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This Webb image shows the highly-magnified red supergiant candidate Quyllur (white, central circle). Image credit: NASA / ESA / CSA / Webb / Diego et al., arXiv: 2210.06514.

Webb Spots Possible Red Supergiant Star in Early Universe

Nov 2, 2022 by Natali Anderson

Nicknamed Quyllur, the newly-detected red supergiant candidate is so far away that its light has taken 10.7 billion years to reach Earth. This Webb image...

This colorized photo shows American President Theodore Roosevelt standing behind the carcass of a rhinocerous. Image credit: U.S. Library of Congress.

Rhino Horns Have Gradually Decreased in Size over Past Century, Image-Based Study Shows

Nov 2, 2022 by Enrico de Lazaro

Rhinos are among the most charismatic and well-known mammals on Earth, but they face extinction because of human activities. To learn how to save rhinos,...

UV light-induced fluorescence revealing residual color patterns in Pleuronectites laevigatus: (A-B) left valve with broad radial color bands showing continuation of bands after a growth line only under UV light, Upper Muschelkalk, Trochitenkalk Formation, Germany; (C-D) left valve with zigzag pattern, Upper Muschelkalk, Germany; (A, C) specimens under normal light; (B, D) specimens under UV light; note that in adult specimens of the species auricles are often not preserved. Scale bars - 1 cm. Image credit: Klaus Wolkenstein, doi: 10.1111/pala.12625.

240-Million-Year-Old Scallop Shells Glow under Ultraviolet Light

Nov 2, 2022 by Enrico de Lazaro

University of Bonn researcher Klaus Wolkenstein has examined the fossilized specimens of the Triassic scallop species Pleuronectites laevigatus with preserved...

Several business premises were uncovered in the Byzantine quarter in Ephesus, Turkey. Image credit: OeAW-OeAI / Niki Gail.

Early Byzantine Quarter Unearthed in Ancient City of Ephesus

Nov 1, 2022 by Enrico de Lazaro

Archaeologists from the Austrian Academy of Sciences have uncovered the 1,400-year-old ruins of the business and gastronomy district in Ephesus, an ancient...

The Principe scops-owl (Otus bikegila): an adult rufous morph (left) in the typical posture and an adult gray-brown morph (right) in a stress posture, when it raises the ear tufts to increase the efficiency of camouflage. Image credit: Marco N. Correia.

New Species of Scops-Owl Discovered in Africa

Nov 1, 2022 by Natali Anderson

Ornithologists have discovered a new species of the scops-owl genus Otus inhabiting the forests of Príncipe Island, part of the Democratic Republic of...

An artist’s impression of an asteroid that orbits closer to the Sun than Earth’s orbit. Image credit: DOE / FNAL / DECam / CTIO / NOIRLab / NSF / AURA / J. da Silva / Spaceengine.

Astronomers Discover Three Large Near-Earth Asteroids

Nov 1, 2022 by Enrico de Lazaro

Astronomers using the Dark Energy Camera (DECam) on the Víctor M. Blanco 4-m telescope at Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory have discovered two...

The aye-aye (Daubentonia madagascariensis). Image credit: David Harin / Duke Lemur Center.

Aye-Ayes Use Their Elongated Fingers to Pick Their Nose, Scientists Say

Oct 31, 2022 by News Staff

The aye-aye (Daubentonia madagascariensis) is a species of strepsirrhine primate closely related to lemurs and the largest nocturnal primate in the world. The...

Ball-rolling action by a buff-tailed bumblebee (Bombus terrestris). Image credit: Dona et al., doi: 10.1016/j.anbehav.2022.08.013.

Behavioral Phenomenon in Bumblebees Resembles Object Play

Oct 28, 2022 by Natali Anderson

New research led by Queen Mary University of London shows that rolling of wooden balls by buff-tailed bumblebees (Bombus terrestris) fulfils behavioral...

Benjamin Cardenas & Michael Lamb show definitive evidence of a roughly 3.5-billion-year-old shoreline with substantial sedimentary accumulation, at least 900 m thick, that covered hundreds of thousands of square kilometers. Image credit: Benjamin Cardenas / Penn State.

