Page 286 | Sci.News: Breaking Science News

During its zenith, the Hittite empire rivaled and threatened ancient Egypt.

Ancient Hittite Farmers Paid Taxes in Barley and Wheat

Oct 20, 2020 by Enrico de Lazaro

A team of archaeologists from the United Kingdom and Germany has carried out an archaeobotanical analysis of plant remains recovered from the 3,500-year-old...

An illustration depicting the onset of the end-Permian mass extinction. Image credit: Dawid Adam Iurino / PaleoFactory, Sapienza University of Rome / Jurikova et al, doi: 10.1038/s41561-020-00646-4.

New Research Provides Comprehensive Reconstruction of End-Permian Mass Extinction

Oct 20, 2020 by News Staff

The end-Permian mass extinction, also known as the Permian-Triassic extinction event and the Great Dying, is the largest mass extinction event in Earth’s...

Our Milky Way Galaxy is surrounded by an enormous halo of plasma (seen in blue in this artists’ rendition). Image credit: NASA / CXC / M.Weiss / Ohio State / A. Gupta et al.

Milky Way’s Halo is Disk-Like and Clumpy, Study Shows

Oct 20, 2020 by News Staff

Using X-ray data from NASA’s HaloSat minisatellite, astronomers have found that our Milky Way Galaxy is surrounded by a clumpy halo of hot gases that...

In the experiment by Li et al., atoms of rubidium-87 are first pre-cooled and then transported to the main test area, which is a custom-made vacuum chamber; there they are cooled to temperatures of just a few microkelvins. Image credit: Li et al., doi: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.125.150501.

Physicists Demonstrate Controlled Transport of Stored Light

Oct 19, 2020 by News Staff

Controlled manipulation, storage, and retrieval of quantum information are essential for quantum communication and computing. Quantum memories for light,...

An artist’s impression of Kalaallitkigun jenkinsi. Image credit: Marta Szubert.

215-Million-Year-Old Fossil from Greenland Sheds Light on Origin of Mammals

Oct 19, 2020 by News Staff

A new genus and species of mammaliaform that lived during the Triassic period has been identified from a partial jaw with teeth found on the eastern coast...

A Homo heidelbergensis, a Neanderthal and a Cro-Magnon. Image credit: SINC / José Antonio Peñas.

Climate Change Drove Early Human Species Extinct, Says New Study

Oct 19, 2020 by News Staff

At least six different species of the genus Homo — H. habilis, H. ergaster, H. erectus, H. heidelbergensis, H. neanderthalensis, and H. sapiens —...

Researchers Sequence Genome of Extinct Scimitar-Toothed Cat

Oct 19, 2020 by News Staff

An international team of scientists has sequenced and analyzed the entire nuclear genome of the scimitar-toothed cat Homotherium latidens. Their results...

This Hubble image shows interacting galaxies NGC 2798 (right) and NGC 2799 (left). The color image includes optical and near-infrared observations from Hubble’s Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS). Three filters were used to sample various wavelengths. The color results from assigning different hues to each monochromatic image associated with an individual filter. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble / SDSS / J. Dalcanton / Judy Schmidt, www.geckzilla.com.

Hubble Space Telescope Spots Colliding Galaxy Pair

Oct 19, 2020 by Enrico de Lazaro

Astronomers using the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope have captured a spectacular image of two interacting spiral galaxies: NGC 2798 and NGC 2799. This...

Posture shift at the end of the Permian period, 252 million years ago. Before the crisis, most reptiles had sprawling posture; afterwards they walked upright. This may have been the first sign of a new pace of life in the Triassic. Image credit: Jim Robins, University of Bristol.

End-Permian Extinction Triggered Switch to Warm-Bloodedness

Oct 16, 2020 by News Staff

The ancestors of both mammals and birds became warm-blooded at the same time, some 250 million years ago, in the time of the end-Permian mass extinction,...

This image from ALMA shows the M2 spectral-type supergiant star Betelgeuse. Image credit: ALMA / ESO / NAOJ / NRAO / E. O’Gorman / P. Kervella.

Betelgeuse is Smaller and Closer to Earth than Previously Thought

Oct 16, 2020 by News Staff

Using new observational data from the space-based Solar Mass Ejection Imager and three different modeling techniques, astronomers have found that Betelgeuse,...

BepiColombo completed its first flyby of Venus on October 15, 2020, coming within 10,720 km of the planet for a gravity assist maneuver. Image credit: ESA / BepiColombo / MTM / CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO.

BepiColombo Makes Its First Flyby of Venus

Oct 16, 2020 by News Staff

BepiColombo, a joint endeavor between the European Space Agency (ESA) and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), successfully completed its first...

The globular cluster RBC EXT8. Image credit: ESASky / CFHT.

Astronomers Find Extremely Metal-Deficient Globular Cluster in Andromeda Galaxy

Oct 16, 2020 by News Staff

Astronomers using the High-Resolution Echelle Spectrometer (HIRES) on the Keck I telescope at W. M. Keck Observatory and the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope...

Guarana et al. investigated the effects of blue-light filtration on broad attitudinal and behavioral outcomes, i.e. work engagement, organizational citizenship behavior, and counterproductive work behavior. Image credit: Alexandr Borecký.

Study: Blue-Light Filtering Glasses Improve Sleep Quantity and Quality, Workday Productivity

Oct 15, 2020 by News Staff

Wearing blue-light filtering glasses before sleeping creates a form of physiologic darkness, thus improving both sleep quantity and quality, and is related...

12,000-Year-Old Human Footprints Found in New Mexico

Oct 15, 2020 by News Staff

An international team of researchers has discovered a long prehistoric human trackway at White Sands National Park in New Mexico, the United States. The...

This image shows the sample chamber inside of a diamond anvil cell, looking axially through the top diamond. The sample originally exists of carbon and sulfur, shown as a black powder, sitting inside a hydrogen-rich environment. The sample is at 4 GPa and is illuminated by 10 mW of 532 nm of laser light to initiate and take to completion the photochemical reaction to produce a Van der Waals solid. Image credit: Snider et al., doi: 10.1038/s41586-020-2801-z.

Scientists Create First Room-Temperature Superconductor

Oct 15, 2020 by News Staff

A team of physicists and materials scientists from the University of Rochester, the University of Nevada Las Vegas and Intel Corporation has created material...

Small Pterosaur from Mid-Cretaceous Period Had Adaptations for Sediment Probing

Oct 15, 2020 by News Staff

Paleontologists in Morocco have discovered the fossilized remains that belonged to a unique small, long-beaked pterosaur. An artist’s impression of Leptostomia...

When the Moon had a magnetic field, it would have been shielded from incoming solar wind, as shown in this illustration. Image credit: NASA.

Moon’s Ancient Magnetosphere May Have Helped Early Earth Retain Its Atmosphere

Oct 15, 2020 by News Staff

Solar storms strip a planet’s atmosphere over time, and only a strong magnetosphere would be able to provide maximum protection. Lunar samples gathered...

Pluto’s Mountains are Capped with Methane Frost: Study

Oct 14, 2020 by News Staff

The bright frosts observed in 2015 in the equatorial region of Cthulhu on Pluto are mostly made of methane-rich ice, according to new research. This image,...

Zhang et al. reveal the genomic changes that allow the Chinese banyan tree (Ficus microcarpa) to produce roots that spring from its branches. Image credit: Gang Wang.

Researchers Sequence Genomes of Two Fig Species and Pollinator Wasp

Oct 14, 2020 by News Staff

An international team of scientists from China, Taiwan and the United States has successfully sequenced and analyzed the genomes of the Chinese banyan...