Science

New Species of Deep-Water Dogfish Shark Discovered Marine biologists have discovered a new species of the shark genus Squalus in the tropical waters off southern Japan. The Shirai’s spurdog (Squalus shiraii): lateral (A-C) and ventral (D, E) views. Scale bars – 50 mm. Image credit: Viana Carvalho, doi: 10.3897/zse.96.51962. Squalus …

Researchers Identify 126,018 Human Genetic Variations A team of scientists from the Wellcome Sanger Institute, the Francis Crick Institute, and EMBL-EBI has created a comprehensive structural variation atlas for a geographically diverse set of human genomes and recovered sequences missing from the human reference sequence. Among the 126,018 structural variations discovered …

Mission Carries Out Space-Based Measurements of Neutron’s Lifetime Using data acquired in 2007 and 2008 during flybys of Venus and Mercury by NASA’s MESSENGER spacecraft, researchers found the neutron lifetime to be 780 seconds. Cosmic rays striking Venus’ atmosphere eject neutrons that gradually fly into space. As neutrons move to …

Astronomers Find Evidence of Supernova Just 600 Light-Years from Earth Astronomers have found many awe-inspiring objects in the cosmos, but a pair of astronomers 20 years ago found something just plain confusing. They spotted a straight line of ionized gas in the direction of Ursa Major, which was never really …

Archaeologists Find 13,500-Year-Old Bird An international team of archaeologists has uncovered a diminutive carving, depicting a standing bird, at the Paleolithic site of Lingjing in Henan, China. The artifact is estimated to be 13,500 years old, making it the oldest example of East Asian 3D art ever discovered. Lingjing bird …

Researchers Confirm Existence of Elusive Phase of Liquid Crystals A team of scientists from the University of Colorado Boulder and the University of Utah has confirmed the existence of a ferroelectric nematic phase of liquid crystal first proposed more than 100 years ago. View of a new phase of liquid …

Some Chimpanzees Have Tiny Bone in Their Heart A team of researchers in the UK has discovered that some individuals of the common chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes), particularly those affected by myocardial fibrosis, have a rare small bone called os cordis in their heart. High-resolution microCT image of the chimpanzee’s os …

Titan Is Moving Away From Saturn 100 Times Faster Than Expected Cassini’s mission to Saturn may have ended years ago, but scientists analyzing the data sent back by the probe continue to draw new insights about the sixth planet from the sun and its system of moons. We now know …

Earth Imaging Satellites Will Hitch a Ride on Upcoming SpaceX Starlink Launches Satellite imaging startup Planet closed a deal to buy Google’s SkySat network in 2017, but it’s not stopping with the existing constellation. Planet aims to become the fastest satellite imaging firm thanks to a new deal with SpaceX. …

NASA Tests James Webb Telescope’s Vital Tower Assembly The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) has been in some stage of development since the 1990s. A long string of setbacks and delays have made the project much more expensive than NASA initially intended, but we’re nearing launch of the successor to …