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Scientists Discover New Type of Sand Dune — on Mars

Two sizes of ripples are evident in this December 13, 2015, view of a top of a Martian sand dune, from Curiosity. Sand dunes and the smaller type of ripples also exist on Earth. The larger ripples -- roughly 10 feet (3 m) apart -- are a type not seen on our planet nor previously recognized as a distinct type on Mars. Scale bar - 2 m (79 inches). Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / MSSS.
Jul 1, 2016 by Enrico de Lazaro

A team of planetary scientists led by researchers at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) has discovered a type of dune on Mars intermediate in size between decimeter-wavelength ripples and hundred-meter- to km-wavelength dunes, and unlike anything seen on our planet. Two sizes of ripples are evident in this December 13, 2015, view of a top of a Martian sand dune, from Curiosity. Sand dunes and the smaller type of ripples also exist on...

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This false-color image shows Escherichia coli. Image credit: Geralt.

Pan-Drug Resistant ‘Superbug’ Found in US

Jul 1, 2016 by Rafid Rahman

This false-color image shows Escherichia coli. Image credit: Geralt. ‘Superbug’ bacteria affect two million people and kill at least 23,000 Americans...

Occator crater (center) appears to be among the youngest features on Ceres. Dawn mission scientists estimate its age to be about 78 million years old. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / UCLA / MPS / DLR / IDA.

Hydrothermal Activity May Explain Mysterious Bright Spots on Ceres

Jul 1, 2016 by News Staff

Anomalously bright areas on the dwarf planet Ceres have the highest concentration of sodium carbonate ever seen outside our planet, says a new study published...

A simulation of the Antarctic ozone hole, made from data taken on October 22, 2015. Image credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center.

Researchers Identify Clear Signs of Healing in Antarctic Ozone Layer

Jun 30, 2016 by News Staff

An international team of researchers led by Prof. Susan Solomon of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) has identified the first ‘fingerprints...

This image combines an image taken with the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope in the optical and observations of the Jovian aurora in the ultraviolet. Image credit: NASA / ESA.

Hubble Observes Spectacular Auroras on Jupiter

Jun 30, 2016 by Natali Anderson

The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has captured stunning new ultraviolet images of the auroral lights in the atmosphere of the Solar System’s largest...

Kankuamo marquezi, male. Image credit: Dirk Weinmann.

Newly-Discovered Species of Tarantula Named after Gabriel Garcia Marquez

Jun 30, 2016 by Enrico de Lazaro

A relatively large species of tarantula discovered in an isolated mountain range in Colombia has been named after the famed Colombian novelist and 1982...

The view towards the east from the Carregal do Sal megalithic cluster, at dawn at the end of April around 4,000 BC, as reconstructed using a Digital Elevation Model and Stellarium. Aldebaran, the last star to rise before the Sun, is rising directly above Serra da Estrela, the ‘mountain range of the star.’ Image credit: Fabio Silva.

Iberian Megalithic Tombs: 6,000-Year-Old Lensless Telescopes?

Jun 30, 2016 by News Staff

A team of astronomers from the UK is exploring what might be described as the first astronomical observing tool, potentially used by humans around 4,000...

A Hubble image of the spiral galaxy NGC 7714, which has been dramatically distorted in shape by a close interaction with another nearby galaxy. Minor, but frequent, disturbances such as this cause a burst of star formation, accounting for around half of all new stars being formed in the local Universe. Image credit: NASA / ESA / A. Gal-Yam, Weizmann Institute of Science.

Minor Mergers of Galaxies are Important Drivers of Star Formation, Astronomer Says

Jun 30, 2016 by News Staff

Almost 55 percent of the star formation arises from minor mergers between galaxies, according to an astronomer who analyzed data collected as part of the...

A false-color image of the narrow opal rim surrounding a bright metallic mineral inclusion in the Antarctic meteorite EET 83309; the circular holes in this image are spots where laser analyses have been performed. Image credit: Hilary Downes et al.

Scientists Find Tiny Pieces of Opal in Meteorite

Jun 29, 2016 by Enrico de Lazaro

Small pieces of the mineral opal have been found within a brecciated ureilite meteorite from Antarctica. According to a team of scientists led by Prof....

Kiso 5639 is a member of a class of galaxies called ‘tadpoles’ because of their bright heads and elongated tails. New Hubble/WFC3 observations comprising this image cover a wide portion of the spectrum, including ultraviolet, optical, H-alpha, and infrared emission. Together, they paint a beautifully detailed picture of Kiso 5639. Image credit: NASA / ESA / D. Elmegreen, Vassar College / B. Elmegreen, IBM’s Thomas J. Watson Research Center / J. Almeida, C. Munoz-Tunon, & M. Filho, Instituto de Astrofisica de Canarias / J. Mendez-Abreu, University of St. Andrews / J. Gallagher, University of Wisconsin-Madison / M. Rafelski, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center / D. Ceverino, Center for Astronomy at Heidelberg University.

