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Restoration of Dinocephalosaurus orientalis depicted among a shoal of the large, predatory actinopterygian fish, Saurichthys. Image credit: Marlene Donnelly.

Dinocephalosaurus was Fully Marine Reptile and Even Gave Birth at Sea, Paleontologists Say

Feb 23, 2024 by News Staff

Paleontologists from Germany, China, the United Kingdom and the United States have described in detail Dinocephalosaurus orientalis, a remarkable marine...

Webb observed the best evidence yet for emission from a neutron star in SN 1987A. Image credit: NASA / ESA / CSA / STScI / C. Fransson, Stockholm University / M. Matsuura, Cardiff University / M.J. Barlow, University College London / P.J. Kavanagh, Maynooth University / J. Larsson, KTH Royal Institute of Technology.

Webb Detects Emission from Neutron Star in Supernova 1987A Remnant

Feb 23, 2024 by News Staff

SN 1987A is the only supernova visible to the naked eye in the last 400 years and the most studied supernova in history. The event was a core-collapse...

This image of the exceptional quasar J0529-4351 is from the Dark Energy Camera Legacy Survey DR10; a neighboring M star appears in red. Image credit: Wolf et al., doi: 10.1038/s41550-024-02195-x.

Astronomers Discover Most Luminous Quasar Ever Observed

Feb 21, 2024 by Sergio Prostak

The black hole in the newly-discovered quasar SMSS J052915.80-435152.0 (hereafter called J0529-4351) accretes around one solar mass per day onto an existing...

Eunectes akayima. Image credit: Rivas et al., doi: 10.3390/d16020127.

New Species of Anaconda Discovered in Orinoco Basin

Feb 20, 2024 by Natali Anderson

An international team of herpetologists led by New Mexico Highlands University and University of Queensland scientists has described a cryptic new species...

Hypothetical reconstruction of Yanbeilong ultimus. Image credit: Ddinodan / Sci.News.

Paleontologists Discover New Stegosaur Species

Feb 19, 2024 by Enrico de Lazaro

In a new paper published on January 31, 2024 in the journal Historical Biology, paleontologists announced the discovery of a previously undocumented species...

The 4,750-year-old circular plaza is at center with the modern city of Cajamarca in the background. Image credit: Toohey et al., doi: 10.1126/sciadv.adl0572.

4,750-Year-Old Monumental Stone Plaza Discovered in Peru

Feb 19, 2024 by Enrico de Lazaro

A team of anthropologists from the University of Wyoming, the University of California, Santa Barbara and the University of New Hampshire has discovered...

Physicists Create Five New Isotopes of Thulium, Ytterbium and Lutetium

Feb 19, 2024 by News Staff

Physicists using the Advanced Rare Isotope Separator (ARIS) at the Facility for Rare Isotope Beams (FRIB) have produced, separated, and identified five...

An artist’s reconstruction of the Blinkerwall in the Bay of Mecklenburg, Germany. Image credit: Michał Grabowski.

Stone Age Hunting Megastructure Discovered in Baltic Sea

Feb 14, 2024 by Sergio Prostak

A team of archaeologists from Germany has discovered a submerged Stone Age megastructure in the Western Baltic Sea at a water depth of about 21 m. The...

Life reconstruction of Jiangxititan ganzhouensis. Image credit: UnexpectedDinoLesson / Sci.News.

New Species of Titanosaur Unearthed in China

Feb 13, 2024 by Enrico de Lazaro

Paleontologists in China have found fossil fragments from a new genus and species of titanosaurian sauropod dinosaur that walked the Earth during the Cretaceous...

La Prele bone bead showing polished ends (upper) and side view with incisions (lower). Image credit: Surovell et al., doi: 10.1038/s41598-024-53390-9.

12,940-Year-Old Bone Bead Found in Wyoming

Feb 13, 2024 by Enrico de Lazaro

Archaeologists have discovered an ancient tube-shaped bead made of hare bone at the La Prele Mammoth site in Wyoming, the United States. This is the oldest...

