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Arnon et al. uncovered the same statistical structure in humpback whale (Megaptera novaeangliae) song that is a hallmark of human language. Image credit: Christopher Michel / CC BY 2.0.

Songs of Humpback Whales Show Human Language-Like Statistical Structure

Feb 6, 2025 by News Staff

An international team of researchers has analyzed the groans, moans, whistles, barks, shrieks and squeaks in humpback whale song recordings collected over...

Vegavis iaai. Image credit: Mark Witton.

Earliest-Known Waterfowl Lived in Antarctica 69 Million Years Ago

Feb 5, 2025 by Natali Anderson

Paleontologists from the United States and Australia have discovered and described a new, nearly complete skull of Vegavis iaai, a foot-propelled diver...

Gibellula attenboroughii. Image credit: Evans et al., doi: 10.3114/fuse.2025.15.07.

New Fungal Species Turns Cave Spiders into Zombies: Gibellula attenboroughii

Feb 4, 2025 by Enrico de Lazaro

Cave-dwelling, orb-weaving spiders of the subfamily Metainae infected by Gibellula attenboroughii exhibit behavioral changes similar to those reported...

Pasha et al. detected nine rings around LEDA 1313424, a ring galaxy approximately 567 million light-years away in the constellation of Pisces. They also confirmed which galaxy dove through LEDA 1313424, creating these rings: the blue dwarf galaxy that sits to its immediate center-left. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble / Imad Pasha & Pieter van Dokkum, Yale University.

Astronomers Detect Nine Star-Filled Rings around Giant Galaxy

Feb 4, 2025 by Enrico de Lazaro

Using data from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope and the the Keck Cosmic Web Imager (KCWI) at W.M. Keck Observatory, astronomers have identified nine...

Life reconstruction of an individual of Bonapartenykus from the locality of Salitral Ojo de Agua of the Allen Formation, Patagonia, Argentina. Image credit: Abel G. Montes.

New Fossils from Patagonia Clarify Body Plan of Patagonykine Dinosaurs

Feb 3, 2025 by Enrico de Lazaro

In a new study published in the journal PLoS ONE, paleontologists analyzed the fossilized remains of the alvarezsaurid dinosaur Bonapartenykus from the...

Vignale et al. report the first draft genome sequence for yerba mate and provide convincing evidence for the identity and characteristics of enzymes for caffeine biosynthesis. Image credit: Ilosuna / CC BY-SA 3.0.

Yerba Mate Genome Sequenced

Feb 3, 2025 by Natali Anderson

An international team of scientists has sequenced the genome of the yerba mate (Ilex paraguariensis), an economically important crop marketed for the elaboration...

Tuinstra et al. used attenuated total reflectance (ATR)-FTIR and cross-polarized light microscopy (XPol) supplemented by two mass spectrometry (MS) techniques to elucidate the question of collagen endogeneity in Edmontosaurus sp. fossil bone. Image credit: Tuinstra et al., doi: 10.1021/acs.analchem.4c03115.

Paleontologists Find Original Collagen in Fossil Bone of Edmontosaurus

Feb 3, 2025 by News Staff

Detection of soft tissues (e.g., proteins) in fossil bones is a growing field of study and a new study led by University of Liverpool paleontologists contributes...

Life reconstruction of Mexidracon longimanus. Image credit: Ddinodan / CC BY 4.0.

Long-Handed Ostrich-Like Dinosaur Unearthed in Mexico

Jan 31, 2025 by Enrico de Lazaro

A bizarre new genus and species of ornithomimid dinosaur has been identified from the fossilized remains found in 2014 in Coahuila, Mexico. Life reconstruction...

A view of the outside of the OSIRIS-REx sample collector. Sample material from asteroid Bennu can be seen on the middle right. Image credit: NASA / Erika Blumenfeld / Joseph Aebersold.

Scientists Find Amino Acids, Salts and Other Compounds in Samples from Asteroid Bennu

Jan 29, 2025 by News Staff

Asteroid Bennu is thought to be made of rubble fragments from a 4.5-billion-year-old parent body, containing materials that originated beyond Saturn, which...

