A nova is a cataclysmic event on the surface of a white dwarf star in a binary stellar system that increases the overall brightness by several orders of magnitude. A team of European astronomers has discovered the remains of a nova in a globular cluster called Messier 22. Using the MUSE, an integral-field spectrograph on ESO’s Very Large Telescope, Göttgens et al discovered the remains of a nova…

The tenuous nitrogen atmosphere of the dwarf planet Pluto is predicted to ultimately collapse and freeze over. This high-resolution image of Pluto was taken by New Horizons on July 14, 2015. Pluto’s surface sports a remarkable range of subtle colors, enhanced in this view to a rainbow of pale blues, yellows, oranges, and deep reds. Many landforms have their own distinct colors, telling a complex…

The face of a 4,000-year-old dog has been brought back to life by a team of researchers and forensic artists. A 3D model created from a dog skull discovered at Cuween Hill chambered cairn, Orkney, Scotland. Image credit: Historic Environment Scotland. In 1901, archaeologists found the 4,000-year-old remains of at least 24 dogs in Cuween Hill chambered cairn on Orkney, off the northern coast of Scotland. Now,…

An international team of paleontologists has found the exceptionally preserved fossilized remains of an enigmatic new type of crab, Callichimaera perplexa, which lived approximately 95 million years ago (mid-Cretaceous period) in what are now Colombia and the United States. Callichimaera perplexa. Image credit: Elissa Martin, Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History. Callichimaera perplexa (means ‘perplexing…

The banded tube-dwelling anemone (Isarachnanthus nocturnes), a sea creature that resembles a prehistoric flower, now holds the record for the largest mitochondrial genome reported to date: the animal has 80,923 base pairs, compared with humans’ 16,569 base pairs. Isarachnanthus nocturnes. Image credit: Stampar et al, doi: 10.1038/s41598-019-42621-z. Mitochondria are double-membraned structures…

Professor Avi Loeb of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics and colleagues have proposed a new test for inflation, the theory that our Universe dramatically expanded in size in a fleeting fraction of a second right after the Big Bang. The team’s paper was published in the journal Physical Review Letters. An artist’s illustration showing the patterns of signals generated by primordial…

Propionates, salts of a short-chain fatty acid called propionic acid, are widely used in baked goods, animal feeds and artificial flavorings. Although generally recognized as safe by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, the metabolic effects of propionate consumption in humans were unclear until now. According to new research that combined data from a randomized placebo-controlled trial in humans…

The banded tube-dwelling anemone (Isarachnanthus nocturnes), a sea creature that resembles a prehistoric flower, now holds the record for the largest mitochondrial genome reported to date: the animal has 80,923 base pairs, compared with humans’ 16,569 base pairs. Isarachnanthus nocturnes. Image credit: Stampar et al, doi: 10.1038/s41598-019-42621-z. Mitochondria are double-membraned structures…

A new theory on the thermal evolution of Earth explains why the planet’s upper mantle was cool enough to produce diamonds in the Archean Eon between 4 billion and 2.5 billion years ago, rather than turning into lumps of common graphite. After studying thousands of rocks samples dating at least 2.5 billion years old, Kamber & Tomlinson determined the Earth’s upper mantle was much cooler than…

According to a new study, published in the journal Environmental Science and Technology, biodegradable plastic bags are capable of carrying full loads of shopping after being exposed in the natural environment for three years. A carrier bag labeled as biodegradable after three years in the marine environment. Image credit: Napper & Thompson, doi: 10.1021/acs.est.8b06984. “This research raises…