Dr. David Unwin from the University of Leicester and University of Portsmouth’s Professor Dave Martill believe Mesozoic flying reptiles called pterosaurs had a relatively smooth skin without any covering. An artist’s impression of a bald pterosaur and a feathered pterosaur. Image credit: Megan Jacobs, University of Portsmouth. Pterosaurs were Earth’s …
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Time travel with free will is logically possible in our Universe without any paradox, according to new research from the University of Queensland. Physicists seek to understand the underlying laws of the Universe. Image credit: Johnson Martin. “Classical dynamics says if you know the state of a system at a …
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Human white blood cells, or leukocytes, swim using a newly-described mechanism called molecular paddling, according to new research led by University Grenoble Alpes and Aix Marseille University. Five types of human leukocytes. Image credit: Syed H. Shirazi et al, doi: 10.3233/THC-161133. Cells have evolved different strategies to migrate and explore …
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According to new research published in the journal Animal Behaviour, European herring gulls (Larus argentatus) — a large species of seabird in the family Laridae — notice where approaching humans are looking and flee sooner when they’re being watched. Herring gulls. Image credit: Georg Wietschorke. With an increasing human population …
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In a study published in the Journal of Morphology, an international team of scientists has pieced together the ancestral relationships that make up the family tree of hillstream loaches (Balitoridae), detailing for the first time a range of unusual pelvic adaptations across the family that have given some of its …
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Moderate adolescent cannabis use may have adverse effects on cognitive functioning, specifically verbal memory, that cannot be explained by familial factors, according to a study of siblings led by the University of Colorado School of Medicine. Ellingson et al aimed to examine whether moderate adolescent cannabis use has neurocognitive effects …
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A new analysis of data gathered by the CONSERT (Comet Nucleus Sounding Experiment by Radio wave Transmission) instrument, a radar onboard ESA’s Rosetta spacecraft and its Philae lander, confirms that solar radiation has significantly modified the surface of comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko as it travels through space between the orbits of Jupiter …
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European moles (Talpa europaea) appear to avoid chewing on sand when eating earthworms because it is likely that they find the sensation as repulsive as humans, according to new research from the University of Leicester. The European mole (Talpa europaea). Image credit: Michael David Hill / CC BY-SA 3.0. Professor …
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A type of meteorite called an enstatite chondrite has similar isotopic composition to terrestrial rocks and thus may be representative of the material that formed Earth. A new study published in the journal Science shows that these meteorites contain sufficient hydrogen to have delivered to Earth at least three times …
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The inner core of our planet is between 1 and 1.3 billion years old, according to new research led by the University of Texas at Austin and Carnegie Institution for Science. Earth’s internal structure: dense solid metallic core, viscous metallic outer core, mantle and silicate based crust. Image credit: NASA. …
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