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Simulation showing the distribution of hot gas (left), compared with the eROSITA X-ray image (right) of the Abell 3391-Abell 3395 system. Image credit: Reiprich et al., doi: 10.1051/0004-6361/202039590.

Astronomers Discover Longest Filament of Intergalactic Gas Yet

Dec 17, 2020 by News Staff

Using the eROSITA X-ray telescope onboard the Spectrum-Roentgen-Gamma (SRG) space observatory and CSIRO’s Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder...

This image shows the spiral galaxy Messier 63, widely known as the Sunflower Galaxy. The image was taken with Hubble’s Wide Field and Planetary Camera 2. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble.

New Research Supports ‘Modified Gravity’ Theory

Dec 17, 2020 by News Staff

Dark matter proponents theorize that most of the known Universe is actually made of material that doesn’t interact with light, making it invisible and...

Toonen et al. challenge the long-held view that the fall of Central Asia’s river civilizations was determined by warfare and the destruction of irrigation infrastructure during the Mongol invasion. Image credit: National Library, Berlin.

Climate Change, Not Mongol Invasion, Destroyed Central Asia’s River Civilizations

Dec 17, 2020 by News Staff

The Aral Sea basin in Central Asia and its major rivers, the Amu Darya and Syr Darya, were the center of advanced river civilizations, and a principal...

The western gray kangaroo (Macropus fuliginosus) in Donnelly Mills, Western Australia. Image credit: Sean Mack / CC BY-SA 3.0.

Study: Kangaroos Can Intentionally Communicate with Humans

Dec 17, 2020 by News Staff

Kangaroos, marsupial mammals that have never been domesticated, can intentionally communicate with humans, according to new research led by the University...

Enceladus’ tiger stripes are known to be spewing ice from the moon’s icy interior into space, creating a cloud of fine ice particles over the moon’s south pole and creating Saturn’s mysterious E-ring. Evidence for this has come from NASA’s Cassini spacecraft that orbited Saturn from 2004 to 2017. Pictured here, a high resolution image of Enceladus is shown from a close flyby. Tiger stripes are visible in false-color blue. Image credit: NASA / ESA / JPL / SSI / Cassini Imaging Team.

Enceladus’ Subsurface Ocean Has Various Energy Sources for Microbial Life, Study Suggests

Dec 17, 2020 by News Staff

In a study published this month in the journal Icarus, planetary researchers from the United States and Germany modeled chemical processes in the subsurface...

An artist’s impression of the hot-Jupiter exoplanet tau Boötis b. Image credit: L. Calçada / ESO.

LOFAR Detects Radio Emission from Tau Boötis Planetary System

Dec 16, 2020 by Enrico de Lazaro

Astronomers using the LOw Frequency Array (LOFAR), a large radio telescope network located mainly in the Netherlands, have detected circularly polarized...

Andres-Hernando et al. suggest that increased water intake may be a beneficial way to both prevent or treat metabolic syndrome. Image credit: Bernd Scheumann.

Increasing Water Intake May Help Prevent, Treat Metabolic Syndrome

Dec 16, 2020 by News Staff

Water suppresses vasopressin, a hormone linked to fructose-induced obesity and diabetes, according to a new study published in the journal JCI Insight. Andres-Hernando...

This Hubble image of the dynamic blue-green planet Neptune reveals a huge dark storm (top center) and the emergence of a smaller dark spot nearby (top right). The giant vortex, which is wider than the Atlantic Ocean, was traveling south toward certain doom by atmospheric forces at the equator when it suddenly made a U-turn and began drifting back northward. Hubble’s Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3) captured this visible-light image on January 7, 2020, the same time a slightly smaller dark spot mysteriously appeared nearby. That spot then vanished a few months later. The smaller feature may have been a piece of the giant storm that broke off as the larger vortex approached the equator. The large storm is the fourth transient dark spot Hubble has observed since 1993. NASA’s Voyager 2 spacecraft first imaged two dark features in Neptune’s southern hemisphere in 1989 as Voyager flew by the distant planet. Those storms had disappeared by the time Hubble looked at Neptune in 1994. However, Hubble detected two new dark spots in the planet’s northern hemisphere in 1994 and 1996. Image credit: NASA / ESA / STScI / M.H. Wong, University of California, Berkeley / L.A. Sromovsky & P.M. Fry, University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Hubble Monitors Weird Dark Vortex on Neptune

Dec 16, 2020 by News Staff

In 2018, astronomers using the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope spotted a giant dark storm, which is 7,400 km (4,600 miles) across, in the northern hemisphere...

Life restoration of Ubirajara jubatus. Image credit: Bob Nicholls, paleocreations.com.

Cretaceous Dinosaur Had Impressive Mane and Shoulder Ribbons

Dec 16, 2020 by News Staff

A maned theropod dinosaur with elaborate filamentous structures has been identified by a research team led by University of Portsmouth paleontologists. Life...

