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Interstellar Object Oumuamua Could Be Hydrogen Ice-Rich Body

This artist’s impression shows the first interstellar asteroid -- 1I/2017 U1 (’Oumuamua). Image credit: M. Kornmesser / ESO.
May 31, 2020 by Enrico de Lazaro

In a paper to be published in the Astrophysical Journal Letters, astronomers from the University of Chicago and Yale University show that the odd properties of ‘Oumuamua, a recently-discovered cigar-shaped object of extrasolar origin, can be explained if it contained a significant fraction of frozen molecular hydrogen. This artist’s impression shows the first interstellar object ‘Oumuamua. Image credit: M. Kornmesser / ESO. ‘Oumuamua was first...

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Calidia pseudolobata. Image credit: Li-En Yang / Natural History Museum, London.

Marine Biologists Discover New Species of Red Alga

May 29, 2020 by News Staff

A team of marine biologists from China and the United Kingdom has revised the taxonomy of Pyropia, a large genus of red alga (seaweed) in the family Bangiaceae,...

Frontal view of the cella of the shrine at Arad, as rebuilt in the Israel Museum from the original archaeological finds. The inserts show a top-down view of the altars: on the left, the larger altar; on the right, the smaller altar. Note the visible black residue. Scale bar - 20 cm. Image credit: Laura Lachman / Israel Museum / Israel Antiquities Authority.

Israeli Scientists Find Traces of Cannabis and Frankincense on 2,700-Year-Old Altars

May 29, 2020 by Enrico de Lazaro

Israeli researchers have analyzed organic residues from two altars of the 8th century BC shrine at the Biblical fortress of Arad and found that one of...

Ceratosaurus and Allosaurus fighting over the desiccated carcass of another theropod. Image credit: Brian Engh, dontmesswithdinosaurs.com.

New Evidence Suggests Some Jurassic Theropod Dinosaurs were Cannibals

May 29, 2020 by News Staff

An analysis of the fossilized vertebrate remains from the Jurassic Mygatt-Moore Quarry in Colorado has revealed the bones of a theropod dinosaur called...

This Hubble image shows the star cluster Westerlund 2. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble Heritage Team / STScI / AURA / A. Nota / Westerlund 2 Science Team.

Westerlund 2’s Core is No Place to Form Planets, Astronomers Say

May 29, 2020 by News Staff

Astronomers using the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope have observed young stars in a crowded stellar cluster called Westerlund 2. They’ve found that...

The occasional use of stone tools as ‘strike-a-lights’ was a technocultural feature shared among Neanderthals in France.

Study: Women with Neanderthal Progesterone Gene Have Higher Fertility

May 29, 2020 by Enrico de Lazaro

A hormone called progesterone is important for preparing the uterine lining for egg implantation and in maintaining the early stages of pregnancy. Almost...

Devonian-period seafloor. Image credit: University of Michigan Museum of Natural History.

End-Devonian Mass Extinction Caused by Erosion of Ozone Layer, New Study Finds

May 28, 2020 by News Staff

High levels of damaging ultraviolet-B (UV-B) radiation collapsed forest ecosystems and killed off many species of fish and tetrapods at the end of the...

An artist’s impression of Planet Nine. Image credit: Tom Ruen / ESO.

‘Extreme’ Kuiper Belt Objects Cast Doubt on Hypothetical Planet Nine

May 28, 2020 by The Conversation

In 2016, Caltech astronomers Konstantin Batygin and Mike Brown proposed a strange alignment of icy Kuiper Belt objects (KBOs) on the outskirts of the Solar...

An artist’s conception illustrates the phenomena that make up the new class of cosmic explosions called fast blue optical transients. Image credit: Bill Saxton / NRAO / AUI / NSF.

New Class of Cosmic Explosions Discovered: Fast Blue Optical Transients

May 28, 2020 by News Staff

Fast blue optical transients (FBOTs) share some characteristics with supernova explosions of massive stars and with explosions that generate gamma-ray...

The hormone ghrelin affects alcohol-seeking behavior. Image credit: Michal Jarmoluk.

Researchers Identify 19 New Genetic Variants for Problematic Drinking

May 27, 2020 by News Staff

An international team of scientists has identified 29 independent genetic risk variants — 19 of them novel — linked to problematic alcohol...

The Chicxulub asteroid hit Earth at an angle of about 60 degrees, which is among the worst-case scenarios for the lethality of the impact by the production of climate-changing gases. Image credit: Chase Stone.