This image shows the habitable zone around HD 20794 (green) and the trajectory of the three planets in the system. Image credit: Gabriel Pérez Díaz / SMM / IAC.

Astronomers Confirm Presence of Three Exoplanets around Nearby Solar-Type Star

Jan 28, 2025 by Natali Anderson

One of these exoplanets, HD 20794d, is likely to be a rocky planet in the habitable zone of its parent star, the G-dwarf HD 20794. This image shows the...

Prionailurus kurteni was as small as the rusty-spotted cat (Prionailurus rubiginosus). Image credit: David V. Raju / CC BY-SA 4.0.

Small Cat Species Lived alongside Early Humans in China

Jan 27, 2025 by Natali Anderson

Named Prionailurus kurteni, the new cat species is the smallest known fossil member of the family Felidae to date. Prionailurus kurteni was as small as...

Cave bear footprints in Honseca Cave, Spain. Image credit: Rodríguez et al., doi: 10.1080/10420940.2024.2446153.

Pleistocene Cave Bear Footprints Discovered in Spain

Jan 22, 2025 by Natali Anderson

Paleontologists have discovered a set of ancient bear footprints in Honseca Cave, northern Spain. Although distinguishing cave bear from brown bear tracks...

Dr. Nguyen Thanh Son holding a giant specimen of Bathynomus jamesi (weighs 2.62 kg) from a seafood market in Hanoi, Vietnam, October 2024. Image credit: Peter Ng.

New Species of Giant Isopod Discovered in South China Sea

Jan 21, 2025 by Natali Anderson

The new isopod species has been named Bathynomus vaderi after the most famous Sith Lord in the Star Wars movie series, Darth Vader, whose helmet resembles...

Life reconstruction of Tameryraptor markgrafi. Image credit: Joschua Knüppe.

Paleontologists Describe New Species of Predatory Dinosaur

Jan 17, 2025 by Enrico de Lazaro

Paleontologists have described a new genus and species of carcharodontosaurid theropod dinosaur based on depictions of the now-destroyed specimen from...

The WASP-132 system contains a hot Jupiter (foreground), an inner super-Earth (transiting in front of the orange host star) and the cold planet WASP-132d. Image credit: Thibaut Roger, Université de Genève.

Long-Period Giant Exoplanet Discovered in Multi-Planet System WASP-132

Jan 15, 2025 by News Staff

WASP-132 is a unique multi-planet system in that both an inner rocky planet and the newly-discovered outer giant planet are in a system with a hot-Jupiter...

View of the three-dimensional map on the floor of Ségognole 3 rock shelter. Image credit: Médard Thiry.

Archaeologists Discover What May Be World’s Oldest Three-Dimensional Map

Jan 14, 2025 by News Staff

The Paleolithic rock shelter of Ségognole 3 in the Paris Basin contains a miniature representation of the surrounding landscape, says a team of archaeologists...

Vectipelta barretti. Image credit: Stuart Pond.

New Species of Ankylosaur Identified in China

Jan 13, 2025 by Enrico de Lazaro

A new genus and species of ankylosaurid dinosaur has been identified from the fossilized material found at Kangdailiang Mountain (1,262 m above sea level)...

Reconstruction of Ahvaytum bahndooiveche, the oldest known low-latitude dinosaur species globally. Image credit: Gabriel Ugueto.

New Fossil Find Rewrites History of Dinosaur Evolution

Jan 8, 2025 by Sergio Prostak

Paleontologists in the United States have uncovered the fossilized remains of a new species of sauropodomorph dinosaur that lived in the northern hemisphere...

Mycena crocata. Image credit: Heidy Baggenstos and Andreas Rudolf.

New Bioluminescent Fungal Species Identified: Mycena crocata

Jan 7, 2025 by Natali Anderson

Mycena crocata is a long-known species of fungus frequently reported from Europe and Japan, which was considered non-luminescent until now. Heinzelmann...