Science

Astronomers Find Two Super-Earths Orbiting Nearby Red Dwarf The hard work of astronomers around the world using instruments like the Kepler Space Telescope has shown there’s no shortage of planets in the cosmos. Most of those exoplanets are far away, but a handful are right next door (on an astronomical …

Giant Wombat-Like Marsupials Roamed Australia 25 Million Years Ago Paleontologists have identified a giant wombat-like marsupial that lived 25 million years ago (Oligocene epoch) in what is now Australia. Named Mukupirna nambensis, the prehistoric creature was at least five times larger than living wombats and so different that the researchers …

Sled Dogs Emerged Over 9,500 Years Ago in Siberia: Study An international team of researchers has sequenced the genomes of 10 modern sled dogs, an ancient sled dog and an ancient wolf, both from Siberia, and analyzed their genetic relationships with other modern dogs. They’ve found that sled dogs represent …

Astronomers Give Asteroid Moon a New Name Before NASA Hits It With a Spacecraft We’d be out of luck if a killer asteroid had Earth in its crosshairs today, but NASA and the ESA are preparing for the first test of technology that could one day save the planet. The …

European Medicinal Leech Genome Sequenced Researchers have for the first time mapped the genome of the European medicinal leech (Hirudo medicinalis), one of the most prominently used medicinal species. The European medicinal leech (Hirudo medicinalis). Image credit: Sebastian Kvist. Today, two leech species — Hirudo medicinalis and Hirudo verbana — …

Planetary Researchers Explore Habitability of Europa’s Ocean A duo of U.S. planetary scientists has calculated that water in the subsurface ocean of Jupiter’s icy moon Europa could have been formed by breakdown of water-containing minerals due to either tidal forces or radioactive decay. Artist’s concept of ocean on Jupiter’s moon …

Three Ancient Roman Boats Reconstructed in 3D A team of researchers from Italy and France has made realistic 3D reconstructions of three wooden boats from the ancient Roman port of Ostia. 3D reconstructions of the three boat types found at Ostia: a fishing boat (left), a small sailboat (center) and …

Physicists Create New Isotope of Mendelevium In an experiment performed at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory’s 88-inch cyclotron, a team of physicists successfully created a new isotope of the human-made element mendelevium. FIONA at Berkeley Lab’s 88-inch cyclotron. Image credit: Marilyn Sargent / Berkeley Lab. Mendelevium, a synthetic radioactive element of …

Physicists Verify Half-Century-Old Theory about Physicists from the University of Glasgow and the University of Arizona have experimentally verified a half-century-old theory that began as speculation about how an advanced alien civilization could use a rotating black hole to generate energy. An artist’s impression of a rotating black hole. Image …

Researchers Develop World’s Smallest Molecular Motor A molecular motor developed by a team of researchers from Switzerland consists of just 16 atoms. The world’s smallest molecular motor consists of a single acetylene rotor anchored to a chiral atomic cluster provided by a palladium-gallium surface that acts as a stator. Image …