Page 230 | Sci.News: Breaking Science News

Japanese samurai in armor, print by Kusakabe Kimbei, 1870s. Image credit: Getty’s Open Content Program.

Ancient DNA Reveals Tripartite Origins of Japanese People

Sep 21, 2021 by News Staff

The Japanese archipelago, which has been occupied by humans for at least 38,000 years, underwent rapid transformations in the past 3,000 years, first from...

Southeastern pocket gophers (Geomys pinetis) are biofluorescent, giving off a colored glow when illuminated with UV light. Image credit: Pynne et al., doi: 10.1674/0003-0031-186.1.150.

Scientists Observe Biofluorescence in Burrowing Mammals for First Time

Sep 21, 2021 by Sergio Prostak

An international team of researchers led by the University of Georgia has documented ultraviolet biofluorescence in live southeastern pocket gophers (Geomys...

An illustration of NASA’s VIPER lunar rover. Image credit: NASA / Ames Research Center / Daniel Rutter.

NASA Announces Landing Site for VIPER Lunar Rover

Sep 21, 2021 by News Staff

NASA has chosen the western edge of Nobile Crater at the Moon’s south pole as the landing site for its upcoming Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration...

Old German Owl (left) and Racing Homer (right) domestic pigeon breeds that were bred by Boer et al.. Image credit: Sydney Stringham.

Researchers Solve Charles Darwin’s Short-Beak Enigma

Sep 21, 2021 by News Staff

Charles Darwin bred domestic pigeons (Columba livia), and in his Origin of Species described the numerous variations that had been selected by pigeon fanciers....

This artist’s impression shows how Mars may have looked about 4 billion years ago. Image credit: M. Kornmesser / ESO.

Mars Too Small to Be Habitable, New Study Suggests

Sep 20, 2021 by News Staff

The habitability of Mars is limited by its small size, according to new research by Washington University in St. Louis planetary scientists. This artist’s...

New Jurassic Pterosaur Unearthed in Chile

Sep 20, 2021 by Enrico de Lazaro

Paleontologists have unearthed and described the fragmentary fossilized remains of a non-pterodactyloid pterosaur in the Atacama Desert in northern Chile. Life...

(a) WISE false color image of the Pa 30 nebula where blue and green stand for 11 μm emission, and red for 22 μm; (b) in this false color image, where green stands for WISE 11 μm (as in the left panel) and red for WISE 22 μm (adjusted to show extended emission), the emission from the central star is highlighted in blue from the GALEX near-UV data, while the XMM-Newton contors show that the majority of the X-ray emission originates from the core of the nebula; a background point source is seen westward of the CS in the XMM-Newton contour map; (c) the 2.1 m KPNO image; the green cross in the center of the image marks the location of the CS; panels (a)-(c) are reproduced at the same angular scale and orientation; at the Gaia distance of Pa 30 of 2,300 parsecs, an angular scale of 45'' translates to about 100,000 AU. Image credit: Ritter et al., doi: 10.3847/2041-8213/ac2253.

Astronomers Identify Remnant of Historical Supernova SN 1181

Sep 20, 2021 by News Staff

New research led by University of Hong Kong astronomers shows that a fast expanding nebula called Pa 30 surrounding the hot Wolf-Rayet star IRAS 00500+6713...

The reconstructed face of Krijn. Image credit: Servaas Neijens, Rijksmuseum van Oudheden / Adrie and Alfons Kennis, Kennis & Kennis Reconstructions.

Dutch Neanderthal’s Face Revealed

Sep 20, 2021 by Enrico de Lazaro

Adrie and Alfons Kennis, two paleo-artists from the Kennis & Kennis Reconstructions, have used facial approximation techniques and the latest findings...

This Hubble image shows the globular cluster Palomar 6. The color image is a composite of separate exposures acquired by Hubble’s Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC 3) and Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS). Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble / R. Cohen.

Hubble Captures Stunning New Image of Palomar 6

Sep 20, 2021 by Enrico de Lazaro

Astronomers using the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope have captured the brilliance of a globular cluster called Palomar 6. This Hubble image shows the...

