The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has captured the brilliance of a globular cluster called NGC 1805. This Hubble image NGC 1805, a globular cluster located 163,000 light-years away in the constellation of Dorado. The color image is made up of observations from Hubble’s Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3) in the ultraviolet, near-infrared, and optical parts of the spectrum. Four filters were used to sample…

A new analysis of data gathered by the CONSERT (Comet Nucleus Sounding Experiment by Radio wave Transmission) instrument, a radar onboard ESA’s Rosetta spacecraft and its Philae lander, confirms that solar radiation has significantly modified the surface of comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko as it travels through space between the orbits of Jupiter and Earth. ESA’s Philae lander at work on comet…

An international team of scientists has discovered stylistically unique ancient drawings, including the only known prehistoric depiction of a now-extinct giant sloth lemur, on the walls of a rock shelter in western Madagascar. Photograph (top) and artist’s sketch (bottom) of the inferred hunting scene: hunter (background, left) extends weapon toward inverted large animal in foreground; two dog-like…

Paleontologists in Mongolia have found the fossilized remains of Minjinia turgenensis, a new genus and species of placoderm fish that lived 410 million years ago (Early Devonian epoch). They’ve examined a partial braincase and skull roof of Minjinia turgenensis and found extensive endochondral bone, the hard bone that makes up our skeleton after birth. This discovery suggests the lighter skeletons…

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…

Moderate adolescent cannabis use may have adverse effects on cognitive functioning, specifically verbal memory, that cannot be explained by familial factors, according to a study of siblings led by the University of Colorado School of Medicine. Ellingson et al aimed to examine whether moderate adolescent cannabis use has neurocognitive effects that are unexplained by familial confounds. Image credit:…

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…

Moderate adolescent cannabis use may have adverse effects on cognitive functioning, specifically verbal memory, that cannot be explained by familial factors, according to a study of siblings led by the University of Colorado School of Medicine. Ellingson et al aimed to examine whether moderate adolescent cannabis use has neurocognitive effects that are unexplained by familial confounds. Image credit:…