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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...

Christian Matthias Kerskens & David López Pérez believe our brains could use quantum computation. Image credit: Gerd Altmann.

Neuroscientists May Have Found Signs of Quantum Processes in Human Brain

Oct 20, 2022 by News Staff

Scientists at the Trinity College Institute of Neuroscience say they may have witnessed entanglement mediated by consciousness-related brain functions. Christian...

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...