Page 615 | Sci.News: Breaking Science News

New research shows that, while human hunter-gatherers from around 7,000 years ago had bones comparable in strength to modern orangutans, farmers from the same area over 6,000 years later had significantly lighter and weaker bones that would have been more susceptible to breaking. Image credit: Alabama Cooperative Extension System / A&M University / Auburn University.

Shift from Foraging to Farming Led to Fragile, Lightweight Human Skeletons

Dec 24, 2014 by News Staff

A new study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences shows that modern human skeletons have become much lighter and more fragile...

Carboniferous fish Acanthodes bridgei. Image credit: Gengo Tanaka et al.

Paleontologists Find Carboniferous Fish Fossil with Well-Preserved Retina

Dec 24, 2014 by News Staff

According to a team of paleontologists from the United Kingdom and Japan led by Dr Haruyoshi Maeda of Kyushu University Museum, color vision evolved in...

Aerial view of the Herodium complex. Image credit: Tatzpit Aerial Photography.

Israeli Archaeologists Unearth Entrance Passage to Herod I’s Palace

Dec 23, 2014 by News Staff

A team of archaeologists from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem’s Institute of Archaeology has discovered a royal passageway to Herodium, an ancient...

This image shows the newly discovered dwarf galaxy Kks3. The core of the galaxy is the right hand object at the top center of the image, with its stars spreading out over a large section around it; the left hand of the two objects is a much nearer globular star cluster. Image credit: Dimitry Makarov.

Kks3: Hubble Discovers New Neighbor Galaxy to Milky Way

Dec 23, 2014 by News Staff

A new neighbor of our Milky Way Galaxy has been discovered with the Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS) instrument on NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope. This...

X-rays stream off the Sun in this image. The NuSTAR data, seen in green and blue, reveal solar high-energy emission (green shows energies between 2 and 3 kiloelectron volts, and blue shows energies between 3 and 5 kiloelectron volts). The high-energy X-rays come from gas heated to above 3 million degrees. The red channel represents UV light captured by SDO at wavelengths of 171 angstroms, and shows the presence of lower-temperature material in the solar atmosphere at 1 million degrees. This image shows that some of the hotter emission tracked by NuSTAR is coming from different locations in the active regions and the coronal loops than the cooler emission shown in the SDO image. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / GSFC.

NASA’s NuSTAR Spacecraft Captures its First Image of Sun

Dec 23, 2014 by News Staff

NASA’s Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array (NuSTAR) spacecraft – a $180 million black-hole hunter – has obtained its first picture...

Phryganistria tamdaoensis, male. Image credit: Joachim Bresseel / Jerome Constant.

World’s Second-Longest Insect Discovered in Vietnam

Dec 20, 2014 by Natali Anderson

The fascinating creature, a stick-insect, can reach up to 32 cm in body length and 52 cm with forelimbs stretched out. It has reportedly been found in...

This snailfish (bottom-left of the image) at 8,145 meters is a record for the deepest fish ever filmed; small amphipods are visible in the center. Image credit: University of Aberdeen.

Marine Biologists Capture Footage of World’s Deepest-Dwelling Fish in Mariana Trench

Dec 19, 2014 by News Staff

The world’s deepest fish has been captured on film by scientists from the University of Hawaii, Schmidt Ocean Institute and the University of Aberdeen...

Theta aurora over Antarctica. This image obtained in 1983 shows the auroral oval and a transpolar arc; the arc extends into the polar cap from local midnight, across the polar cap and joins with the auroral oval at local noon; motion of the transpolar arc in the dawn-dusk direction appears to be controlled by the direction of the interplanetary magnetic field along the dawn-dusk direction. Image credit: Dynamics Explorer-1 / University of Iowa.

Scientists Unravel Mystery of High-Latitude Theta Aurora

Dec 19, 2014 by News Staff

Thanks to data collected by ESA’s Cluster spacecraft and a NASA mission called the Imager for Magnetopause-to-Aurora Global Exploration (IMAGE),...

Tornado. Image credit: Macbroadcast / CC BY-SA 2.0.

Songbirds Can Sense Tornado-Producing Storms, Ornithologists Say

Dec 19, 2014 by News Staff

While tracking a population of golden-winged warblers (Vermivora chrysoptera) in Tennessee in April 2014, a team of ornithologists led by Dr Henry Streby...

HIP 116454b: Astronomers Find Super-Earth Orbiting Orange Dwarf

Dec 19, 2014 by News Staff

An international team of astronomers using NASA’s Kepler space telescope has discovered a new exoplanet, named HIP 116454b. This artistic impression...

This Hubble/ALMA composite image shows the nearby lenticular galaxy NGC 1266; ALMA data are orange. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble / ALMA / NRAO / ESO / NAOJ.

‘Perfect Storm’ Prevents Star Formation in Lenticular Galaxy NGC 1266

Dec 18, 2014 by News Staff

By observing the dust and gas at the center of NGC 1266, a team of astronomers led by Dr Katherine Alatalo of the California Institute of Technology in...

Eohupehsuchus brevicollis. Image credit: Chen X-h et al.

Eohupehsuchus brevicollis: Paleontologists Discover Short-Necked Triassic Marine Reptile

Dec 18, 2014 by News Staff

Paleontologists led by Dr Xiao-hong Chen of the China Geological Survey’s Wuhan Center have discovered a new species of marine reptile that lived in...

Newly discovered species of sea lily. Image credit: Charles Messing.

Scientist Discovers New Species of Sea Lily, Auctioning Off Naming Rights on eBay

Dec 18, 2014 by News Staff

Prof Charles Messing from the Nova Southeastern University’s Oceanographic Center is auctioning off the naming rights on eBay to a new species of...

Colosseum in Rome, Italy. Image credit: Jerzy Strzelecki / CC BY 3.0.

Secrets of Roman Architectural Concrete Uncovered

Dec 18, 2014 by News Staff

A group of scientists led by Dr Anthony Ingraffea of Cornell University has revealed clues to the longevity and endurance of such Imperial Roman monuments...

Star cluster Messier 47. Image credit: ESO.

Astronomers Capture New Image of Open Star Cluster Messier 47

Dec 17, 2014 by News Staff

Astronomers using the Wide Field Imager camera on the MPG/ESO 2.2-m telescope at ESO’s La Silla Observatory have snapped a spectacular new image of a...

Fifteen moais of Ahu Tongariki. Image credit: Bjørn Christian Tørrissen / CC BY-SA 3.0.

Early Inhabitants of Easter Island Thrived on Sweet Potato Diet

Dec 17, 2014 by News Staff

Ancient Easter Islanders had a diet of mostly sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas) before European contact, according to researchers Dr John Dudgeon from Idaho...

Hycleus marcipoli, male, in dorsal view. Image credit: Pan Z et al.

Newly Discovered Blister Beetle Named after Famed Explorer Marco Polo

Dec 17, 2014 by Enrico de Lazaro

An international group of entomologists led by Dr Marco Bologna from the University Roma Tre, Italy, has described a new species in the beetle genus Hycleus. Hycleus...

Curiosity Finds Methane, Organic Molecules on Mars

Dec 17, 2014 by News Staff

NASA’s Mars Curiosity rover has detected methane in the Martian atmosphere around it and several organic molecules in a rock sample from its landing...

Mercury appears to undergo seasonal meteor showers. Image credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center.

Mercury Experiences Seasonal Meteor Showers, Say NASA Scientists

Dec 17, 2014 by News Staff

Mercury – the smallest planet in our Solar System – appears to get hit by recurring meteor showers, possibly associated with Comet 2P/Encke. Mercury...