News

Nuclear-Powered Tunneling Probe to Search for Extraterrestrial Life on Europa

An artist’s rendering of the Europa ‘tunnelbot.’ Image credit: Alexander Pawlusik, LERCIP Internship Program, NASA’s Glenn Research Center.
Dec 17, 2018 by News Staff

A liquid ocean in contact with a silicate interior makes Jupiter’s icy moon Europa a prime location for life. This possibility is compounded if geologic processes within its ice shell allow surface materials to mix with the ocean and recharge chemicals required for life. Unfortunately, this ice shell represents a barrier to direct exploration. Dr. Andrew Dombard from the University of Illinois at Chicago and co-authors have performed a concept study...

read more...
An artist’s impression of the Neptune-sized exoplanet K2-263b. Image credit: Sci-News.com.

Astronomers Discover Icy Neptune-Sized Exoplanet: K2-263b

Dec 17, 2018 by Enrico de Lazaro

Astronomers have discovered a frozen exoplanet nearly the size of Neptune orbiting the quiet G9-type dwarf star K2-263. An artist’s impression of the...

Ebola virus (green) infects human cells much more easily when you remove a protein called RBBP6. Image credit: Northwestern University.

Newly-Identified Human Protein Inhibits Replication of Ebola Virus

Dec 17, 2018 by News Staff

A team of scientists led by researchers from the University of California, San Francisco, J. David Gladstone Institutes, Georgia State University and Northwestern...

This 120 second image of comet 46P/Wirtanen was taken December 2, 2018 by an iTelescope 50 mm refractor located at an observatory near Mayhill, New Mexico. The streak below the comet was produced by a rocket body (upper stage) passing through the telescope’s field of view during the exposure. Specifically, the upper stage is the one that placed the Indonesian Garuda 1 communications satellite into geostationary orbit back in February of 2000. At the time of this image, the Garuda 1 upper stage was 15,880 miles (25,556 km) from the observatory; 46P/Wirtanen was 10.3 million miles (16.6 million km) distant. Image credit: NASA.

Comet 46P/Wirtanen to Make Closest Approach to Earth in Over Four Centuries

Dec 15, 2018 by News Staff

On Sunday, December 16, 2018, comet 46P/Wirtanen will make a close pass of Earth. The comet will be at its closest distance to our planet in over four...

Kong et al designed an ingestible sensor that can lodge in the stomach for a few weeks and communicate wirelessly with an external device. Image credit: Kong et al.

New Electronic Pill Can Communicate Wirelessly

Dec 14, 2018 by News Staff

A research team led by MIT scientists has developed an ingestible capsule that can be controlled using Bluetooth, a widely adopted wireless protocol. Manufactured...

This artist’s illustration shows a giant cloud of hydrogen streaming off the warm Neptune GJ 3470b. The host star’s intense radiation is heating the hydrogen in the planet’s upper atmosphere to a point where it escapes into space. GJ 3470b is losing hydrogen at a rate 100 times faster than a previously observed warm Neptune whose atmosphere is also evaporating away. Image credit: NASA / ESA / D. Player, STScI.

Hubble Finds Fast-Evaporating Warm Neptune: GJ 3470b

Dec 14, 2018 by News Staff

Extrasolar ‘Neptunes’ are exoplanets with masses and radii similar to those of the ice giants in the Solar System. In 2015, astronomers using the NASA/ESA...

An artist’s impression of the disk of dust and gas surrounding the massive protostar MM 1a, with its companion MM 1b forming in the outer regions. Image credit: J.D. Ilee, University of Leeds.

Smaller Member of Binary Protostar Caught Forming Like Planet

Dec 14, 2018 by News Staff

While observing a massive protostar called G11.92-0.61 MM 1, a research team led by University of Leeds astronomers discovered it was not in fact one stellar...

This composite image of Ultima Thule was taken just 33 hours before the December 2 course-correction maneuver that fine-tuned New Horizons’ trajectory for its New Year’s flyby. At left is the full LORRI image with a yellow circle centered on the location of Ultima Thule. Unlike the LORRI images taken in August through October 2018, the object is now evident among the many background stars even without further processing. Nevertheless, Ultima Thule really stands out after subtracting the background stars; the region within the yellow box has been expanded in the star-subtracted version of the image on the right. Image credit: NASA / Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory / Southwest Research Institute.

NASA’s New Horizons Spacecraft Captures New Images of Ultima Thule

Dec 14, 2018 by News Staff

NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft has returned new images captured on approach to its next flyby target, the Kuiper Belt object 2014 MU69, also known as...

Morgan et al discovered eight new genes linked to red hair. Image credit: Pezibear.

Scientists Identify Eight New Genetic Variants Responsible for Red Hair

Dec 14, 2018 by News Staff

By performing genome-wide analyses across hair colors, researchers at the University of Edinburgh, UK, have discovered eight new genetic variants that...

