Page 333 | Sci.News: Breaking Science News

A giant squid, at least 10-12 feet in length, approaches the Medusa’s e-jelly lure before realizing the e-jelly is not food and retreating. Image credit: Edie Widder & Nathan Robinson.

Researchers Sequence Genome of Elusive Giant Squid

Jan 16, 2020 by News Staff

An international team of scientists has sequenced the genome of the giant squid (Architeuthis dux), the species which has inspired generations to tell...

Protsiv et al determined that average human body temperature in the United States has decreased since the 1800s. Image credit: Vicki4net.

Study: Average Human Body Temperature in U.S. Has Decreased Since 1800s

Jan 16, 2020 by News Staff

Scientists at the Stanford University School of Medicine have found that men born in the United States in the early 19th century had temperatures 0.59...

An artist’s impression of the Proxima Centauri system. Image credit: Lorenzo Santinelli.

Proxima c: Possible Second Planet Found around Sun’s Nearest Neighbor

Jan 16, 2020 by Sergio Prostak

An international team of astronomers has detected a candidate super-Earth planet orbiting Proxima Centauri, the nearest star to the Sun. An artist’s...

Winterdahl et al investigated the effects of sucrose using positron-emission tomography (PET) imaging with [11C]carfentanil (μ-opioid receptor agonist) and [11C]raclopride (dopamine D2/3 receptor antagonist) in seven female anesthetized Göttingen minipigs. Image credit: Winterdahl et al, doi: 10.1038/s41598-019-53430-9.

Sugar Changes Brain Chemistry, New Animal Study Shows

Jan 15, 2020 by News Staff

Foods high in sucrose, or table sugar, influence brain reward circuitry in ways similar to those observed when addictive drugs are consumed, according...

This infographic shows the key results from a study that has revealed the interstellar thread of phosphorus. The background of the infographic shows a part of the night sky in the constellation of Auriga, where the star-forming region AFGL 5142 is located. The ALMA image of this object is on the top left of the infographic, and one of the locations where the team found phosphorus-bearing molecules is indicated by a circle. The most common phosphorus-bearing molecule in AFGL 5142 is phosphorus monoxide, represented in orange and red in the diagram on the bottom left. Another molecule found was phosphorus nitride, represented in orange and blue. The astronomers also found phosphorus monoxide on 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, shown on the bottom right. Image credit: ALMA / ESO / NAOJ / NRAO / Rivilla et al / L. Calçada / ESA / Rosetta / NAVCAM / Mario Weigand, www.SkyTrip.de.

Astronomers Trace Journey of Phosphorus from Stellar Nurseries to Solar System Comets

Jan 15, 2020 by News Staff

To understand how molecules containing phosphorus — one of life’s building blocks — are formed in star-forming regions, a team of astronomers...

An artist’s concept of the Gliese 180 planetary system, which is located 39 light-years away in the constellation of Eridanus. Image credit: Robin Dienel, Carnegie Institution for Science.

Astronomers Discover Five New Planets around Nearby Red Dwarfs

Jan 15, 2020 by Enrico de Lazaro

Astronomers have detected five new planets, eight planet candidates, and confirmed three previously reported planets, around nine nearby M-dwarf (red dwarf)...

Composite of a true color image of Saturn, observed by Cassini in 2016, overlaid with a false color representation of the ultraviolet aurora in the northern hemisphere as observed on August 20, 2017. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / Space Science Institute / A. Bader, Lancaster University.

Cassini Reveals Saturn’s Ultraviolet Auroras in Unprecedented Detail

Jan 15, 2020 by News Staff

At the end of its mission in 2017, NASA’s Cassini spacecraft performed a set of ‘Grand Finale’ orbits bringing it closer to Saturn than ever before....

An Atlantic puffin (Fratercula arctica) scratching with a stick on Grimsey Island, Iceland. Image credit: Fayet et al, doi: 10.1073/pnas.1918060117.

Seabirds Spotted Using Tools for the First Time

Jan 15, 2020 by Natali Anderson

An international team of researchers from the University of Oxford and the South Iceland Nature Research Centre has observed two Atlantic puffins (Fratercula...

Escherichia coli and Acinetobacter baylyi form intricate flower-like patterns when grown together over a 24-hour period. Image credit: BioCircuits Institute / University of California, San Diego.

