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A reconstruction of a Neanderthal man. Image credit: Neanderthal Museum.

48,000-Year-Old Fossils Hint at Neanderthal-Human Interbreeding

Feb 1, 2021 by News Staff

Several hominin teeth found the Paleolithic site of La Cotte de St Brelade in Jersey may belong to Neanderthal-Homo sapiens hybrids, according to new research...

Brookesia nana, male. Image credit: Glaw et al., doi: 10.1038/s41598-020-80955-1.

World’s Tiniest Reptile Found in Madagascar

Feb 1, 2021 by Natali Anderson

An international team of scientists has discovered a new, extremely miniaturized species of the chameleon genus Brookesia living in a montane rainforest...

Artistic rendering of Brindabellaspis stensioi (foreground) with a range of other Devonian fossil fishes; the white shark and human diver in the upper right corner represent modern jawed vertebrates. Image credit: Hongyu Yang / Qiuyang Zheng.

Devonian Fish’s Inner Ear Sheds Light on Earliest Evolution of Jawed Vertebrates

Feb 1, 2021 by News Staff

Paleontologists have found that Brindabellaspis stensioi, a species of long-beaked placoderm fish that lived 400 million years ago (Early Devonian epoch),...

The 357,000-year-old abrading tool from Tabun Cave, Mount Carmel, Israel. Image credit: Shimelmitz et al., doi: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2020.102909.

357,000-Year-Old Abrading Tool Unearthed in Israel

Feb 1, 2021 by Enrico de Lazaro

The 357,000-year-old abrader found in the Lower Paleolithic layers of Tabun Cave in Israel is presently the earliest documented artifact of its kind. The...

This Hubble image shows UGC 3885, a spiral galaxy some 180 million light-years away in the constellation of Lynx. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble / J. Walsh.

Hubble Snaps Beautiful Image of UGC 3885

Feb 1, 2021 by Enrico de Lazaro

Astronomers using the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope have captured a striking new photo of the spiral galaxy UGC 3885. This Hubble image shows UGC 3885,...

Chumash cupped beads from purple dwarf olive sea snails (Olivella biplicata). Image credit: Lynn Gamble / SBMNH Collection.

Chumash Indians Were Using Shell Bead Money 2,000 Years Ago

Jan 29, 2021 by News Staff

The Chumash Indians, hunter-gatherers centered on the south-central coast of Santa Barbara, were using highly worked shells as currency as early as 2,000...

The naked mole-rat (Heterocephalus glaber). Image credit: Txan Txunai / CC BY-SA 4.0.

Naked Mole-Rats Have Colony-Specific Dialects, New Study Shows

Jan 29, 2021 by News Staff

Naked mole-rats (Heterocephalus glaber) form some of the most cooperative groups in the animal kingdom, living in multigenerational colonies under the...

3,000-year-old wool fibers dyed pink-purple hue. Image credit: Dafna Gazit / Israel Antiquities Authority.

3,000-Year-Old Fragments of Royal Purple Dyed Textile Found in Israel

Jan 29, 2021 by Enrico de Lazaro

While evidence for the important role of purple dyes in the ancient Mediterranean goes back to the early 2nd millennium BCE, finds of dyed textiles are...

An artist’s impression of the five-planet system HD 108236. Image credit: Sci-News.com.

Five Giant Planets Orbit Nearby Sun-Like Star

Jan 29, 2021 by Natali Anderson

Astronomers using ESA’s CHaracterising ExOPlanet Satellite (CHEOPS) have discovered a fifth planet around the bright, Sun-like star HD 108236. An artist’s...

This image was captured on November 18, 2020, by the SoloHI camera on board Solar Orbiter. Venus (left), Earth (middle), and Mars (right) are visible in the foreground. Stars are visible in the background, appearing to move in Solar Orbiter’s recording while the spacecraft travels around the Sun. The Sun is located on the right, outside the video frame. Image credit: ESA / NASA / Solar Orbiter / SoloHI Team / U.S. Naval Research Laboratory.