Examining 1,000-year-old corncobs from an ancient ruin in Arizona, Peyambari et al found a previously unknown RNA virus. Image credit: Roossinck Laboratory, Pennsylvania State University.

Researchers Find Oldest Known Plant Virus

Dec 13, 2018 by News Staff

Scientists studying ancient corncobs found at Antelope House, an Ancestral Puebloan ruin located at Canyon de Chelly National Monument, Arizona, have discovered...

ALMA’s high-resolution images of nearby protoplanetary disks. Image credit: ALMA / ESO / NAOJ / NRAO / S. Andrews et al / AUI / NSF / S. Dagnello.

ALMA Captures Stunning Views of Protoplanetary Disks

Dec 13, 2018 by News Staff

Astronomers using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) have conducted one of the deepest surveys ever of protoplanetary disks —...

An artist’s rendition of a supernova explosion. Image credit: ESA / Hubble / L. Calcada / NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center.

Nearby Supernova Explosions Triggered End-Pliocene Marine Mass Extinction, Researchers Say

Dec 13, 2018 by News Staff

Approximately 2.6 million years ago (Pliocene epoch), a tsunami of cosmic energy from a massive supernova or a series of them about 150 light-years away...

This false-color image shows the dwarf planet Ceres. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / UCLA / MPS / DLR / IDA.

Dwarf Planet Ceres Has Carbon-Rich Surface, Study Suggests

Dec 13, 2018 by News Staff

The surface of the dwarf planet Ceres may contain several times the concentration of carbon than is present in the most carbon-rich, primitive meteorites...

Torres et al developed new antimicrobial peptides based on a naturally occurring peptide produced by the South American wasp Polybia paulista. Image credit: Charles J. Sharp / CC BY-SA 4.0.

Scientists Repurpose Wasp Venom Peptides to Fight Drug-Resistant Bacteria

Dec 13, 2018 by News Staff

After performing an analysis of the antimicrobial properties of a peptide found in the venom of Polybia paulista, a species of South American social wasp,...

The Dracula ant (Mystrium camillae) can snap its mandibles at speeds of up to 90 m/s. Image credit: Adrian Smith.

Dracula Ants’ Mandibles are Fastest Known Animal Appendages

Dec 12, 2018 by News Staff

In a study published today in the journal Royal Society Open Science, researchers examined the kinematics and functional morphology of the Dracula ant...

Schematic illustration of temperature-dependent hypoxia as a driver of the end-Permian marine mass extinction. Greenhouse gas forcing in a model of Earth’s climate at the end of the Permian drives ocean warming (contours) and oxygen loss that match geochemical proxy data. Ocean warming raises the organismal oxygen demand amid declining supply. The resulting loss of aerobic habitat for diverse physiologies induces a mass extinction in model animal types (line) whose geographic signature -- increased severity outside of the tropics -- is consistent with reconstructions from the marine fossil record (circles). Image credit: J. Penn / C. Deutsch / E. Haeckel / W. Kaveney / H. Fjeld / J. White.

End-Permian Marine Mass Extinction Caused by Increased Temperatures, Oxygen Loss: Study

Dec 12, 2018 by News Staff

Some 252 million years ago, intense volcanic activity belched massive volumes of greenhouse gasses into the atmosphere and triggered rapid changes to the...

Visualization of an expanding drop of quark-gluon plasma. Image credit: Javier Orjuela Koop, University of Colorado, Boulder.

Physicists Create Quark-Gluon Plasma Droplets

Dec 12, 2018 by News Staff

Physicists from the PHENIX Collaboration have created droplets of a liquid-like state of matter called quark-gluon plasma, forming three distinct shapes...

https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?feature=7302

NASA’s InSight Lander Snaps Gorgeous Selfie on Mars

Dec 12, 2018 by News Staff

On December 6, 2018, NASA’s InSight lander used a camera on its robotic arm to snap a view of itself and the surroundings. Visible in the selfie are...

Caffeine and eicosanoyl-5-hydroxytryptamide may protect against brain degeneration. Image credit: Anja Osenberg.

Two Compounds in Coffee May Combat Parkinson’s Disease and Lewy Body Dementia

Dec 12, 2018 by News Staff

Parkinson’s disease is a brain disorder that can lead to shaking, stiffness and difficulty with walking, balance and coordination. Dementia with Lewy...

An atomic force microscopy image showing the interaction behavior of genomic DNA with the gold surface. Image credit: Sina et al, doi: 10.1038/s41467-018-07214-w.

Using Gold Nanoparticles to Rapidly Detect Cancer DNA

Dec 11, 2018 by Sam Sander Effron

Using as little as 1 picogram of purified DNA sample (think 2.5 trillion times lighter than a penny), scientists at the University of Brisbane have developed...

© 2011-2026. Sci.News. All Rights Reserved. | Back to top