Science

The successful launch of SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy rocket is a huge moment for the company and human space exploration as a whole. For the first time, we have a mostly reusable rocket with enough power to deliver large payloads to other planets. One peculiarity of the Falcon Heavy is its …

Paleontologists have discovered a new species of fossil fish from 90 million-year-old (Cretaceous period) deposits in Colombia. A paper reporting this discovery is published in the Journal of Systematic Palaeontology. Candelarhynchus padillai. Image credit: Oksana Vernygora. Dubbed Candelarhynchus padillai, the new species is the first fossil ‘lizardfish’ from the Cretaceous …

Chimpanzees’ overall intelligence is correlated to their ability to exert self-control and delay gratification, according to a study published in the journal Current Biology. This is the first study to examine the relation between general intelligence scores and delayed gratification abilities in common chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes). Image credit: Bernd Hildebrandt. …

Angiosperms (flowering plants) are neither as old as suggested by previous molecular studies, nor as young as a literal interpretation of their fossil record, according to new research. Flowering plants likely originated between 149 million years ago (Jurassic period) and 256 million years ago (Permian period). Image credit: Ilona Ilyés. …

Viruses fall back to Earth via dust storms and precipitation, according to new research published in the International Society for Microbial Ecology Journal. Viruses are circulating in the atmosphere of our planet. Image credit: Arek Socha. “Every day, more than 800 million viruses are deposited per m2 above the planetary …

After many years of experiments, physicists have observed that under extreme temperatures and pressures, water takes on a new form called superionic ice. The results appear in the journal Nature Physics. Visualization of molecular dynamics simulations showing the fast diffusion of hydrogen ions (pink trajectories) within the solid lattice of …

Last week, we reported on the strange case of NASA’s Image satellite. The Imager for Magnetopause-to-Aurora Global Exploration (IMAGE) was designed to observe and report on the magnetosphere of Earth. It launched in 2000 and worked flawlessly for five years before suddenly shutting down in 2005. After reboot attempts failed …

A remarkable tailed arachnid found in the mid-Cretaceous (approximately 100 million years ago) Burmese amber of Myanmar documents a key transition stage in spider evolution. Chimerarachne yingi resembles a spider in having fangs, male pedipalps, four walking legs and silk-producing spinnerets at its rear. However, it also bears a long …

Scientists have for the first time discovered which insects pollinate a rare carnivorous plant called the Venus flytrap (Dionaea muscipula) — and found that the flytrap doesn’t dine on its pollinator species. Venus flytrap in its native habitat. Image credit: Clyde Sorenson. “Everybody’s heard of Venus flytraps, but nobody knew …

It stands to reason that if there are exoplanets orbiting stars in our own galaxy, then there would also be exoplanets in other galaxies. However, other galaxies are too far away to detect exoplanets by any of the means we currently have. Now researchers from the University of Oklahoma claim …