An artistic reconstruction of the Cabrières Biota: in the foreground, a row of Ampyx (trilobites) and various shelly organisms, including brachiopods and a hyolith (bottom left corner); behind the trilobites, a lobopodian, a chelicerate, cnidarians (blue), sponges (green), thin branching algae (red and green) and hemichordate tubes (purple), along with some mollusks; bivalved arthropods inhabit the water column along with graptolites. Image credit: Christian McCall, Prehistorica Art.

Unique Fossil Site Discovered in France Provides Insights into Ordovician Polar Ecosystems

Feb 9, 2024 by Enrico de Lazaro

In a new paper in the journal Nature Ecology & Evolution, paleontologists described the diversity of the Cabrières Biota, a new Early Ordovician site...

Mimas’ surface, like the surfaces of most of the other major Saturnian moons without atmospheres, is not pure ice but contains some dark impurities; the relatively dark markings appear along the lower portion of the walls of the 130-km-wide Herschel Crater (the peak in the middle of the crater is about as tall as Mount Everest; the impact that made it likely almost destroyed the moon) and some of the smaller craters; scientists interpret this darkening as evidence for the gradual concentration of impurities from evaporating icy materials in areas where the dark impurities slide slowly down the crater wall. Image credit: NASA / JPL / Space Science Institute.

Saturn’s Moon Mimas Harbors Global Ocean beneath Its Icy Shell, Study Suggests

Feb 7, 2024 by News Staff

From detailed analysis of Mimas’ orbital motion based on data from NASA’s Cassini mission, planetary researchers from Sorbonne Université, Nantes...

Glikmanius careforum. Image credit: Benji Paynose.

Two New Species of Carboniferous Ctenacanth Sharks Identified in the United States

Feb 7, 2024 by News Staff

A focused search for ancient marine vertebrates during a paleontological resource inventory of Mammoth Cave National Park has yielded a wealth of new fossil...

Life reconstruction of Inawentu oslatus. Image credit: Gabriel Lio.

New Cretaceous-Era Titanosaur Species Discovered in Argentina

Feb 6, 2024 by Enrico de Lazaro

A new genus and species of rebbachisaurid-mimicking titanosaurian sauropod that stretched over 15 m (50 feet) has been unearthed in Patagonia, Argentina. Life...

Life reconstruction of Harajicadectes zhumini. Image credit: Brian Choo, Flinders University.

380-Million-Year-Old Fossils of Air-Breathing Tetrapod Fish Found in Australia

Feb 6, 2024 by Enrico de Lazaro

Flinders University paleontologist Brian Choo and his colleagues have described a new genus and species of Devonian tetrapodomorph fish based on several...

An artist’s reconstruction of Ceoptera evansae. Image credit: Mark Witton / Natural History Museum, London.

New Pterosaur Species Identified from Skye Fossils

Feb 5, 2024 by Enrico de Lazaro

A new genus and species of pterosaur has been identified from the fossilized material found in the Kilmaluag Formation of the Isle of Skye, Scotland. An...

An artist’s impression of the super-Earth exoplanet TOI-715b. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech.

Astronomers Find Super-Earth Exoplanet in Habitable Zone of TOI-715

Feb 5, 2024 by Natali Anderson

Using data from NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS), astronomers have discovered and characterized a habitable zone planet orbiting the...

Sanfordiacaulis densifolia. Image credit: Tim Stonesifer.

Early Carboniferous Tree Species Had Unique Crown Shape

Feb 5, 2024 by Natali Anderson

Sanfordiacaulis densifolia is an extinct tree species that existed between 359 and 347 million years ago (Carboniferous period) in what is now New Brunswick,...

The clouded tiger cat (Leopardus pardinoides). Image credit: Johannes Pfleiderer.

Scientists Identify Cryptic New Species of Tiger Cat

Jan 31, 2024 by Natali Anderson

In 2013, the oncilla (Leopardus tigrinus), a species of small spotted cat from the Americas, was split into two species: the northern tiger cat (Leopardus...