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The 124-m-high telecommunication tower of Säntis in Switzerland; also shown is the path of the laser recorded with its second harmonic at 515 nm. Image credit: Houard et al., doi: 10.1038/s41566-022-01139-z.

Firing Intense Laser Pulses at the Sky Can Divert Lightning

Jan 17, 2023 by News Staff

Scientists have demonstrated that laser-induced filaments — formed in the sky by short and intense laser pulses — can guide lightning discharges...

A time averaged artist’s interpretation of Patagonia during the Late Cretaceous epoch, about 66-78 million years ago. The animals pictured include non-avian dinosaurs, birds and other vertebrates that have been discovered in the fossil record of the region. Their specific identifications are as follows: ornithurine birds (flying and walking on the ground), Stegouros (armored dinosaur), Orretherium (mammal), Yaminuechelys (turtle), a megaraptorid (large carnivore), unenlagiines (pair of carnivores), and enantiornithine birds (in foreground). Image credit: Mauricio Alvarez & Gabriel Diaz.

Paleontologists Uncover First Theropod Fossils in Chilean Patagonia

Jan 16, 2023 by Enrico de Lazaro

Paleontologists have described new specimens of theropods — a dinosaur group that includes both modern birds and their closest non-avian dinosaur...

Symplocos kowalewskii. Image credit: Sadowski & Hofmann, doi: 10.1038/s41598-022-24549-z.

34-Million-Year-Old Baltic Amber Preserves Exceptionally Large Flower

Jan 13, 2023 by Enrico de Lazaro

Amber exquisitely preserves the delicate organs of fossil flowers for millions of years. However, flower inclusions can be rare and usually do not exceed...

An artist’s impression of LHS 475b and its parent star. Image credit: NASA / ESA / CSA / Leah Hustak, STScI.

Webb Confirms Earth-Sized Planet around LHS 475

Jan 12, 2023 by Natali Anderson

Astronomers using the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope have validated the discovery of a warm, 0.99 Earth-radius exoplanet interior to the habitable...

An artist’s impression of TOI-700e (larger planet) and TOI-700d. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / Robert Hurt.

TESS Discovers Second Earth-Sized Planet in Habitable Zone of TOI-700

Jan 10, 2023 by Natali Anderson

The newly-discovered alien world, named TOI-700e, is 95% Earth’s size and likely rocky. An artist’s impression of TOI-700e (larger planet) and TOI-700d....

An artist’s impression of Wumengosaurus, a sister taxon of Honghesaurus longicaudal. Image credit: Nobu Tamura / CC BY-SA 4.0.

Triassic Marine Reptile Had Incredibly Long Tail

Jan 9, 2023 by Enrico de Lazaro

Paleontologists have described a new genus and species of long-tailed pachypleurosaur from a complete skeleton found in China. An artist’s impression...

An examples of animal depiction associated with dots. Image credit: Bacon et al., doi: 10.1017/S0959774322000415.

Archaeologists Uncover Upper Paleolithic Proto-Writing System

Jan 6, 2023 by News Staff

In at least 400 European caves such as Lascaux, Chauvet and Altamira, Upper Paleolithic humans drew, painted and engraved non-figurative signs from at...

The great hammerhead shark (Sphyrna mokarran). Image credit: Christopher Vaughn-Jones.

Researchers Sequence Genomes of Two Endangered Shark Species

Jan 5, 2023 by News Staff

Scientists have sequenced the chromosome-level genomes of the great hammerhead (Sphyrna mokarran) and the shortfin mako (Isurus oxyrinchus) sharks. Their...

The Qilian bluetail (Tarsiger albocoeruleus). Image credit: Xianting Wang.

Two New Species of Bush Robins Identified in Asia

Jan 2, 2023 by Natali Anderson

Bush robins are members of the genus Tarsiger, a group of small, colorful birds with high species richness in the Sino-Himalayan region. The Qilian bluetail...

Life reconstruction of Confuciusornis shifan. Image credit: Paleontological Museum of Liaoning.

Paleontologists Find Fossil of 119-Million-Year-Old Beaked Bird

Dec 30, 2022 by Enrico de Lazaro

A new species of confuciusornithid bird being named Confuciusornis shifan has been identified from a nearly complete skeleton found in northeastern China. Life...

