Astronomers using the 8-m Subaru Telescope have identified 1,824 new supernova candidates, including 58 Type Ia supernovae over 8 billion light-years away. Supernovae discovered by Yasuda et al: there are three images for each supernova — for before it exploded (left), after it exploded (middle), and the supernova itself. Image credit: Yasuda et al, doi: 10.1093/pasj/psz050. “The 870 mega-pixel…

Many icy bodies in our Solar System have underground oceans. On the dwarf planet Pluto, an area called Sputnik Planitia suggests the presence of a subsurface ocean and a locally thinned ice shell. To maintain an ocean, the dwarf planet needs to retain heat inside. On the other hand, to maintain large variations in its thickness, Pluto’s ice shell needs to be cold. Using computer simulations, a…

An international team of archaeologists has found 8,000-year-old eggs of the whipworm (Trichuris trichiura) in coprolites (fossilized feces) from Çatalhöyük, a prehistoric settlement inhabited from about 7100 to 5600 BCE — the earliest archaeological evidence for intestinal parasite infection in the mainland Near East. This is an artist’s impression of Çatalhöyük. Image credit:…

Two new species of predatory megaraptoran dinosaurs have been identified from fossils found in Thailand. Phuwiangvenator yaemniyomi (left) and Vayuraptor nongbualamphuensis. Image credit: Adun Samathi / Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms Universität Bonn. The two new species, named Phuwiangvenator yaemniyomi and Vayuraptor nongbualamphuensis, roamed the Earth approximately 125 million years ago (Cretaceous…

An international team of scientists has described a cryptic new species of rat snake in the genus Elaphe. The Urartian rat snake (Elaphe urartica) in Armenia. Image credit: Boris Tuniyev. Elaphe is a snake genus with distribution in temperate, subtropical, and tropical zones of both eastern and western hemisphere. The genus is comprised of about 15 species, with most occurring exclusively in Asia. The…

Researchers in the United Kingdom have extracted americium from a plutonium stockpile and used the heat generated from this radioactive element to generate enough electric current to light up a small lightbulb. The breakthrough means potential use of americium in radioisotope power systems for missions which would use the heat from americium pellets to power spacecraft heading into deep space or…

A study published in the journal JAMA Neurology suggests that levels of low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol, sometimes referred to as ‘bad’ cholesterol, play a causal role in the development of Alzheimer’s disease. Lipoprotein structure (chylomicron): ApoA, ApoB, ApoC and ApoE – apolipoproteins; T – triacylglycerol, CEo – cholesterol ester, green – phospholipids….

How food production entered sub-Saharan Africa some 5,000 years ago and the ways in which herding and farming spread through the continent in ancient times has long been a topic of archaeological debate. Now a study led by Stony Brook University, Saint Louis University and Harvard Medical School scientists is providing some answers to these questions. Prehistoric rock paintings in Manda Guéli Cave…

So-called fibrous diamonds, which are cloudy and less appealing to jewelers — and less often, gem-quality diamonds — trap and preserve fluids that are present during their formation. In a series of high-pressure, high-temperature experiments, an international team of geoscientists has demonstrated that seawater in sediments from the bottom of the ocean reacts in the right way to produce…

So-called fibrous diamonds, which are cloudy and less appealing to jewelers — and less often, gem-quality diamonds — trap and preserve fluids that are present during their formation. In a series of high-pressure, high-temperature experiments, an international team of geoscientists has demonstrated that seawater in sediments from the bottom of the ocean reacts in the right way to produce…