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Paleontologists Unveil New Species of Plesiosaur

Life reconstruction of Plesionectes longicollum. Image credit: Peter Nickolaus.
Aug 4, 2025 by News Staff

Paleontologists have identified an unusual new genus and species of early-diverging plesiosauroid plesiosaur from a nearly complete skeleton found in the Lower Jurassic Posidonia Shale of Holzmaden, Germany. Life reconstruction of Plesionectes longicollum. Image credit: Peter Nickolaus. The newly-identified species, Plesionectes longicollum, lived in the Early Jurassic seas around 183 million years ago. The marine reptile was roughly 3.2 m in length...

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Studying the evolution of hibernators like some hedgehogs, bats, ground squirrels, and lemurs could reveal the secrets of their remarkable resilience. Image credit: Chrissy Richards.

Superpowers of Hibernating Animals Could Lie Hidden in Human DNA

Aug 4, 2025 by News Staff

Two new studies by University of Utah researchers provide clues on how to unlock these hibernating abilities, opening the door to someday developing treatments...

This Hubble image shows part of the Tarantula Nebula, a star-forming region some 163,000 light-years away in the constellation of Dorado. The color image is a composite of separate exposures acquired by Hubble’s Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3) instrument in the ultraviolet, near-infrared, and optical parts of the spectrum. It is based on data obtained through four filters. The color results from assigning different hues to each monochromatic image associated with an individual filter. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble / C. Murray.

Hubble Sees Dusty Clouds in Tarantula Nebula

Aug 4, 2025 by Enrico de Lazaro

A striking new image from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope shows incredible details in the Tarantula Nebula, a turbulent star-birth region located in...

Pleurosaurus, a remarkable, long-bodied swimming rhynchocephalian that lived during the Late Jurassic epoch, some 150 million years ago, in what is now Germany. Image credit: Roberto Ochoa.

Unique Fossil of Juvenile Pleurosaurus Unearthed in Germany

Aug 1, 2025 by Enrico de Lazaro

Rhynchocephalians — members of a sister group of squamates (lizards, snakes, and worm lizards) that includes the living tuatara (Sphenodon punctatus)...

Holotype of Acrophylla alta in nature. Image credit: Ross M. Coupland.

New Species of Giant Stick Insect Discovered in Australia

Aug 1, 2025 by Natali Anderson

Australian entomologists have described a spectacular new species of the stick insect genus Acrophylla from two female specimens as well as eggs. Holotype...

This Webb image shows the Hubble Ultra Deep Field, an area of deep space with thousands of galaxies in various shapes and sizes on a black background. Image credit: NASA / ESA / CSA / Webb / G. Östlin / P. G. Perez-Gonzalez / J. Melinder / JADES Collaboration / M. Zamani, ESA & Webb.

Webb Visits ‘Hubble Ultra Deep Field’

Aug 1, 2025 by Enrico de Lazaro

Astronomers using the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope have observed the Hubble Ultra Deep Field (HUDF), an area of deep space with nearly 10,000...

This image of OJ 287 reveals the sharply curved, ribbon-like structure of the plasma jet emitted from its center. Image credit: Efthalia Traianou / Heidelberg University / IWR.

OJ 287 Galaxy Likely Harbors Supermassive Black Hole Binary at Its Center, Observations Suggest

Jul 31, 2025 by News Staff

Using data from the 10-m space radio telescope RadioAstron and a network of 27 ground-based observatories, astronomers have detected an unusual ribbon-like...

Paestum honey: (A) underground shrine in Paestum, Italy; (B) one of the hydrias on display alongside a Perspex box containing the residue at the Ashmolean Museum in 2019; (C) graphic representation of the arrangement of the bronze jars inside the shrine; (D) sample from the core of the residue. Image credit: da Costa Carvalho et al., doi: 10.1021/jacs.5c04888.

Bronze Jars Found in Italy Contain 2,500-Year-Old Honey, Archaeologists Find

Jul 30, 2025 by News Staff

Archaeologists have re-examined a 2500-year-old residue found in bronze jars at an underground shrine in Paestum, Italy, previously identified as a wax/fat/resin...

Forensic facial reconstruction of another Australopithecus species - A. afarensis. Image credit: Cicero Moraes / CC BY-SA 3.0.

Australopithecus Males Were Much Larger than Females, Paleoanthropologist Says

Jul 30, 2025 by News Staff

Two extinct hominins, Australopithecus afarensis and Australopithecus africanus, were significantly more dimorphic than chimpanzees and modern humans;...

Memories of navigating familiar paths are more fluid than previously thought, activating different neurons with each journey. Image credit: Zeinab Vessal.

