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The ancient Maya city of Tikal in northern Guatemala. Image credit: Gerd Eichmann / CC BY-SA 4.0.

Ancient Maya Maintained Native Tropical Forest Plants around Their Water Reservoirs

Jun 23, 2021 by News Staff

The banks of the artificial water reservoirs in Tikal, a major city of the ancient Maya world in what is now northern Guatemala, were primarily fringed...

Oxyuropoda ligioides in its 365-million-year-old continental environment (Kiltorcan, Kilkenny, Ireland). Image credit: Diane Dabir Moghaddam.

Ancient Woodlice Cousins Lived in Ireland 360 Million Years Ago

Jun 23, 2021 by News Staff

Paleontologists have performed a complete re-analysis of Oxyuropoda ligioides, a land-based peracarid crustacean first reported in 1908 from the Late Devonian...

A part of the Boltysh impact structure near the village of Bovtyshka in Kivorohrads’ka oblast, Ukraine. Image credit: Wisetus / CC BY-SA 4.0.

Giant Meteorite Landed in Ukraine 650,000 Years after Dinosaur-Killing Chicxulub Event

Jun 22, 2021 by News Staff

About 66 million years ago, a 10-km- (6.2-mile) wide asteroid crashed into Earth near the site of the small town of Chicxulub in what is now Mexico. While...

The 110-million-year-old dinosaur footprints in Folkestone, Kent, southern England. Image credit: Hadland et al., doi: 10.1016/j.pgeola.2021.04.005.

UK’s Youngest Dinosaur Footprints Found

Jun 21, 2021 by News Staff

The 110-million-year-old footprints discovered in Kent, southern England, were left by three types of dinosaurs, including theropod, ornithopod, and ankylosaur...

Life reconstruction of Paraceratherium linxiaense. Image credit: Yu Chen.

Fossils of New Giant Rhino Species Found in China

Jun 18, 2021 by Enrico de Lazaro

A new species of the giant rhinoceros genus Paraceratherium has been identified from the fossilized remains found in Gansu Province, northwestern China. Life...

Latimeria chalumnae off Pumula on the KwaZulu-Natal South Coast, South Africa, on November 22, 2019. Image credit: Bruce Henderson, doi: 10.17159/sajs.2020/7806.

African Coelacanths Can Live for Up To 100 Years, Scale Analysis Shows

Jun 18, 2021 by News Staff

African coelacanths (Latimeria chalumnae) reach maturity around the age of 55 and gestate their offspring for 5 years, according to a study published in...

This artist’s impression was generated using an image of Betelgeuse from 2019 taken with the SPHERE instrument on ESO’s Very Large Telescope. Image credit: ESO / NASA / ESA / Hubble / M. Kornmesser.

Dust Cloud Caused Betelgeuse’s Great Dimming Event, Astronomers Say

Jun 17, 2021 by News Staff

Betelgeuse, which is located roughly 724 light-years away in the constellation of Orion, is the second-closest red supergiant to Earth. From November 2019...

9,000-Year-Old Obsidian Tools Found at Bottom of Lake Huron

Jun 16, 2021 by Enrico de Lazaro

The two ancient obsidian flakes recovered from a now submerged archaeological site beneath Lake Huron represent the oldest and farthest east confirmed...

An artist’s impression of Oculudentavis naga, which was between 5 and 8 cm (2-3 inches) long, not including its tail. Image credit: Stephanie Abramowicz / Peretti Museum Foundation / Current Biology.

Oculudentavis is Bizarre Lizard, Not Bird-Like Dinosaur

Jun 15, 2021 by News Staff

In 2020, paleontologists described an ancient species, Oculudentavis khaungraae, based on a tiny skull trapped in a piece of Cretaceous-period amber from...

Dendrohyrax interfluvialis. Image credit: Oates et al., doi: 10.1093/zoolinnean/zlab029.

Scientists Discover New Species of Tree Hyrax

Jun 15, 2021 by News Staff

Dendrohyrax interfluvialis lives in the wet and dry forests that lie between the two rivers in coastal regions of southeastern Ghana, southern Togo and...

Meet Satin Berrypecker, New Bird Species from New Guinea

Jun 14, 2021 by Natali Anderson

Ornithologists have discovered a new species of berrypecker (genus Melanocharis) in cloud forest in the Kumawa Mountains of western New Guinea (West Papua...

Artistic representation of Gunggamarandu maunala. Image credit: Eleanor Pease.

New Ancient Crocodile Species Identified in Australia

Jun 14, 2021 by Enrico de Lazaro

A new genus and species of large-sized tomistomine crocodylian has been identified from a large, incomplete skull found more than a century ago in Queensland,...

Two Giant Exoplanets Found around Sun-Like Star

Jun 11, 2021 by News Staff

Professional astronomers and citizen scientists from the NASA-funded Planet Hunters TESS project have discovered a two-planet system around the bright...

An artist’s impression of the VVV-WIT-08 binary system. Image credit: Amanda Smith, University of Cambridge.

Giant ‘Blinking’ Star Spotted in Milky Way’s Central Region

Jun 11, 2021 by News Staff

A giant star called VVV-WIT-08 exhibited a smooth, eclipse-like drop in brightness to a depth of 97% in 2012; minimum brightness occurred in April 2012...

An artist’s rendering of the Neptune-like exoplanet TOI-1231b. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech.

Neptune-Like Exoplanet Found Circling Nearby Red Dwarf

Jun 10, 2021 by Sergio Prostak

Astronomers using NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) have discovered a temperate, Neptune-sized planet orbiting the M-dwarf star TOI-1231. An...

The Yunnan woolly flying squirrel (Eupetaurus nivamons). Image credit: Quan Li.

Two New Species of Woolly Flying Squirrels Discovered

Jun 10, 2021 by Sergio Prostak

An international team of zoologists from Australia and China has discovered two new cryptic species in the genus Eupetaurus — which previously included...

The LHCb Collaboration measured the tiny mass difference between the D1 and D2 mesons, which are a manifestation of the quantum superposition of the D0 particle and its antiparticle. This mass difference controls the speed of the D0 oscillation into its antiparticle and back. Image credit: CERN.

CERN Physicists Observe Nonzero Mass Difference between Charm Meson and Its Antiparticle

Jun 9, 2021 by News Staff

Physicists from the LHCb Collaboration at CERN have proved that a subatomic particle called the charm meson can switch into its antiparticle and back again....

This image of Ganymede was obtained by the JunoCam imager aboard NASA’s Juno spacecraft during its June 7, 2021, flyby of the icy moon. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / SwRI / MSSS.

NASA’s Juno Orbiter Completes Close Flyby of Ganymede

Jun 9, 2021 by News Staff

Juno’s June 7, 2021 flyby of Ganymede is the closest a spacecraft has come to Jupiter’s largest moon since NASA’s Galileo spacecraft made its close...

A bdelloid rotifer. Image credit: Michael Plewka.

Frozen Microscopic Animals Brought Back to Life after 24,000 Years

Jun 9, 2021 by News Staff

Microscopic multicellular animals called bdelloid rotifers are known for their ability to survive extremely low temperatures. They had been reported to...