New Evidence for Northern Ocean on Early Mars

Oct 28, 2022 by News Staff

A major question in Mars history is whether the planet had an ocean in its northern hemisphere. New research provides evidence for a northern ocean or...

Archaeocyclotus brevivillosus. Image credit: Senckenberg Research Institute and Natural History Museum.

Cretaceous-Period Land Snail Had Hairy Shell

Oct 26, 2022 by Enrico de Lazaro

Paleontologists have described a new species of cyclophorid snail found in a piece of mid-Cretaceous amber excavated from a mine in Myanmar (formerly known...

The MACS0647-JD galaxy system. Image credit: NASA / ESA / CSA / Webb / STScI / Tiger Hsiao, Johns Hopkins University / Alyssa Pagan, STScI.

Webb Spots Possible Galaxy Merger in Early Universe

Oct 26, 2022 by Natali Anderson

Astronomers say we may be witnessing a merger of two small galaxies just 400 million years after the Big Bang. The galaxy cluster MACS0647 acts as a cosmic...

A male Wakatobi sunbird. Image credit: Nicola Marples & David Kelly, Trinity College Dublin.

Scientists Discover Several New Species of Sunbirds

Oct 25, 2022 by Natali Anderson

Ornithologists from Trinity College Dublin and the Universitas Halu Oleo have identified several cryptic species in two sunbird genera, Cinnyris and Leptocoma. A...

Honeybee swarm and atmospheric electricity. Image credit: Ellard Hunting.

Insect Swarms Contribute to Atmospheric Electricity, New Research Shows

Oct 25, 2022 by News Staff

The Earth’s atmosphere is always electrified to a greater or lesser extent, even in fair weather away from thunderstorms. By measuring the electrical...

An artist’s impression of Pteranodon. Image credit: Heinrich Harder.

New Species of Pterosaur Unearthed in Angola

Oct 24, 2022 by Enrico de Lazaro

Paleontologists have identified a new genus and species of pteranodontian pterosaur from fossilized bones found in the Republic of Angola. An artist’s...

An artist’s impression of a habitable planetary system. Image credit: Sci.News.

Technosignatures Could Be How We First Find Extraterrestrial Life, Astronomers Say

Oct 24, 2022 by The Conversation

Penn State astronomers Macy Huston and Jason Wright work on the search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI). They try to characterize and detect technosignatures...

Drone image of car driving through the NamibRand Nature Reserve, one of the fairy-circle regions in Namibia where Getzin et al. undertook grass excavations, soil-moisture and infiltration measurements. Image credit: Stephan Getzin.

Plant Water Stress Causes Fairy Circles in Namib Desert, Study Says

Oct 24, 2022 by Enrico de Lazaro

New research led by University of Göttingen scientists shows that grass death in fairy circles occurs immediately after rainfall due to plant water stress...

The Wangi-wangi white-eye (Zosterops paruhbesar). Image credit: James Eaton.

Newly-Described Bird Species is Endemic to Indonesian Island

Oct 21, 2022 by Natali Anderson

Informally known as the Wangi-wangi white-eye, the newly-described species of bird belongs to the genus Zosterops. The Wangi-wangi white-eye (Zosterops...

An artist’s impression of TOI-3757b and its parent star. Image credit: NOIRLab / NSF / AURA / J. da Silva / Spaceengine / M. Zamani.

Inflated Jupiter-Sized Exoplanet Found Orbiting Cool Red Dwarf

Oct 21, 2022 by Natali Anderson

TOI-3757b is the lowest-density transiting exoplanet known to orbit an M-dwarf (red dwarf) star. An artist’s impression of TOI-3757b and its parent star....

This image shows the extremely red quasar SDSS J165202.64+172852.3. Image credit: NASA / ESA / CSA / Webb / D. Wylezalek, A. Vayner & Q3D Team / N. Zakamska.

Webb Observes Extremely Red Quasar and Its Environment in Early Universe

Oct 20, 2022 by News Staff

The red quasar the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope observed, called SDSS J165202.64+172852.3 (SDSSJ1652 for short), resides in a very dense environment...