Dinosaur-Killing Chicxulub Asteroid Hit Earth at Angle of 60 Degrees

May 27, 2020 by News Staff

A 10-km asteroid crashed into Earth near the site of the small town of Chicxulub in Mexico at the end of the Cretaceous period, about 66 million years...

An artist’s impression of the jeholornithiform avialan Jeholornis. Image credit: Aijuan Shi.

Fossil of Ancient Long-Tailed Bird Found in China

May 27, 2020 by Enrico de Lazaro

A new genus and species of jeholornithiform avialan that lived during the Cretaceous period has been identified from a nearly-complete specimen found in...

Electric currents (blue and red arrows) envelop Mars in a nested, double-loop structure that wraps continuously around the planet from its day side to its night side. These current loops distort the solar wind magnetic field (not pictured), which drapes around Mars to create an induced magnetosphere around the planet. In the process, the currents electrically connect Mars’ upper atmosphere and the induced magnetosphere to the solar wind, transferring electric and magnetic energy generated at the boundary of the induced magnetosphere (faint inner paraboloid) and at the solar wind bow shock (faint outer paraboloid). Image credit: NASA / Goddard / MAVEN / CU Boulder / SVS / Cindy Starr.

Researchers Create Map of Electric Currents in Magnetosphere of Mars

May 27, 2020 by News Staff

Using five years of magnetic field data obtained by NASA’s MAVEN (Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN) spacecraft, a team of scientists has created...

Posterior view of the 3D reconstructed male rat heart: (A) whole-heart view showing the context, extent, and distribution of the intrinsic cardiac neurons (ICN), located on superior and posterior surfaces of the atria; (B-F) a higher-resolution view of the atria and blood vessels that are shown in (B), with various contoured features of heart anatomy that are selectively removed to appreciate the anatomical relationship of the ICN to (C) the pulmonary artery and superior vena cava (SVC), (D) the interatrial septum, (E) the left atrium and pulmonary veins, (F) the right atrium, where clusters #1 and #2 appear to be on the surface of both atria, whereas cluster #3, which is located around the border of the superior vena cava, left atrium, and right atrium, appears on the right atrium. Scale bars - 1,000 μm (A), 500 μm (B-F). Image credit: Achanta et al, doi: 10.1016/j.isci.2020.101140.

Scientists Create 3D Map of Rat Heart’s Neurons

May 27, 2020 by News Staff

An international team of researchers has created a comprehensive anatomical 3D map and molecular profile of the rat intracardiac nervous system (ICN). Posterior...

An artist’s impression of a perturbation in the velocities of stars in the Milky Way Galaxy that was revealed by ESA’s star mapping mission Gaia. Image credit: ESA.

Collision between Milky Way and Its Satellite May Have Triggered Formation of Our Solar System

May 26, 2020 by News Staff

Repeated collisions with the Sagittarius dwarf galaxy may have triggered major star formation episodes in our Milky Way Galaxy, one of which roughly coincided...

Secretoneurin. Imager credit: Chemicalbook.

New Sex Hormone Discovered: Secretoneurin

May 26, 2020 by News Staff

A large protein called secretogranin-2 is important for the normal functioning of brain cells and other cells that secrete hormones to control body functions...

An artist’s impression of the collisional ring galaxy R5519. Image credit: James Josephides, Swinburne Astronomy Productions.

Astronomers Find Giant Collisional Ring Galaxy in Early Universe

May 26, 2020 by Sergio Prostak

Astronomers have spotted a giant galaxy with a massive star-forming ring that existed 10.8 billion years ago. An artist’s impression of the collisional...

Reconstruction of the cave bear (Ursus spelaeus). Image credit: Sergio de la Larosa / CC BY-SA 3.0.

European Cave Bears Had Pure Herbivorous Diet

May 26, 2020 by Natali Anderson

An isotopic analysis of fossil collagen from the bones collected in three Romanian caves indicates that the cave bear (Ursus spelaeus), an extinct species...

The jojoba (Simmondsia chinensis) in King Canyon Wash, Saguaro National Park West, Arizona, the United States. Image credit: Katja Schulz / CC BY 2.0.

Researchers Sequence Genome of Jojoba Plant

May 26, 2020 by Natali Anderson

An international team of scientists has for the first time mapped the entire genome of the jojoba plant (Simmondsia chinensis). The jojoba (Simmondsia...

This SPHERE image shows TYC 8998-760-1b. Image credit: Bohn et al, doi: 10.1093/mnras/stz3462.

Astronomers Directly Image Giant Planet-Like Object around Sun-Like Star

May 25, 2020 by Natali Anderson

Using three instruments on ESO’s Very Large Telescope (VLT), an international team of astronomers has discovered and imaged a giant sub-stellar object...

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