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Proapteryx micromeros: Kiwi’s Ancestor Could Have Flown from Australia

The Great spotted kiwi, Apteryx haastii: a male with a juvenile. Artwork by John Gerrard Keulemans, 1876.
Dec 26, 2013 by Sergio Prostak

A 19 to 16-million-year-old fossil of a kiwi-like bird unearthed at St Bathans, New Zealand, suggests that the kiwi is not a dwarf version of a distant ancestor, but more likely evolved from a tiny prehistoric bird that could have flown to New Zealand from Australia. The Great spotted kiwi, Apteryx haastii: a male with a juvenile. Artwork by John Gerrard Keulemans, 1876. The kiwi is nocturnal, flightless and comparatively large bird native to New...

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This image shows the variable star RS Puppis. Image credit: NASA / ESA / the Hubble Heritage Team / STScI / AURA / Hubble-Europe Collaboration / H. Bond, STScI and Penn State University.

Hubble Zooms in on Variable Star RS Puppis

Dec 26, 2013 by News Staff

Astronomers using NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope have observed RS Puppis – a type of star known as a Cepheid variable star – over a period...

Sanford-Burnham Medical Research Institute researchers found that retinoid-related orphan receptor gamma-t (RORγt) and interleukin-7 (IL-7) influence gamma-delta T-cell homeostasis and function by regulating expression of the inhibitory receptor, B and T lymphocyte attenuator (BTLA). Image credit: Bekiaris V et al

Molecular Pathway Discovery May Help Treat Psoriasis, Crohn’s Disease, Arthritis

Dec 26, 2013 by News Staff

A team of scientists at Sanford-Burnham Medical Research Institute has found a new molecular pathway that rebalances the immune system by turning down...

Pristiophorus lanae. Image credit: David Ebert.

Pristiophorus lanae: New Species of Sawshark Discovered

Dec 26, 2013 by Natali Anderson

Scientists from the United States have described a new sawshark species from off the Philippine Islands. Pristiophorus lanae. Image credit: David Ebert. Sawsharks...

Andrew Williams, a multimedia composer at the University of Leicester, provides insight into the sounds of space. Image credit: Andrew Williams.

British Project Reveals ‘Animalistic’ Sounds of Space

Dec 25, 2013 by News Staff

A project led by Andrew Williams from the University of Leicester’s Space Center has revealed the ‘animalistic’ sounds in the dark, cold...

African Slender-Snouted Crocodile Actually Two Species

Dec 25, 2013 by News Staff

The African slender-snouted crocodile (Mecistops cataphractus), long thought to be a single species, is actually two distinct species, according to an...

This map shows locations of the perennial aquifer on the Greenland ice sheet detected by radar and cores in 2011. NASA’s airborne radar flight lines are grey and locations of detected aquifer are magenta dots. Image credit: Forster RR et al.

Scientists Discover Huge Aquifer under Greenland Ice Sheet

Dec 25, 2013 by News Staff

An international team of researchers has uncovered a giant reservoir of water beneath the ice sheet in Southeast Greenland. This map shows locations of...

This is an artist's impression of a gamma-ray burst. Image credit: NASA.

Astronomers Discover New Kind of Gamma-Ray Burst

Dec 24, 2013 by News Staff

Australian researchers have discovered a new type of gamma-ray burst (GRB) called radio faint GRB. This is an artist’s impression of a gamma-ray...

Cyatta abscondita. Image credit: Jeffrey Sosa-Calvo / Smithsonian.

Cyatta abscondita: New Genus, Species of Fungus-Growing Ant Discovered

Dec 23, 2013 by News Staff

An international group of entomologists has described a new genus and species of fungus-farming ant from Brazil. Cyatta abscondita. Image credit: Jeffrey...

View of the Fomalhaut triple star system from Earth; the small inset shows a zoom of the newly discovered comet belt around Fomalhaut C as seen at infrared wavelengths by Herschel. Image credit: Grant Kennedy / Paul Kalas.

