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3.42-Billion-Year-Old Filamentous Microfossils Found in South Africa

The 3.42-billion-year-old filamentous microfossils from the Barberton Greenstone Belt in South Africa. Image credit: Cavalazzi et al., doi: 10.1126/sciadv.abf3963.
Jul 15, 2021 by Enrico de Lazaro

Paleontologists have discovered the exceptionally well-preserved, 3.42-billion-year-old filamentous microfossils in a paleo-subseafloor hydrothermal vein system in what is now South Africa; the filaments colonized the walls of conduits created by low-temperature hydrothermal fluid; combined with their morphological and chemical characteristics, they can be considered the oldest methane-cycling microorganisms, most likely methanogens. The 3.42-billion-year-old...

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An artist’s impression of the potential lava world TOI-1807b. Image credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center / Chris Smith, KBRwyle.

TESS Discovers Planetary Systems around Two Young Co-Moving Stars

Jul 14, 2021 by News Staff

Astronomers using NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) have discovered four exoplanets orbiting TOI-2076 and TOI-1807, a pair of related...

An artist’s impression of HD 265435, a binary system located approximately 1,500 light-years away in the constellation of Gemini. Image credit: Mark Garlick / University of Warwick.

HD 265435 Will Explode as Type Ia Supernova in 70 Million Years, Astronomers Say

Jul 13, 2021 by News Staff

HD 265435 is a binary system with an orbital period of around 100 min that consists of a white dwarf and a hot subdwarf star. An artist’s impression...

Study: Domestication Changed Not Just How Dogs Look, But Their Minds As Well

Jul 13, 2021 by News Staff

A new study led by a Duke University researcher supports the idea that domestication enhanced the cooperative-communicative abilities of dogs as selection...

Artist’s impression of a volcano erupting on Venus. Image credit: ESA / AOES Medialab.

Phosphine in Atmosphere of Venus Points to Explosive Volcanic Activity

Jul 13, 2021 by News Staff

In 2020, planetary scientists detected small amounts of the biosignature gas phosphine (PH3) in the atmosphere of Venus using the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope...

The Romanesco cauliflower. Image credit: Marc Pascual.

New Study Reveals How Romanesco Cauliflowers Develop ‘Fractal’ Shape

Jul 13, 2021 by News Staff

Cauliflowers present an unusual organ arrangement with a multitude of spirals nested over a wide range of scales. How such a fractal, self-similar organization...

Jupiter’s X-ray aurorae. Image credit: ESA / NASA / Zhonghua Yao / William Dunn.

Planetary Scientists Solve Mystery of Jupiter’s X-Ray Auroral Flares

Jul 12, 2021 by News Staff

The rapidly rotating, strong magnetic field of Jupiter provides a natural lab that is key to understanding the dynamics of high-energy plasmas. Spectacular...

A special feature in the feeding behavior of the giant panda (Ailuropoda melanoleuca), related to eating bamboo, is the habit to skim the outer green skin of the hard bamboo culm; although the feeding preferences have a seasonal shift, the culm is consumed and skinned during all the year; while eating culm, the outer skin is removed for reasons which until now have remained poorly understood. This image shows a male giant panda named Xiao Liwu at San Diego Zoo. Image credit: Sci-News.com.

New Research Sheds Light on Giant Panda’s Adaptation to Bamboo Diet

Jul 12, 2021 by News Staff

The evolutionary adaptation of the giant panda (Ailuropoda melanoleuca) to bamboo diet has taken place by adaptations in its masticatory (chewing) system,...

The western yellow wagtail (Motacilla flava), a small passerine bird in the family Motacillidae. Image credit: Sci-News.com.

Songbirds Can Taste Sugar, Ornithologists Say

Jul 9, 2021 by News Staff

Seeing a bird eat nectar from a flower is a common sight in our world. The ability to detect sugars, however, is not ancestral in the bird lineage, where...

Hubble captured this view of comet 46P/Wirtanen on December 13, 2018. Image credit: NASA / ESA / D. Bodewits, Auburn University / J.-Y. Li, Planetary Science Institute.

