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South American Lungfish Has Largest Animal Genome Sequenced So Far

The South American lungfish (Lepidosiren paradoxa). Image credit: Katherine Seghers, Louisiana State University.
Aug 19, 2024 by Enrico de Lazaro

Researchers from the University of Konstanz and elsewhere have sequenced the genomes of the African (Protopterus annectens) and South American lungfishes (Lepidosiren paradoxa). The South American lungfish’s genome (about 91 gigabases, roughly 30 times the human genome) is the largest animal genome sequenced so far and more than twice the size of the Australian (Neoceratodus forsteri) and African lungfishes. The South American lungfish (Lepidosiren...

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Illustration of Isityumzi mlomomde (lower right) and other Late Devonian freshwater ecosystem creatures including the early tetrapod Unzantsia. Image credit: Maggie Newman.

Triassic Lungfish Fossils Discovered in Zimbabwe

Aug 16, 2024 by Enrico de Lazaro

A new species of ancient lungfish from the Triassic period has been identified from fossilized tooth plate material found in the Mid-Zambezi Basin, Zimbabwe. Life...

Ontocetus posti. Image credit: Jaime Bran.

Paleontologists Discover New Species of Extinct Walrus

Aug 14, 2024 by Enrico de Lazaro

Paleontologists from Japan, Belgium and the United States have identified a new species of the extinct genus Ontocetus from a nearly complete pair of fossilized...

Cutaway view of NASA’s InSight lander and data it collected. Image credit: James Tuttle Keane / Aaron Rodriquez.

Mid-Crust of Mars May Contain ‘Oceans of Liquid Water’

Aug 13, 2024 by News Staff

New data about the Martian crust gathered by NASA’s InSight lander allowed geophysicists at the University of California San Diego and the University...

The Andean storm-petrel (Oceanites barrosi). Image credit: Norambuena et al., doi: 10.11646/zootaxa.5486.4.1.

Ornithologists Discover New Species of Storm Petrel

Aug 12, 2024 by Enrico de Lazaro

An international team of ornithologists has described a cryptic new species of the bird genus Oceanites from Chile. The Andean storm-petrel (Oceanites...

Iglesias et al. showed that microwaves harbor a specialized community of locally adapted microbial genera, which resembles that reported on kitchen surfaces and in another extreme, highly irradiated habitat: on solar panels.

Biologists Find Diverse Bacterial Communities in Microwave Ovens

Aug 8, 2024 by Enrico de Lazaro

Microwaves have become an essential part of the modern kitchen, but their potential as a reservoir for bacterial colonization and the microbial composition...

This artist’s impression shows how Mars may have looked about 4 billion years ago. Image credit: M. Kornmesser / ESO.

‘Nanoparticle Warming’ Have Potential to Warm Mars, Planetary Scientists Say

Aug 8, 2024 by News Staff

One-third of Mars’ surface has shallow-buried water, but it is currently too cold for use by life. Proposals to warm Mars using greenhouse gases require...

Pillar 43 in Enclosure D, Göbekli Tepe. Image credit: Alistair Coombs.

Gobekli Tepe’s Carvings Represent World’s Oldest Solar Calendar, New Research Suggests

Aug 6, 2024 by News Staff

Göbekli Tepe, an archaeological site in southern Turkey, features several Neolithic temple-like enclosures adorned with many intricately carved symbols. Pillar...

Reconstruction of Homo floresiensis. Image credit: Kinez Riza / Atelier Elisabeth Daynes, Sangiran Museum.

Flores Hominins Most Likely Evolved from Early Asian Homo erectus

Aug 6, 2024 by News Staff

Recent discoveries of two diminutive hominin species, Homo floresiensis and Homo luzonensis, raise questions regarding how extreme body size reduction...

Map of the Saqqara plateau showing the water course from the Gisr el-Mudir dam (left) to the water treatment facility near Djoser pyramid. The water is then transferred to the pyramid’s network of pipes to power the hydraulic elevator. Image credit: Landreau et al., doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0306690.

Egypt’s Pyramid of Djoser May Have Been Built with Help of Unique Hydraulic Lift System: Study

Aug 6, 2024 by News Staff

The Pyramid of Djoser, also known as the Step Pyramid, is considered the oldest of the seven monumental pyramids built about 4,500 years ago. Map of the...

