Page 575 | Sci.News: Breaking Science News

A crusty nautilus (Allonautilus scrobiculatus) off the coast of Ndrova Island, Papua New Guinea. Image credit: Peter Ward / University of Washington.

Marine Biologists Spot Rare Crusty Nautilus for First Time in Nearly 30 Years

Aug 26, 2015 by News Staff

Meet the crusty nautilus (Allonautilus scrobiculatus), one of the rarest marine animals in the world. These pics are the first ones taken of this ‘living...

Dawn spotted this conical mountain on Ceres from a distance of 915 miles (1,470 km). The image was taken on August 19, 2015. The mountain, located in the southern hemisphere, stands 4 miles (6 km) high. Its perimeter is sharply defined, with almost no accumulated debris at the base of the brightly streaked slope. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / UCLA / MPS / DLR / IDA.

NASA’s Dawn Spacecraft Returns New Images of Dwarf Planet Ceres

Aug 25, 2015 by News Staff

New close-up pics of Ceres show the dwarf planet’s features in detail, including tall, conical mountain; narrow, braided fractures and a large crater...

Cherax snowden, a paratype male from Oinsok River drainage, Sawiat District. Image credit: Lukhaup C et al.

New Crayfish Species Found in Indonesia Named after Edward Snowden

Aug 25, 2015 by News Staff

A spectacular new species of freshwater crayfish, Cherax snowden, has been described from the Oinsok River Drainage, Sawiat District in the central part...

A harbor seal (Phoca vitulina) colony in Helgoland, Germany. Image credit: Andreas Trepte / CC BY-SA 2.5.

Phopivirus: Scientists Discover Hepatitis A-Like Virus in Harbor Seals

Aug 25, 2015 by News Staff

Researchers have discovered a previously unknown hepatovirus in harbor seals (Phoca vitulina) that is the closest known relative of the human hepatitis...

This is an artist’s rendition of a woolly mammoth (Mammuthus primigenius). Image credit: Flying Puffin / CC BY-SA 2.0.

Paleontologist Releases Most Accurate Map Yet of Woolly Mammoth Distribution

Aug 25, 2015 by News Staff

Prof Ralf-Dietrich Kahlke from the Senckenberg Research Station for Quaternary Paleontology in Weimar, Germany, has recorded the maximum geographic distribution...

Volcanic eruption on Iceland. Image credit: Peter Hartree / CC BY-SA 2.0.

Mystery of Lunar Fire Fountains: Researchers Claim to Have Answer

Aug 25, 2015 by News Staff

Very small pieces of volcanic glass found on the surface of Moon by Apollo 15 and 17 astronauts are the products of volatile-rich, fire-fountain eruptions....

This SDO image shows a subset of extreme UV light that highlights the extremely hot solar material, which is typically colorized in red. Image credit: NASA / SDO.

NASA’s SDO Captures Image of Mid-Level Solar Flare

Aug 24, 2015 by News Staff

NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) captured this stunning ultraviolet image of a powerful solar flare – as seen in the bright spot in the...

Beta-carboline compounds offer great promise for the treatment of alcoholism. Image credit: Imagens Evangelicas / CC BY 2.0.

Beta-Carbolines Could Reduce Alcoholics’ Impulse to Drink

Aug 24, 2015 by News Staff

A new animal study is offering hope that a class of compounds called beta-carbolines could treat alcoholism without many of the unwanted side effects caused...

Jakobshavn glacier, also known as Sermeq Kujalleq and the Jakobshavn Isbræ, is a large glacier in West Greenland and is among the world’s most dynamic glaciers. Radar images from ESA’s Sentinel-1A captured the glacier before and after a massive calving event, which took place between 14 and 16 August 2015. The image composite includes different Sentinel-1A images from 27 July, and 13 and 19 August. The red, green and blue indicate the position of the calving front and other dynamic features on each respective date. Image credit: Copernicus Sentinel data /ESA.

Sentinel-1A Satellite Catches Jakobshavn Glacier Shedding Ice

Aug 24, 2015 by News Staff

Images from European Space Agency’s Sentinel-1A satellite show that Greenland’s Jakobshavn glacier, the fastest moving glacier in the world, shed a...

The extinct straight-tusked elephant (Palaeoloxodon antiquus) is one of the many large mammals that the new study estimates would have occurred in northern Europe if modern humans had never existed. Image credit: Apotea / CC BY-SA 3.0.

Research Reveals What Animal World Would Look Like If Homo sapiens Never Existed

Aug 24, 2015 by News Staff

A new study published in the journal Diversity and Distributions reveals what the world map of mammals would look like if Homo sapiens had never existed. The...

This Hubble image shows the intermediate-age globular cluster NGC 1783. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble / Judy Schmidt, geckzilla.com.

Hubble Space Telescope Focuses on Far-Off Star Cluster

Aug 24, 2015 by News Staff

The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has produced a beautiful image of a globular cluster known as NGC 1783. This Hubble image shows the intermediate-age...

