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Triassic Marine Reptile Was a Filter-Feeder, Paleontologists Say

Reconstruction of Hupehsuchus nanchangensis about to engulf a shoal of shrimps. Image credit: Shunyi Shu & Long Cheng, Wuhan Center of China Geological Survey.
Aug 9, 2023 by Enrico de Lazaro

Hupehsuchus nanchangensis, a species of marine reptile that lived between 249 and 247 million years ago in what is now China, had soft structures such as an expanding throat region to allow it to engulf great masses of water containing shrimp-like prey, and baleen whale-like structures to filter food items as it swam forward. Reconstruction of Hupehsuchus nanchangensis about to engulf a shoal of shrimps. Image credit: Shunyi Shu & Long Cheng,...

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An artist’s impression of the InSight lander on Mars. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech.

Mars is Spinning Faster, Planetary Researchers Say

Aug 9, 2023 by News Staff

To track the Red Planet’s spin rate, planetary scientists relied on the Rotation and Interior Structure Experiment (RISE) onboard NASA’s InSight lander....

Reconstruction of Shaihuludia shurikeni from the Spence Shale of Utah. Image credit: Rhiannon LaVine.

Cambrian Annelid Worm Had Bizarre Blade-Like Chaetae

Aug 9, 2023 by Enrico de Lazaro

Chaetae are stiff bristles made of chitin that characterize many species of annelid worms. Reconstruction of Shaihuludia shurikeni from the Spence Shale...

The network of Roman roads in South West Britain. Image credit: Parcero-Oubina et al., doi: 10.5334/jcaa.109.

Archaeologists Find Evidence for Roman-Era Road Network in South West Britain

Aug 8, 2023 by Enrico de Lazaro

The newly-discovered Roman road network system privileged the movement of animal-drawn wheel vehicles and is possibly the result of an evolutionary model,...

Mallotus peltatus. Image credit: Abu Hamas / CC BY-SA 4.0.

Tropical Plant Extract May Help Prevent Obesity

Aug 8, 2023 by Enrico de Lazaro

Obesity is a major risk factor for various chronic diseases, especially lifestyle-related diseases. Therefore, finding a protective substance against obesity...

The tigrina or oncilla (Leopardus tigrinus). Image credit: Groumfy69 / CC BY-SA 3.0.

New Cat Species Discovered in Museum Collection is Probably Already Extinct

Aug 7, 2023 by Natali Anderson

The only known specimen of the small spotted cat species Leopardus narinensis was found on the Galeras Volcano in southern Colombia in 1989. The tigrina...

Aulacopleura koninckii. Image credit: Nigel Hughes / University of California, Riverside.

Flexibility Enabled Success of Trilobites, New Research Suggests

Aug 7, 2023 by Enrico de Lazaro

New research by paleontologists from the University of California, Riverside and the Universidad Complutense de Madrid focuses on Aulacopleura koninckii,...

On August 31, 2012, a long filament of solar material that had been hovering in the Sun’s atmosphere, the corona, erupted out into space at 4:36 p.m. EDT. The CME traveled at over 900 miles per second. It did not travel directly toward Earth, but did connect with Earth’s magnetic environment, or magnetosphere, with a glancing blow, causing aurora to appear on the night of September 3. Image credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center.

HAWC Observatory Detects High-Energy Gamma Rays from the Sun

Aug 7, 2023 by News Staff

New results from the High Altitude Water Cherenkov (HAWC) observatory extend the bright, hard gamma-ray emission from the solar disk observed with NASA’s...

The fructose survival hypothesis proposes that obesity and metabolic disorders may have developed from over-stimulation of an evolutionary-based biologic response (survival switch) that aims to protect animals in advance of crisis. Image credit: Günther.

Excessive Fructose Metabolism Explains Obesity and Epidemics of Obesity-Associated Diseases: Study

Aug 7, 2023 by News Staff

Obesity and its associated metabolic diseases have had devastating health consequences on modern society. New research from the University of Colorado...

This Hubble image shows NGC 6684, a lenticular galaxy some 44 million light-years away in the constellation of Pavo. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble / R. Tully.

Hubble Focuses on Beautiful Lenticular Galaxy

Aug 7, 2023 by Enrico de Lazaro

Astronomers using the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope have captured an amazing new photo of the lenticular galaxy NGC 6684. This Hubble image shows NGC...

An artist’s reconstruction of Jeholornis prima with potential angiosperm arboreal herbivorous feeding ecology. Image credit: Wu et al., doi: 10.1038/s41467-023-40311-z.