The dispersal of Vishnuonyx otters from the Indian subcontinent to Africa and Europe about 13 million years ago; HAM 4 is the position of the Hammerschmiede site. Image credit: Nikos Kargopoulos.

11-Million-Year-Old Fossil of Large-Sized Otter Found in Germany

Sep 17, 2021 by Enrico de Lazaro

A new species of the extinct genus Vishnuonyx has been identified from the 11.4-million-year-old lower jaw found at the Upper Miocene site of Hammerschmiede...

An illustration showing what Yuanchuavis kompsosoura might have looked like in life. Image credit: Haozhen Zhang.

New Bird Species from Cretaceous Period Had Long Pintail

Sep 17, 2021 by News Staff

Paleontologists in China have identified a new species of pengornithid enantiornithine bird with a pair of elaborate tail feathers. An illustration showing...

Photons emitted near rotating black holes encode quantum information that can be measured by actual quantum information technology. Image credit: Sci-News.com.

Astronomers Measure Mass and Spin of Intermediate-Mass Black Hole

Sep 17, 2021 by News Staff

The intermediate-mass black hole in question was caught in the act of swallowing a star, called a tidal disruption event. Dubbed 3XMM J215022.4-055108,...

Footprints of Newborn Straight-Tusked Elephants Found in Spain

Sep 17, 2021 by News Staff

Paleontologists have discovered tracks and trackways of newborns, calves and juveniles attributed to straight-tusked elephants (Palaeoloxodon antiquus)...

Roth et al. present a calculation of the contribution of star-forming galaxies to the gamma-ray background. Image credit: NASA.

Star-Forming Galaxies Explain ‘Empty Sky’ Gamma-Rays: Study

Sep 16, 2021 by News Staff

Until now, it has been unclear what created gamma-rays that appear in patches of seemingly ‘empty sky.’ Roth et al. present a calculation of the contribution...

This image, acquired by NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter on October 1, 2020, shows several craters in Arabia Terra filled with layered rock. Image credit: NASA / Molly Wasser.

Early Mars Experienced Volcanic Supereruptions, Reseachers Say

Sep 16, 2021 by News Staff

Using high-resolution images from NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, planetary scientists have discovered 4-billion-year-old layered deposits containing...

One photodetector array of the XENON1T detector seen through the other. Image credit: XENON Collaboration.

XENON1T Experiment May Have Directly Detected Dark Energy

Sep 16, 2021 by News Staff

Some unexplained results from the XENON1T dark-matter detector — a 1,300-kg vat of super-pure liquid xenon shielded from cosmic rays in a cryostat...

Clumps of molecular gas overlaid on Sagittarius A* circumnuclear disk as seen by ALMA in the CS(7-6) line. Yellow circles are thin clumps that are going to be shredded by the gravitational force of supermassive black hole Sagittarius A*. Green circles are dense enough to survive the tidal shredding but are not able to form stars. Purple/pink circles have the needed density to form stars, but no star formation has been observed. Image credit: Hsieh et al. / ALMA / EOS / NAOJ / NRAO.

ALMA Spots Quiescent Molecular Clouds and Tides around Milky Way’s Supermassive Black Hole

Sep 16, 2021 by News Staff

Astronomers using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) have found thousands of dense gas clumps but, surprisingly, no star formation,...

Life reconstruction of giant penguins. Image credit: Simone Giovanardi.

New Giant Penguin Species Unearthed in New Zealand

Sep 16, 2021 by Enrico de Lazaro

A new species of large-sized penguin being named Kairuku waewaeroa has been identified from the fossilized bones found in Kawhia Harbour on the North Island...

Frontal view of male Scenopinus jerei. Image credit: Pohjoismäki & Haarto, doi: 10.3897/zookeys.1059.70085.

New Species of Window Fly Discovered in Finland

Sep 15, 2021 by Enrico de Lazaro

Entomologists have described a new species in the window fly genus Scenopinus from Finland. Frontal view of male Scenopinus jerei. Image credit: Pohjoismäki...