Featured News | Sci.News

In this image, the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has captured the brilliance of R136, a young star cluster in 30 Doradus. The image is composed of observations from both Hubble’s Wide Field Camera 3 and Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Paul Crowther, University of Sheffield.

Hubble Discovers Nine Extremely Massive Stars in R136

Mar 17, 2016 by News Staff

Using the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, astronomers have identified nine extremely massive stars in the young star cluster R136. In this image, the...

Paleontologists Solve Mystery of ‘Tully Monster’

Mar 17, 2016 by News Staff

A team of paleontologists from the United States has determined that Tullimonstrum gregarium (popularly known as the Tully monster) — a large soft-bodied...

This artist’s impression shows the very bright patches of material in the crater Occator and elsewhere. Image credit: ESO / L.Calçada / NASA / JPL-Caltech / UCLA / MPS / DLR / IDA / Steve Albers / N. Risinger, skysurvey.org.

HARPS Discovers Surprising Changes of Ceres’ Bright Spots

Mar 16, 2016 by News Staff

New observations using the High Accuracy Radial velocity Planet Searcher (HARPS) spectrograph – a high-precision instrument on the 3.6-m telescope at...

Reconstruction of Timurlengia euotica. Image credit: Todd Marshall.

Timurlengia euotica: New Species of Tyrannosaur Discovered in Uzbekistan

Mar 15, 2016 by Enrico de Lazaro

A new dinosaur cousin of T. rex – named Timurlengia euotica — has been found in the Kyzylkum Desert, northern Uzbekistan. A reconstruction of Timurlengia...

Artist’s impression visualizing the ExoMars 2016 TGO, with its thrusters firing, beginning its entry into Mars orbit. Image credit: ESA / ATG medialab.

ExoMars 2016 Blasts Off from Baikonur

Mar 14, 2016 by News Staff

The ExoMars 2016 mission blasted off from Kazakhstan’s Baikonur Cosmodrome atop a Proton-M rocket at 02:31 a.m. PDT (05:31 a.m. EDT, 09:31 a.m. GMT,...

New Species of Shieldtail Snake Discovered in India

Mar 12, 2016 by Enrico de Lazaro

A new species of snake, named the Khaire’s black shieldtail (Melanophidium khairei), has been discovered in India. The Khaire’s black shieldtail (Melanophidium...

An artist’s rendition of Teyujagua paradoxa. Image credit: Voltaire Neto.

Ancient Crocodile-Like Reptile Unearthed in Brazil: Teyujagua paradoxa

Mar 11, 2016 by Enrico de Lazaro

Fossil remains of a previously unknown species of reptile that lived about 250 million years ago (Triassic period) have been found in the Brazilian state...

Ideonella sakaiensis. Image credit: Shosuke Yoshida et al.

Ideonella sakaiensis: Newly-Discovered Bacterium Can Break Down, Metabolize Plastic

Mar 11, 2016 by Sergio Prostak

According to a group of biologists in Japan, the newfound species — named Ideonella sakaiensis 201-F6 — breaks down the plastic by using two...

An artist’s rendition of an early human habitat in Tanzania 1.8 million years ago. Image credit: M. Lopez-Herrera / Enrique Baquedano / Olduvai Paleoanthropology and Paleoecology Project.

Researchers Reconstruct African Landscape Where Early Humans Lived 1.8M Years Ago

Mar 10, 2016 by News Staff

Life in what is now Tanzania was difficult and dangerous 1.8 million years ago, according to a team of scientists from the United States, Switzerland and...

Mercury. Image credit: NASA / Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory / Carnegie Institution of Washington.

Planetary Researchers Explain Why Mercury’s Surface is So Dark

Mar 8, 2016 by News Staff

According to a team of planetary scientists led by Dr. Patrick Peplowski of the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, planet Mercury’s...

Scientists Discover New Kind of Stem Cell: iXEN

Mar 4, 2016 by News Staff

A team of researchers led by Michigan State University biochemist and molecular biologist Amy Ralston has discovered a new kind of stem cell — induced...

GN-z11. Image credit: NASA / ESA / P. Oesch, Yale University / G. Brammer, STScI / P. van Dokkum, Yale University / G. Illingworth, University of California, Santa Cruz.

GN-z11: Astronomers Discover Farthest Galaxy Yet

Mar 3, 2016 by Sergio Prostak

Using the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, astronomers have found a surprisingly bright, infant galaxy 13.4 billion light-years from us, making it the...

Astronomers Detect Repeating Fast Radio Burst

Mar 2, 2016 by Enrico de Lazaro

For the first time, astronomers have detected repeating short bursts of radio waves — so-called fast radio bursts — coming from an extremely...

Solar System and the interstellar medium. Image credit: NASA / IBEX / Adler Planetarium.

Scientists Determine Strength, Direction of Local Interstellar Magnetic Field

Feb 29, 2016 by Enrico de Lazaro

Using data from NASA’s Interstellar Boundary Explorer (IBEX), researchers have accurately determined the strength and direction of the magnetic field...

X(5568). Image credit: V.M. Abazov et al. / Fermilab.

Physicists Discover New Tetraquark Particle: X(5568)

Feb 26, 2016 by Sergio Prostak

Physicists on the DZero international collaboration at Fermilab, the U.S. Department of Energy’s laboratory specializing in high-energy particle physics,...

11,000-year-old pendant. Image credit: Milner, N. et al. / Internet Archaeology, doi: 10.11141/ia.40.8.

Archaeologists Find 11,000-Year-Old Engraved Pendant in Britain

Feb 26, 2016 by News Staff

An 11,000-year-old engraved shale pendant has been found during excavations at the Early Mesolithic site of Star Carr, UK. 11,000-year-old engraved shale...

An artist’s impression of FRB 110523 reaching Earth; the colors represent the burst arriving at different radio wavelengths, with long wavelengths (red) arriving seconds after short wavelengths (blue). Image credit: Jingchuan Yu / Beijing Planetarium.

Astronomers Detect Host Galaxy of Fast Radio Burst for the First Time

Feb 25, 2016 by Enrico de Lazaro

An international team of astronomers reported today that they had tracked down the location of a so-called fast radio burst (FRB), a mysterious and rarely...

This is an illustrated rendition of two male glyptodonts (Doedicurus clavicaudatus); massive, club-shaped tails were probably used more for intraspecific combat than defense against predators. Image credit: Peter Schouten.

Researchers Sequence Mitochondrial Genome of Glyptodont

Feb 23, 2016 by Natali Anderson

An international group of scientists has successfully sequenced the whole mitochondrial genome of the ancient glyptodont – a heavily armored herbivorous...

The Iberian grass snake (Natrix astreptophora). Image credit: Wolfgang Böhme.

Iberian Grass Snake: Cryptic New Species of Snake Identified

Feb 23, 2016 by Enrico de Lazaro

An international team of scientists from Czech Republic, France and Germany has identified a cryptic new species of grass snake living in the North African...