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Pluto’s Mountains are Capped with Methane Frost: Study

Oct 14, 2020 by News Staff

The bright frosts observed in 2015 in the equatorial region of Cthulhu on Pluto are mostly made of methane-rich ice, according to new research. This image,...

The Muisca antpitta (Grallaria rufula). Image credit: Nigel Voaden / CC BY-SA 2.0.

Six New Bird Species Discovered in South America

Oct 13, 2020 by Sergio Prostak

A team of ornithologists from the United States, Colombia and Denmark has described six new cryptic species in the rufous antpitta (Grallaria rufula) complex...

Astronomers Monitor Flare from Nearby, Fast-Evolving Tidal Disruption Event

Oct 13, 2020 by News Staff

Using ESO’s Very Large Telescope (VLT) and New Technology Telescope (NTT), the Las Cumbres Observatory global telescope network, and NASA’s Neil Gehrel...

This oblique color view from the HiRISE instrument onboard NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter shows a lithified field of sand dunes within Melas Chasma, Valles Marineris. The large degree of preserved morphology for many of these paleodunes reveals important information regarding the acting wind regime and climate prior to their cementation. Image credit: NASA / JPL / University of Arizona.

One-Billion-Year-Old Sand Dunes Spotted on Mars

Oct 12, 2020 by News Staff

Planetary researchers have mapped and characterized ancient sand dune fields in the canyons of Valles Marineris on Mars. Their discovery offers new insights...

An artist’s illustration of Colomys lumumbai. Image credit: Velizar Simeonovski, Field Museum.

Two New Species of Semi-Aquatic Mice Discovered in Africa

Oct 12, 2020 by News Staff

An international team of researchers has discovered two new species of the murine genus Colomys living in Africa: one in Liberia and Guinea and one in...

Lucas et al. find that the prevalence of the persistent median artery in postnatal life approximately tripled over the last 125 years. Image credit: C.M. Da Silva.

Humans are Evolving Extra Artery in Forearm: Median Artery

Oct 12, 2020 by News Staff

The median artery of the human forearm is an example of microevolutionary changes in the internal anatomy of the human body, according to new research...

Life reconstruction of Mesopithecus pentelicus. Image credit: Mauricio Antón.

Fossils of 6.4-Million-Year-Old Monkey Found in China

Oct 9, 2020 by News Staff

Paleontologists have found the remains of Mesopithecus pentelicus — an extinct species of Old World monkey that lived in Europe and Asia between...

The top of WASP-121b’s atmosphere is heated to a blazing 4,600 degrees Fahrenheit. Image credit: NASA / ESA / G. Bacon, STSci.

Astronomers Detect Vaporized Metals in Atmosphere of Hot Jupiter

Oct 9, 2020 by Enrico de Lazaro

Astronomers using the HARPS (High Accuracy Radial velocity Planet Searcher) spectrograph at ESO’s La Silla Observatory in Chile have detected gaseous...

Life reconstruction of Gavialimimus almaghribensis hunting a school of teleosts. Image credit: Tatsuya Shinmura.

New Species of Mosasaur Unveiled in Morocco

Oct 8, 2020 by News Staff

A new genus and species of mosasaur has been identified from a 1-m- (3.3-foot-) long skull and isolated bones found in a phosphate mine in Morocco. Life...

New Bird-Like Dinosaur Unearthed in Mongolia

Oct 7, 2020 by Enrico de Lazaro

Paleontologists in Mongolia have found the fossilized skeletal remains from a new genus and species of two-fingered oviraptorosaur that walked the Earth...

This image shows Beta Pictoris b and c embedded in the dusty disk around Beta Pictoris. Image credit: Axel Quetz / MPIA Graphics Department.

Astronomers Directly Image Gas-Giant Exoplanet Beta Pictoris c

Oct 7, 2020 by Natali Anderson

Astronomers using ESO’s Very Large Telescope Interferometer have captured the first direct images of the recently-discovered giant planet Beta Pictoris...

An artist’s impression of the hot rocky exoplanet TOI-540b and its parent star. Image credit: Sci-News.com.