Astronomers Detect Unusual Amount of Methanol in Comet 46P/Wirtanen

Jul 9, 2021 by News Staff

Using the Near-Infrared Spectrograph (NIRSPEC) instrument at the Keck II telescope, astronomers conducted near-infrared spectroscopic observations of the...

An artist’s impression of the Hadean Earth: huge, impact-generated lava lakes coexisted with surface liquid water, under a thick greenhouse atmosphere sustained by lava outgassing. Image credit: Simone Marchi & Dan Durda, Southwest Research Institute.

Earth’s Early Bombardment May Have Been Heavier than Previously Thought

Jul 9, 2021 by News Staff

Once the Earth was fully formed about 4.5 billion years ago, its subsequent evolution was governed by complex geophysical processes. The planet, however,...

Khan et al. performed a meta-analysis of 38 randomized controlled trials of omega-3 fatty acids, stratified by EPA monotherapy and EPA+DHA therapy. Image credit: Sci-News.com.

Omega-3 Fatty Acids Improve Cardiovascular Outcomes, Review Says

Jul 8, 2021 by Enrico de Lazaro

In a systematic review and meta-analysis of 38 randomized controlled trials comprising 149,051 participants, omega-3 fatty acids — such as eicosapentaenoic...

Palaeotheriid mammal Leptolophus cuestai (left) and equoid perissodactyl Pachynolophus zambranen (center and right). Image credit: Ulises Martínez Cabrera.

Several Species of Pseudo-Horses Lived in Spain 37 Million Years Ago

Jul 7, 2021 by Enrico de Lazaro

Paleontologists have identified two new species of palaeotheriid mammals from fossils found at the Eocene site of Zambrana in Alava, Spain. Palaeotheriid...

51,000-Year-Old Engraved Bone is Neanderthal Artwork, Reseachers Say

Jul 7, 2021 by Enrico de Lazaro

Archaeologists have uncovered a 51,000-year-old engraved giant deer phalanx in a cave in the Harz Mountains, Germany. The find, which came from an apparent...

An artist’s impression of a free-floating exoplanet. Image credit: Sci-News.com.

Kepler Data Reveal Four Earth-Mass Free-Floating Exoplanets

Jul 6, 2021 by News Staff

Using data from NASA’s Kepler/K2 mission, astronomers have detected four new microlensing events that are consistent with free-floating planets of similar...

CERN Physicists Test ‘Lepton Flavor Universality’

Jul 6, 2021 by News Staff

Physicists from the ATLAS Collaboration at CERN’s Large Hadron Collider (LHC) have successfully performed measurements of ‘lepton flavor universality,’...

This illustration depicts an exoplanet partially hidden in the glare of its host star and a nearby companion star. Image credit: Gemini Observatory / NOIRLab / NSF / AURA / J. da Silva.

Earth-Sized Exoplanets May Be More Common than Previously Thought

Jul 5, 2021 by News Staff

In a study to be published in the Astronomical Journal, astronomers found that many exoplanet-hosting stars identified by NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet...

Australopithecus anamensis

Study: Climate Change Drove Prehistoric Proboscideans to Extinction

Jul 2, 2021 by News Staff

A new study, published in the journal Nature Ecology & Evolution, challenges claims that early humans slaughtered mammoths, mastodonts and prehistoric...

This illustration shows the white dwarf ZTF J190132.9+145808.7 and the Moon. Image credit: Giuseppe Parisi.

Smallest, Heaviest Known White Dwarf Discovered

Jul 1, 2021 by News Staff

The newly-discovered white dwarf, designated ZTF J190132.9+145808.7 (ZTF J1901+1458), has a mass of 1.35 solar masses and a radius of 2,140 km (1,330 miles),...

An artist’s rendition of the hot-Jupiter exoplanet TOI-1789b. Image credit: Sci-News.com.

Inflated Hot Jupiter Found Orbiting TOI-1789

Jun 30, 2021 by Natali Anderson

Astronomers using NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) have discovered a transiting hot-Jupiter exoplanet around a slightly evolved star...

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