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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...

An artistic reconstruction of Ferussina petofiana. Image credit: Márton Zsoldos.

72-Million-Year-Old Snail Fossil Uncovered in Romania

Dec 22, 2023 by Enrico de Lazaro

A new species of the extinct land snail genus Ferussina has been identified from a complete specimen found in Hațeg Basin, Romania. An artistic reconstruction...

This image of the asteroid Ryugu was captured by the Optical Navigation Camera - Telescopic (ONC-T) on JAXA’s Hayabusa-2 spacecraft on June 26, 2018, from a distance of 13.7 miles (22 km). Image credit: JAXA / University of Tokyo / Kochi University / Rikkyo University / Nagoya University / Chiba Institute of Technology / Meiji University / Aizu University / AIST.

Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons in Asteroids Predate Our Solar System, New Study Shows

Dec 22, 2023 by Enrico de Lazaro

Astronomical observations show that polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are abundant and widespread in the interstellar medium. PAH molecules consist...

Limnonectes phyllofolia. Image credit: Frederick et al., doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0292598.

New Species of Tiny Fanged Frog Discovered in Indonesia

Dec 21, 2023 by Natali Anderson

Biologists have discovered a new species of the terrestrially-nesting fanged frog genus Limnonectes living on Sulawesi Island, Indonesia. The species has...

Gremlin slobodorum. Image credit: Ddinodan / Sci.News.

New Herbivorous Dinosaur Species Identified in Canada

Dec 19, 2023 by Enrico de Lazaro

Paleontologists have found the fossil of a previously unknown species of leptoceratopsid dinosaur that lived more than 70 million years ago in what is...

This Webb image exquisitely captures the seasonal north polar cap of Uranus, including the bright, white, inner cap and the dark lane in the bottom of the polar cap. Uranus’ dim inner and outer rings are also visible in this image, including the elusive Zeta ring -- the extremely faint and diffuse ring closest to the planet. Image credit: NASA / ESA / CSA / STScI.

Webb Captures New Images of Uranus, Its Enigmatic Rings and Moons

Dec 18, 2023 by Enrico de Lazaro

New images from the Near-Infrared Camera (NIRCam) instrument onboard the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope shows Uranus, its ring system and some...

The human genome contains approximately half a million copies of LINE-1. Image credit: Baldwin et al., doi: 10.1038/s41586-023-06947-z.

Scientists Reveal Structure of Ancient Virus-Like Genetic Element

Dec 18, 2023 by News Staff

The Long Interspersed Element-1 (LINE-1) retrotransposon is an ‘ancient genetic parasite’ that has written around one third of the human genome through...

Potteromyces asteroxylicola, holotype in white light: (a) location of the fungus (asterisks) along the aerial axis and enations of the plant Asteroxylon mackiei; arrowhead showing animal remains; (b) plant reaction induced by the fungal attack; (c, d) higher magnifications of the framed zone from (b) showing the plant cell proliferation in response to the fungal attack; arrowheads showing hyphae; (e) conidiophores in tuft; (f) higher magnification of (e); (g) conidiophores in high magnification, slightly shrunken at their distal end, and conidia. Scale bars - 900 µm in (a); 400 µm in (b); 120 µm in (c), 45 µm in (d), 85 µm in (e), 35 µm in (f, g). Image credit: Strullu-Derrien et al., doi: 10.1038/s41467-023-43276-1.

407-Million-Years-Old Microfossils Reveal Earliest-Known Disease-Causing Fungus

Dec 12, 2023 by Enrico de Lazaro

Potteromyces asteroxylicola parasitized on an extinct species of lycopsid plant called Asteroxylon mackiei, according to a paper published in the journal...

A bilaterally gynandromorphic green honeycreeper (Chlorophanes spiza) near Manizales, Colombia, May 20, 2022. Image credit: John Murillo.

Extremely Rare ‘Half Female, Half Male’ Honeycreeper Snapped in Colombia

Dec 12, 2023 by Natali Anderson

Ornithologists in Colombia have photographed a wild green honeycreeper (Chlorophanes spiza) with distinct half green, or female, and half blue, male, plumage. A...

Talpa hakkariensis, holotype. Image credit: Gündüz et al., doi: 10.1093/zoolinnean/zlad049.

Cryptic New Species of Mole Discovered in Turkiye

Dec 11, 2023 by Enrico de Lazaro

A new species of the mole genus Talpa has been identified in eastern Türkiye (Turkey) by a team of reseachers from Ondokuz Mayıs University, Indiana...

A juvenile of Gorgosaurus libratus feeding on Citipes elegans. Image credit: Julius Csotonyi / Royal Tyrrell Museum of Palaeontology / University of Calgary.

Fossilized Stomach Contents Reveal What Young Tyrannosaurs Ate

Dec 10, 2023 by Enrico de Lazaro

Paleontologists in Canada have found a 75-million-year-old skeleton of a juvenile of the tyrannosaurid dinosaur Gorgosaurus libratus with the remains of...

Mesechinus orientalis in Xuancheng, Anhui, China. Image credit: Shi et al., doi: 10.3897/zookeys.1185.111615.

New Species of Forest Hedgehog Discovered in China

Dec 5, 2023 by Natali Anderson

Scientists from Anhui Normal University and elsewhere have identified a new species of the hedgehog genus Mesechinus living the scrubland and subtropical...

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...