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An artist’s reconstruction of two rauisuchians fighting over a desiccated corpse of a mammal-relative in the Triassic of southern Africa. In the background, dinosaurs and mammal-like reptiles form other parts of the ecosystem. Image credit: Viktor Radermacher.

Triassic Crocodile Cousins Preyed on Plant-Eating Dinosaurs

Sep 24, 2019 by News Staff

Rauisuchians — predatory crocodile-like creatures that lived during the Triassic period, some 210 million years ago — preyed on early herbivorous...

Epigallocatechin gallate is a compound found in green tea leaves. Image credit: Ranjith Siji.

Green Tea Compound Could Help Fight Multidrug-Resistant Bacteria

Sep 24, 2019 by News Staff

Dr. Jonathan Betts from the University of Surrey and colleagues have found that the green-tea polyphenol epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG) can restore the...

Observations suggest Venus may have had water oceans in its distant past; a land-ocean pattern like that above was used in a climate model to show how storm clouds could have shielded ancient Venus from strong sunlight and made the planet habitable. Image credit: NASA.

Venus May Have Been Habitable for Three Billion Years

Sep 23, 2019 by News Staff

The Venusian climate remained stable and temperate for about three billion years, until a mysterious global event resurfaced around 80% of the planet,...

This image from ESA’s Mars Express shows a beautiful slice of the Red Planet from the northern polar cap downwards, and highlights cratered, pockmarked swathes of the Terra Sabaea and Arabia Terra regions. It comprises data gathered on June 17, 2019. This image was created using data from the nadir and color channels of Mars Express’ High Resolution Stereo Camera. The nadir channel is aligned perpendicular to the surface of Mars, as if looking straight down at the surface. North is up. Image credit: ESA / DLR / FU Berlin.

ESA Releases Mesmerizing New Image of Mars

Sep 23, 2019 by News Staff

The High Resolution Stereo Camera onboard ESA’s Mars Express orbiter captured this detailed image of the Red Planet on June 17, 2019. This image from...

For DNA to be read, replicated or repaired, DNA molecules must open themselves. This happens when the cells use a catalytic protein to create a hydrophobic environment around the molecule. Image credit: Yen Strandqvist / Chalmers University of Technology.

Scientists Disprove Popular Theory of How DNA Binds Itself

Sep 23, 2019 by News Staff

DNA is constructed of two strands, consisting of sugar molecules and phosphate groups. Between these two strands are nitrogen bases, the compounds which...

Using a fluorescein isothiocyanate (FITC) conjugated immunoglobulin staining technique, and under direct immunofluorescence (DIF), this tissue sample extracted from a vesicle and ulcer, reveals the presence of herpes simplex antigen in a patient determined to have HSV-2 infection. Image credit: Craig Lyerla / CDC.

Experimental Genital Herpes Vaccine Works in Animals

Sep 23, 2019 by News Staff

A team of scientists at the University of Pennsylvania has developed a new vaccine candidate to protect against herpes simplex virus type 2 (HSV-2), the...

This Hubble image shows a galaxy called Messier 86. The image is made up of observations from Hubble’s Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS) in the optical part 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 / P. Cote et al.

Hubble Space Telescope Looks at Messier 86

Sep 23, 2019 by News Staff

The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has taken a picture of the galaxy Messier 86, which is found in the constellation of Virgo. This Hubble image shows...

Emperor penguins (Aptenodytes forsteri). Image credit: Michael Van Woert / NOAA NESDIS / ORA.

Researchers Sequence Genomes of All Living Penguin Species

Sep 20, 2019 by News Staff

Scientists from the Penguin Genome Consortium have produced 19 high-coverage penguin genome sequences that, together with two previously published genomes,...

NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) captured this image of the Sun with sunspots in February 2013. The picture combines images from two SDO instruments: the Helioseismic and Magnetic Imager (HMI), which takes pictures in visible light that show sunspots, and the Advanced Imaging Assembly (AIA), which took an image in the 304 angstrom wavelength showing the lower atmosphere of the Sun, which is colorized in red. Image credit: NASA / SDO / AIA / HMI / Goddard Space Flight Center.

