A planetary nebula called the Stingray Nebula has faded precipitously over just the past 20 years, according to an analysis of the archival images from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope. These images of the Stingray Nebula were captured by Hubble in 1996 (left) and 2016 (right). Image credit: NASA / ESA / B. Balick, University of Washington / M. Guerrero, Instituto de Astrofísica de Andalucía…

According to a new study published in the journal Science Advances, the Martian subsurface would have been the most habitable region for simple life forms on the planet, likely due to underground melting of thick ice sheets fueled by geothermal heat. Ojha et al. demonstrate that the geothermal heat would have played a key role in early Martian habitability and hydrology during the Noachian period….

Archaeologists on the ERC project LASTJOURNEY have discovered spectacular rock pictographs in three separate rock shelters in the Guaviare Department of Colombia. The drawings, made around 12,600 and 11,800 years ago, provide proof the Amazon rainforest’s earliest inhabitants lived alongside now-extinct Ice Age animals such as giant sloths and mastodons. Professor Iriarte at the archaeological…

A giant sauropod dinosaur that lived 85.2 million years ago (Cretaceous period) in what is now Brazil had an aggressive case of osteomyelitis in its leg and soft-bodied parasitical microorganisms in its vascular canals. Life reconstruction of the titanosaur from the Upper Cretaceous Adamantina Formation in São Paulo backcountry, southeastern Brazil. The animal was reconstructed based on associated…

Marine biologists from the United States and the United Kingdom have recorded over 100 deep water-dwelling cutthroat eels, identified as Ilyophis arx, at a 1 kg bait package deployed on an abyssal seamount summit in the southwestern Clarion-Clipperton Zone in the central Pacific Ocean. This is the highest number of fishes per kg of bait ever recorded below 1,000 m (3,281 feet), including observations…

Using the polarization data from ESA’s Planck satellite, a mission that have studied the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB), the oldest light in the Universe, a duo of astrophysicists has uncovered intriguing signs of new physics beyond the Standard Model of elementary particles and fields. As the CMB light (left image) travels through the Universe until observed on Earth (right image), the direction…

New research suggests that additional restriction of meat intake with a parallel increase in plant-based, protein-rich foods may further benefit the cardiometabolic state and reduce cardiovascular risk, beyond the known beneficial effects of the traditional Mediterranean diet. A green Mediterranean diet is further enriched with green plant-based foods and lower meat intake. Image credit: Higorhsa. “The…

Scientists at Boyce Thompson Institute have produced a high-quality chromosome-scale genome sequence for the currant tomato Solanum pimpinellifolium, the wild progenitor of the modern cultivated tomato Solanum lycopersicum. Solanum pimpinellifolium in Botanisk tidsskrift, 1872. Tomato is the world’s leading vegetable crop with a total production of 182 million tons and a worth over US $60 billion…

The Islands of Four Mountains, a small group of volcanic islands in the central Aleutians, could actually be part of a single, undiscovered giant volcano in the same category as Yellowstone, according to new research. An aerial oblique photo of the volcanoes in the Islands of Four Mountains, Alaska, taken in July 2014. In the center is the summit of Mount Tana. Behind Tana are (left to right) Herbert,…

Obesity is rare in hunter-gatherer cultures. Nevertheless, dozens of handheld ‘Venus’ figurines — the oldest art sculptures of humans known and tend to be of women who have obesity or are pregnant — have been identified that date to Ice Age European hunter-gatherers from 38,000 to 14,000 years ago. In a new paper, published in the journal Obesity, a team of researchers from the University…