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Artist’s impression of Planet Nine. Image credit: Tom Ruen / ESO.

Our Tilting Solar System Could Hint at Properties of Proposed Planet Nine

Aug 12, 2016 by James Romero

A Cornell University Professor’s recalculation of models linking a proposed 9th solar system planet to a slant in the orbital plane around our Sun could...

Cassini caught the sunlight glinting off Titan's seas and lakes filled with liquid methane or ethane. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / University of Arizona / University of Idaho.

Cassini Spots Liquid Methane-Filled Canyons on Titan

Aug 11, 2016 by Natali Anderson

Liquid methane-filled canyons hundreds to thousands of feet deep etch the surface of Saturn’s largest moon, according to researchers with NASA’s Cassini...

Blue whirl. Image credit: University of Maryland.

Blue Whirl: Scientists Discover New Type of Fire Tornado

Aug 10, 2016 by Enrico de Lazaro

A team of scientists at the University of Maryland has discovered a beautiful, swirling flame phenomenon, the ‘blue whirl,’ which evolves from a fire...

Meiosis: dividing pollen mother cells. Image credit: Josef Reischig / CC BY-SA 3.0.

Researchers Identify Down Syndrome Gene

Aug 10, 2016 by News Staff

An international team of researchers from Singapore and the United Kingdom has identified an enzyme that regulates the production of sperm and egg cells...

250,000-year-old stone tool that tested positive for rhino protein residue. Image credit: April Nowell.

Hominins Used Stone Tools to Butcher Rhinos, Other Animals 250,000 Years Ago

Aug 9, 2016 by News Staff

New research led by University of Victoria’s April Nowell reveals surprisingly sophisticated adaptations by early humans living 250,000 years ago in...

Echovenator sandersi: Oligocene Whale Had Ultrasonic Hearing

Aug 8, 2016 by Enrico de Lazaro

27-million-year-old fossil of newly-discovered toothed whale species provides clues about evolution of high-frequency hearing. Echovenator sandersi produces...

Artistic image of light trapped on the surface of a topological insulator. Image credit: Vincenzo Giannini.

Physicists Suggest Light Could Exist in Previously Unknown Form

Aug 5, 2016 by News Staff

According to a team of physicists at Imperial College London (ICL), UK, it is possible to create a new form of light by binding light to a single electron,...

This artist’s concept depicts a super-Earth. Image credit: NASA / Ames / JPL-Caltech.

Astronomers Create Catalog of Potentially Habitable Earth-Like Exoplanets

Aug 4, 2016 by Enrico de Lazaro

A team of astronomers from the United States and France has pinpointed which of 4,270 exoplanets discovered by NASA’s Kepler mission are most likely...

Dawn Orbiter Provides Clues to Internal Structure of Dwarf Planet Ceres

Aug 4, 2016 by Enrico de Lazaro

Using data from NASA’s Dawn spacecraft about Ceres’ gravity and topography, mission scientists have found that the dwarf planet is ‘differentiated,’...

Torvosaurus gurneyi. Image credit: © Sergey Krasovskiy.

Dinosaurs Had Bird-Like Color Vision, Gene Discovery Suggests

Aug 3, 2016 by News Staff

According to an international team of scientists led by Dr. Nicholas Mundy at the University of Cambridge, a gene for red color vision that originated...

This is an artist’s rendition of a woolly mammoth (Mammuthus primigenius). Image credit: Flying Puffin / CC BY-SA 2.0.

Freshwater Scarcity Led to Extinction of Woolly Mammoths on Alaska’s Saint Paul Island

Aug 2, 2016 by News Staff

While the famous Minoan culture was just beginning, woolly mammoths (Mammuthus primigenius) were disappearing from Saint Paul Island, according to a group...

Solar cells. Image credit: Airman 1st Class Nadine Y. Barclay / U.S. Air Force.

Photosynthetic Solar Cell Converts Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide, Sunlight into Fuel

Aug 1, 2016 by News Staff

An international team of researchers and engineers from South Korea and the United States has developed a solar cell that efficiently converts carbon dioxide...

Artist’s concept of the mechanism of heating from the Great Red Spot. Turbulent atmospheric flows above the storm produce both gravity waves and acoustic waves. Gravity waves are much like how a guitar string moves when plucked, while acoustic waves are compressions of the air (sound waves). Heating in the upper atmosphere 500 miles (805 km) above the storm is thought to be caused by a combination of these two wave types ‘crashing’ like ocean waves on a beach. Image credit: Karen Teramura, University of Hawaii at Manoa / James O’Donoghue, Boston University.

Great Red Spot Heats Jupiter’s Upper Atmosphere

Jul 28, 2016 by News Staff

The upper atmosphere above Jupiter’s Great Red Spot – the largest storm in the Solar System – is hundreds of degrees hotter than anywhere...

This artist’s impression shows AR Scorpii. In this unique double star a rapidly spinning white dwarf star (right) powers electrons up to almost the speed of light. These high energy particles release blasts of radiation that lash the companion red dwarf star (left) and cause the entire system to pulse dramatically every 1.97 minutes with radiation ranging from the ultraviolet to radio. Image credit: M. Garlick / University of Warwick / ESO.

Astronomers Find New Type of Binary Star

Jul 27, 2016 by News Staff

Astronomers announced today that they have discovered a new type of binary star, in which a rapidly-spinning white dwarf star sweeps powerful beams of...

Aedes aegypti biting human. Image credit: James Gathany / CDC.

First Confirmed Transmission of Zika Virus by Aedes aegypti Mosquitoes

Jul 26, 2016 by News Staff

Led by University of Texas Medical Branch researcher Prof. Scott Weaver, an international team of scientists is the first to directly connect Aedes aegypti...

Venus in real colors, processed from Mariner 10 images. Image credit: Mattias Malmer / NASA.

Clouds High in Venus’ Atmosphere Reveal Features on Planet’s Surface

Jul 26, 2016 by News Staff

Using data from ESA’s Venus Express spacecraft, European planetary researchers have shown how weather patterns seen in Venus’ cloud layers are directly...

Graham. Image credit: Transport Accident Commission of Victoria, Australia.

Graham: Hypothetical Human Who Can Survive High-Speed Car Crash

Jul 25, 2016 by News Staff

Australian artist Patricia Piccinini, trauma surgeons and crash investigation experts have collaborated to produce ‘Graham,’ an educational tool for...

Murusraptor barrosaensis: New Dinosaur Species Discovered in Argentina

Jul 22, 2016 by Enrico de Lazaro

A new species of theropod dinosaur has been discovered by a duo of paleontologists – Prof. Philip Currie from the University of Alberta in Canada and...

Exoplanets TRAPPIST-1b and c Confirmed to be Rocky

Jul 21, 2016 by Enrico de Lazaro

TRAPPIST-1b and c, the two innermost planets in the three-planet system TRAPPIST-1, are primarily rocky, unlike gas giants such as Jupiter, according to...