Hot Exoplanet Smaller than Earth Found Orbiting Nearby Red Dwarf

Oct 6, 2020 by Natali Anderson

An international team of astronomers has discovered a hot terrestrial planet orbiting the rapidly-rotating low-mass star TOI-540. An artist’s impression...

Colorized scanning electron micrograph of an apoptotic cell (red) infected with SARS-COV-2 virus particles (yellow), isolated from a patient sample. Image credit: NIAID.

Antioxidant Enzyme Catalase May Help Treat COVID-19

Oct 6, 2020 by News Staff

Catalase, a naturally occurring enzyme commonly used worldwide in food production and as a dietary supplement, holds potential as a low-cost therapeutic...

A 5-light-year-long section of the western wall in the Carina Nebula, as observed with adaptive optics on the Gemini South telescope. This mountainous section of the nebula reveals a number of unusual structures including a long series of parallel ridges that could be produced by a magnetic field, a remarkable almost perfectly smooth wave, and fragments that appear to be in the process of being sheared off the cloud by a strong wind. There is also evidence for a jet of material ejected from a newly-formed star. The exquisite detail seen in the image is in part due to a technology known as adaptive optics, which resulted in a ten-fold improvement in the resolution of the research team’s observations. Image credit: International Gemini Observatory / NOIRLab / NSF / AURA / Patrick Hartigan, Rice University / Travis Rector, University of Alaska Anchorage / Mahdi Zamani / Davide de Martin.

Astronomers Capture Best Ever Image of Carina Nebula’s Western Wall

Oct 6, 2020 by News Staff

Astronomers using twin 8.1-m telescopes at Gemini Observatory in Chile have captured the most detailed near-infrared image yet of the Carina Nebula’s...

An artist’s conception of the HR 858 planetary system. Image credit: Sci-News.com.

Scientists Identify 24 Potentially ‘Superhabitable’ Exoplanets

Oct 5, 2020 by News Staff

A team of geobiologists and astronomers from the United States and Germany has identified 24 extrasolar planets that may have conditions more suitable...

Life restoration of Ogresuchus furatus. Image credit: Aina and Agnès Amblás / Institut Català de Paleontologia Miquel Crusafont.

Small Cretaceous Crocodile May Have Preyed on Baby Titanosaurs

Oct 5, 2020 by Enrico de Lazaro

A new genus and species of sebecosuchian crocodyliform that roamed Earth during the Cretaceous period has been identified from a partial skeleton found...

This artist’s impression shows a supermassive black hole in the center of SDSS J1030+0524 and six galaxies -- four Lyman-break galaxies and two Lyman-alpha emitting galaxies -- trapped in its gas web. The large web-like structure extends over 300 times the size of the Milky Way. Image credit: L. Calçada / ESO.

Web of the Giant: Astronomers Spot Six Galaxies around Monster Quasar

Oct 2, 2020 by News Staff

Using the MUSE and FORS2 instruments on ESO’s Very Large Telescope (VLT), astronomers have spotted a group of six galaxies around SDSS J1030+0524, a...

This Chandra/ACIS-S image shows XRSs (colored points) in Messier 51; M51-ULS-1 is the orange source in the center of the blue box; diffuse emission is from hot gas. Image credit: Di Stefano et al., arXiv: 2009.08987.

Chandra Spots Possible Extragalactic Planet in Messier 51

Oct 2, 2020 by Natali Anderson

Astronomers using NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory have detected an extragalactic candidate planet circling a binary system in Messier 51 (also known...

This Hubble images shows SN 2018gv (a very bright star located on the outer edge of one of the galaxy’s spiral arms in the left portion of the image) in the barred spiral galaxy NGC 2525. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble / A. Riess & SH0ES Team / Mahdi Zamani.

Hubble Observes Spectacular Supernova in NGC 2525

Oct 1, 2020 by News Staff

Astronomers using the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope have tracked the fading light of a Type Ia supernova in NGC 2525, a barred spiral galaxy located...