Science

In a stunning fossil discovery in Japan, paleontologists unearthed a nearly complete skeleton of a duck-billed dinosaur that lived approximately 72 million years ago. A nearly-complete skeleton of the duck-billed dinosaur Mukawaryu. Image credit: Hobetsu Musem / Hokkaido University Museum. Duck-billed dinosaurs, or hadrosaurids, are members of the family Hadrosauridae. …

Strange fields of polygons seen during New Horizons’ visit to Pluto could be explained by million year variations in the dwarf planet’s orbit caused by its ice giant neighbors, says a team from Taiwan’s Institute of Earth Sciences. Their conclusion, which challenges existing explanations of bottom-up heating of the glacier …

While combing through data gathered by NASA’s Cassini spacecraft during flybys of Enceladus, the sixth-largest of Saturn’s moons, researchers have found the first evidence that the frozen moon’s axis has reoriented, possibly due to a collision with a smaller body. This enhanced-color view of Enceladus is largely of the southern …

Curiosity has been exploring Mars since 2012, and has already traveled further than any other rover in history. Curiosity isn’t done providing fascinating insights into the red planet, either. A new analysis of data from the rover indicates that its landing site in Gale Crater was once a lake that …

An Arizona State University-led team of scientists has sequenced the genome of the Mojave desert tortoise (Gopherus agassizii), a long-lived species native to the Mojave Desert. The results could help the animal survive an increasing number of threats. The Mojave desert tortoise (Gopherus agassizii). Image credit: Sandra Leander, Arizona State …

Lamborghini’s expertise in carbon fiber may be just what the doctor ordered. The automaker known for go-fast cars will partner with Houston Methodist Research Institute to create live-better humans. They’ll collaborate on the development of carbon fiber composites that could be used for medical purposes. According to Automobili Lamborghini, the …

Researchers analyzing data from NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) have found evidence of surface frost near the Moon’s south pole. A view of the Moon’s south pole showing where reflectance and temperature data indicate the possible presence of surface water ice. Image credit: NASA’s Scientific Visualization Studio. “We found that …

The omentum is an important immune organ that serves as a first line of defense against toxins and infection, according to a review paper published online this week in the journal Trends in Immunology. Structure of milky spots in the omentum. (A) schematic of whole omentum in mice; the omentum …

Scientists from the LIGO Scientific Collaboration and the Virgo Collaboration have made a third detection of gravitational waves, ripples in the fabric of space and time, first predicted by Albert Einstein more than a century ago. The research is published in the journal Physical Review Letters. Artist’s conception shows two …

When a team of physicists focused the full intensity of SLAC’s Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS) Coherent X-ray Imaging instrument — the world’s most powerful X-ray laser with an intensity of 100 quadrillion kilowatts per sq.cm — on a small molecule, they got a surprise: a short laser pulse stripped …