This composite image shows Saturn’s main rings, the F ring, and its shepherd satellites: the narrow F ring is located just outside of the outer edge of the main rings; slightly above and to the left of the center of the image are the shepherd satellites Prometheus (inner orbit) and Pandora (outer orbit). Image credit: NASA.

Saturn’s F Ring is Natural Outcome of Satellite System Formation, Researchers Say

Aug 23, 2015 by News Staff

Saturn’s F ring and its shepherd satellites, Prometheus and Pandora, are natural outcome of the final stage of formation of Saturn’s satellite system,...

The European chestnut (Castanea sativa), also known as the sweet chestnut, is a species of flowering plant in the family Fagaceae, native to Europe and Asia Minor, and widely cultivated throughout the temperate world. The tree attains a height of 100 feet (30 m). It has rugged, grooved bark and glossy, serrate, oblong-lanceolate leaves up to 11 inches (28 cm) in length. Image credit: Willow, Germany / CC BY-SA 3.0.

European Chestnut Leaf Extract Disarms Staphlococcus aureus

Aug 23, 2015 by News Staff

Leaves of the European chestnut (Castanea sativa) contain ingredients with the power to block the virulence and pathogenesis of Staphylococcus aureus without...

X-ray view of the central region of our Milky Way Galaxy. This image was put together in a new study by compiling all observations of this region that were performed with ESA’s XMM-Newton, adding up to over one month of monitoring in total. The image combines data collected at energies from 0.5 to 2 keV (shown in red), 2 to 4.5 keV (shown in green) and 4.5 to 12 keV (shown in blue). It spans about 2.5 degrees across, equivalent to about 1,000 light-years. Image credit: ESA / XMM-Newton / G. Ponti et al.

XMM-Newton Snaps Stunning X-ray Portraits of Milky Way’s Central Region

Aug 22, 2015 by News Staff

New images from ESA’s XMM-Newton X-ray Observatory reveal some of the most intense processes taking place at the hearth of our Milky Way Galaxy. X-ray...

3D structure of Chrysalin. Image credit: Darrell Carney & Barbara Olszewska-Pazdrak, doi: 10.1517/14656560802401721.

Chrysalin: New Drug Mitigates Deadly Effects of Radiation

Aug 22, 2015 by News Staff

A research team in the U.S. says it has discovered a drug that successfully combats the deadly effects of radiation exposure. A single injection of a synthetic...

Andatu, the first Sumatran rhino to be born at the Sumatran Rhino Sanctuary, and his mother, Ratu. Image credit: S. Ellis / International Rhino Foundation / CC BY 2.0.

Sumatran Rhinoceros Declared Extinct in the Wild in Malaysia

Aug 21, 2015 by News Staff

According to a new paper published online in the journal Oryx, there have been no signs of the wild Sumatran rhinoceros (Dicerorhinus sumatrensis) in Malaysia...

A noticeable feature of the Atlantis basin is the several hundred mesas and small peaks strewn ‘chaotically’ across its roughly 200-km expanse. The uppermost layer of these elevated areas consists of light-colored material. Spectroscopic measurements have shown these consist of phyllosilicates, minerals produced in the presence of water. Image credit: ESA / DLR / FU Berlin / CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO.

Fly Over Mars’ Atlantis Basin in New Video

Aug 21, 2015 by News Staff

A virtual flight across the Atlantis basin reveals a broad variety of phenomena, etched into this landscape billions of years ago. The animation is based...

Papio hamadryas. Image credit: Moataz Tawfik Igbaria / CC BY-SA 4.0.

Earliest Baboon Found in South Africa

Aug 21, 2015 by News Staff

A two-million-year-old partial skull of the extinct baboon Papio angusticeps has been unearthed at Malapa, in the Cradle of Humankind World Heritage Site,...

This view from Cassini looks toward Dione, with giant Saturn and its rings in the background, just prior to the mission’s final close approach to the moon on August 17. The view was acquired at distances ranging from approximately 106,000 miles (170,000 km) to 39,000 miles (63,000 km) from the icy moon and at a Sun-Dione-spacecraft, or phase, angle of 35 degrees. At lower right is the large, multi-ringed impact basin Evander, which is about 220 miles (350 km) wide. The canyons of Padua Chasma, features that form part of Dione’s bright, wispy terrain, reach into the darkness at left. Scientists combined nine visible light images to create this mosaic view: eight from Cassini’s narrow-angle camera and one from the wide-angle camera, which fills in an area at lower left. The scene is an orthographic projection centered on terrain at 0.2 degrees north latitude, 179 degrees west longitude on Dione. An orthographic view is most like the view seen by a distant observer looking through a telescope. North on Dione is up. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / Space Science Institute.

Stunning Images from Cassini’s Final Close Flyby of Dione

Aug 21, 2015 by News Staff

NASA’s Cassini spacecraft returned new images of Saturn’s moon Dione during its flyby of 17 August 2015. The probe zoomed in as close as 295 miles...