Science

Archaeologists in Greece have unearthed what they believe are the remnants of the long-lost ancient city of Tenea. An aerial view of the archaeological excavation site near Chiliomodi, Greece. Image credit: Greek Culture Ministry. Tenea was an ancient Greek (then Roman) city founded in the 12th or 13th century BC. …

For most of human history, people wondered if there were other planets out there in the unfathomable reaches of space. It turns out there are some very close to Earth, though. A team of astronomers has revived interest in Barnard’s Star, which hangs in space just six light years away. …

Kerogen is a waxy, insoluble organic substance dispersed in sedimentary rocks and is the precursor of oil and gas. In a new study, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science, researchers from MIT and elsewhere have captured 3D images of kerogen’s internal structure, with a level of …

An international team of botanists has discovered and described two new species of the African palm genus Raphia from Cameroon and Gabon. Raphia zamiana: a habitat along the road, with team member Dr. Raoul Niangadouma for scale, in Oyem, Gabon. Image credit: Thomas L.P. Couvreur. Raphia is the most species-rich …

SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket does not have a spotless record. In the last few years, SpaceX has lost one vehicle on the launchpad and another broke apart en route to the International Space Station (ISS). Yet, SpaceX is on a roll as it nears three dozen successful Falcon 9 launches …

Paleontologists have unearthed the partial skeleton of an enantiornithine (opposite bird) that lived in what is now Utah approximately 75 million years ago (Late Cretaceous epoch). According to an analysis of the fossil, published in the journal PeerJ, Late Cretaceous enantiornithines were the aerodynamic equals of the ancestors of today’s …

An international team of experimental physicists has for the first time determined the structure of ι-N2, a crystallized version of nitrogen. Turnbull et al synthesized a single crystal of ι–N2 in a diamond anvil cell from ε–N2 at 65 GPa and 477 degrees Celsius. Image credit: Turnbull et al, doi: 10.1038/s41467-018-07074-4. …

Low-dose treatment with trimethylamine N-oxide — a compound linked with the consumption of fish, seafood and a primarily vegetarian diet — reduced heart thickening (cardiac fibrosis) and markers of heart failure in an animal model of hypertension, according to a new study published in the American Journal of Physiology – …

NASA’s Juno spacecraft made its 16th close science flyby of Jupiter on October 29, 2018 and captured stunning images of the gas giant. This image captured by NASA’s Juno orbiter shows a multitude of magnificent, swirling clouds in Jupiter’s North North Temperate Belt. The image was taken at 4:58 p.m. …

GPS technology is so ubiquitous now that it can be hard to remember a day when you couldn’t just take out your phone and find out exactly where you are in the world. However, that’s actually a very recent development and one that could be denied to us in the …