Featured News | Sci.News

A Neanderthal father and his daughter. Image credit: Tom Bjorklund.

Ancient Genomes Provide Insights into Social Organization of Neanderthals

Oct 19, 2022 by Enrico de Lazaro

Paleoanthropologists have explored the social organization of Neanderthals using ancient nuclear, Y-chromosomal and mitochondrial DNA data from the remains...

This image from Webb’s Near-Infrared Camera shows the Pillars of Creation. Image credit: NASA / ESA / CSA / STScI / Joseph DePasquale, STScI / Anton M. Koekemoer, STScI / Alyssa Pagan, STScI.

Webb Takes Close Look at Pillars of Creation

Oct 19, 2022 by News Staff

Protostars are the scene-stealers in this new image of the Pillars of Creation from the Near-Infrared Camera (NIRCam) instrument aboard the NASA/ESA/CSA...

An artist’s impression of a gas-giant exoplanet. Image credit: Sci.News.

TESS Spots Giant Exoplanet around 11-Billion-Year-Old Star

Oct 17, 2022 by Natali Anderson

Using data from NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) and several ground-based telescopes, astronomers have detected and characterized...

An artist’s impression of Pangurban egiae. Image credit: Kyoto University / Jim Melli, San Diego Natural History Museum.

Eocene-Period Mammal Was Hypercarnivore with Serrated Teeth

Oct 14, 2022 by Enrico de Lazaro

A new genus and species of saber-toothed mammalian carnivore has been identified from a fossil found in California, the United States. An artist’s impression...

This artist’s impression shows an ultrahot exoplanet as it is about to transit in front of its host star. Image credit: M. Kornmesser / ESO.

Barium Detected in Atmospheres of Two Ultrahot Jupiters

Oct 13, 2022 by News Staff

Barium, a chemical element with the symbol Ba and atomic number 56, is the heaviest element detected to date in any exoplanetary atmosphere. This artist’s...

Saussurea khunjerabensis in Khunjerab pass, Taxkorgan county, China. Image credit: Xu-Guang Yan.

Bizarre New Species of Flowering Plant Discovered in Asia

Oct 12, 2022 by Natali Anderson

Biologists have described a new species of the genus Saussurea from the Khunjerab pass border area between China and Pakistan. Living plants of Saussurea...

$This Webb/MIRI image shows the binary system WR 140; eight symmetric diffraction spikes are seen around the saturated core of WR 140 that exhibit bluer colors than the dust emission. Image credit: Lau et al., doi: 10.1038/s41550-022-01812-x.$

Strange Rings around Distant Binary Star Are Not Alien Megastructure, Astronomers Say

Oct 12, 2022 by News Staff

An image of the binary system WR 140, captured by the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope in July 2022, has baffled astronomers worldwide — even...

The Aldabra giant tortoise (Aldabrachelys gigantea). Image credit: Dennis Hansen, Universität Zürich.

Scientists Sequence Chromosome-Level Genome of Aldabra Giant Tortoise

Oct 12, 2022 by News Staff

Researchers have for the first time assembled the high-quality chromosome-level genome of the Aldabra giant tortoise (Aldabrachelys gigantea), one of only...

Second Ever Interstellar Meteor Discovered

Oct 10, 2022 by Sergio Prostak

Both the first and second interstellar meteors, IM1 and IM2, are outliers in material strength and may have originated in supernova explosions, according...

These images shows Jupiter’s icy moons Ganymede and Europa with Jupiter in the background. Image credit: ESO / King & Fletcher / NASA / ESA / A. Simon, NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center / M.H. Wong, University of California, Berkeley / OPAL Team.

SPHERE Helps Determine Surface Compositions of Europa and Ganymede

Oct 10, 2022 by Natali Anderson

Astronomers using the Spectro-Polarimetric High-contrast Exoplanet REsearch (SPHERE) instrument on ESO’s Very Large Telescope have imaged Jupiter’s...

