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An artist’s depiction of Eoneophron infernalis (top left), Anzu wyliei (right) and another caenagnathid dinosaur (bottom left) in the Hell Creek Formation. Image credit: Zubin Erik Dutta.

Paleontologists Discover New Species of Oviraptorosaur in South Dakota

Jan 25, 2024 by Sergio Prostak

A team of paleontologists from Oklahoma State University, the University of Toronto and Royal Ontario Museum has added another species of caenagnathid...

The water detection in the transit spectrum of Gliese 9827d makes it the first water world candidate with an atmospheric water detection consistent with a water-rich envelope. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Leah Hustak, STScI / Ralf Crawford, STScI.

Hubble Detects Water Vapor in Atmosphere of Gliese 9827d

Jan 25, 2024 by News Staff

Using the Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3) instrument onboard the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, astronomers have detected water vapor in the transmission...

Coffea arabica. Image credit: Fadhil Asqar.

Scientists Produce Chromosome-Scale Genome Sequence for Arabica Coffee

Jan 24, 2024 by Natali Anderson

Researchers from the Istituto di Genomica Applicata and elsewhere have released an improved genome assembly for Arabica coffee (Coffea arabica), a hybrid...

This artwork shows three mammoths being watched by a family of ancient Alaskans from the dunes near the Swan Point archaeological site, a seasonal hunting camp occupied 14,000 years ago. Image credit: Julius Csostonyi.

Female Woolly Mammoth’s Lifetime Movements Tied to Ancient Alaskan Hunter-Gatherer Camp

Jan 19, 2024 by News Staff

Woolly mammoths (Mammuthus primigenius) in mainland Alaska overlapped with the region’s first people for at least 1,000 years. However, it is unclear...

Life restoration of the aetosaur Typothorax coccinarum. Image credit: Smokeybjb.

New Aetosaur Species Unearthed in Texas

Jan 18, 2024 by Enrico de Lazaro

A new genus and species of large-bodied aetosaur that lived some 218 million years ago has been described from a significant portion of carapace found...

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.

Webb Detects Oldest Black Hole Yet Known

Jan 18, 2024 by News Staff

Astronomers using the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope have detected a small and vigorous black hole in GN-z11, an exceptionally luminous galaxy...

Magerifelis peignei. Image credit: Jesús Gamarra.

New Prehistoric Cat Species Discovered in Spain

Jan 17, 2024 by Natali Anderson

Paleontologists at the Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales-CSIC have identified a new genus and species of medium-sized feline from a partial jaw found...

The portrait of Homo longi. Image credit: Cicero Moraes, doi: 10.6084/m9.figshare.24648591.

Face of Homo longi Reconstructed

Jan 15, 2024 by Sergio Prostak

A Brazilian anthropologist has reconstructed the face of the archaic human species Homo longi from a well-preserved skull discovered in northeastern China...

HD 63433d sits close to its parent star, HD 63433, while two neighboring, mini-Neptune-sized planets, HD 63433b and HD 63433c, orbit farther out. Image credit: Alyssa Jankowski.

Earth-Sized Exoplanet Found Orbiting HD 63433

Jan 15, 2024 by Enrico de Lazaro

Using NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS), astronomers have spotted an Earth-sized planet transiting the young Sun-like star HD 63433. HD...

Life reconstruction of Tyrannosaurus mcraeensis. Image credit: Sergey Krasovskiy.

New Species of Giant Tyrannosaur Discovered in New Mexico

Jan 12, 2024 by Enrico de Lazaro

The discovery of Tyrannosaurus mcraeensis, a sister species of the famous Tyrannosaurus rex, suggests that tyrannosaurid dinosaurs originated on Laramidia,...

An artist’s impression of a group of Gigantopithecus blacki within a forest in southern China. Image credit: Garcia / Joannes-Boyau, Southern Cross University.

Gigantopithecus Went Extinct between 295,000 and 215,000 Years Ago, New Study Says

Jan 10, 2024 by Sergio Prostak

Gigantopithecus blacki, the largest ever primate and one of the largest species of the southeast Asian megafauna, persisted in China from about 2 million...

An artist’s impression of Sidersaura marae. Image credit: Gabriel Diaz Yantén.

New Species of Sauropod Dinosaur Discovered in Argentina

Jan 8, 2024 by Enrico de Lazaro

Paleontologists in Argentina have found fossil fragments from a new genus and species of rebbachisaurid sauropod dinosaur that walked the Earth more than...

Reconstruction of Timorebestia koprii in the pelagic ecosystem preserved in Sirius Passet; other species shown in the foreground are Kiisortoqia, Siricaris, Kerygmachela, Pauloterminus, Kleptothule, and Isoxys; further in the background are two radiodonts: Tamisiocaris and an amplectobeluid. Image credit: Robert Nicholls / BobNichollsArt.

‘Giant’ Predatory Worms Lived in Greenland Waters 518 Million Years Ago

Jan 4, 2024 by News Staff

Adorned with fins down the sides of its body, a distinct head with long antennae, massive jaw structures inside its mouth and growing to more than 30 cm...

Navifusa majensis microfossils: (a) Navifusa majensis from the McDermott Formation, Tawallah Supergroup, northern Australia; (b) Navifusa majensis from the Grassy Bay Formation, Shaler Supergroup, Arctic Canada; (c) Navifusa majensis from the BIIc6 Formation, Mbuji-Mayi Supergroup, DRC. Scale bars - 50 µm. Image credit: Demoulin et al., doi: 10.1038/s41586-023-06896-7.

Photosynthesis Evolved as Early as 1.75 Billion Years Ago, Microfossils Suggest

Jan 3, 2024 by Enrico de Lazaro

The earliest known evidence of photosynthetic structures has been identified inside a collection of the enigmatic cylindrical microfossils Navifusa majensis...

Life reconstruction of Unktaheela specta in its proposed habitat of sunlit waters just below the surface, with eyes shaded by supraorbital ledge. Image credit: Clark et al., doi: 10.1016/j.cretres.2023.105812.

New Species of Plesiosaur Identified in United States

Jan 2, 2024 by Enrico de Lazaro

Paleontologists have described a new genus and species of small polycotylid plesiosaur from two specimens found in Wyoming and South Dakota in the United...

Cerne Abbas Giant was Muster Station for West Saxon Armies, Archaeologists Say

Jan 2, 2024 by Enrico de Lazaro

A huge, naked figure called Cerne Giant was cut into a Dorset hillside not, as many have supposed, in prehistory, nor in the early modern period, but in...

This is an artist’s rendering of Pentecopterus decorahensis. Image credit: Patrick Lynch / Yale University.

Biggest Bugs Were Giant Sea Scorpions and Were All Predatory

Dec 28, 2023 by Simon Braddy

Pterygotid eurypterids (sea scorpions), giant aquatic arthropods with big claws, were all regarded as apex predators but some scientists then suggested...

Hylomys dorsalis seen in the wild on Mount Murud, Sarawak, Borneo, Malaysia. Image credit: Quentin Martinez, www.quentinmartinez.fr.

Five New Species of Soft-Furred Hedgehogs Discovered

Dec 27, 2023 by News Staff

Researchers at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of Natural History have performed a comprehensive taxonomic review of the soft-furred hedgehog...

Life reconstruction of Meilifeilong youhao. Image credit: Maurilio Oliveira.

New Species of Toothless Pterosaur Discovered in China

Dec 25, 2023 by Enrico de Lazaro

Paleontologists from China and Brazil have identified a new species of chaoyangopterid pterosaur from two specimens, one of which is the most complete...