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The numbat (Myrmecobius fasciatus). Image credit: Seashalia Gibb.

Scientists Sequence Genome of Numbat

Feb 15, 2022 by Natali Anderson

Two teams of genetic researchers have sequenced the genome of the numbat (Myrmecobius fasciatus), a critically endangered Australian insectivorous marsupial...

Fairy Pittas Prepare Food for Their Nestlings, New Study Shows

Feb 15, 2022 by Natali Anderson

Insect-eating birds that feed nestlings with grasshoppers, beetles, or moths perform insect prey preparation before feeding nestlings so that the nestlings...

$An artist’s impression of Confractosuchus sauroktonos attacking an ornithopod dinosaur. Image credit: Julius Csotonyi / White et al., doi: 10.1016/j.gr.2022.01.016.$

Cretaceous Crocodiles Ate Ornithopod Dinosaurs, Fossil Evidence Shows

Feb 14, 2022 by Sergio Prostak

Paleontologists have unearthed the fossilized skeletal remains of Confractosuchus sauroktonos, a previously unknown genus and species of crocodyliform,...

This image, taken by the SPHERE/IFS instrument on ESO’s Very Large Telescope in 2016, shows three satellites (S1 in red circle, S2 in green, and S3 in blue) of the main-belt asteroid (130) Elektra. Image credit: Berdeu et al., doi: 10.1051/0004-6361/202142623.

Astronomers Find First-Ever Quadruple Asteroid

Feb 14, 2022 by Natali Anderson

Astronomers have discovered a third moon orbiting the main-belt asteroid (130) Elektra, making it the first quadruple asteroid ever found. This image,...

An artist’s impression of the white dwarf star WD 1054-226 orbited by clouds of planetary debris and a major planet in the habitable zone. Image credit: Mark A. Garlick / www.markgarlick.com.

Astronomers Find Planetary Bodies in Habitable Zone of White Dwarf

Feb 11, 2022 by News Staff

Using the ULTRACAM instrument on ESO’s 3.5-m New Technology Telescope and NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS), astronomers have observed...

Jurassic Long-Necked Dinosaur Suffered from Aspergillosis-Like Respiratory Infection

Feb 11, 2022 by News Staff

The pulmonary disease infecting this diplodocine dinosaur, nicknamed ‘Dolly,’ would not been externally evident, but the probable pneumonia-like outward...

The diversity of the Steller’s sea cow (Hydrodamalis gigas) was already declining some 900 to 800 years before its discovery by Georg Wilhelm Steller. Image credit: R. Ellis.

Genetic Secrets of Steller’s Sea Cow Revealed

Feb 11, 2022 by News Staff

An international team of researchers has extracted and analyzed ancient DNA from fragmentary remains of 12 individuals of the Steller’s sea cow (Hydrodamalis...

An artist’s impression of the G29-38 white dwarf, accreting planetary material from a circumstellar debris disk; when the planetary material hits the white dwarf surface, a plasma is formed and cools via detectable X-ray emission. Image credit: Mark Garlick / University of Warwick.

White Dwarf Spotted Eating Planetary Debris

Feb 10, 2022 by News Staff

Astronomers using NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory have detected five X-ray events from G29-38, which is among the 100 closest white dwarfs. Their results...

An artist’s impression of Proxima d. Image credit: ESO / L. Calçada.

Potential Third Planet Discovered Orbiting Proxima Centauri

Feb 10, 2022 by Natali Anderson

Using data from the Echelle SPectrograph for Rocky Exoplanets and Stable Spectroscopic Observations (ESPRESSO) on ESO’s Very Large Telescope (VLT), astronomers...

Retinosaurus hkamtiensis, which was approximately 3.5 cm (1.4 inches) in length, prior to being trapped in tree resin 110 million years ago. Image credit: Stephanie Abramowicz.

110-Million-Year-Old Lizard Found in Burmese Amber

Feb 9, 2022 by Enrico de Lazaro

Paleontologists have found a new species of lizard in a piece of amber excavated from a mine in Myanmar. Retinosaurus hkamtiensis, which was approximately...

