovered in Brazil

Oct 2, 2024 by Enrico de Lazaro

A new genus and species of silesaurid being named Gondwanax paraisensis has been identified from the fossilized remains discovered in Southern Brazil. Gondwanax...

This artist’s concept illustrates how tightly the three stars in the TIC 290061484 system orbit each other. If they were placed at the center of our solar system, all the stars’ orbits would be contained a space smaller than Mercury’s orbit around the Sun. The sizes of the triplet stars and the Sun are also to scale. Image credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center.

TESS Discovers Record-Breaking Triply-Eclipsing Triple Star

Oct 2, 2024 by News Staff

TIC 290061484 contains a pair of stars orbiting each other every 1.8 days, and a third star that circles the pair in just 25 days. The discovery smashes...

An artist’s impression of Barnard b. Image credit: ESO / M. Kornmesser.

Astronomers Detect Sub-Earth-Mass Exoplanet around Barnard’s Star

Oct 1, 2024 by News Staff

An exoplanet at least half the mass of Venus orbits Barnard’s star, the closest single star to the Sun, once every 3.15 days. An artist’s impression...

Campananeyen fragilissimus. Image credit: Fundación Azara.

Paleontologists Unveil New Species of Sauropod Dinosaur

Sep 30, 2024 by Enrico de Lazaro

Fossilized remains found in Patagonia, Argentina back in 2009 represent a new genus and species of plant-eating dinosaur that belonged to a group called...

Labocania anomala. Image credit: Karkemish / CC BY-SA 3.0.

New Tyrannosaur Species Unearthed in Mexico: Labocania aguillonae

Sep 26, 2024 by Enrico de Lazaro

Paleontologists have announced the discovery of a new species in the tyrannosaurid dinosaur genus Labocania, based on a partial skeleton found in Coahuila,...

An artist’s impression of an Earth-like planet in an orbit around a white dwarf. Image credit: Adam Makarenko.

Earth-Mass Exoplanet Found Orbiting Distant White Dwarf

Sep 26, 2024 by News Staff

Astronomers using the Keck II 10-m telescope have discovered evidence for an Earth-mass planet and a brown dwarf orbiting a white dwarf star. The planet...

Detailed information on the chemical makeup of GS-NDG-9422, captured by Webb’s NIRSpec (Near-Infrared Spectrograph) instrument, indicates that the light we see in this image is coming from the galaxy’s hot gas, rather than its stars. Image credit: NASA / ESA / CSA / STScI / A. Cameron, University of Oxford.

Webb Discovers Early Galaxy with Odd Light Signature

Sep 25, 2024 by News Staff

Astronomers using the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope have spotted a galaxy with a never-before-seen light signature — indicating that its...

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

Earth Will Have Mini-Moon for Two Months: 2024 PT5

Sep 23, 2024 by Natali Anderson

The recently-discovered near-Earth asteroid called 2024 PT5 will become Earth’s mini-moon from September 29 until November 25, 2024. 2024 PT5...

The 5D memory crystal. Image credit: University of Southampton.

Researchers Store Entire Human Genome on ‘Everlasting’ 5D Memory Crystal

Sep 20, 2024 by News Staff

Unlike other data storage formats that degrade over time, 5D memory crystals can store up to 360 terabytes of information without loss for billions of...

Tomkins et al. suggest that a large chondrite asteroid had a near miss encounter with Earth 466 million years ago, which caused it to break up as it passed through Earth’s Roche limit.

Earth Had Ring System 466 Million Years Ago, New Research Suggests

Sep 18, 2024 by News Staff

Breakup of an asteroid passing within Earth’s Roche limit likely formed the debris ring during the middle Ordovician period, according to new research...

Makrokylindrus itoi. Image credit: Javier Luque & Sarah Gerken, doi: 10.1111/ivb.12440.

Beautifully Preserved Comma Shrimp Fossil Found in Japan

Sep 17, 2024 by Sergio Prostak

Paleontologists have described a new species of fossil comma shrimp based on a well-preserved specimen found in the Japanese prefecture of Shizuoka. Makrokylindrus...