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‘Oumuamua, a recently-discovered cigar-shaped object of extrasolar origin, is not made of molecular hydrogen ice after all, according to a new study by astrophysicists from the Harvard & Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics and the Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute (KASI). This artist’s impression shows ‘Oumuamua, the first interstellar object discovered in our Solar System. Recent…

High-resolution observations from NASA’s Dawn spacecraft of mysterious bright spots (faculae) in Occator crater on the dwarf planet Ceres suggest the existence of a brine reservoir — which is about 40 km (25 miles) deep and hundreds of km wide — that emerged to the surface through long-lived cryovolcanic activity as a consequence of the impact that created the crater. This false-color…

An international team of archaeologists reports the discovery of grass bedding used to create comfortable areas for sleeping and working by Paleolithic humans who lived in South Africa’s Border Cave at least 200,000 years ago. Vertical field section of 43,000-year-old bedding grass from Border Cave, South Africa. Scale bar – 10 mm. Image credit: Wadley et al, doi: 10.1126/science.abc7239. Border…

A new species of crested penguin that lived 3.2 million years ago (Pliocene period) has been identified from multiple exceptionally well-preserved specimens found in New Zealand. Holotype specimen of Eudyptes atatu: (a) right lateral view of skull and block with (c) mandible and (d) postcranial elements; (b) right lateral view of the Snares crested penguin (Eudyptes robustus) for comparison. Referred…

In a new study published this month in the journal Biosensors and Bioelectronics: X, a team of scientists at Washington University in St. Louis showed how they were able to hijack the olfactory system of the American grasshopper (Schistocerca americana) to both detect and discriminate between different explosive scents — all within a few hundred milliseconds of exposure. The researchers were…

Physicists from the Department of Physics and the Department of Applied Physics at Yale University, the Paul Scherrer Institute and Inria Paris have developed an error-correcting cat — a new device that combines the Schrödinger’s cat concept of superposition with the ability to fix some of the trickiest errors in a quantum computation. Error-correcting Schrödinger’s cats. Image credit:…

A new systematic review and meta-analysis of previous studies suggests that the consumption of chocolates at least once a week is associated with a reduction in the risk of coronary artery disease. Krittanawong et al found that chocolate consumption (>1 time per week or >3.5 times per month) is associated with a reduced risk of coronary artery disease. Image credit: Sci-News.com. Clinical trials…

An international team of researchers led by the Swedish Centre for Palaeogenetics has analyzed 31 mitochondrial genome sequences from the cave lion (Panthera spelaea) and found that this extinct mega-carnivore existed as at least two subspecies during the Pleistocene. The scientists have also confirmed that the cave lion and the extant lion (Panthera leo) are distinct species. A British Pleistocene…

An international team of geologists has found the first direct evidence that volcanic eruptions in the southern part of the Siberian Traps region 252 million years ago burned large volumes of coal and vegetation. Elkins-Tanton et al demonstrate that the volume and composition of organic matter interacting with magmas in the Siberian Traps region may explain the global carbon isotope signal and may…

Face pareidolia is the phenomenon of seeing face-like structures in everyday objects. It is a very human condition that relates to how our brains are wired. According to new research published in the journal Psychological Science, we process ‘pareidolia faces’ using the same visual mechanisms of the brain that we do for real ones. NASA’s Viking 1 orbiter photographed the Cydonia region in the…