Early Cretaceous Bird Consumed Leaves of Magnolia-Like Flowering Plants

Aug 4, 2023 by Enrico de Lazaro

Fossil plant phytoliths from the digestive tract of Jeholornis prima — an extinct species of bird that lived in what is now China during the Early...

An artist’s impression of a gas-giant exoplanet. Image credit: Sci.News.

Astronomers Discover Jupiter-Sized Exoplanet around Low-Mass Star

Aug 4, 2023 by Enrico de Lazaro

Using data from TRAPPIST-South/North, SPECULOOS, and MuSCAT3 facilities, astronomers have discovered an unusual Jupiter-sized exoplanet orbiting the red...

This Webb/NIRcam composite image shows the Ring Nebula. Image credit: NASA / ESA / CSA / JWST Ring Nebula Team / Roger Wesson.

Webb Captures Stunning Images of Ring Nebula

Aug 3, 2023 by News Staff

New images from the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope show the intricate and ethereal beauty of the famous Ring Nebula, also known as Messier 57,...

Interest in local bird feeding appears to have ramped up in countries all over the world during the pandemic lockdowns, even in countries not historically noted for bird feeding practices. Image credit: Victor Pogson.

Study: Interest in Wild Bird Feeding Surged in 115 Countries during COVID-19 Lockdowns

Aug 3, 2023 by News Staff

The global extent of supplementary bird feeding is unknown but has consequences for bird conservation and human well-being. Using a measure of search intensity...

Reconstruction of Perucetus colossus in its coastal habitat; the associated sawfish, Pristis, was recovered from the same unit in the East Pisco Basin, the Yumaque Member of the Paracas Formation, Peru. Image credit: A. Gennari.

Eocene-Period Whale Might Be Heaviest Animal on Record

Aug 3, 2023 by Enrico de Lazaro

Perucetus colossus substantially pushes the upper limit of skeletal mass in mammals, as well as in aquatic vertebrates in general. This early basilosaurid...

Bread wheat (left) has been bred over thousands of years to have large grain size, and be easy to harvest, but it has lost much of the resilience still maintained in the wild, ancient einkorn wheat (right). Image credit: Kimbra Cutlip / University of Maryland.

Wild and Domesticated Einkorn Genomes Sequenced

Aug 2, 2023 by Natali Anderson

Einkorn (Triticum monococcum) was the first domesticated wheat species, and was central to the birth of agriculture and the Neolithic Revolution in the...

Plant-herbivore interactions from the Cenozoic fossil record: (A) meta-network of plant-herbivore interactions, based on 10,714 damaged leaves from 21 fossil floras; colored bars represent the total interaction frequencies of host plants and herbivores; the ten most abundant plant orders are labeled; gray lines represent pair-wise interactions, with more frequent interactions being thicker and less transparent; (B) examples of damage types: (a and b) mines mainly produced by moths; (c and d) galls mainly produced by gall midges; (e-h) external foliage feeding including hole feeding, margin feeding, surface feeding, and skeletonization; (i) endophytic oviposition; (j) in situ preservation of armored scale insects. Scale bars - 10 mm. Image credit: Albrecht et al., doi: 10.1073/pnas.2300514120.

Fossil Leaves with Insect Imprints Reveal Drivers of Herbivore Functional Diversity during Cenozoic Era

Aug 2, 2023 by News Staff

Plant-eating insects are the most diverse group of multicellular organisms on Earth. The most discussed drivers of their inordinate taxonomic and functional...

This image was taken during commissioning of Euclid to check that the focused NISP instrument worked as expected. Image credit: ESA / Euclid / Euclid Consortium / NASA.

ESA’s Euclid Spacecraft Snaps Its First Test Images

Aug 2, 2023 by News Staff

Euclid, built and operated by ESA, with contributions from NASA, will observe billions of galaxies out to 10 billion light-years to create the largest,...

Artistic reconstruction of a group of Burgessomedusa phasmiformis swimming in the Cambrian sea. Image credit: Christian McCall.

Paleontologists Identify Oldest Known Species of Free-Swimming Jellyfish

Aug 2, 2023 by News Staff

Burgessomedusa phasmiformis had a cuboidal umbrella up to 20 cm (8 inches) high and over 90 short, finger-like tentacles. Artistic reconstruction of a...

Pecans (Carya illinoinensis) are considered a functional food due to the high content of polyunsaturated fatty acids, dietary fiber and polyphenols. Image credit: Tseiu.

Pecans May Help Prevent Obesity and Reduce Inflammation, Study Shows

Aug 2, 2023 by Enrico de Lazaro

Researchers from Texas A&M University and elsewhere have assessed the biochemical, histological and molecular effects of whole pecans (Carya illinoinensis)...

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