Featured News | Sci.News

Libanoculex intermedius. Image credit: Azar et al., doi: 10.1016/j.cub.2023.10.047.

Earliest-Known Fossil Mosquito Found in Lebanese Amber

Dec 4, 2023 by Enrico de Lazaro

Female mosquitoes are among the most notorious hematophagous (blood-feeding) insects, sometimes causing severe allergic responses. Hematophagy in insects...

This image, taken with the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope on August 30, 2006, shows the dwarf planet Eris (center) and its moon Dysnomia. Image credit: NASA / ESA / M. Brown, California Institute of Technology.

New Research Sheds Light on Internal Structure of Dwarf Planet Eris

Dec 4, 2023 by Natali Anderson

The trans-Neptunian dwarf planet Eris is tidally locked to its small moon Dysnomia. Recently obtained bounds on the mass of Dysnomia demonstrate that Eris...

The six planets in the HD 110067 system are all smaller than Neptune and revolve around their parent star in a very precise waltz: when the closest planet to the star makes three full revolutions around it, the second one makes exactly two during the same time; this is called a 3:2 resonance; the six planets form a resonant chain in pairs of 3:2, 3:2, 3:2, 4:3, and 4:3, resulting in the closest planet completing six orbits while the outer-most planet does one. Image credit: ESA / CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO.

Astronomers Discover Resonant System of Six Sub-Neptune Exoplanets around HD 110067

Nov 30, 2023 by Enrico de Lazaro

The bright nearby star HD 110067 hosts six transiting sub-Neptunes that follow a chain of resonant orbits, according to new research led by University...

Trisauropodiscus. Image credit: M. Abrahams & E.M. Bordy, doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0293021.

210-Million-Year-Old Bird-Like Footprints Found in Lesotho

Nov 29, 2023 by Natali Anderson

The bird-like tridactyl (three-toed) footprints found at the site of Maphutseng in Lesotho predate the oldest known bird body fossils by approximately...

Mothra is best described as a binary system with two supergiant stars, a hot one with temperature T ≈ 14,000 K, and a cooler one with T ≈ 5,000 K. Image credit: NASA / ESA / CSA / STScI / Jose M. Diego, IFCA / Jordan C.J. D’Silva, UWA / Anton M. Koekemoer, STScI / Jake Summers, ASU / Rogier Windhorst, ASU / Haojing Yan, University of Missouri.

Mothra: Astronomers Spot Monster Binary Star in Distant Universe

Nov 28, 2023 by Natali Anderson

Mothra is a system of two supergiant stars in one of the extremely magnified galaxies behind the lensing galaxy cluster MACS J0416.1-2403. Mothra is best...

This Webb image shows a Herbig-Haro object called HH 797. Image credit: NASA / ESA / CSA / Webb / T. Ray, Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies.

Webb Reveals Herbig-Haro Object in Unprecedented Detail

Nov 28, 2023 by Enrico de Lazaro

The NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope has captured a very detailed image of the Herbig-Haro object 797 (HH 797), which is located in the northern...

The trackmaker of Farlowichnus rapidus lived in what is now Brazil during the Early Cretaceous epoch, around 135 million years ago. Image credit: Guilherme Gehr / Leonardi et al., doi: 10.1016/j.cretres.2023.105720.

135-Million-Year-Old Footprints Reveal New Dinosaur Species

Nov 27, 2023 by Enrico de Lazaro

A previously unknown species of small and rapid carnivorous dinosaur lived among the large and dry sand dunes of the Botucatu paleodesert, a vast desert...

Yaguarasaurus regiomontanus. Image credit: Luis Rey / Museo del Desierto.

New Species of Mosasaur Identified in Mexico

Nov 24, 2023 by Enrico de Lazaro

Paleontologists have identified a new species of plioplatecarpine mosasaur from an almost complete skull found in the Agua Nueva Formation, Mexico. Yaguarasaurus...

Ecological restoration of singing katydids from the Middle Jurassic Daohugou Konservat-Lagerstätte of China. Image credit: Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology and Center for Excellence in Life and Paleoenvironment, Chinese Academy of Sciences.

Mesozoic Katydids Evolved Unexpectedly High Acoustic Diversity, New Study Shows

Nov 24, 2023 by Enrico de Lazaro

Acoustic communication has played a key role in the evolution of a wide variety of vertebrates and insects. However, the reconstruction of ancient acoustic...