HD 33632Ab detections in 2020 (top panels) and 2018 (bottom panels). Image credit: Currie et al., doi: 10.3847/2041-8213/abc631.

Astronomers Directly Image Brown Dwarf around Nearby Sun-Like Star

Dec 16, 2020 by Enrico de Lazaro

Using the Subaru Telescope and the Keck II telescope at the W. M. Keck Observatory, astronomers have discovered and directly imaged a brown dwarf orbiting...

GN-z11. Image credit: NASA / ESA / P. Oesch, Yale University / G. Brammer, STScI / P. van Dokkum, Yale University / G. Illingworth, University of California, Santa Cruz.

GN-z11 Confirmed as Farthest Galaxy Ever Observed

Dec 15, 2020 by Enrico de Lazaro

GN-z11, a young but moderately massive galaxy located in the constellation of Ursa Major, is estimated to date from when the Universe was only 420 million...

Three roughly 2,000-year-old corn cobs from the El Gigante rock shelter site in Honduras. Image credit: Thomas Harper.

Ancient DNA Sheds New Light on Corn Domestication

Dec 15, 2020 by News Staff

The domestication of corn (Zea mays ssp. mays), a global food staple with great economic and cultural importance, began in southwestern Mexico 9,000 years...

Life restoration of Thecodontosaurus antiquus. Image credit: Mario Lanzas / CC BY-SA 4.0.

Paleontologists Reconstruct Neuroanatomy of Triassic Omnivorous Dinosaur

Dec 15, 2020 by News Staff

A team of paleontologists from the University of Bristol and the Oxford University Museum of Natural History has digitally reconstructed the brain of Thecodontosaurus...

This Hubble images shows Caldwell 45, a spiral galaxy located 59 million light-years away in the constellation Boötes. Also known as NGC 5248, this galaxy is notable for the ring structure around its nucleus. These nuclear rings are characterized by hot spots of starburst activity. Caldwell 45 was discovered by astronomer William Herschel in 1784. The galaxy has an apparent magnitude of 10 and can be spotted using a small telescope, though it won’t appear very bright. A larger telescope is needed to make out the galaxy’s spiral arms. The best time of year to observe Caldwell 45 is during the northern hemisphere’s spring and the southern hemisphere’s autumn. This stunning image of Caldwell 45 is a composite of observations made by Hubble’s Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3) and Wide Field and Planetary Camera 2 (WFPC2) in visible, infrared, and ultraviolet light. It captures the glowing red clouds where new stars are forming, scattered along the galaxy’s winding arms. These observations of Caldwell 45 were made to help astronomers learn more about gas in the galaxy’s starburst regions, as well as to better understand the structure of its nuclear rings. Image credit: NASA / ESA / J. Lee, California Institute of Technology / A. Filippenko, University of California, Berkeley / Gladys Kober, Catholic University of America.

NASA Releases Stunning Images of 30 Caldwell Objects

Dec 15, 2020 by News Staff

NASA has released more than 50 new Hubble images featuring 30 galaxies, star clusters, and nebulae. All of these objects belong to a collection known to...

Pika et al. conducted the first systematic, quantitative large-scale assessment of physical and social cognitive performance of common ravens (Corvus corax) with a special focus on development. Image credit: Ralph Capri23auto.

4-Months-Old Ravens Parallel Great Apes in Cognitive Skills, Study Shows

Dec 15, 2020 by News Staff

By 4 months of age, the cognitive performance of common ravens (Corvus corax) in experimental tasks is similar to those of two great ape species, chimpanzees...

Land-Dwelling Dinosaur Relatives Bridge Gap to Origin of Pterosaurs

Dec 14, 2020 by News Staff

Pterosaurs were highly successful reptiles that lived between 210 and 65 million years ago. They were the first vertebrates to evolve powered flight, but...

An artist’s impression of the super-Earth planet TOI-237b. Image credit: Sci-News.com.

TESS Discovers Two Small and Warm Exoplanets

Dec 14, 2020 by Natali Anderson

Astronomers using data from NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) have discovered two exoplanets transiting inactive red dwarf stars TOI-122...

Mounaix et al. develop a new technique to demonstrate the time reversal of optical waves, which could transform the fields of advanced biomedical imaging and telecommunications. Imager credit: Mounaix et al.

Physicists Demonstrate Time Reversal of Optical Waves

Dec 14, 2020 by News Staff

An international team of experimental physicists from the University of Queensland and Nokia Bell Labs has generated time reversed optical waves with a...

Professor Martin next to the Pleistocene iguana burrow. Image credit: Melissa Hage.

115,000-Year-Old Iguana Nest Fossil Found on San Salvador Island

Dec 14, 2020 by News Staff

A trace fossil preserved in the Grotto Beach Formation on San Salvador Island, the Bahamas, is the first known fossil example of an iguana nesting burrow. Illustration...