Science

Curiosity Finds Evidence of Mars’ Ancient Ice-Covered Lakes Using data from the Sample Analysis at Mars (SAM) instrument on NASA’s rover Curiosity, researchers have found that certain minerals in rocks at Gale Crater, the 150-km-wide ancient basin that Curiosity is exploring, may have formed in an ice-covered lake during a …

Archaeologists Find 300,000-Year-Old Elephant Skeleton in Germany A team of archaeologists from the Senckenberg Centre for Human Evolution and Palaeoenvironment at the University of Tübingen, the Lower Saxony State Office for Heritage, and Leiden University has unearthed a nearly complete skeleton of the straight-tusked elephant (Palaeoloxodon antiquus), an extinct species …

Titanichthys: Devonian-Period Armored Fish was Suspension Feeder Titanichthys, a giant placoderm (armored fish) from the Devonian period, fed in a similar manner to basking sharks, according to a study published in the journal Royal Society Open Science. Titanichthys was a suspension feeder with jaws ill-suited for biting and crushing but …

Multispectral Imaging Uncovers Hidden Text in Fragments of Dead Sea Scrolls Four Dead Sea scroll fragments from the Reed Collection in the University of Manchester’s John Rylands Library, which were previously thought to be blank, do in fact contain text. Reed Collection Ryl4Q22 as it looks using multispectral imaging. Image …

New Coronavirus Vaccine Advances to Phase 2 Human Trials Developing a new vaccine usually takes years, but companies and governments around the world are racing to create one to neutralize the pandemic coronavirus. There is some hope for a relatively quick turnaround today. US-based biotech firm Moderna says its initial …

Unearthed in Australia Paleontologists in Australia have found a fossilized vertebra from an elaphrosaurine theropod dinosaur that walked the Earth 110 million years ago (Cretaceous period). It is the first elaphrosaur known from the Australian continent. Life reconstruction of the first Australian elaphrosaur. Image credit: Ruairidh Duncan. The newly-discovered dinosaur …

New Antibody Completely Neutralizes SARS-CoV-2 Coronavirus A team of researchers from Sorrento Therapeutics, Inc. has isolated a new antibody that completely inhibits the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus virus in cell culture. Colorized scanning electron micrograph of a VERO E6 cell (purple) exhibiting elongated cell projections and signs of apoptosis, after infection with …

Northern High-Altitude Hazes NASA’s Juno orbiter captured a beautiful image during its 25th close flyby of Jupiter in February 2020. This image of Jupiter was taken on February 17, 2020 as Juno performed its 25th close flyby of the gas giant. At the time the image was taken, the spacecraft …

Paleontologists Find Strange Ball-Like Structures in 80-Million-Year-Old Fossils A team of paleontologists from Australia and the UK has found fullerene-like structures in Cretaceous-period crinoids, marine animals related to starfish, sea urchins, and brittle stars. The researchers believe these strange structures might have acted as a buoyancy chamber to allow the …

Study: Giant Carnivorous Dinosaurs were Optimized for Energy-Efficient Walking Non-avian theropod dinosaurs like Tyrannosaurus rex relied less on speed, more on energy-saving, according to a new study published in the journal PLoS ONE. Daspletosaurus chasing Spinops. Image credit: Julius Csotonyi. Theropod dinosaurs were the dominant terrestrial carnivores during much of …