Science

A giant ostrich-like bird that lived about two million years ago (Pleistocene epoch) has been identified from a fossilized femur found in the Crimean Peninsula, Ukraine. Pachystruthio dmanisensis. Image credit: Andrey Atuchin. Named Pachystruthio dmanisensis, the ancient bird was at least 11.5 feet (3.5 m) tall and had an estimated …

  Scientists have been trying to produce metallic hydrogen for decades, but no one has managed to show incontrovertible evidence of success yet. A team of researchers at France’s Atomic Energy Commission is the latest to claim success via a paper posted to the online arXiv server. The scientists used …

A veggie diet arose in extinct crocodyliforms — the distant cousins of living crocodylians (alligators, caimans, crocodiles, and gharials) — at least three times, according to new research. Life reconstructions of extinct crocodyliforms. Differences in tooth shape are related to differences in diets. Image credit: Jorge Gonzalez. “The most interesting …

Aberrant postures have led to an increase in young adults developing a bone growth at the back of the skull, according to a study by University of the Sunshine Coast scientists. A radiograph of a 28-year-old male participant. Image credit: Shahar Sayers, doi: 10.1038/s41598-018-21625-1. In 2016, University of the Sunshine …

An international team of physicists from the United States and Japan has demonstrated a series of fractional quantum Hall effect states that arise in double-layer stacks of graphene. The team’s paper was published in the journal Nature Physics. A new type quasiparticle discovered in graphene double-layer structure. This so-called composite …

Parkinson’s disease is a debilitating neurological condition affecting more than 1% of the global population aged 60 and above. The primary medication used to treat this disease is levodopa. The efficacy of the treatment is hugely variable between individuals, depending on the composition of their microbiota. Levodopa is converted into …

The hafting of stone tools was an important advance in the technological evolution of Paleolithic humans. Joining a handle to a knife or scraper and attaching a sharp point to a wooden shaft made stone tools more efficient and easier to use. According to new research, published in the journal …

  Traveling through space isn’t just about knowing where you are. You also need to know what time it is, and a wristwatch won’t do. Spacecraft rely on extremely accurate measurements of time to coordinate maneuvers, and these systems will become even more important as we aim for distant destinations. …

  Boeing and SpaceX have traded the lead a few times in the race to send a crewed spacecraft to the International Space Station (ISS). Initially, Boeing was the favorite due to its long history navigating the intricacies of government contracts, but SpaceX pulled ahead on the strength of the …

  Humanity is a long way from being able to colonize a single star, let alone the entire Milky Way galaxy. NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) issued an interesting challenge to scientists around the world as part of the 10th Global Trajectory Optimisation Competition (GTOC X). Teams had to devise …