Page 365 | Sci.News: Breaking Science News

Earth’s internal structure: dense solid metallic core, viscous metallic outer core, mantle and silicate based crust. Image credit: NASA.

Material from Earth’s Core Has Been Leaking into Mantle for Billions of Years

Jul 12, 2019 by The Conversation

Earth’s magnetic field protects and makes our planet habitable by stopping harmful high-energy particles from space, including from the Sun. The source...

Three western gorilla groups (Conan, Morpheus and Zulu) mingle peacefully as they feed at the Mbeli Bai clearing in the Nouabale-Ndoki National Park, Republic of Congo. Image credit: Wildlife Conservation Society.

Study: Gorillas Live in Complex, Multi-Tiered Societies

Jul 12, 2019 by News Staff

According to new research, gorillas have complex social structures, from lifetime bonds forged between distant relations, to social tiers with striking...

An artist’s impression of the peculiar thin disk of material circling a supermassive black hole at the heart of NGC 3147. Image credit: M. Kornmesser / ESA / Hubble.

Thin Accretion Disk around NGC 3147’s Central Black Hole Surprises Astronomers

Jul 12, 2019 by News Staff

Astronomers using the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope have found an unexpected thin disk of material furiously whirling around a supermassive black hole...

Microraptor swallowing Indrasaurus wangi. Image credit: Doyle Trankina.

Microraptors Ate Lizards for Lunch

Jul 12, 2019 by Enrico de Lazaro

Paleontologists in China have uncovered a nearly complete, fully articulated skeleton of Microraptor zhaoianus, a pigeon-sized, four-winged dinosaur that...

A fruit fly (Drosophila melanogaster). Image credit: Sanjay Acharya / CC BY-SA 4.0.

Parental Environment May Have Impact on Future Generations, Says Study

Jul 12, 2019 by News Staff

In a study published online this week in the journal eLife, researchers from the Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth examined how environmental stressors...

An image illustrating how the Cas9 protein rearranges itself (indicated by the arrow) to enable the ‘scissoring’ action for cutting DNA. Image credit: Zhu et al, doi: 10.1038/s41594-019-0258-2.

Researchers Capture High-Resolution Images of Active Cas9 Enzyme

Jul 11, 2019 by News Staff

Using a technique called cryogenic electron microscopy (cryo-EM), a team of scientists from the United States and Canada has captured atomic-level, 3D...

Artist’s illustration of two merging neutron stars. Image credit: NSF / LIGO / Sonoma State University / A. Simonnet.

Astronomers Develop New Method for Measuring Hubble Constant

Jul 11, 2019 by News Staff

The Hubble constant measures the current expansion rate of our Universe and plays a fundamental role in cosmology: it can be used to determine the Universe’s...

Artist’s reconstruction of an Asian caveman. Image credit: Peter Schouten.

Enigmatic Skull Found in Greece Suggests Early Homo sapiens Reached Europe 210,000 Years Ago

Jul 11, 2019 by Enrico de Lazaro

A 210,000-year-old partial skull found in southern Greece about four decades ago has been identified as the earliest example of anatomically modern Homo...

Schematic for the fabrication of the eggshell microparticle-reinforced hydrogels and cell encapsulation in 3D. Image credit: Wu et al, doi: 10.1039/C9BM00230H.

Eggshell Particle-Reinforced Hydrogel Can Help Grow and Repair Bones

Jul 11, 2019 by News Staff

A team of researchers at the University of Massachusetts Lowell has found that chicken eggshell microparticles inserted into a hydrogel matrix can be used...

African farmers domesticated the cowpea (Vigna unguiculata) from its wild form, in a process of unconscious selection over many centuries. Domesticated cowpea has much larger seeds that have lost its dormancy of the wild progenitor. Image credit: Ton Rulkens / CC BY-SA 2.0.

Cowpea Genome Sequenced

Jul 10, 2019 by News Staff

A large international team of researchers has sequenced the genome of the cowpea (Vigna unguiculata), a major crop for worldwide food and nutritional security,...

Denisovans were probably dark-skinned, unlike the pale Neanderthals. The picture shows a Neanderthal man. Image credit: Trustees of the Natural History Museum, London.

Modern Asians Acquired Rare Dental Trait from Denisovans: Study

Jul 10, 2019 by News Staff

A 3-rooted lower molar, a rare trait primarily found in modern Asian lineages, was previously thought to have evolved after Homo sapiens dispersed from...

This image of 2019 LF6 was captured by ZTF on June 10, 2019. Image credit: ZTF / Caltech Optical Observatories.

Astronomers Find Asteroid with Record-Short Year

Jul 10, 2019 by News Staff

Astronomers using the Zwicky Transient Facility (ZTF), a state-of-the-art camera at the Palomar Observatory in southern California, have spotted a very...

Nighttime exposure to blue light causes glucose intolerance in diurnal rodents, with a stronger effect in males when they were fed high caloric diet. Image credit: Nicholas Robb.

Nighttime Exposure to Blue Light Increases Sugar Consumption, Animal Study Finds

Jul 10, 2019 by News Staff

Nocturnal exposure to light containing short wavelength emissions (450-500 nm) — the kind of light produced by the screens of many devices —...

Snowball, a male sulphur-crested cockatoo (Cacatua galerita eleonora). Image credit: Patel et al, doi: 10.1016/j.cub.2009.03.038.

Snowball the Dancing Cockatoo Knows 14 Dance Moves, Study Reveals

Jul 9, 2019 by News Staff

Snowball is a male sulphur-crested cockatoo (Cacatua galerita eleonora). In 2007, he garnered YouTube fame for his uncanny ability to dance — including...

Carcharocles megalodon pursuing two prehistoric whales. Image credit: Karen Carr / CC BY 3.0.

Paleontologists Identify Oldest Known Ancestor of Mackerel Sharks

Jul 9, 2019 by News Staff

Mackerel (lamniform) sharks include some of the most iconic shark species, like the great white shark (Carcharodon carcharias) and the extinct Carcharocles...

This VLT image shows the planetary nebula Abell 24. Image credit: ESO.

VLT Snaps Stunning Planetary Nebula Image: Abell 24

Jul 9, 2019 by News Staff

The European Southern Observatory (ESO) has released a beautiful photo taken by the FORS (FOcal Reducer and Spectrograph) instrument on the Very Large...

The yellow-spotted barbet (Buccanodon duchaillui). Image credit: Romain Risso / CC BY-SA 3.0.

Two New Bird Species Discovered in West Africa

Jul 9, 2019 by Natali Anderson

An international team of ornithologists has identified two new, cryptic species of birds — a long-tailed cuckoo and a barbet — living in West...

Scanning electron micrograph of HIV particles infecting a human T cell. Image credit: National Institutes of Health.

Scientists Use CRISPR and Antiviral Therapy to Eliminate HIV-1 DNA from Genomes of Mice

Jul 9, 2019 by News Staff

Using the modified CRISPR-Cas9 gene-editing system and a therapeutic strategy known as long-acting slow-effective release antiviral therapy (LASER ART),...

This image shows 4D atomic motion is captured in an iron-platinum nanoparticle at three different annealing times. Image credit: Alexander Tokarev.

Physicists Capture Atomic Motion in 4D

Jul 8, 2019 by News Staff

A process called nucleation plays a critical role in many physical and biological phenomena that range from crystallization, melting and evaporation to...