A team of astronomers in Japan has detected a thin atmosphere around (612533) 2002 XV93, a trans-Neptunian object about 500 km in diameter — an object far too small and cold to retain one. An artist’s conception of the trans-Neptunian object 2002 XV93. Image credit: NAOJ. “In the cold reaches of the outer Solar System lie thousands of small objects known as trans-Neptunian objects (TNOs)...

Using data from NASA’s Juno spacecraft, planetary scientists have produced the most precise measurements of Jupiter’s size in half a century and found the Solar System’s largest planet is slimmer and flatter than long believed. Hubble’s photo of Jupiter displays the ever-changing landscape of its turbulent atmosphere. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble / Amy Simon, NASA’s Goddard Space Flight...

Hominins at the Acheulian site of Gesher Benot Ya’aqov in Israel relied on driftwood gathered along a lakeshore to fuel their hearths, according to new research led by archaeologists from the Institut Català de Paleoecologia Humana i Evolució Social and Bar-Ilan University; 780,000-year-old charcoal fragments from the site show that survival wasn’t about finding the perfect wood — it...

A new genus and species of massopodan sauropodomorph that lived during the Early Jurassic epoch has been identified from a partial skeleton unearthed in southwestern China. Named Xiangyunloong fengming, this dinosaur bridges a critical gap between early plant-eaters and the colossal four-legged sauropods that would later dominate the Mesozoic world. An artist’s impression of Xiangyunloong fengming....

A landmark study of several butterfly lineages and a day-flying moth in South America shows that convergent evolution — when unrelated species arrive at the same solution — isn’t just a coincidence; it follows a surprisingly consistent genetic script, and this discovery could help predict how species adapt to climate change. Ben Chehida et al. studied convergent evolution in multiple...

New research by astronomers from the University of California, Riverside, Sam Houston State University and the University of Oklahoma suggests decaying dark matter could have triggered the rapid collapse of early gas clouds, helping supermassive black holes form far sooner than current theories allow. Aggarwal et al. show that the energy released from dark matter decay could alter the chemistry of...

In a large clinical trial, Tufts University researcher Bess Dawson-Hughes and colleagues found that vitamin D supplements reduced diabetes risk only in people with certain genetic variants, pointing toward a more personalized approach to prevention. Dawson-Hughes et al. found prediabetic adults with certain variations in the vitamin D receptor gene had a 19% lower risk of developing diabetes when...

A landmark study of several butterfly lineages and a day-flying moth in South America shows that convergent evolution — when unrelated species arrive at the same solution — isn’t just a coincidence; it follows a surprisingly consistent genetic script, and this discovery could help predict how species adapt to climate change. Ben Chehida et al. studied convergent evolution in multiple...

If you’ve ever wondered how geologists know so much about ancient beaches and shallow oceans — from the paleoenvironment to the animals roaming around, the seasonality of the weather, and even the time of day when the ancient scene was preserved — they owe it all to the sand particles bound together by microbes, forming structures known as microbial mats. A planar microbial mat with...

Researchers have developed a fast, practical test to evaluate quality of black coffee, offering baristas and scientists a clearer window into flavor without complex lab work. Bumbaugh et al. show that cyclic voltammetry can be used without any additional sample preparation to directly measure the strength of a coffee beverage and, separately, how dark the coffee has been roasted. Image credit: Sci.News. Existing...