Other Sciences News

This image of the continental United States at night is a composite assembled from data acquired by the Suomi NPP satellite in April and October 2012. The image was made possible by the satellite's ‘day-night band’ of the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS), which detects light in a range of wavelengths from green to near-infrared and uses filtering techniques to observe dim signals such as city lights, gas flares, auroras, wildfires and reflected moonlight. Image credit: NASA Earth Observatory / NOAA NGDC.

Researchers Develop New Global Atlas of Light Pollution

Jun 10, 2016 by News Staff

More than 80 percent of the world and more than 99 percent of the U.S. and European populations live under light-polluted skies, according to a study and...

The new compound emits a broadband spectrum of light upon excitation with an infrared laser. Image credit: Nils Wilhelm Rosemann.

New Compound Can Transform Infrared into Visible Light

Jun 10, 2016 by Enrico de Lazaro

A team of scientists in Germany has developed a compound that can transform infrared into warm, white-colored light. The new compound emits a broadband...

Periodic table of the elements. Image credit: International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry / Sci-News.com.

Nihonium, Tennessine, Oganesson, Moscovium: Four New Chemical Elements Get Names

Jun 9, 2016 by News Staff

Nihonium (Nh), moscovium (Mc), tennessine (Ts) and oganesson (Og) are the new names of chemical elements 113, 115, 117 and 118 on the periodic table. Periodic...

Reconstruction of Homo floresiensis. Image credit: Kinez Riza / Atelier Elisabeth Daynes, Sangiran Museum.

Scientists Find 700,000-Year-Old Remains of Proto-Homo floresiensis

Jun 9, 2016 by News Staff

New hominin fossils from the Indonesian island of Flores shed light on the origin of the mysterious ‘hobbit’ species, Homo floresiensis. Hominin remains...

This map shows the location of the ice-free corridor and Paleo-Indian sites. Image credit: Roblespepe / CC BY-SA 3.0.

Researchers: ‘Ice-Free Corridor’ along Rocky Mountains Opened Up 13,000 Years Ago

Jun 7, 2016 by Enrico de Lazaro

Evidence from bison fossils has enabled researchers to shape a more accurate timeline for the so-called ‘ice-free corridor’ — a route for Pleistocene...

Artist’s concept of the active young Sun 4 billion years ago. Its energy may have aided in creating molecules in the atmosphere of early Earth that allowed it to warm up enough to incubate life. Image credit: NASA / GSFC / CIL.

Young Sun’s Superflares May Have Been Key to Life on Early Earth

May 25, 2016 by News Staff

Powerful coronal mass ejection events from the young Sun may have provided the crucial energy needed to warm early Earth, according to a team of researchers...

The new study points to stress as a possible antecedent of belief in conspiracy theories. Image credit: Photovision.

Study Finds Link between Stress and Conspiracy Theories

May 16, 2016 by News Staff

A new study led by Anglia Ruskin University researcher Prof. Viren Swami shows that people who believe in conspiracy theories (420 U.S. adults were sampled)...

A group of Neanderthals in a cave. Image credit: Tyler B. Tretsven.

Climate Change Contributed to Neanderthals’ Demise, Study Suggests

May 12, 2016 by News Staff

Neanderthals showed signs of nutritional stress during periods of extreme cold, according to a new study published in the July 2016 issue of the Journal...

Ancient Earth. Image credit: Imperial College London.

Archean Earth’s Upper Atmosphere Was Oxygen-Rich, Scientists Discover

May 12, 2016 by News Staff

An international team of researchers from Australia and the United Kingdom has made a surprising discovery about the chemistry of Earth’s upper atmosphere...

Spatial frequency distribution map of haplogroup R0a. Image credit: Francesca Gandini et al.

Humans Arrived in Southern Arabia Earlier Than Thought

May 11, 2016 by Enrico de Lazaro

An international team of genetic researchers from the United States and Europe has found new evidence that there was an Ice Age refugium in southern Arabia. Spatial...

Sahara, Libya. Image credit: Victor Korniyenko / CC BY-SA 3.0.

Dust from Sahara Makes Significant Impact on Caribbean Sea Ecosystem, Research Shows

May 10, 2016 by News Staff

Atmospherically transported dust from the Sahara Desert, the largest desert in the world, is bringing iron and other nutrients to underwater plants in...

Reversible assembly of light-powered nano-engines. pNIPAM - poly(N-isopropylacrylamide). Image credit: Tao Ding et al / University of Cambridge.

Researchers Develop Light-Powered Nano-Engine

May 4, 2016 by Natali Anderson

A team of researchers at the University of Cambridge, UK, has developed a nanoscale engine — just a few billionths of a meter in size — which...

An artist’s conception of the Antarctic subglacial environment. Image credit: Zina Deretsky / NSF.

What Lies Beneath Thick Antarctic Ice Sheet?

May 4, 2016 by News Staff

Three teams of scientists have taken a detailed look into the biogeochemistry, geophysics and geology of subglacial Lake Whillans, which lies 2,600 feet...

Ancient DNA Study Sheds New Light on Genetic History of Europeans

May 3, 2016 by News Staff

Analyses of genome-wide data from 51 Eurasians from 7,000 – 45,000 years ago reveal two big changes in prehistoric human populations that are closely...

Scientists at the University of California, Berkeley, build a semantic atlas to chart how the brain responds to language. Image credit: University of California, Berkeley.

Researchers Create Detailed ‘Semantic Atlas’ of the Mind

Apr 29, 2016 by News Staff

A team of neuroscientists and psychologists at the University of California, Berkeley, has created a detailed ‘semantic atlas’ showing which human...

Life reconstruction of a pair of Chasmaporthetes gangsriensis. Image credit: Julie Selan.

Tooth-Marks on 500,000-Year-Old Bone Indicate Hominin Hunting/Scavenging by Large Carnivores

Apr 29, 2016 by Enrico de Lazaro

According to a team of scientists headed by Dr. Jean-Jacques Hublin at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany, tooth-marks...

An anatomical illustration from Sobotta's Human Anatomy, 1908, shows the structure of a human brain. Image credit: Dr Johannes Sobotta.

Scientists Identify Brain Circuit that Controls Binge Drinking

Apr 28, 2016 by News Staff

A team of scientists led by Dr. Todd Thiele from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill has identified a circuit between two brain regions that...

Scientists in Canada have developed DNA-based thermometers that allow to measure temperature at the nanoscale. Image credit: Kotkoa.

Researchers Use DNA to Create World’s Smallest Thermometer

Apr 27, 2016 by News Staff

A team of scientists at the University of Montreal, Canada, has created a DNA-based nanothermometer that is 20,000 times smaller than a human hair. Scientists...

The Amazon River meets the Atlantic Ocean and creates a plume where freshwater and salt water mix. Image credit: Lance Willis.

Massive New Reef System Found at Amazon River Mouth

Apr 25, 2016 by News Staff

A new reef system has been found at the mouth of the Amazon River by an international group of researchers from Brazil and the United States. The Amazon...