Solar Orbiter Spots Venus, Earth and Mars

Jan 28, 2021 by News Staff

Solar Orbiter, a collaborative mission between ESA and NASA to study the Sun, has captured a series of images showing three solar system planets: Venus,...

The 635-million-year-old fungus-like filamentous microfossils from the Doushantuo Formation in China. Image credit: Andrew Czaja, University of Cincinnati.

Paleontologists Find 635-Million-Year-Old Land Fungus-Like Fossils

Jan 28, 2021 by Enrico de Lazaro

The 635-million-year-old pyritized fungus-like microfossils found in the Ediacaran-period Doushantuo Formation in China provide direct fossil evidence...

Casiraghi et al. show that on nights before a full moon, people sleep less and go to bed later on average. Image credit: Florian Kurz.

Study: Sleep Starts Later and is Shorter on Nights before Full Moon

Jan 28, 2021 by News Staff

Before the availability of artificial light, moonlight was the only source of light sufficient to stimulate nighttime activity; still, evidence for the...

The trace of an α particle obtained by the nuclear physicist Wolfhart Willimczik with his spark chamber specially made for α particles.

Physicists Precisely Measure Charge Radius of Alpha Particle

Jan 28, 2021 by Enrico de Lazaro

Using a method called atomic spectroscopy, an international team of physicists has produced a new value for the charge radius of the α particle, the nucleus...

Laham et al. show that mice form memories of their mother within days after birth and that these memories persist into adulthood. Image credit: Laham et al., doi: 10.1016/j.celrep.2020.108668.

Mice Form Memories of Their Mother within Three Days after Birth, Study Shows

Jan 28, 2021 by News Staff

Mouse pups recognize their caregiving mother and distinguish her from novel mothers as newborns and remember them after up to 100 days apart, according...

This image was produced by a simulation showing the evolution of dark matter in the Universe. Image credit: Milennium-II Simulation.

Physicists Narrow Range of Potential Masses for Dark Matter Candidate Particles

Jan 27, 2021 by News Staff

In a paper to be published in the journal Physics Letters B, a duo of theoretical physicists from the University of Sussex shows that quantum gravity leads...

The first people to reach and disperse across the Americas did so in tandem with their dogs. Image credit: Ettore Mazza.

First People to Settle in Americas were Accompanied by Their Dogs

Jan 27, 2021 by News Staff

A new study, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, suggests that dogs were domesticated in Siberia by 23,000 years ago, possibly...

A group of Parasaurolophus cyrtocristatus being confronted by a tyrannosaurid in the subtropical forests of New Mexico 75 million years ago. Image credit: Andrey Atuchin.

Paleontologists Find Well-Preserved Skull of Tube-Crested Dinosaur

Jan 27, 2021 by News Staff

The exquisite preservation of a new, partial skull of Parasaurolophus cyrtocristatus, a species of duck-billed dinosaur that lived during the Cretaceous...

Siraj & Loeb explore the possibility that accretion flares resulting from the tidal disruption of small Oort Cloud bodies by a putative primordial black hole could power an observable optical signal that could be searched for with the upcoming Vera C. Rubin Observatory Legacy Survey of Space and Time. Image credit: Sci-News.com / Zdeněk Bardon / ESO.

Extreme Black Holes Have Gravitational Hair that Can Be Measured, Physicists Say

Jan 27, 2021 by News Staff

Gravitational-wave detectors can be used to measure gravitational-field hair of extreme black holes, according to a paper published in the journal Physical...

Capable of capturing both aquatic and terrestrial prey, and perhaps an opportunistic scavenger, adult Spinosaurus likely took aquatic prey by standing in shallow water or at the margins of water bodies. Image credit: Robert Nicholls.

Spinosaurus Wasn’t Aquatic Pursuit Predator, New Research Shows

Jan 27, 2021 by News Staff

The giant dinosaur Spinosaurus acted like modern herons or storks, taking fish and other aquatic prey from the edges of water or in shallow water, but...