Science

Although using flashy colors as camouflage may seem counterintuitive, iridescence obstructs the bumblebee’s ability to identify shape, according to a new study published in the journal Scientific Reports. This is a bumblebee landing on an iridescent target. Image credit: Karin Kjernsmo. Iridescence is a taxonomically widespread and striking form of …

A platinum-group chemical element called ruthenium (Ru) is the fourth single element to have unique ferromagnetic properties at room temperature. Ruthenium. Image credit: Metalle-W / CC BY-SA 3.0. Ferromagnetism is the basic mechanism by which certain materials form permanent magnets, or are attracted to magnets. The use of ferromagnetism reaches …

Iron-rich rocks near ancient lake sites on Mars are the most promising and best understood astropaleontological targets, according to new research led by University of Edinburgh scientist Sean McMahon. Mars’ surface is cold, dry, exposed to harmful radiation and apparently barren today; nevertheless, there is strong geological evidence for warmer, …

Biologist Jean-Lou Justine, amateur biologist Pierre Gros, and three other associates performed a five-year study of over 700 sightings of giant worms throughout French area since 1999, and published their findings in the journal PeerJ on Tuesday. 5 years back, Gros started sending Justine images of 3 different and extremely …

The mechanics of planet formation are thought to be pretty universal, but a new report suggests that Pluto could have formed from very different processes than those we typically expect. The standard model of planetary formation is that planets form as grains of ice and rock collect together. These grains …

Planetary researchers working with data from NASA’s New Horizons and ESA’s Rosetta missions have developed a new theory for the formation of the dwarf planet Pluto. Their paper will be published in the October 2018 issue of the journal Icarus (arXiv.org preprint). This high-resolution image of Pluto was taken by …

Somewhere in the wetlands of South Carolina, a ringing fly alights on a rosy-pink surface. As the fly explores the odd landscapes, it unknowingly brushes a small hair sticking up like a slim sword. Walking along, the fly accidentally grazes another hair. All of a sudden, the pink surface closes …

Sometime after August 2008, the US Department of Defence contracted lots of scientists to look into some really, very out-there aerospace innovations, consisting of never-before-seen approaches of propulsion, lift, and stealth. Two scientists returned with < a href="http://www.businessinsider.com.au/document/5b045ec5cc061c32008b530f/dia-warpdrives.pdf"> a 34-page report for the propulsion category, entitled “Warp Drive, Dark Energy, …

A team of paleontologists has discovered and described the nearly complete fossilized skull of a previously unknown mammal relative that lived about 130 million years ago (Early Cretaceous epoch). The study appears in the journal Nature. Cifelliodon wahkarmoosuch. Image credit: Jorge A. Gonzalez / Keck School of Medicine of the …

Physicists from the HAL QCD Collaboration predict the existence of a new type of dibaryon, a particle that contains six quarks instead of the usual three. Their work appears in the journal Physical Review Letters. di-Omega dibaryon. Image credit: Keiko Murano. Particles known as baryons (protons and neutrons) are composed …