Science

Ancient volcanic deposits distributed across the surface of the Moon contain unexpectedly high amounts of water compared with surrounding terrains, according to an analysis of data from the Moon Mineralogy Mapper instrument onboard India’s Chandrayaan-1 lunar orbiter. This finding bolsters the hypothesis that the lunar mantle is surprisingly water-rich. Map …

DNA testing is not new to consumers, but it’s a one-shot deal. You send in your sample, then you get to see ancestry and health data provided by the company you chose to use for testing. Some new insights might be added over time, but there’s not much else you …

A group of marine biologists led by Murdoch University researcher Marianne Nyegaard has identified and described an elusive new species of ocean sunfish. The Hoodwinker Sunfish (Mola tecta) in Reserva Marina Isla Chanaral, Chile, 2015. Image credit: Cesar Villarroel, https://vimeo.com/129499857. Ocean sunfishes (family Molidae) are the heaviest and most distinctive …

A team of researchers led by University of Nevada Professor C. Richard (Dick) Tracy has discovered three new toad species in the Great Basin region of northern Nevada. The Dixie Valley toad (Bufo williamsi). Image credit: Mike Wolterbeek, University of Nevada, Reno. The three new species are the Dixie Valley …

A mysterious hominin species mated with the ancestors of modern-day Sub-Saharan Africans, according to an analysis of modern human genomes published this month in the journal Molecular Biology and Evolution. Xu et al find genetic proof of interbreeding between an unknown ancient hominin and the ancestors of modern-day Africans. Image …

The beginning of Tom Wolfe’s The Right Stuff is practically a love letter to Chuck Yeager. The excellent movie version features a sequence depicting Yeager as he test pilots the X-1 aircraft. Flying out of what would become Edwards AFB in California, Yeager became the first person to engage in supersonic flight. Now, …

An international team of physicists from Germany and Japan has made the most precise measurement yet of the proton’s atomic mass. The result is a factor of three more precise compared to the current literature value, however shifted by about three standard deviations. Proton is a subatomic particle found in …

According to a new study published in the journal Genome Biology, methicillin use was not the original driving factor in the evolution of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) as previously thought; rather it was the widespread use of first generation antibiotics such as penicillin in the years prior to the introduction …

A group of researchers from the Australian National University (ANU) and elsewhere has designed a nanoantenna — a device which is 100 times thinner than a human hair — that promises ultra-fast rendering of high-definition graphics on gaming consoles. The device is described in a paper published in the journal …

New research from Monash University and the University of Queensland has added a new dimension to understanding life on the Red Planet with the discovery that meteorites may be able to ‘trap’ evidence of extraterrestrial life. This image shows Watson 021, a single H7 ordinary chondrite, weighing 135 g. The …