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Scientists Identify New Species of Ocean Sunfish: Hoodwinker Sunfish (Mola tecta)

The Hoodwinker Sunfish (Mola tecta) in Reserva Marina Isla Chanaral, Chile, 2015. Image credit: Cesar Villarroel, https://vimeo.com/129499857.
Jul 25, 2017 by News Staff

A group of marine biologists led by Murdoch University researcher Marianne Nyegaard has identified and described an elusive new species of ocean sunfish. The Hoodwinker Sunfish (Mola tecta) in Reserva Marina Isla Chanaral, Chile, 2015. Image credit: Cesar Villarroel, https://vimeo.com/129499857. Ocean sunfishes (family Molidae) are the heaviest and most distinctive of all bony fishes, with some specimens weighing in excess of 2 tons (4,400 lb) and...

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The Dixie Valley toad (Bufo williamsi). Image credit: Mike Wolterbeek, University of Nevada, Reno.

Three New Toad Species Discovered in Nevada

Jul 25, 2017 by News Staff

A team of researchers led by University of Nevada Professor C. Richard (Dick) Tracy has discovered three new toad species in the Great Basin region of...

Enigmatic Archaic Human Relative Interbred with Ancestors of Modern Africans, Study Suggests

Jul 24, 2017 by News Staff

A mysterious hominin species mated with the ancestors of modern-day Sub-Saharan Africans, according to an analysis of modern human genomes published this...

This image of the superluminous supernova DES15E2mlf was taken with the Dark Energy Camera (DECam) gri-band filters mounted on the Blanco 4-m telescope at Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory in Chile on December 28, 2015, around the time when DES15E2mlf reached its peak luminosity. Image credit: D. Gerdes / S. Jouvel.

Astronomers Spot Most Distant Superluminous Supernova Yet

Jul 24, 2017 by News Staff

At a distance of 10 billion light-years, DES15E2mlf — a Type I superluminous supernova (SLSN-I) spotted by the Dark Energy Survey collaboration —...

This image, taken with the Wide Field Camera 3 on board Hubble, shows the small irregular/spiral galaxy NGC 4248. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble.

Hubble Observes NGC 4248

Jul 24, 2017 by Natali Anderson

NASA has released a stunning image snapped by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope of the irregular/spiral galaxy NGC 4248. This image, taken with the Wide...

The Weird! Signal. Instead of emanating from Ross 128, the most likely source of the signal is a satellite orbiting the Earth. Image credit: Planetary Habitability Laboratory, University of Puerto Rico.

‘Weird!’ Signal from Ross 128 isn’t from Extraterrestrial Intelligence, Astronomers Say

Jul 23, 2017 by News Staff

Professor Abel Méndez, Director of the Planetary Habitability Laboratory and a planetary astrobiologist at the University of Puerto Rico, and colleagues...

Proton is a subatomic particle found in the nucleus of every atom. This artist’s impression shows a proton and a neutron. Image credit: Joanna Griffin / Jefferson Lab / Penn State.

What’s Mass of Proton? Physicists Make Most Precise Measurement Yet

Jul 21, 2017 by News Staff

An international team of physicists from Germany and Japan has made the most precise measurement yet of the proton’s atomic mass. The result is a factor...

This digitally-colorized scanning electron microscopic (SEM) image depicts a number of mustard-colored, spheroid-shaped Staphylococcus aureus bacteria that were in the process of escaping their destruction by blue-colored human white blood cells. Magnification - 20,000x. Image credit: National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.

Study: MRSA Emerged Long Before Introduction of Antibiotic Methicillin into Clinical Practice

Jul 21, 2017 by News Staff

According to a new study published in the journal Genome Biology, methicillin use was not the original driving factor in the evolution of methicillin-resistant...

Hubble Space Telescope Spots Martian Moon Phobos

Jul 21, 2017 by News Staff

When the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope observed Mars near opposition on May 12, 2016, Phobos — the larger and inner of the two natural satellites...

This image shows Watson 021, a single H7 ordinary chondrite, weighing 135 g. The sample has a large crack, lined with alteration minerals, that runs down its middle and only one third of its fusion crust remains intact. This meteorite shows near complete oxidation of its reduced metal and sulfide phases making this a W4 chondrite. Watson 021 is extensively shocked, exhibiting globular silicate metal emulsions and shock veins that crosscut the sample. Tait et al found that microbial communities in samples of Nullarbor Plain soil are more diverse than those in Watson 021 and other meteorites, which are highly uniform in their species evenness and species richness. Image credit: Tait et al, doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2017.01227.

Research Opens New Way to Understand Possible Martian Life through Meteorites

Jul 20, 2017 by News Staff

New research from Monash University and the University of Queensland has added a new dimension to understanding life on the Red Planet with the discovery...

Scheme of a waveguide-integrated plasmonic nanoantenna for mode-selective polarization (de)multiplexing. The device couples light of orthogonal polarizations into different directions and modes of the underlying silicon waveguide. Image credit: Guo et al, doi: 10.1126/sciadv.1700007.