Xenorophus hunting sea turtles. Image credit: Robert Boessenecker.

30-Million-Year-Old Fossils Shed Light on Origin of Echolocation in Whales and Dolphins

Nov 23, 2023 by News Staff

In a new paper published this month in the journal Diversity, paleontologists described the fossilized skeletons of the dolphin genus Xenorophus from the...

An artist’s illustration of the Amaterasu particle observed by a surface detector array of the Telescope Array experiment. Image credit: Osaka Metropolitan University / L-INSIGHT, Kyoto University / Ryuunosuke Takeshige.

Astrophysicists Detect Second Highest-Energy Cosmic Ray Ever

Nov 23, 2023 by News Staff

Astrophysicists using the Telescope Array experiment in Utah, the United States, have detected the second-highest extreme-energy cosmic ray. An artist’s...

Life reconstruction of Amanasaurus nesbitti. Image credit: Matheus Fernandes.

New Species of Triassic Dinosaur Relative Identified in Brazil

Nov 20, 2023 by Enrico de Lazaro

A new genus and species of silesaur being named Amanasaurus nesbitti has been discovered by a duo of paleontologists at the Federal University of Santa...

Reconstruction of Eomortoniellus handlirschi. Image credit: Charlie Woodrow.

Extinct Insect from Baltic Amber Could Hear Ultrasounds, Bat Echolocation

Nov 17, 2023 by News Staff

Hearing has evolved independently many times in the animal kingdom and is prominent in various insects and vertebrates for communication and predator detection....

Life restoration of sleeping posture of Jaculinykus yaruui. Image credit: Seiji Yamamoto.

Bird-Like Dinosaurs Slept Like Modern Birds, New Fossil Reveals

Nov 16, 2023 by Enrico de Lazaro

Paleontologists in Mongolia have unearthed a nearly complete and articulated skeleton of a previously unknown genus and species of alvarezsaurid dinosaur...

The footprints of the Emeidae moa found in the Kyeburn River, South Island, New Zealand; the associated Dinornithidae footprint can be seen between the first two footprints to the left. Image credit: Ian Griffin / Otago Museum.

3.6-Million-Year-Old Moa Footprints Found in New Zealand

Nov 15, 2023 by Natali Anderson

Paleontologists have discovered a trackway of seven moa footprints and an associated separate footprint at a riverbank outcrop of the Maniototo Conglomerate...

A microfossil from the 2.4-billion-year-old Turee Creek Group in Western Australia. Image credit: Barlow et al., doi: 10.1111/gbi.12576.

2.4-Billion-Year-Old Microfossils Suggest Earlier Rise in Complex Cellular Organization

Nov 14, 2023 by News Staff

Around 2.4 billion years ago, the Great Oxidation Event caused fundamental changes to the chemistry of Earth’s surface environments. However, the effect...

Life reconstruction of Dasyomyliobatis thomyorkei swimming in the marine tropical shallow waters of the western Tethys about 50 million years ago. Image credit: Fabrizio Lavezzi.

50-Million-Year-Old Fossil Helps Clarify Origin of Pelagic Lifestyle and Durophagy in Stingrays

Nov 13, 2023 by Natali Anderson

Dasyomyliobatis thomyorkei is intermediate between the ‘rajobenthic’ and more derived ‘aquilopelagic’ stingrays, supporting the hypothesis that...

Reconstruction of Qianlong shouhu’s eggs. Image credit: NICE Vistudio.

Eggs of Earliest Dinosaurs Were Leathery, Fossils Show

Nov 13, 2023 by Enrico de Lazaro

Paleontologists in China have unearthed and examined three adult skeletons and five clutches of embryo-containing eggs of Qianlong shouhu, a previously...

One of the first-ever photographs of the Attenborough’s long-beaked echidna (Zaglossus attenboroughi). Image credit: Expedition Cyclops.

Attenborough’s Long-Beaked Echidna Rediscovered After 60 Year-Absence to Science

Nov 10, 2023 by News Staff

Named after Sir David Attenborough, the Attenborough’s long-beaked echidna (Zaglossus attenboroughi) was captured for the first time in photos and video...