Comet Belt Discovered around Fomalhaut C

Dec 23, 2013 by News Staff

Fomalhaut C – the least massive star in the Fomalhaut system – has been found to host comet belt, according scientists reporting in the journal...

This map shows the location of Prince Charles Mountains in Antarctica. Image credit: Alexrk2 / CC BY-SA 3.0 / Sci-News.com.

Kimberlite: Diamond-Bearing Rock Discovered in Antarctica

Dec 23, 2013 by News Staff

For the first time, researchers have found kimberlite – a type of volcanic rock that often bears diamonds – in Antarctica. This map shows the...

This image shows the remains of a 1,000-year-old estate with a fountain unearthed at Ramla, Israel. Image credit: Assaf Peretz / Israel Antiquities Authority.

Fatimid Period Estate with Fountain, Garden Unearthed in Israel

Dec 21, 2013 by News Staff

Archaeologists have uncovered the remains of a 1,000-year-old wealthy estate with a fountain and a garden at an archaeological site in the city of Ramla,...

This is the structure of NaCl3. Image credit: Prof Artem Oganov.

‘Impossible’ Sodium Chlorides Challenge Foundation of Chemistry

Dec 20, 2013 by News Staff

A team of researchers led by Prof Artem Oganov of Stony Brook University has shown that, under certain conditions, ordinary rock salt can take on some...

This image shows the supernova SNLS-06D4eu and its host galaxy, arrow. The supernova and its host galaxy are so far away that both are a tiny point of light that cannot be clearly differentiated in this image. The large, bright objects with spikes are stars in our own galaxy. Every other point of light is a distant galaxy. Image credit: University of California, Santa Barbara.

Hydrogen-Free Superluminous Supernovae: New Subclass of Stellar Explosions Found

Dec 20, 2013 by News Staff

According to an international group of astronomers, two unusual stellar explosions detected in 2006 and 2007 are a new subclass of superluminous supernova...

Female flower of Amborella trichopoda. Image credit: Sangtae Kim.

Scientists Sequence Genome of Unique Flowering Plant Amborella trichopoda

Dec 20, 2013 by News Staff

A large international consortium of genetic researchers has sequenced and analyzed the complete genome of Amborella trichopoda, the sole survivor of an...

This is an artist's impression of the newly discovered Acheroraptor temertyorum, which lived at the same time as Tyrannosaurus rex and Triceratops. Image credit: Julius Csotonyi.

Acheroraptor temertyorum: New Dinosaur Discovered in Montana

Dec 20, 2013 by News Staff

Canadian paleontologists have described a new genus and species of raptor dinosaur that lived in western North America about 66 million years ago, at the...

Mars. Image credit: NASA Goddard Space Flight Center.

Mars: First Radiation Measurements from Planet’s Surface

Dec 19, 2013 by News Staff

Scientists using the Radiation Assessment Detector (RAD) aboard the Mars Science Laboratory’s Curiosity rover have made detailed measurements of...

Edmontosaurus regalis. Image credit: Julius Csotonyi / Current Biology.

Edmontosaurus Fossil Shows Duck-Billed Dinosaurs Had Soft-Tissue Comb

Dec 19, 2013 by News Staff

A unique fossil of the duck-billed dinosaur Edmontosaurus regalis shows for the first time that those dinosaurs’ heads were adorned with a fleshy...

Liolaemus wari. Image credit: Aguilar C et al.

Biologists Discover Three New Lizard Species in Peru

Dec 19, 2013 by News Staff

Peruvian and American biologists have described three beautiful new species in the lizard genus Liolaemus. Liolaemus pachacutec. Image credit: Aguilar...

A reconstruction of Neanderthal man. Image credit: Neanderthal Museum.

Sunlight Adaptation Genes of Neanderthals Found in Modern East Asians

Dec 19, 2013 by News Staff

Genetic scientists from China have discovered a small portion of Neanderthal genome (18 genes on chromosome 3, with several related to UV-light adaptation)...

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