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An artist’s impression of the five-planet system HD 108236. Image credit: Sci-News.com.

Five Giant Planets Orbit Nearby Sun-Like Star

Jan 29, 2021 by Natali Anderson

Astronomers using ESA’s CHaracterising ExOPlanet Satellite (CHEOPS) have discovered a fifth planet around the bright, Sun-like star HD 108236. An artist’s...

The 635-million-year-old fungus-like filamentous microfossils from the Doushantuo Formation in China. Image credit: Andrew Czaja, University of Cincinnati.

Paleontologists Find 635-Million-Year-Old Land Fungus-Like Fossils

Jan 28, 2021 by Enrico de Lazaro

The 635-million-year-old pyritized fungus-like microfossils found in the Ediacaran-period Doushantuo Formation in China provide direct fossil evidence...

Casiraghi et al. show that on nights before a full moon, people sleep less and go to bed later on average. Image credit: Florian Kurz.

Study: Sleep Starts Later and is Shorter on Nights before Full Moon

Jan 28, 2021 by News Staff

Before the availability of artificial light, moonlight was the only source of light sufficient to stimulate nighttime activity; still, evidence for the...

A group of Parasaurolophus cyrtocristatus being confronted by a tyrannosaurid in the subtropical forests of New Mexico 75 million years ago. Image credit: Andrey Atuchin.

Paleontologists Find Well-Preserved Skull of Tube-Crested Dinosaur

Jan 27, 2021 by News Staff

The exquisite preservation of a new, partial skull of Parasaurolophus cyrtocristatus, a species of duck-billed dinosaur that lived during the Cretaceous...

Kramadolops maximus, the youngest known species of polydolopid marsupial. Image credit: Gabriel Lío.

Three New Species of Extinct Marsupials Identified

Jan 26, 2021 by Enrico de Lazaro

Dr. Laura Chornogubsky, a paleontologist in the Museo Argentino de Ciencias Naturales ‘Bernardino Rivadavia’ and CONICET, has described one new genus...

An artist’s impression of a juvenile tyrannosaur. Image credit: Julius Csotonyi.

Tyrannosaur Hatchlings Were as Big as Medium-Sized Dog

Jan 26, 2021 by News Staff

An international team of paleontologists has examined the fossilized remains of baby tyrannosaurid dinosaurs found in Alberta, Canada, and Montana, the...

An artist’s impression of the TOI-178 system. Image credit: L. Calçada / ESO / Spaceengine.org.

Nearby Orange Dwarf Hosts Unique System of Six Planets

Jan 25, 2021 by News Staff

The TOI-178 planetary system, a 7.1-billion-year-old system of six planets in the super-Earth to mini-Neptune range, five of which are locked in a rare...

Structure of TIC 168789840, a sextuple system of three eclipsing binaries arranged as inner quadruple AC and outer binary B. Image credit: Sci-News.com.

TESS Discovers Sextuply-Eclipsing Six-Star System

Jan 25, 2021 by Natali Anderson

TIC 168789840 is the first known sextuple (six-star) system consisting of three eclipsing binaries. Structure of TIC 168789840, a sextuple system of three...

Carr et al. investigated how stupendously large black holes could form and potential limits to their size. Image credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center.

Stupendously Large Black Holes Could Be Hiding in Universe

Jan 22, 2021 by News Staff

If ‘stupendously large’ black holes, those with masses more than 100 billion times that of the Sun, exist in the Universe, they would provide a powerful...

An artistic rendering of Kraken Mare, a large liquid methane sea on Titan. Image credit: NASA’s John Glenn Research Center.

Titan’s Largest Methane Sea is Over 100 Meters Deep

Jan 21, 2021 by News Staff

Kraken Mare, a sea of liquid methane on Saturn’s moon Titan, is at least 100-m (330 feet) deep near its center, according to an analysis of data collected...

Paleontologists Reconstruct Cloacal Opening of Non-Avian Dinosaur

Jan 21, 2021 by News Staff

Although paleontologists know now much about dinosaurs and their appearance, they have not known anything about how their cloacal region — the all-purpose...

The Australian lungfish (Neoceratodus forsteri) at the National Zoo & Aquarium in Canberra, Australia. Image credit: Mitch Ames / CC BY-SA 4.0.

Australian Lungfish Genome Sequenced

Jan 21, 2021 by Natali Anderson

The Australian lungfish (Neoceratodus forsteri), a species of lungfish native to the Mary and Burnett River systems in south-eastern Queensland, has a...

Life reconstruction of Xenodens calminechari. Image credit: Andrey Atuchin.

Cretaceous Mosasaur Had Shark-Like Cutting Teeth

Jan 20, 2021 by News Staff

A bizarre new genus and species of mosasaur with teeth unlike those of any known reptile has been identified from fossils found in Morocco. Life reconstruction...

99-Million-Year-Old Bioluminescent Beetle Found Preserved in Amber

Jan 20, 2021 by Enrico de Lazaro

Found in a piece of mid-Cretaceous amber from northern Myanmar, the wonderfully-preserved male of Cretophengodes azari has a light organ on the abdomen...

Life appearance of the non-archosaurian archosauriform, the most suitable producer of Isochirotherium gardettensis. Image credit: Fabio Manucci.

250-Million-Year-Old Archosauriform Footprints Found in Italy

Jan 19, 2021 by Enrico de Lazaro

Paleontologists in Italy have discovered an assemblage of fossil footprints left by an Early Triassic archosauriform. Life appearance of the non-archosaurian...

This artist’s impression shows the first interstellar asteroid -- 1I/2017 U1 (’Oumuamua). Image credit: M. Kornmesser / ESO.

Alien Debris Passed through Solar System in 2017, Astronomer Says

Jan 18, 2021 by Natali Anderson

Professor Abraham (Avi) Loeb of Harvard University believes that 1I/2017 U1 ‘Oumuamua, a fast moving, cigar-shaped object of extrasolar origin discovered...

This illustration shows KOI-5Ab transiting across the face of the Sun-like star KOI-5A. Image credit: Caltech / R. Hurt, Infrared Processing and Analysis Center.

TESS Confirms Sub-Saturn Exoplanet in Triple-Star System KOI-5

Jan 18, 2021 by News Staff

Shortly after NASA’s Kepler mission began operations back in 2009, it identified what was thought to be a planet about the size of Neptune. Called KOI-5Ab,...

Somewhere in Southwestern North America during the Late Pleistocene, a pack of dire wolves (Canis dirus) are feeding on their bison kill, while a pair of gray wolves (Canis lupus) approach in the hopes of scavenging. One of the dire wolves rushes in to confront the gray wolves, and their confrontation allows a comparison of the bigger, larger-headed and reddish-brown dire wolf with its smaller, gray relative. Image credit: Mauricio Antón / Nature.

Dire Wolves Split from Living Canids 5.7 Million Years Ago: Study

Jan 15, 2021 by News Staff

Dire wolves (Canis dirus) are considered to be one of the most common and widespread large carnivores in Pleistocene America, yet relatively little is...

An artist’s impression of the quasar J031343.84-180636.4. Image credit: NOIRLab / NSF / AURA / J. da Silva.

Astronomers Discover Most Distant Quasar Yet

Jan 14, 2021 by News Staff

The newly-discovered quasar is located approximately 13.03 billion light-years away from Earth. Designated J031343.84-180636.4 (J0313-1806 for short),...