Science

Paleontologists in Morocco have found fossil fragments from a previously undescribed genus and species of symmoriiform shark that lived during the Late Devonian epoch. Ferromirum oukherbouchi reconstructed in association with invertebrates (orthocerid cephalopods and thylacocephalans) from the Devonian of Maider region, Morocco. Image credit: Frey et al., doi: 10.1038/s42003-020-01394-2. The …

  The Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico has figured prominently in our coverage of the cosmos here on ExtremeTech, so we’re sad to report that this iconic radio telescope will be demolished. That’s not because of a lack of funding or to clear the way for a new dish. The …

A team of scientists at Harvard University has developed a new imaging technology for visualizing organization of chromatin, a substance within a chromosome consisting of DNA and protein, across multiple scales in single cells with high genomic throughput. Su et al. report a multiplexed error-robust fluorescence in situ hybridization (MERFISH)-based …

Archaeologists from the Israel Antiquities Authority have found a small jar containing four 1,000-year-old gold coins in Jerusalem, Israel. The 1,000-year-old juglet with found gold coins. Image credit: Dafna Gazit, Israel Antiquities Authority. “The coins were in excellent preservation and were immediately identifiable even without cleaning,” said Dr. Robert Kool, …

An analysis of biomarkers and their stable isotopic compositions from the Bristol Channel Basin at St. Audrie’s Bay and Lilstock, United Kingdom, has shed new light on when one of the largest mass extinction events on Earth occurred. Schematic diagram showing the factors driving global ecological change in the modern …

Using a uniquely comprehensive checklist of bee distributions and over 5,800,000 public bee occurrence records, a team of researchers from China, the United States and Singapore has described global patterns of bee biodiversity. Their results show that there are more bee species in the northern hemisphere than the southern hemisphere …

A team of scientists from Australia and the United States has created two types of diamond — regular diamond and a diamond-like phase called lonsdaleite, which is found in nature at the sites of meteorite impacts — in minutes in a laboratory at room temperature, a process that normally takes …

A new species of sandpiper has been identified from multiple Holocene fossil bones collected several decades ago on Henderson Island, an uninhabited island in the South Pacific Ocean. The extinct Kiritimati sandpiper (Prosobonia cancellata), a close cousin of the newly-discovered Henderson sandpiper (Prosobonia sauli). Illustration by George Edward Lodge, 1907. …

A new analysis of non-avian dinosaur diversity shows they were not in decline and were still capable of generating new species at the time of their extinction by the Chicxulub asteroid hit 66 million years ago (Cretaceous period). Bonsor et al. refute claim that non-avian dinosaurs were in decline before …

Regular consumption of chili pepper is associated with a significant reduction in all-cause, cardiovascular, and cancer-related mortalities, according to a systematic review of previous studies. Chili peppers contain a phenolic compound called capsaicin. Image credit: Hans Braxmeier. “Chili pepper is well known for its anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, anticancer, and blood glucose …