Two-Species Bacterial Colonies Form Intricate Flower-Like Patterns

Jan 14, 2020 by News Staff

In a series of experiments, a team of biologists at the University of California, San Diego studied the structure of growing colonies comprised of two...

Archaic hominins. Image credit: Ninara / CC BY 2.0.

Homo erectus Reached Java around 1.3 Million Years Ago

Jan 14, 2020 by Enrico de Lazaro

Homo erectus, a hominin species that originated in equatorial Africa or the Caucasus region of Eurasia, arrived on the island of Java in Indonesia around...

This is an artist impression of the protoplanetary disk around HD 107146. Image credit: A. Angelich / NRAO / AUI / NSF.

New Study Sheds Light on Solar System’s Great Divide

Jan 14, 2020 by News Staff

A new study, published in the journal Nature Astronomy, suggests that our young Solar System’s protoplanetary disk was divided into two regions: on the...

The fossilized cloudinomorph Costatubus bibendi from the Wood Canyon Formation, Nye County, Nevada, the United States. Image credit: Scale bar - 1 mm. Image credit: Selly et al, doi: 10.1080/14772019.2019.1623333 / Schiffbauer et al, doi: 10.1038/s41467-019-13882-z.

550-Million-Year-Old Fossilized Guts Found

Jan 14, 2020 by Enrico de Lazaro

Paleontologists from the University of Missouri have discovered the well-preserved digestive tracts in the fossils of microscopic animals called cloudinomorphs....

NGC 6240 as seen with ALMA. Image credit: ALMA / ESO / NAOJ / NRAO / E. Treister / AUI / NSF / S. Dagnello / NASA / ESA / Hubble.

ALMA Finds Molecular Gas within Sphere of Influence of Binary Supermassive Black Hole

Jan 14, 2020 by News Staff

Astronomers using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) have mapped the distribution of molecular gas in NGC 6240, a nearby merging galaxy...

Scanning electron microscope image of the 6.2-billion-year-old grain of silicon carbide from the Murchison meteorite. Image credit: Heck et al, doi: 10.1073/pnas.1904573117.

Scientists Find 7-Billion-Year-Old Stardust in Murchison Meteorite

Jan 13, 2020 by News Staff

A team of researchers from the United States, Switzerland and Australia has found 4.6 to 7-billion-year-old presolar grains of silicon carbide (SiC) in...

This image, taken by the FOcal Reducer/low dispersion Spectrograph 2 (FORS2) on ESO’s Very Large Telescope, shows the interacting galaxy pair NGC 470-NGC 474. Image credit: ESO.

VLT Spots Two Interacting Galaxies

Jan 13, 2020 by Enrico de Lazaro

Astronomers using ESO’s Very Large Telescope have captured a striking view of two interacting galaxies NGC 470 and NGC 474. This image, taken by the...

Cowen et al mapped 13 key emotions triggered when we listen to music. Image credit: Cowen et al, doi: 10.1073/pnas.1910704117.

Music Triggers 13 Key Emotions, Says New Study

Jan 13, 2020 by News Staff

In a study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, an international team of researchers examined the feelings evoked by 2,168...

Fossil Stemonitis in Kachin amber. Image credit: Rikkinen et al, doi: 10.1038/s41598-019-55622-9.

World’s Oldest Slime Mold Found in Amber

Jan 13, 2020 by Enrico de Lazaro

The fossilized fruiting bodies of a myxomycete from the extant genus Stemonitis preserved in Kachin amber date back some 100 million years (mid-Cretaceous...

This Hubble image shows NGC 1803, a spiral galaxy located 200 million light-years away in the constellation of Pictor. The image is made up of observations from Hubble’s Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS) instrument in the near-infrared and optical parts of the spectrum. Two 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 / A. Bellini et al.

Hubble Space Telescope Observes NGC 1803

Jan 13, 2020 by Enrico de Lazaro

The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has taken a beautiful picture of a spiral galaxy called NGC 1803. This Hubble image shows NGC 1803, a spiral galaxy...

An artist’s concept of the hot-Jupiter exoplanet WASP-12b. Image credit: NASA / ESA / G. Bacon, STScI / C. Haswell, Open University.

Hot Jupiter WASP-12b is Spiraling In Toward Its Star: Study

Jan 12, 2020 by Enrico de Lazaro

WASP-12b will be completely consumed by its host star in 3.25 million years, according to a new study led by Princeton University astrophysicists. An artist’s...