An artist’s impression of Abditosaurus kuehnei. Image credit: Oscar Sanisidro, Museu de la Conca Dellà.

New Species of Titanosaur Unearthed in Spain

Feb 9, 2022 by Enrico de Lazaro

Abditosaurus kuehnei, a species of titanosaurian sauropod dinosaur from the Cretaceous of Spain, is an immigrant lineage, distinct from some of the island...

The ecological reconstruction of Erratus sperare, showing the nektonic life style; the initial situation of trunk limbs, as flaps associated with weakly sclerotized endopods indicates a swimming rather than fully benthic habit. Image credit: Fu et al., doi: 10.1098/rstb.2021.0034.

520-Million-Year-Old Fossil Sheds Light on Origin of Gills in Arthropods

Feb 8, 2022 by News Staff

Erratus sperare, a new species of ancient marine arthropod from eastern Yunnan, China, had unique trunk appendages that represent an intermediate stage...

Holotype of Eophylica priscastellata. Image credit: Shi et al., doi: 10.1038/s41477-021-01091-w.

Two New Flower Species Found Preserved in Burmese Amber

Feb 2, 2022 by Enrico de Lazaro

Paleontologists have identified two new types of fossil flowers — one identical to those of the living genus Phylica and the other a sister to Phylica...

The Paleolithic settlement at Abu Hureyra in what is now Syria may have been destroyed 12,800 years ago because of a comet. Image credit: Jennifer Rice, Comet Research Group.

Near-Earth Comet Exploded over North America about 1,500 Years Ago

Feb 2, 2022 by News Staff

Archaeologists have found meteorites, microspherules, iridium and platinum anomalies, and burned charcoal-rich habitation surfaces at 11 archaeological...

The complex, cirrus-like emission from the Galactic center super bubble dominates this MeerKAT image. This is traversed by the Radio Arc, a complex of many parallel radio filaments. The radio bubble nestles against the diffuse Sagittarius A region in the lower center of the image. The bright dot near the center of this region is Sagittarius A*. Image credit: I. Heywood, SARAO.

Astronomers Release Unprecedented Radio Image of Milky Way’s Center

Feb 2, 2022 by Enrico de Lazaro

A new image from the MeerKAT telescope at the South African Radio Astronomy Observatory (SARAO) in Cape Town, South Africa, shows radio emission from numerous...

Astronomers Identify Second Earth Trojan Asteroid: 2020 XL5

Feb 1, 2022 by Enrico de Lazaro

2020 XL5 will be an Earth Trojan asteroid for at least 4,000 years, according to a paper published in the journal Nature Communications. This composite...

The number of tree species and individuals per continent in the Global Forest Biodiversity Initiative (GFBI) database. This dataset (blue points in the central map) was used for the parametric estimation and merged with the TREECHANGE occurrence-based data (purple points in the central map) to provide the estimates in this study. Green areas represent the global tree cover. GFBI consists of abundance-based records of 38 million trees for 28,192 species. Depicted here are some of the most frequent species recorded in each continent. Some GFBI and TREECHANGE points may overlap in the map. Image credit: Gatti et al., doi: 10.1073/pnas.2115329119.

There Are About 73,000 Tree Species on Earth, New Study Shows

Feb 1, 2022 by News Staff

Tree diversity is fundamental for forest ecosystem stability and services. However, because of limited available data, estimates of tree diversity at large...

The Meratus white-eye in the Meratus Mountains, South Kalimantan province, Indonesia, on July 9, 2016. Image credit: Eaton et al.

Two New Bird Species Discovered on Borneo

Jan 31, 2022 by Natali Anderson

Ornithologists have described two new species of the flycatcher genus Cyornis and the white-eye genus Zosterops from southeastern Borneo, Indonesia. The...

Twelfth-Century Chronicle Contains Description of Ball Lightning

Jan 28, 2022 by News Staff

Durham University professors Brian Tanner and Giles Gasper have found a credible description of ball lightning in a monastic chronicle compiled and composed...