Page 347 | Sci.News: Breaking Science News

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

Neanderthals Knew How to Start Fire, New Research Shows

Oct 28, 2019 by News Staff

Middle Paleolithic hominins such as Neanderthals not only controlled fire, but also mastered the ability to generate it, according to new research led...

This composite image shows Abell 1758, a quadruple galaxy cluster system about 3 billion light-years away from Earth. In the northern (top) pair seen in the image, the centers of each cluster have already passed by each other once, about 300 to 400 million years ago, and will eventually swing back around. The southern pair at the bottom of the image has two clusters that are close to approaching each other for the first time. X-rays from Chandra are shown as blue and white, depicting fainter and brighter diffuse emission, respectively. This image also includes an optical image from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS). Image credit: NASA / CXC / SAO / G. Schellenberger et al / SDSS.

Chandra Observes Mega-Merger of Galaxy Clusters: Abell 1758

Oct 28, 2019 by News Staff

Using data from NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory, astronomers have created detailed maps of Abell 1758, a collision between two pairs of galaxy clusters,...

Diversity within the family Viridiplantae. Image credit: Leebens-Mack et al, doi: 10.1038/s41586-019-1693-2.

Researchers Generate Gene Sequences for 1,124 Plant Species, Illuminate One Billion Years of Evolution

Oct 28, 2019 by News Staff

As part of the One Thousand Plant Transcriptomes (1KP) Initiative, an international consortium of scientists has sequenced transcriptomes — the set...

This Hubble image shows the face-on spiral galaxy NGC 1706. The color image was made from separate exposures taken in the visible and infrared regions of the spectrum with Hubble’s Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS). Two filters were used to sample various wavelengths. The color results from assigning different hues to each monochromatic image associated with an individual filter. Imager credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble / A. Bellini et al.

Hubble Looks at Beautiful Spiral: NGC 1706

Oct 28, 2019 by Enrico de Lazaro

The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has captured an amazing new photo of a face-on galaxy called NGC 1706. This Hubble image shows the face-on spiral galaxy...

In this diagram of the new system, air entering from top right passes to one of two chambers (the gray rectangular structures) containing battery electrodes that attract carbon dioxide; then the airflow is switched to the other chamber, while the accumulated carbon dioxide in the first chamber is flushed into a separate storage tank (at right); these alternating flows allow for continuous operation of the two-step process. Image credit: Sahag Voskian & T. Alan Hatton, MIT.

New Electrochemical Device Removes Carbon Dioxide from Stream of Air

Oct 25, 2019 by News Staff

The new device, developed by researchers in the Department of Chemical Engineering at MIT, is based on passing air through a stack of charged electrochemical...

Area of the study: (a) Valles Marineris, Mars, showing the location of the landslide in Coprates Chasma (white box); (b) stereo-derived DEMs; (c and d) study areas within which morphological and morphometric characterization is conducted; burgundy lines: topographic profiles, numbered from proximal to distal edge of the landslide deposit; blue lines: longitudinal ridges; (e) oblique view of the landslide object of the study; red lines represent topographic profiles, numbered from proximal to distal area (following flow direction). Image credit: Magnarini et al, doi: 10.1038/s41467-019-12734-0.

Planetary Researchers Analyze Structure of Giant Martian Landslide

Oct 25, 2019 by News Staff

Unusually large and long ridges documented in massive landslides across our Solar System are commonly associated with the presence of ancient ice layers....

SOFIA Spots Debris from Catastrophic Collision between Two Rocky Exoplanets

Oct 25, 2019 by News Staff

Astronomers using NASA’s Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA) have observed an unusually warm, dusty debris disk around BD +20 307,...

Curiosity rover took this selfie on October 11, 2019. The rover drilled twice in this location, nicknamed Glen Etive. Just left of the rover are the two drill holes, called Glen Etive 1 (right) and Glen Etive 2 (left). Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / MSSS.

Curiosity Rover Snaps New Selfie on Mars

Oct 25, 2019 by News Staff

NASA’s Mars rover Curiosity snapped a view of itself and its surroundings on October 11, 2019 (the 2,553rd Martian day, or Sol, of its mission). The...