Zolotarov et al. propose that miRNAs are intimately linked to the evolution of complex brains in octopuses and other animals. Image credit: Albert Kok / CC BY-SA 3.0.

Study: microRNAs are Key to Evolution of Complex Octopus Brain

Dec 30, 2022 by News Staff

Octopuses and their cephalopod relatives are exceptionally intelligent invertebrates with a highly complex nervous system that evolved independently from...

Life reconstruction of Baurubatrachus santosdoroi. Image credit: Lautaro R. Blanco.

New Species of Dinosaur-Era Frog Identified in Brazil

Dec 27, 2022 by Enrico de Lazaro

Paleontologists have identified a new species of the extinct frog genus Baurubatrachus from fossils found in the state of São Paulo, Brazil. Life reconstruction...

This map illustrates the geography of Beringia, the land bridge that formed between North America and Asia during the last glaciation. Humans crossed Beringia from Asia to North America during the glacial period depicted on this map. Lakes and drainages have been reconstructed to provide a better perspective on the environment of the land mass according to bathymetric data having a grid spacing of 1 km (100 m for Norton Sound). Some of the lake basins are shallow and may have been wetlands rather than open water bodies. Image credit: J.D. Bond / Yukon Geological Survey / Government of Yukon.

Bering Land Bridge Remained Flooded Until 35,700 Years Ago, Scientists Say

Dec 27, 2022 by News Staff

In new research, led by the University of California, Santa Cruz and Princeton University, scientists reconstructed the history of sea level at the Bering...

Life reconstruction of Titanochampsa iorii. Image credit: Julia d’Oliveira.

Enormous Crocodile Lived alongside Titanosaurs and Abelisaurid Dinosaurs

Dec 26, 2022 by Enrico de Lazaro

In the Monte Alto region in the Brazilian state of São Paulo, paleontologists have unearthed the fossilized remains of a new crocodyliform species that...

The 15,700-year-old stone projectile points from the Area B of the Cooper’s Ferry site in Idaho, the United States. Image credit: Loren Davis.

15,700-Year-Old Projectile Points Found in Idaho

Dec 26, 2022 by News Staff

Archaeologists have unearthed an assemblage of 14 stemmed projectile points at the Cooper’s Ferry site, located on a terrace of the lower Salmon River...

Bear skins have high insulating properties and might have played a role in the adaptations of Middle Pleistocene hominins, such as Homo heidelbergensis depicted here, to the cold and harsh winter conditions of Northwestern Europe. Image credit: Benoît Clarys.

320,000-Year-Old Cutmarked Bones Provide Evidence for Exploitation of Bear Skins

Dec 23, 2022 by Enrico de Lazaro

Researchers from the University of Tübingen and elsewhere have unearthed the cutmarked bones of cave bears at the Middle Pleistocene site of Schöningen...

An artist’s impression of an enantiornithine bird. Image credit: Tiny Longwing / CC BY-SA 4.0.

Paleontologists Discover New Species of Dinosaur-Era Bird

Dec 22, 2022 by Enrico de Lazaro

A new genus and species of enantiornithine bird has been described from a partial right humerus found in southern Patagonia, Argentina. An artist’s impression...

An artist’s impression of a sauropod dinosaur. Image credit: Levi Bernardo / CC BY-SA 3.0.

New Sauropod Dinosaur Unearthed in China

Dec 20, 2022 by Enrico de Lazaro

A new genus and species of titanosauriform sauropod dinosaur with an unusual tail has been identified from a partial skeleton found in northeastern China. An...

An artist’s impression of two temperate Earth-mass exoplanets orbiting Gliese 1002, a red dwarf star some 16 light-years away in the constellation of Cetus. Image credit: Alejandro Suárez Mascareño & Inés Bonet, IAC.

Two Potentially Habitable Exo-Earths Found around Nearby Red Dwarf

Dec 20, 2022 by Natali Anderson

The two temperate Earth-mass planets are located within the habitably zone of Gliese 1002, a red dwarf star that lies just 4.84 parsecs (16 light-years)...