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Hidden in this deep sky image (left) is Uma3/U1, a miniscule group of stars (right) bound together by their own gravity in orbit around the Milky Way Galaxy. Image credit: CFHT / S. Gwyn / S. Smith.

Astronomers Discover Faintest Known Milky Way Satellite

Apr 1, 2024 by Enrico de Lazaro

Ursa Major III/UNIONS 1 (UMa3/U1 for short) is the least luminous and lowest-mass Milky Way satellite ever discovered, and possibly one of the most dark...

This image from the Event Horizon Telescope shows the polarized view of Sagittarius A*; the lines overlaid on this image mark the orientation of polarization, which is related to the magnetic field around the shadow of the black hole. Image credit: EHT Collaboration.

Event Horizon Telescope Observes Twisted Magnetic Field around Milky Way’s Central Black Hole

Mar 27, 2024 by News Staff

According to astronomers’ best models of black hole evolution, the magnetic fields in the accretion disk need to be strong enough to push the accreting...

Paleoenvironmental reconstruction of the Early Eocene continental communities of Seymour Island: a large cariamiform bird hunting a medium-sized ungulate and staring at Notiolofos regueroi, a couple of marsupials on a tree, Antarctoboenus carlinii flying on the sky, and a flightless Ratites in the back. Image credit: Carolina Acosta Hospitaleche & Washington Jones, doi: 10.26879/1340.

Giant Terror Birds Were Apex Predators of Eocene-Period Antarctica

Mar 25, 2024 by Enrico de Lazaro

Paleontologists have unearthed two fossilized phalanges of an ancient carnivorous bird on Seymour Island, Antarctica. Paleoenvironmental reconstruction...

Artistic reconstruction of Pebanista yacuruna. Image credit: Jaime Bran.

Giant Freshwater Dolphins Once Lived in Proto-Amazonia

Mar 21, 2024 by Natali Anderson

Pebanista yacuruna is the closest relative of living South Asian river dolphins (genus Platanista). Artistic reconstruction of Pebanista yacuruna. Image...

Excastra albopilosa. Image credit: James Tweed.

New Species of Fluffy Beetle Discovered in Australia

Mar 21, 2024 by Natali Anderson

Entomologists have discovered a remarkable new genus and species of longhorn beetle living in the subtropical rainforests of southeastern Queensland, Australia. Excastra...

Khinjaria acuta. Image credit: Andrey Atuchin.

New Mosasaur Species from Morocco Had Dagger-Like, Interlocking Teeth

Mar 19, 2024 by Enrico de Lazaro

Paleontologists have described a bizarre new species of mosasaurid based on a skull and parts of the skeleton collected from a phosphate mine southeast...

The blue whale (Balaenoptera musculus). Image credit: NOAA.

Researchers Sequence Genome of Blue Whale

Mar 19, 2024 by Enrico de Lazaro

An international team of scientists has produced a reference-quality, long-read-based genome assembly for the blue whale (Balaenoptera musculus). The blue...

An artist’s reconstruction of the spinosaurid dinosaur Baryonyx. Image credit: Andrey Atuchin / CC BY 4.0 Deed.

New Spinosaurid Dinosaur Species Identified in Spain

Mar 18, 2024 by Enrico de Lazaro

A new genus and species of spinosaurid dinosaur being named Riojavenatrix lacustris has been discovered by University of the Basque Country paleontologist...

Life reconstruction of Franconiasaurus brevispinus. Image credit: Joschua Knüppe.

New Species of Plesiosaur Unearthed in Germany

Mar 15, 2024 by Enrico de Lazaro

A new genus and species of plesiosaur that lived near the onset of the Early-Middle Jurassic turnover has been identified from two exquisite, three-dimensionally...

Life reconstruction of Peltocephalus maturin. Image credit: Júlia d‘Oliveira.

Fossil of Giant Freshwater Turtle Discovered in Brazilian Amazon

Mar 14, 2024 by Enrico de Lazaro

Peltocephalus maturin possibly reached about 1.8 m (5.9 feet) in carapace length and is among the largest freshwater turtles ever found. This finding presents...

Noctis Mons. Image credit: NASA / USGS / Lee et al.

