Science

An international team of ornithologists has identified two new, cryptic species of birds — a long-tailed cuckoo and a barbet — living in West Africa. The yellow-spotted barbet (Buccanodon duchaillui). Image credit: Romain Risso / CC BY-SA 3.0. Belgian ornithologist Peter Boesman and Professor Nigel Collar of the UK’s Natural …

Scientists have for the first time observed wild bonobos (Pan paniscus), a hominoid species endemic to the central Congo basin, searching for and eating aquatic plants rich in iodine, a mineral nutrient which is critical for normal growth, development and functioning of both brain and body. An adult female bonobo …

A rare gold solidus dating back 1,600 years has been found by a group of Israeli students in the Galilee region. The 1,600-year-old gold solidus, obverse. Image credit: Nir Distelfeld, Israel Antiquities Authority. “The gold coin is a solidus minted by the emperor Theodosius II in Constantinople around 420-423 CE,” …

NASA announced last week that it had selected the Dragonfly mission to explore the prebiotic organic chemistry and look for signs of life on Titan, the largest moon of Saturn and an intriguing ocean world with a hazy atmosphere and methane seas. This illustration shows NASA’s Dragonfly rotorcraft-lander approaching a …

A modified Atkins diet (very low carbohydrates and extra fat) may improve brain function and episodic memory, according to a small study of 14 older adults with mild cognitive problems suggestive of early Alzheimer’s disease. Diet that restricts glucose may help brain function. Image credit: Cattalin. “Typically, the brain uses …

An international team of archaeologists from Germany and Kurdistan came upon a surprising discovery as the ruins of a 3,400-year-old palace emerge from the waters of the Tigris River at the site of Kemune in the Kurdistan region of Iraq. An aerial view of the Kemune palace from the west. …

  Astronomers have been pondering the nature of our first interstellar visitor ever since its discovery. ‘Oumuamua is bizarre — not only is it from beyond the stars, but it’s also long and cigar-shaped. That led some to wonder if it wasn’t really an alien spacecraft, but past studies of …

A team of experimental physicists from the Institute for Basic Science, the Ewha Womans University and the IBM Almaden Research Center has performed the world’s smallest magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to visualize the magnetic field of single atoms. The results are published in the journal Nature Physics. Single magnetic atoms …

  NASA’s Orion spacecraft is one step closer to carrying humans into space today. The agency confirms that all systems performed perfectly during the second ascent abort test, proving that astronauts aboard Orion could be safely wrenched free of a rocket in the event of an emergency. Launch abort systems …

In a new study published this month in the Journal of Medical Entomology, researchers from Aston University collected and analyzed 19,937 flying insects — including houseflies, ‘filth flies’ such as bluebottles and greenbottles and a variety of ’drain flies’ — from seven hospital sites in England. They found that nearly …