Memories Drift across Neurons over Time, Animal Study Suggests

Jul 30, 2025 by News Staff

The brain’s internal GPS changes each time mice navigate a familiar, static environment, according to a new study by neurobiologists from Northwestern...

An artist’s impression of the super-Earth exoplanet HD 164922d. Image credit: Sci-News.com.

New Research Sheds Light on Evolution of Lava Planets

Jul 29, 2025 by News Staff

Lava planets are rocky exoplanets that orbit so close to their host star that their dayside is hot enough to melt silicate rock. Boukaré et al. introduce...

Swamp forest in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Image credit: Greta Dargie.

Congo Basin’s Peatlands are More Than 42,000 Years Old, New Study Reveals

Jul 29, 2025 by News Staff

The central Congo Basin contains the world’s most extensive tropical peatland complex, spanning 16.7 million hectares. Until now, radiocarbon dating...

NASA’s Cassini spacecraft captured this stunning mosaic of Enceladus on October 5, 2008 as the spacecraft sped away from this geologically active moon of Saturn. Image credit: NASA / JPL / Space Science Institute.

Underground Microbial Life Could Survive on Mars, Europa and Enceladus Using Cosmic Rays

Jul 29, 2025 by News Staff

Radiolysis induced by Galactic cosmic rays could provide a viable energy source for microbial metabolism in the subsurface environments of rocky planetary...

Life reconstruction of Astigmasaura genuflexa. Image credit: Mattia Yuri Messina.

95-Million-Year-Old Plant-Eating Dinosaur Discovered in Argentina

Jul 28, 2025 by Enrico de Lazaro

Paleontologists in Patagonia, Argentina, have unearthed a portion of a postcranial skeleton that belonged to a previously unknown rebbachisaurid sauropod...

NASA’s high-flying ER-2 airplane carries instrumentation in this artist’s impression of the Airborne Lightning Observatory for Fly’s Eye Geostationary Lightning Mapper Simulator and Terrestrial Gamma-ray Flashes (ALOFT) mission to record gamma rays (colored purple for illustration) from thunderclouds. Image credit: NASA / ALOFT team.

New Study Provides First Precise Explanation for How Lightning Initiates in Nature

Jul 28, 2025 by News Staff

In a new paper, Penn State Professor Victor Pasko and his colleagues described how they determined strong electric fields in thunderclouds accelerate electrons...

A herd of ceratopsians (Styracosaurus albertensis) accompanied by an ankylosaur (Euplocephalus tutus) walk through an old river channel under the watchful eyes of two tyrannosaurs (Gorgosaurus libratus). Image credit: Julius Csotonyi.

Paleontologists Discover First Evidence of Multispecies Dinosaur Herding

Jul 28, 2025 by News Staff

Paleontologists say they have discovered the 76-million-year-old footprints of a ceratopsian dinosaur-dominated herd in Dinosaur Provincial Park in Alberta,...

Thompson et al. investigated whether supplementing older adults with monthly doses of vitamin D alters the incidence of major cardiovascular events.

Study Finds Link between Low Vitamin D Levels and Increased Risk of COVID-19 Hospitalization

Jul 28, 2025 by News Staff

In a new analysis of data from the UK Biobank, vitamin D deficiency was associated with an increased risk of COVID-19 hospitalization but showed only a...

This Hubble shows NGC 1309, a spiral galaxy some 100 million light-years away in the constellation of Eridanus. The color image is made up of observations from Hubble’s Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS) and Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3) and in the ultraviolet, infrared, and optical parts of the spectrum. Four 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 / L. Galbany / S. Jha / K. Noll / A. Riess.

Hubble Snaps Beautiful Image of NGC 1309

Jul 28, 2025 by Enrico de Lazaro

The Hubble team has released a stunning new image snapped by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope of the face-on spiral galaxy NGC 1309. This Hubble shows...

X-ray and infrared images of NGC 6099 HLX-1. Image credit: NASA / CXC / Inst. of Astronomy, Taiwan / Y-C Chang / ESA / STScI / HST / J. DePasquale.

Intermediate-Mass Black Hole Caught Eating Star in NGC 6099

Jul 27, 2025 by News Staff

The newly-discovered intermediate-mass black hole, named NGC 6099 HLX-1, resides in a compact star cluster on the outskirts of the elliptical galaxy NGC...

Life reconstruction of Nektognathus evasmithae. Image credit: Bob Nicholls.

Cambrian Nectocaridids are Early Descendants of Arrow Worms, New Fossil Shows

Jul 24, 2025 by News Staff

Nectocaridids are enigmatic Paleozoic animals with a controversial position. These creatures were adapted for swimming, having fins, a head region with...

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