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Hubble captures spectacular photos of Jupiter and its icy moon, Europa.

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ASTRONOMY

Astronomers Precisely Measure Distance to Magnetar

An artist’s impression of a magnetar emitting a burst of radiation. Image credit: Sophia Dagnello, NRAO / AUI / NSF.Using NSF’s Very Long Baseline Array, an international team of astronomers has made the direct geometric measurement of the distance to XTE J1810-197, a magnetar located in the constellation of Sagittarius. An artist’s impression of a magnetar emitting a burst of radiation. Image credit: Sophia Dagnello, NRAO / AUI / NSF. Magnetars are a variety of neutron stars — the superdense remains…

SPACE EXPLORATION

Carbide Planets May Be Made Of Silica and Diamonds

An artist’s impression of a carbide planet with diamond and silica as main minerals. Image ctredit: Shim / ASU / Vecteezy.Extrasolar planets hosted by stars with sufficiently high carbon-to-oxygen ratios could be made of diamonds and silica, according to new research by Arizona State University and the University of Chicago. An artist’s impression of a carbide planet with diamond and silica as main minerals. Image ctredit: Shim / ASU / Vecteezy. When stars and planets are formed, they do so from the same cloud of…

ARCHAEOLOGY

Archaeologists Unearth Phoenician Wine Press in Lebanon

Reconstruction of the wine press at Tell el-Burak, looking from the south-east. Image credit: O. Bruderer / Tell el-Burak Archaeological Project.Archaeologists have unearthed the well-preserved remains of a 2,700-year-old wine press at the Phoenician site of Tell el-Burak, 9 km south of Sidon in present-day Lebanon. The wine press at Tell el-Burak from the south-west. Image credit: Tell el-Burak Archaeological Project. The ruins of Tell el-Burak, a small Phoenician settlement dating from the last quarter of the 8th to the middle of the 4th…

PALEONTOLOGY

Paleontologists Discover New Species of Ornithopod Dinosaur

Changmiania liaoningensis, an anterior part of the holotype in caudolateral view; red arrow indicates the emplacement of the gastrolith clusters. Image credit: Yang et al, doi: 10.7717/peerj.9832.A new genus and species of an early ornithopod dinosaur has been identified from two nearly complete skeletons found in China’s Liaoning Province. Changmiania liaoningensis, an anterior part of the holotype in caudolateral view; red arrow indicates the emplacement of the gastrolith clusters. Image credit: Yang et al, doi: 10.7717/peerj.9832. The newly-discovered dinosaur roamed Earth approximately…

BIOLOGY

Australian Stinging Trees Make Spider- and Cone Snail-Like Venom

Stinging nettles of the genus Dendrocnide produce potent neurotoxins: (A) sign at a North Queensland National Park advising caution around stinging trees; (B) Dendrocnide excelsa petioles are covered in stinging hairs; (C) scanning electron micrograph of trichome structure on the leaf of Dendrocnide moroides; (D-G) cutaneous reaction resulting from an accidental sting with Dendrocnide moroides documented with an iPhone XR and NEC G120W2 thermal imager, illustrating almost immediate local piloerection (arrowheads in D), development of wheals where stinging hairs penetrate the skin (arrows in E), as well as a long-lasting axon reflex erythema (arrows in F and G) and associated local increase in skin temperature (degrees Celsius); (H) HPLC chromatogram of trichome extract from Dendrocnide excelsa; diamonds indicate nocifensive responses elicited by intraplantar administration of individual fractions in vivo in C57BL6/J mice, with a single late-eluting peak identified as the main pain-causing fraction. Image credit: Irina Vetter, Thomas Durek & Darren Brown, University of Queensland.A team of scientists from the University of Queensland and King’s College London has found that the venom of Australian Dendrocnide trees contains previously unidentified neurotoxic peptides and that the 3D structure of these pain-inducing peptides is reminiscent of spider and cone snail venoms targeting the same pain receptors, thus representing a remarkable case of inter-kingdom convergent evolution…

PHYSICS

New Research Sheds Light on Evolution of Interstellar Gas Clouds

This image shows the protoplanetary disc surrounding the young star HL Tauri. Image credit: ALMA / ESO / NAOJ / NRAO.HL Tauri, a young star located 450 light-years away in the constellation of Taurus, is glowing at the center of an system of concentric protoplanetary rings and is producing planets, one for each gap in the ring. Worcester Polytechnic Institute mathematical physicist Dr. Mayer Humi believes HL Tauri provides an apt study target for theories about protoplanetary rings around stars. This image shows…

MEDICINE

Scientist Captures New Images of SARS-CoV-2-Infected Cells

This SEM image shows SARS-CoV-2 virions (red) produced by human airway epithelia. Image credit: Camille Ehre, doi: 10.1056/NEJMicm2023328.A researcher at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine has generated scanning electron microscopy images showing startlingly high SARS-CoV-2 viral loads on human bronchial epithelial cells. This SEM image shows SARS-CoV-2 virions (red) produced by human airway epithelia. Image credit: Camille Ehre, doi: 10.1056/NEJMicm2023328. Dr. Camille Ehre from the Baric and Boucher Laboratories…

GENETICS

Researchers Sequence Mitochondrial Genome of 80,000-Year-Old European Neanderthal

Reconstruction of a Neanderthal. Image credit: Neanderthal Museum.An international team of scientists has successfully extracted and sequenced the mitochondrial DNA from an 80,000-year-old adult Neanderthal tooth found in a small cave in Poland. Reconstruction of a Neanderthal. Image credit: Neanderthal Museum. The Neanderthal molar tooth, dubbed S5000, was found in 2007 in Stajnia Cave in Poland’s Kraków-Częstochowa Upland. An assemblage of stone tools and…

GEOLOGY

Study Sheds New Light on Growth of Mysterious Stone Forests

Stone forest in Yunnan province, China. Image credit: Zhang Yuan.A new study, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, reveals a mechanism that may contribute to the formation of sharply pointed rock spires in striking landforms called stone forests. Stone forest in Yunnan province, China. Image credit: Zhang Yuan. Stone forests are pointed rock formations resembling trees that populate regions of China, Madagascar, and many other locations…

OTHER SCIENCES

Little Ice Age Triggered by Arctic Sea Ice

Bathymetric map of the Fram Strait gateway and downstream region; red circles indicate location of marine sediment cores. Inset: Danish historical ice chart from the early 20th century showing the extension of the Arctic Ocean-origin sea ice observed along Southwest Greenland. Image credit: Miles et al, doi: 10.1126/sciadv.aba4320.The Little Ice Age, a period of global cooling that lasted from the early 14th century to the mid-19th century, was triggered by an exceptionally large outflow of sea ice from the Arctic Ocean into the North Atlantic in the 1300s, according to a new paper published in the journal Science Advances. Bathymetric map of the Fram Strait gateway and downstream region; red circles indicate location of marine…

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