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Our Milky Way Galaxy consists of two disk-like structures, known as ‘thick’ and ‘thin’ disks. The thick disk contains only about 20% of the Galaxy’s total stars, and, based on its vertical puffiness and composition, is thought to be the older of the pair. Using data from NASA’s Kepler space telescope, astronomers have calculated that the thick disk is about 10 billion years old. From…

The four instruments of NASA’s Parker Solar Probe, a robotic spacecraft designed to explore the Sun’s atmosphere, have returned unprecedented science data from near our star, culminating in new discoveries published this week in a series of four papers in the journal Nature. Illustration of NASA’s Parker Solar Probe approaching the Sun. Image credit: NASA / Johns Hopkins University Applied…

A team of Japanese archaeologists has identified 143 new geoglyphs in the Nazca Desert, southern Peru. A geoglyph of a human. Image credit: Yamagata University. The geoglyphs of Nazca are a series of drawings located in the desert plains of the Rio Grande de Nazca river basin about 250 miles (400 km) south of Lima, Peru. They depict living creatures, stylized plants and imaginary beings, as well…

Paleontologists have discovered the remains of a previously unknown symmetrodont mammal that lived alongside dinosaurs in what is now China. The fossils provide a record of the final steps in the evolution of mammals’ multi-boned middle ears. Life reconstruction of Origolestes lii. Image credit: Chuang Zhao. “While modern mammals owe their keen sense of hearing to the three tiny bones that form…

A species of archaea called Metallosphaera sedula is capable of growth on stony meteorites, utilizing metals trapped within these extraterrestrial objects as the sole energy source, according to new research led by University of Vienna astrobiologists. SEM image showing Metallosphaera sedula cells colonizing the surface of the NWA 1172 particles. Image credit: Milojevic et al, doi: 10.1038/s41598-019-54482-7. Metallosphaera…

In a paper published in the journal Science Advances, we show that, in the micro-world of atoms and particles that is governed by the strange rules of quantum mechanics, two different observers are entitled to their own facts. In other words, according to our best theory of the building blocks of nature itself, facts can actually be subjective. In a state-of-the-art six-photon experiment, Proietti…

Coffee consumption at a level of 1-4 cups of coffee per day is associated with a reduced risk of metabolic syndrome, according to a new report from the Institute for Scientific Information on Coffee. A moderate coffee intake is considered to be 3-5 cups of coffee a day. Image credit: Jill Wellington. Coffee is a broadly consumed beverage which has shown beneficial associations not only with cardiovascular…

A research team led by American University scientists has sequenced the genome of the thermophilic subterrestrial nematode Halicephalobus mephisto, one of the deepest living animals, and determined the mechanisms by which the nematode adapted to an extreme environment. Halicephalobus mephisto (magnified 200x). Image credit: John Bracht, American University. Halicephalobus mephisto was originally…

New research suggests that during the Late Cretaceous epoch to the Early Paleogene epoch (80-50 million years ago), much of the southwestern United States had elevations in excess of 3 km (10,000 feet) and looked more like the Tibetan plateau. This map shows locations of samples analyzed to estimate crustal thickness during the Laramide orogeny. Text in white boxes is the average crustal thickness…

Coffee consumption at a level of 1-4 cups of coffee per day is associated with a reduced risk of metabolic syndrome, according to a new report from the Institute for Scientific Information on Coffee. A moderate coffee intake is considered to be 3-5 cups of coffee a day. Image credit: Jill Wellington. Coffee is a broadly consumed beverage which has shown beneficial associations not only with cardiovascular…