New Model for Plasma Flow within Sun Provides Explanations for Sunspots, Other Solar Phenomena

Sep 20, 2019 by News Staff

A team of researchers from the Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics at the University of Washington proposes a new model of plasma motion that would...

The fragment of the mosaic in Hippos-Sussita, Israel. Image credit: University of Haifa.

1,400-Year-Old Colorful Christian Mosaic Found in Israel

Sep 20, 2019 by Enrico de Lazaro

A team of Israeli archaeologists has uncovered an impressively detailed mosaic in an ancient city called Hippos-Sussita. Dating back approximately 1,400...

Sulfolobus sp.: each cell is outlined in red; the DNA is stained blue. Image credit: Stephen Bell, Indiana University.

Biologists Find Striking Similarities between Human and Archaeal Chromosomes

Sep 20, 2019 by News Staff

The similar clustering of DNA in the chromosomes of humans and Archaea is significant because certain genes activate or deactivate based upon how they’re...

Scientists Reconstruct Skeletal Anatomy of Denisovans

Sep 19, 2019 by News Staff

A team of researchers from Israel and Spain has produced reconstructions of Denisovans, an extinct sister group of Neanderthals, based on patterns of methylation...

The structure of the Eustachian tube in a Neanderthal man. Image credit: SUNY Downstate Health Sciences University.

Chronic Ear Infections Contributed to Neanderthal Extinction

Sep 19, 2019 by News Staff

Neanderthals may have been doomed to extinction because they had persistent, life-long ear infections due to the structure of their Eustachian tubes, a...

Schmitz et al argue that the mid-Ordovician ice age was caused by global cooling, triggered by extra dust in the atmosphere of Earth from the breakup of a giant asteroid in the main asteroid belt. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech.

Dust from Disintegrated Asteroid Triggered Mid-Ordovician Ice Age

Sep 19, 2019 by News Staff

There’s always a lot of extraterrestrial dust floating down to Earth, but this dust is normally only a tiny fraction of the other dust in our atmosphere...

Main features of the organization of production and detailed chaîne opératoires for the copper industry in Edom during the Late Bronze and early Iron Ages. Image credit: Ben-Yosef et al, doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0221967.

Biblical Edomite Kingdom was ‘Copper Powerhouse,’ Study Reveals

Sep 19, 2019 by News Staff

Edom, an ancient kingdom of the southern Levant mentioned in the Old Testament (Hebrew Bible) as well as in Assyrian and Egyptian sources, experienced...

NASA’s Cassini spacecraft in orbit around Saturn. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech.

Saturn’s Rings are as Old as Solar System Itself, Study Suggests

Sep 18, 2019 by News Staff

The famous ring system of Saturn may be much older than some planetary scientists think, according to a new study published in the journal Nature Astronomy. NASA’s...

Artist’s illustration showing a massive exoplanet falling into its host star -- one of the possible explanations for the strange dimming of KIC 8462852. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Alfred Vidal-Madjar, Institut d’Astrophysique de Paris, CNRS.

Melting Exomoon May Explain Long-Term Dimming of Milky Way’s ‘Most-Mysterious Star’

Sep 18, 2019 by News Staff

A team of astrophysicists from Columbia University proposes that the strange long-term dimming of the KIC 8462852 star (also known as Tabby’s star or...

Rudapithecus hungaricus was pretty ape-like and probably moved among branches like apes do now. However, it would have differed from modern great apes by having a more flexible lower back, which would mean when Rudapithecus hungaricus came down to the ground, it might have had the ability to stand upright more like humans do. Image credit: John Siddick.

Miocene Hominid Fossil Sheds New Light on Evolution of Human Bipedalism

Sep 18, 2019 by News Staff

Researchers have analyzed a pelvis of the 10 million-year-old fossil ape Rudapithecus hungaricus and found that human bipedalism might possibly have deeper...

Protodontopteryx ruthae. Image credit: Derek Onley / Canterbury Museum.

Bony-Toothed Seabird Lived in New Zealand 62 Million Years Ago

Sep 18, 2019 by News Staff

Paleontologists have found the remains of a pelagornithid bird that lived 62 million years ago (early Paleocene epoch) in New Zealand. Protodontopteryx...