Optical Nanoantenna Promises Ultra-Fast Graphics on Gaming Consoles, PCs

Jul 20, 2017 by News Staff

A group of researchers from the Australian National University (ANU) and elsewhere has designed a nanoantenna — a device which is 100 times thinner...

Photograph of the Madjedbebe rockshelter during the 2015 excavation. Image credit: Clarkson et al, doi: 10.1038/nature22968.

New Evidence Pushes Back Aboriginal Occupation of Australia to 65,000 Years Ago

Jul 20, 2017 by News Staff

New evidence from a rockshelter in northern Australia shows human occupation of the continent for at least 65,000 years — much longer than other...

Daily tomato consumption appeared to cut the development of skin cancer tumors by half in the mouse study. Image credit: Hans Benn.

Tomato Consumption May Protect against Skin Cancer

Jul 20, 2017 by Enrico de Lazaro

In a research article published in the journal Scientific Reports, Ohio State University scientists report that male mice fed a diet of 10% tomato powder...

NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope, Chandra X-ray Observatory, and the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope produced this composite image of the central region of our Milky Way Galaxy. Note that the center of the Galaxy is located within the bright white region to the right of and just below the middle of the image. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / ESA / CXC / STScI.

High-Energy ‘Trap’ Spotted in Milky Way’s Center

Jul 19, 2017 by News Staff

The center of our Milky Way Galaxy contains a ‘trap’ that concentrates some of the highest-energy cosmic rays, according to a new analysis of data...

According to Professor Graur, the functional fraction within the human genome cannot exceed 25%, and is probably considerably lower.

Only 10-25% of Human Genome is Functional, New Estimate Says

Jul 19, 2017 by News Staff

In a paper published in the journal Genome Biology and Evolution, University of Houston Professor Dan Graur says that the functional portion of the human...

Artist’s conception of the dust and gas surrounding a newly formed planetary system. Image credit: NASA.

Earth’s Water Explained by Gas Giant Gluttony

Jul 19, 2017 by James Romero

Water on Earth, Mars and everywhere within the inner Solar System can be traced back to the rapid waist-expanding growth of Jupiter and Saturn, which knocked...

The more regularly participants engaged with word puzzles, the better they performed on tasks assessing attention, reasoning and memory. Image credit: Steve Buissinne.

Daily Crosswords Linked to Better Cognitive Function in Later Life

Jul 19, 2017 by News Staff

According to new research presented at the 2017 Alzheimer’s Association International Conference, the more regularly people report doing word puzzles...

Ross 128 (center), also known as HIP 57548 or IRAS 11451+0105, is a red dwarf star. It has 15% of the mass of the Sun and 21% of the Sun’s radius, but generates energy so slowly that it has only 0.036% of the Sun’s visible luminosity. Image credit: Sloan Digital Sky Survey.

Arecibo Observatory’s Radio Telescope Detects Strange Signals from Nearby Star Ross 128

Jul 18, 2017 by News Staff

Astronomers using the 305-m (1,000-foot) radio telescope at the Arecibo Observatory, Puerto Rico, recently detected ‘strange’ signals coming from Ross...

Peering deep into the core of the Crab Nebula, this Hubble image reveals the beating heart of one of the most historic and intensively studied remnants of a supernova, an exploding star. The neutron star at the very center of the nebula has about the same mass as the Sun but compressed into an incredibly dense sphere that is only a few miles across. Spinning 30 times a second, the neutron star shoots out detectable beams of energy that make it look like it’s pulsating. The Hubble snapshot is centered on the region around the neutron star (the rightmost of the two bright stars near the center of this image) and the expanding, tattered, filamentary debris surrounding it. Hubble’s sharp view captures the intricate details of glowing gas, shown in red, that forms a swirling medley of cavities and filaments. Inside this shell is a ghostly blue glow that is radiation given off by electrons spiraling at nearly the speed of light in the powerful magnetic field around the crushed stellar core. This neutron star is a showcase for extreme physical processes and unimaginable cosmic violence. Bright wisps are moving outward from the neutron star at half the speed of light to form an expanding ring. It is thought that these wisps originate from a shock wave that turns the high-speed wind from the neutron star into extremely energetic particles. Image credit: NASA / ESA / J. Hester, ASU / M. Weisskopf, NASA & MSFC.

Astrophysical Shock Waves Generated in the Lab

Jul 18, 2017 by News Staff

A Princeton-led team of researchers has discovered a revolutionary way to generate high-energy shock waves in the lab. Peering deep into the core of the...

Consumption of nonnutritive sweeteners is associated with increases in weight and waist circumference, and higher incidence of obesity, hypertension, metabolic syndrome, type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular events, according to Azad et al. Image credit: Lauri Andler / CC BY-SA 3.0.

Regular Consumption of Artificial Sweeteners Linked to Increased Risk of Obesity, Diabetes, Other Health Issues

Jul 18, 2017 by News Staff

A literature review of 37 studies has found that regular consumption of artificial sweeteners is associated with long-term weight gain and an increased...

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