Planetary Scientists Discover Giant Shield Volcano on Mars

Mar 13, 2024 by News Staff

Provisionally designated Noctis Mons, the newly-discovered volcano is located just south of Mars’ equator, in Eastern Noctis Labyrinthus, west of Valles...

New Species of Dwarf Deer Discovered in Peru

Mar 11, 2024 by Natali Anderson

Pudella carlae is the first living cervid species described in the 21st century and the first from the New World in over six decades. Pudella carlae. Image...

Fossilized ripple marks on the floor of the Calamophyton forest. Image credit: Neil Davies.

Earth’s Oldest Known Fossil Forest Discovered in England

Mar 7, 2024 by Enrico de Lazaro

The 390-million-year-old forest landscape, archived within the Eifelian Hangman Sandstone Formation of Somerset and Devon in England, is roughly 4 million...

First peopling of Europe. Image credit: Garba et al., doi: 10.1038/s41586-024-07151-3.

1.4-Million-Year-Old Stone Tools Found in Ukraine Document Earliest Hominin Occupation of Europe

Mar 7, 2024 by Sergio Prostak

Archaeologists have dated an assemblage of ancient stone tools excavated from the archaeological site of Korolevo on the Tysa River in western Ukraine...

Qi Zai, the only brown panda living in captivity. Image credit: Ailie HM / CC BY-SA 4.0 Deed.

Scientists Solve Mystery of Brown Giant Pandas

Mar 6, 2024 by Natali Anderson

Brown-and-white giant pandas are distinct coat color mutants found exclusively in the Qinling Mountains of China. Qi Zai, the only brown panda living in...

This illustration shows charged particles from Jupiter impacting Europa’s surface, splitting frozen water molecules into oxygen and hydrogen molecules; scientists believe some of these newly created oxygen gases could migrate toward the moon’s subsurface ocean, as depicted in the inset image. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / SWRI / PU.

Europa Produces Less Oxygen than Previously Thought

Mar 4, 2024 by News Staff

Using data from the Jovian Auroral Distributions Experiment (JADE) instrument onboard NASA’s Juno spacecraft, planetary scientists have calculated the...

Reconstruction of Perucetus colossus in its coastal habitat; the associated sawfish, Pristis, was recovered from the same unit in the East Pisco Basin, the Yumaque Member of the Paracas Formation, Peru. Image credit: A. Gennari.

Giant Fossil Whale Perucetus Did Not Exceed Body Mass of Today’s Blue Whales: Study

Mar 4, 2024 by News Staff

Paleontologists from the University of California, Davis, and Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of Natural History estimate that Perucetus colossus,...

Astronomers estimate 50,000 sources of near-infrared light are represented in this Webb image of the galaxy cluster Abell 2744. Image credit: NASA / ESA / CSA / I. Labbe, Swinburne University of Technology / R. Bezanson, University of Pittsburgh / A. Pagan, STScI.

Photons from Dwarf Galaxies Reionized Early Universe, New Research Suggests

Feb 29, 2024 by News Staff

The reionization of the Universe occurred some 500 to 900 million years after the Big Bang. It represents the transformation of neutral hydrogen into ionized...

Danionella cerebrum has a pair of extrinsic, indirect sonic muscles that house the drumming cartilage. When a sonic muscle contracts, the fifth rib is pulled anteriorly and builds tension as it pulls the cartilage. The sudden release of the cartilage causes it to rapidly strike the swim bladder, producing a short, loud pulse. A burst of pulses is generated with either bilaterally alternating or unilateral muscle contractions. In sum, this mechanism enables loud and stereotyped sounds that can be elicited in structured sequences, making it a unique solution for acoustic communication and ultrafast skeletal motion in vertebrates surpassing the limitation of muscle contraction speed. Image credit: Ralf Britz, Senckenberg Natural History Collections.

Miniature Cyprinid Fish Can Produce Sounds over 140 dB, Ichthyologists Say

Feb 27, 2024 by News Staff

Danionella cerebrum, a translucent fish species of only 12 mm length, produces high amplitude sounds exceeding 140 dB (re. 1 µPa, at a distance of one...