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This mosaic of Saturn and its largest moon Titan combines six images -- two each of red, green and blue spectral filters -- to create this natural color view. The images were obtained with Cassini’s wide-angle camera on May 6, 2012, at a distance of approximately 778,000 km (483,000 miles) from Titan. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / Space Science Institute.

Titan Migrates Away from Saturn Faster than Previously Thought

Jun 9, 2020 by News Staff

Saturn is orbited by 82 moons, and tidal friction within the giant planet causes the moons to migrate outwards. In a study published this week in the journal...

Falerii Novi: GPR time-slice at an estimated depth of 0.8-0.85 m: (1) forum tabernae (shop units); (2) a temple; (3) a theater; (4) a macellum; (5) a bath complex; (6) a porticus; (8) streets. Image credit: L. Verdonck / Google Earth.

Archaeologists Use Ground-Penetrating Radar to Map Ancient Roman City of Falerii Novi

Jun 9, 2020 by News Staff

The first high-resolution ground-penetrating radar survey of a complete ancient Roman town — Falerii Novi, in Lazio, Italy — has revealed previously...

An artist’s impression of a four-planet system. Image credit: Sci-News.com.

Sun-Like Star Kepler-160 Has Super-Earth in Habitable Zone

Jun 9, 2020 by Natali Anderson

Astronomers using data from NASA’s Kepler space telescope have discovered two new planets in the Kepler-160 planetary system. One of the new planets...

An artist’s impression of an ultraluminous X-ray pulsar. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech.

Astronomers Find Ultraluminous X-Ray Pulsar in Magellanic Bridge

Jun 8, 2020 by Enrico de Lazaro

Astronomers using ISRO’s AstroSat space observatory have detected a very rare ultraluminous X-ray source in the Magellanic Bridge, a 43,000-light-year-long...

Popular Heartburn Drug Famotidine May Help Fight Mild to Moderately Severe COVID-19 Cases

Jun 8, 2020 by News Staff

Famotidine is widely available over the counter at low cost, does not interact with other medications and has been safely used for suppression of gastric...

Illustration of one of the early settlers in the Caribbean. Image credit: Tom Björklund.

Humans Colonized Caribbean Islands in Three Waves: Study

Jun 5, 2020 by News Staff

An international team of researchers has sequenced and analyzed the genomes of 93 ancient Caribbean islanders and found evidence of at least three separate...

Navajoceratops sullivani and Terminocavus sealeyi. Image credit: Ville Sinkkonen & Denver Fowler.

Two New Species from New Mexico Help Fill Gap in Evolution of Horned Dinosaurs

Jun 5, 2020 by Enrico de Lazaro

Two new transitional species of plant-eating horned dinosaurs have been unearthed in New Mexico, the United States. Navajoceratops sullivani and Terminocavus...

High-resolution lidar images of Aguada Fénix (main panel) and La Carmelita (inset). Scale bar - 500 m (both images are on the same scale). Image credit: Inomata et al, doi: 10.1038/s41586-020-2343-4.

Archaeologists Discover Largest and Oldest-Known Maya Monument

Jun 4, 2020 by News Staff

An international team of archaeologists has discovered an artificial structure — which is 1,400 m in length, 10-15 m in height, has 9 causeways radiating...

Life reconstruction of the armored dinosaur Borealopelta markmitchelli, which lived in what is now Alberta, Canada, some 110 million years ago, eating ferns. Image credit: Julius Csotonyi / Royal Tyrrell Museum.

Armored Herbivorous Dinosaur Preferred Fern Leaves

Jun 4, 2020 by News Staff

Paleontologists in Canada have analyzed the fossilized stomach contents from the exceptionally preserved specimen of Borealopelta markmitchelli, a species...

An artist’s impression of the early Universe. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble / M. Kornmesser.

Astronomers Find No Evidence of Elusive First-Generation Stars in Early Universe

Jun 4, 2020 by News Staff

Astronomers using the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope have found no evidence of hypothetical first-generation stars — called Population III stars...

Three New Bird Species Discovered in Peru

Jun 3, 2020 by Natali Anderson

An international team of ornithologists has described three new species of the bird genus Scytalopus from the Peruvian Andes. New Scytalopus species from...

Anava et al used ancient DNA extraction from Dead Sea Scroll fragments made of animal skin to determine fragment origin and show unification of scrolls from distinct geological locations, highlighting the potential for genetics to illuminate the history of archaeological objects. Image credit: Anava et al, doi: 10.1016/j.cell.2020.04.046.

Scientists Unravel Genetic Mysteries of Dead Sea Scrolls

Jun 3, 2020 by News Staff

The discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls had an incomparable impact on the historical understanding of Judaism and Christianity. ‘Piecing together’ scroll...

Kampecaris obanensis. Image credit: British Geological Survey.

Paleontologists Find World’s Oldest Fossil Bug

Jun 2, 2020 by News Staff

A 425-million-year-old fossil millipede from Scotland is the oldest-known ‘bug’ (an insect, arachnid or other related creature), according to new research...

An artist’s impression of what one of extreme horizontal branch stars, and its giant whitish spot, might look like. The spot is bright, takes up a quarter of the star’s surface and is caused by magnetic fields. As the star rotates, the spot on its surface comes and goes, causing visible changes in brightness. Image credit: ESO / L. Calçada, INAF-Padua / S. Zaggia.

Astronomers Detect Giant Spots on Extremely Hot Stars in Three Globular Clusters

Jun 2, 2020 by News Staff

Using several instruments on ESO’s Very Large Telescope, VLT Survey Telescope and the New Technology Telescope, astronomers have discovered giant spots...

ASKAP Telescope Traces Four Fast Radio Bursts to Massive Galaxies

Jun 1, 2020 by News Staff

Astronomers using the Australian SKA Pathfinder (ASKAP) telescope at CSIRO’s Murchison Radio-astronomy Observatory have tracked four mysterious blasts...

Wightia declivirostris flying over an oxbow lake in the valley of the ancient Wessex River that flowed from Devon to the Isle of Wight. Image credit: Megan Jacobs.

New Pterosaur Species Identified from Fossil Found in England

Jun 1, 2020 by Natali Anderson

A new genus and species of pterosaur has been identified from a partial fossilized jaw collected on Isle of Wight, southern England. Wightia declivirostris...

Heavy Water Has Sweet Taste, New Study Confirms

Jun 1, 2020 by Sergio Prostak

Highly purified heavy water has a distinctly sweeter taste than same-purity normal (light) water, according to a study conducted by researchers from the...

This scanning electron microscope image shows SARS-CoV-2 (yellow) isolated from a patient in the U.S., emerging from the surface of cells (blue/pink) cultured in the lab. Image credit: NIAID.

Up to 81% of COVID-19-Positive Patients are Asymptomatic: Study

Jun 1, 2020 by News Staff

In a paper published in the journal Thorax, a team of Australia researchers described the first instance of complete COVID-19 testing of all passengers...

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

Interstellar Object Oumuamua Could Be Hydrogen Ice-Rich Body

May 31, 2020 by Enrico de Lazaro

In a paper to be published in the Astrophysical Journal Letters, astronomers from the University of Chicago and Yale University show that the odd properties...