Kiso 5639: Hubble Space Telescope Photographs Cosmic Tadpole

Jun 29, 2016 by News Staff

The newest photo from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope is of a rare type of galaxy, known as a ‘tadpole.’ Kiso 5639 is a member of a class of galaxies...

Surface of a lotus leaf. Image credit: William Thielicke / CC BY-SA 4.0.

Lotus Leaf Inspires Water-Repellent, Antibacterial Metal Surfaces

Jun 29, 2016 by News Staff

A group of scientists from Europe has harnessed new photonics technology to develop superhydrophobic, antibacterial metal surfaces, taking us a step closer...

Olduvai Gorge, Great Rift Valley, Tanzania. Image credit: Noel Feans / CC BY 2.0.

Researchers Find Giant Helium Gas Field in Tanzania

Jun 28, 2016 by Natali Anderson

A team of researchers from Durham University, the University of Oxford, and the exploration company Helium One has discovered a world-class helium gas...

This false-color image of Jupiter was created by selecting and combining the best images obtained from many short VISIR exposures at a wavelength of 5 micrometers. Image credit: L. Fletcher / ESO.

Astronomers Release New Infrared Images, High-Resolution Maps of Jupiter

Jun 28, 2016 by News Staff

Amazing new infrared images and high-resolution maps of Jupiter give a glowing view of Juno’s target, several days ahead of the NASA mission’s arrival...

Aalto University scientists find explanation for auroral sounds. Image credit: Unto Laine / Aalto University.

Scientists Find Explanation for Sounds of Northern Lights

Jun 28, 2016 by News Staff

The popping and crackling sounds associated with Aurora borealis (or the Northern Lights) are born when the related geomagnetic storm activates the charges...

This Hubble image shows the dwarf irregular galaxy NGC 1569. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble / Aloisi Ford / Judy Schmidt, www.geckzilla.com.

NGC 1569: Hubble Probes Interior of Small Star-Forming Galaxy

Jun 27, 2016 by News Staff

The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has produced an absolutely beautiful image of the interior of NGC 1569, one of the most active galaxies in our local...

Radix carbonica. Scale bar - 500 μm. Image credit: Alexander J. Hetherington et al / Oxford University Herbaria.

Researchers Find 320 Million-Year-Old Plant Root Stem Cells

Jun 24, 2016 by News Staff

A team of paleontologists led by Oxford University researcher Prof. Liam Dolan has discovered the oldest known population of plant root stem cells in a...

A 25 million-year-old fossilized termite nest with the remains of a ‘fungus garden’ preserved inside. Image credit: H. Hilbert-Worf / James Cook University.

Paleontologists Discover Earliest Evidence of Insect Agriculture

Jun 24, 2016 by Natali Anderson

An international team of paleontologists has discovered the oldest known examples of ‘fungus gardens’ within 25 million-year-old fossilized termite...

An illustration of the layer of dark hydrogen the team’s lab mimicry indicates would be found beneath the surface of gas giants like Jupiter. Image credit: Stewart McWilliams.

Gas Giant Planets May Contain Layers of ‘Dark Hydrogen,’ Say Physicists

Jun 24, 2016 by News Staff

On the surface of giant gaseous planets, hydrogen is a gas. But between this gaseous layer and the liquid metal hydrogen in the planet’s core lies a...

This Hubble image shows Neptune (SDS-2015 resides near and below a patch of bright clouds in the gas giant’s southern hemisphere). Image credit: NASA / ESA / M.H. Wong & J. Tollefson, University of California at Berkeley.

Hubble Space Telescope Sees New ‘Dark Spot’ on Neptune

Jun 23, 2016 by Natali Anderson

A team of astronomers detected a dark spot in the atmosphere of Neptune, in images taken with the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope on May 16, 2016. This...

Left: phytoliths from Poaceae bulliform cells and bi-peaked tubercles from rice husks recovered from Huxi: 1, 2, 3 - rice; 4 - reed; 5 - bamboo; 6, 7, 8 - silvergrass; 9, 10 - bi-peaked tubercles of rice. Right: charred plant remains from Huxi: 1 - self-heal; 2 - cupgrass; 3, 17 - sedge family; 4-6 - carbonized rice; 7-13 - rice rachillae; 14-15 - rice husks fragments; 16 - knotweed/smartweed; 18 - bristlegrass; 19 – crabgrass; 20 - tall fringe-rush; 21, 22 – foxnut. Image credit: Y. Zheng et al.

Archaeologists Find Evidence of Domesticated Rice in China 9,000 Years Ago

Jun 23, 2016 by Enrico de Lazaro

The earliest evidence of domesticated rice (Oryza sativa), one of the world’s most important cereal grains, has been found in China, and it’s 9,000...

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