Astronomers using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) and the SPHERE (Spectro-Polarimetric High-contrast Exoplanet Research) instrument on ESO’s Very Large Telescope (VLT) have discovered a rare circumtriple protoplanetary disk with misaligned dust rings around the young hierarchical triple system GW Orionis. They give two possible scenarios for the misalignment: either the…

A ferric mineral called hematite (Fe2O3) is present at high latitudes on the Moon, mostly associated with east- and equator-facing sides of topographic highs, and is more prevalent on the lunar nearside than the farside, according to an analysis of data collected by the Moon Mineralogy Mapper (M3) onboard India’s Chandrayaan-1 mission. Map of hematite (redder color) on the Moon. Image credit: Li…

The Nebra sky disk, one of the oldest concrete depictions of cosmic phenomena, was created in the first millennium BCE, roughly 1,000 years later than previously assumed, according to new research by German scientists. The Nebra sky disk. Image credit: Dbachmann / CC BY-SA 3.0. The Nebra sky disk is a bronze disk of around 32 cm (12.6 inches) diameter and a mass of 2.2 kg, having a blue-green patina…

A 16-m- (52.5-foot) long megalodon had a head 4.65 m (15.3 feet) long, a dorsal fin 1.62 m (5.3 feet) tall and a tail 3.85 m (9.4 feet) high, according to a study led by researchers from the University of Bristol and Swansea University. Paleoartistic reconstruction of a 16-m megalodon scaled against a 1.65-m human. Image credit: Oliver E. Demuth. The megalodon (Otodus, or Carcharocles, megalodon),…

A team of scientists from the University of Exeter has surveyed 56 cat owners, some from rural parts of the UK (mostly in south-west England) and some from urban areas (Bristol and Manchester), and found they ranged from ‘conscientious caretakers’ concerned about cats’ impact on wildlife and who feel some responsibility to ‘freedom defenders’ who opposed restrictions on cat behavior altogether;…

Astronomers using the twin LIGO detectors located in Livingston, Louisiana, and Hanford, Washington, and the Virgo detector located near Pisa, Italy, have detected gravitational waves from the most massive binary black hole merger ever discovered. The two spinning black holes merged when the Universe was only about 7 billion years old, which is roughly half its present age, and formed a larger black…

A single-dose intranasal vaccine called ChAd-SARS-CoV-2-S prevents SARS-CoV-2 infection in both the upper and lower respiratory tracts of mice, according to a paper published in the journal Cell. The study authors now plan to test the vaccine in non-human primates and humans to see if it is safe and effective in preventing the infection. Immunization with ChAd-SARS-CoV-2-S induces both neutralizing…

A team of researchers from McMaster University and elsewhere has carried out a phylogeographic study of the extinct American mastodon (Mammut americanum) based on 35 newly-sequenced mitochondrial genomes. Their findings suggest that American mastodons repeatedly expanded into northern latitudes in response to interglacial warming. Artistic rendering of American mastodons (Mammut americanum). Image…

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 the mass of water in its oceans. A piece of the enstatite chondrite meteorite Sahara…

A team of scientists from Northwestern University and the Delft University of Technology (TU Delft) has developed the first-ever battery-free, personal mobile gaming device powered by energy harvested from the gamer actions and sunlight. The ENGAGE device. Image credit: Northwestern University. “It’s the first battery-free interactive device that harvests energy from user actions,” said Northwestern…