This view of Europa was captured by JunoCam during Juno’s close flyby on September 29, 2022. Citizen scientist Björn Jónsson processed the view to create this image. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / SwRI / MSSS / Björn Jónsson / CC BY-NC-SA 2.0.

Incredible New Images of Europa Released by NASA

Oct 7, 2022 by News Staff

These images of Jupiter’s icy moon Europa were taken by the JunoCam instrument aboard NASA’s Juno spacecraft during a close approach on September 29,...

Kopakaius nicolae. Scale bar - 50 µm. Image credit: Zawierucha et al., doi: 10.1016/j.ympev.2022.107634.

Two New Species of Glacier Tardigrades Discovered in New Zealand

Oct 7, 2022 by Natali Anderson

Biologists have described two new tardigrade genera and associated species — two of which are new to science — from the mountain glaciers of...

Life reconstruction of Scleromochlus taylori. Image credit: Gabriel Ugueto.

Scleromochlus taylori: Tiny Triassic Reptile is Close Relative of Pterosaurs

Oct 5, 2022 by Enrico de Lazaro

Paleontologists have created the first accurate skeletal reconstruction of Scleromochlus taylori, a small species of reptile that lived during the Triassic...

A gold solidus coin found by IAA archaeologists in Israel. Image credit: Dafna Gazit, Israel Antiquities Authority.

Huge Trove of Byzantine Gold Coins Unearthed in Israel

Oct 4, 2022 by News Staff

A hoard of 44 gold coins dating to the 7th century CE has been unearthed by archaeologists from the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA). A gold solidus...

Shown here in purple, the Magellanic Corona stretches more than 100,000 light-years from the main mass of stars, gas, and dust that make up the Magellanic Clouds, intermingling with the hotter and more extensive corona that surrounds the Milky Way. Image credit: Leah Hustak, STScI.

Magellanic Corona: Astronomers Detect Protective Shield around Small and Large Magellanic Clouds

Oct 4, 2022 by News Staff

The Small and Large Magellanic Clouds — satellite galaxies of the Milky Way Galaxy — are surrounded by a diffuse halo of hot, supercharged...

Dr. O’Connor with the skull of Sue the T. rex at the Field Museum. Image credit: Katharine Uhrich, Field Museum.

Holes of Unknown Origin Found in Tyrannosaurus rex’s Jawbone

Oct 3, 2022 by News Staff

A new analysis of enigmatic pathologies in the lower jaw of Sue the T. rex — one of the largest, most extensive, and best preserved Tyrannosaurus...

This Webb image shows observations of the Didymos-Dimorphos system several hours after NASA’s Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) intentionally impacted the moonlet. Image credit: NASA / ESA / CSA / Jian-Yang Li, PSI / Cristina Thomas, Northern Arizona University / Ian Wong, NASA-GSFC / Joseph DePasquale, STScI / Alyssa Pagan, STScI.

Webb and Hubble Simultaneously Observe DART Impact

Sep 29, 2022 by News Staff

The NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope and the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope teamed up to collect data before and after NASA’s Double Asteroid...

The Jupiter-sized planet TOI-5205b has a surface temperature of 737 K and orbits its parent star, TOI-5205, at a distance of 0.02 AU. Image credit: Sci.News.

Jupiter-Sized Exoplanet Found Orbiting TOI-5205

Sep 28, 2022 by Natali Anderson

Astronomers using NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) have discovered a Jovian planet orbiting the M4-type dwarf TOI-5205. Their paper...

The asteroid moonlet Dimorphos as seen by NASA’s DART spacecraft 11 seconds before impact. DART’s on board DRACO imager captured this image from a distance of 68 km (42 miles). This image was the last to contain all of Dimorphos in the field of view. Image credit: NASA / Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory.

NASA’s DART Spacecraft Successfully Impacts Asteroid Moonlet Dimorphos

Sep 27, 2022 by News Staff

After 10 months flying in space, NASA’s Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) spacecraft crashed into the 160-m-wide asteroid moonlet Dimorphos —...