The Akkadians (left) and the Gutians (right). Illustration by H.L. Bacon.

Cold Winters and Strong Winds Contributed to Akkadian Empire Collapse, Study Suggests

Oct 25, 2019 by News Staff

The Akkadian Empire, the first united empire in Mesopotamia, was established around 2300 BCE and abruptly collapsed two centuries later. According to a...

The white shark (Carcharodon carcharias). Image credit: Hermanus Backpackers / CC BY 2.0.

White Sharks Choose Who They Hang With, New Study Reveals

Oct 24, 2019 by News Staff

White sharks (Carcharodon carcharias) are top marine predators that are typically solitary but can also form seasonal aggregations around seal colonies...

Wells et al estimate that there should be at least 10 -- currently undiscovered -- exoplanets which are favorably located to detect the Earth and are capable of sustaining life as we know it. Image credit: NASA.

Humanity May Be Only Intelligent Life in Our Galaxy, or Even Universe

Oct 24, 2019 by The Conversation

Are we alone in the Universe? It comes down to whether intelligence is a probable outcome of natural selection, or an improbable fluke. By definition,...

Rats Taught How to Drive Tiny Cars

Oct 24, 2019 by Natali Anderson

Rats can learn the complex task of navigating a rodent-operated vehicle (ROV) to a desired area, according to new research from the University of Richmond. Crawford...

An artist’s reconstruction of the Devonian-period Sosnogorsk lagoon just before a storm. Image credit: Mikhail Shekhanov / Ukhta Local Museum.

Devonian Tetrapod Had Crocodile-Like Lifestyle

Oct 24, 2019 by News Staff

Paleontologists have discovered the fossils of a new type of early tetrapod (four-limbed vertebrate) in the Komi Republic. Dubbed Parmastega aelidae, the...

Digital art by Les Bossinas, Cortez III Service Corp., 1998.

Physicists Propose New Method to Detect Traversable Wormholes

Oct 24, 2019 by News Staff

In a new paper published this month in the journal Physical Review D, a duo of theoretical physicists from Case Western Reserve University, the University...

Freshly-Synthesized Strontium Detected in Neutron Star Merger

Oct 23, 2019 by News Staff

Astronomers using ESO’s Very Large Telescope (VLT) have detected a freshly made heavy element, strontium, in the aftermath of GW170817, a merger of two...

This painting depicts an asteroid slamming into tropical, shallow seas of the sulfur-rich Yucatan Peninsula in what is today southeast Mexico. The aftermath of this immense asteroid collision, which occurred approximately 65 million years ago, is believed to have caused the extinction of the dinosaurs and many other species on Earth. Shown in this painting are pterodactyls, flying reptiles with wingspans of up to 50 feet, gliding above low tropical clouds. Image credit: Donald E. Davis / NASA.

Study: Asteroid Impact, Not Volcanism, was Key in Driving End-Cretaceous Mass Extinction

Oct 23, 2019 by News Staff

The end-Cretaceous mass extinction 66 million years ago eradicated roughly 75% of the animal and plant species on Earth, including whole groups like non-avian...

Kimberlite from a mine in the United States. Image credit: Woudloper / CC BY-SA 1.0.

Researchers Find Chemical Signatures of Earth’s Primordial Mantle in Kimberlites

Oct 23, 2019 by News Staff

A team of geoscientists from Australia, Canada and the UK has detected primordial chemical signatures preserved within young kimberlites, small-volume...

Massive Star-Forming Galaxy Spotted in Early Universe

Oct 23, 2019 by News Staff

Astronomers using the Atacama Large Millimeter Array (ALMA) have discovered faint traces of a huge dust-obscured star-forming galaxy never seen before,...

Psammogorgia pax. Image credit: Hector Guzman / Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute.

Marine Biologists Discover New Species of Octocoral

Oct 23, 2019 by News Staff

A previously unknown species of coral has been discovered in Hannibal Bank, a guyot seamount off Pacific Panama. Psammogorgia pax. Image credit: Hector...