Life reconstruction of Hypnovenator matsubaraetoheorum. Image credit: Masato Hattori.

New Species of Troodontid Dinosaur Identified in Japan

Aug 5, 2024 by Enrico de Lazaro

Paleontologists have announced the discovery of a new genus and species of troodontid theropod dinosaur, based on the fossilized remains found in Japan. Life...

Holotype of Propterodacylus frankerlae. Image credit: Frederik Spindler, doi: 10.26879/1366.

150-Million-Year-Old Fossil Fills Important Gap in Evolution of Pterosaurs

Aug 1, 2024 by Enrico de Lazaro

A new genus and species of monofenestratan pterosaur being named Propterodacylus frankerlae documents the transition from the more ancient rhamphorhynchoid...

An artist’s impression of Pakudyptes hakataramea. Image credit: Tatsuya Shinmura / Ashoro Museum of Paleontology.

Ancient Tiny Penguin Unearthed in New Zealand: Pakudyptes hakataramea

Aug 1, 2024 by News Staff

Pakudyptes hakataramea would have been similar in body size to the living little blue penguin (Eudyptula minor), which is around 40-45 cm (15.7-17.7 inches)...

An artist’s impression of the lobate macrofossils living 2.1 billion years ago in a shallow marine inland sea created by the collision of two continents. Image credit: Abderrazzak El Albani, University of Poitiers.

Complex Organisms First Appeared 2.1 Billion Years Ago, Paleontologists Say

Jul 31, 2024 by News Staff

Until now, scientists broadly accepted complex life forms first emerged on Earth around 635 million years ago (Ediacaran period). But an international...

Reconstruction of Pentecopterus (170 cm long), the earliest sea scorpion (eurypterid) from the Ordovician period (467 Ma) of Iowa, USA. Image credit: John Alexander.

Giant 400-Million-Year-Old Scorpion May Be a Crustacean

Jul 29, 2024 by Simon Braddy

Sea scorpions (eurypterids), extinct giant aquatic arthropods, were apex predators. New research suggests that early species of the scorpion-like carcinosomatoid...

Reconstruction of the first animals on land, an ancient tidal flat at Blackberry Hill (500 million years ago), Wisconsin. Stranded jellyfish (1 m wide), the euthycarcinoid Mosineia (bottom left, 15 cm long), phyllocarid crustacean Arenosicaris (bottom right, green) and large slug‐like mollusc (70 cm long). Some euthycarcinoids occupy a tidal pool before it dries up. Image credit: Todd Gass.

The First Animals on Land Evolved in Warm Tidal Nursery Pools 500 Million Years Ago

Jul 26, 2024 by Simon Braddy

The evolution of the first animals on land, 500 million years ago, has been revealed. The ancestors of millipedes, called euthycarcinoids, evolved in warm...

Life reconstruction of Electroscincus zedi; areas of the lizard not represented in the material available are depicted as blurred. Image credit: Stephanie Abramowicz.

99-Million-Year-Old Burmese Amber Reveals Oldest Known Skink

Jul 22, 2024 by Natali Anderson

Paleontologists have found the remains of a previously unknown species of lizard in a piece of mid-Cretaceous amber excavated in northern Myanmar. Life...

Yellow crystals of elemental sulfur on Mars. Image credit: NASA.

Curiosity Finds Pure Sulfur on Mars

Jul 22, 2024 by News Staff

Yellow crystals of elemental sulfur were revealed after NASA’s Curiosity rover happened to drive over a rock and crack it open on May 30, 2024, according...

Life reconstruction of Harenadraco prima. Image credit: Yusik Choi.

New Bird-Like Dinosaur Unearthed in Mongolia

Jul 17, 2024 by Enrico de Lazaro

Harenadraco prima is the first species of troodontid dinosaur ever found in the Late Cretaceous Baruungoyot Formation of Mongolia. Life reconstruction...

The Amazon weasel (Neogale africana): diagnostic sharp, dark-brown stripe down midline from throat to belly. Image credit: Bernal-Hoverud et al., doi: 10.15560/20.3.828.

Extremely Rare Amazon Weasel Captured on Video in Bolivia

Jul 17, 2024 by Natali Anderson

Bolivian coffee producers have filmed the Amazon weasel (Neogale africana) near their shade-grown plots as part of a citizen science monitoring program. The...

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