New Spinosaurus Species Discovered in Niger
Multidrug-Resistant Bacterial Strain Found Preserved in 5,000-Year-Old Cave Ice
Japanese Archipelago Was Once a Refuge for Cave Lions
CHEOPS Discovers Rocky Exoplanet that Defies Conventional Formation Theories
Mars Organics Can’t Be Fully Explained by Geological Processes Alone, NASA Study Says
Archaeopteryx’s Feeding-Related Structures Reflect Elevated Demands of Flight, Scientists Say
For the first time, astronomers have mapped the vertical structure of Uranus’ ionosphere, uncovering unexpected temperature peaks, weakened ion densities, and puzzling dark regions shaped by the planet’s extreme magnetic field. The results, made possible by nearly a full day of observations with the NIRSpec instrument onboard the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope, confirm that Uranus’...
As human space exploration pushes farther from Earth, the need for sustainable ways to obtain local resources is becoming increasingly urgent, as routine resupply missions grow impractical. Asteroids — some of them rich in valuable metals such as platinum-group elements — have emerged as especially promising targets. In a new experiment aboard the International Space Station (ISS), scientists...
A tiny copper-alloy object long dismissed as a simple awl has been reclassified as the earliest known rotary metal drill from ancient Egypt. Original photograph of the Badari drill published in 1927 by Guy Brunton (left) and the actual artifact. Image credit: Martin Odler & Jiří Kmošek, doi: 10.1553/AEundL35s289. The ancient drill is only 6.3 cm (2.5 inches) long and weighs about 1.5 grams. Dating...
Paleontologists have identified the first unequivocal new species of the fish-eating dinosaur Spinosaurus in more than a century. Spinosaurus mirabilis is one of the last-surviving spinosaurid species. Image credit: Dani Navarro. Named Spinosaurus mirabilis, the new species roamed Earth during the Cretaceous period, around 95 million years ago. The dinosaur’s fossils were uncovered in the remote...
As human space exploration pushes farther from Earth, the need for sustainable ways to obtain local resources is becoming increasingly urgent, as routine resupply missions grow impractical. Asteroids — some of them rich in valuable metals such as platinum-group elements — have emerged as especially promising targets. In a new experiment aboard the International Space Station (ISS), scientists...
Physicists at the University of Massachusetts Amherst argue that an ultra-high-energy neutrino detected by the KM3NeT experiment could be the signature of an explosion of a ‘quasi-extremal primordial black hole,’ pointing toward new physics beyond the Standard Model. The KM3NeT experiment has recently observed a neutrino with an energy around 100 PeV, and IceCube has detected five neutrinos with...
Scientists have isolated a new strain of the Psychrobacter cryohalolentis species from 5,000-year-old ice from Scarisoara Ice Cave in Romania. Remarkably, the strain — labeled SC65A.3 — shows resistance to 10 widely used antibiotics, including drugs typically reserved for severe infections such as tuberculosis and urinary tract infections. Isolated colonies of Psychrobacter SC65A.3 on...
Between 73,000 and 20,000 years ago (Late Pleistocene), the Japanese Archipelago was inhabited by cave lions (Panthera spelaea), according to a new genetic and proteomic analysis of fossilized felid remains previously attributed to tigers (Panthera tigris). Cave lions painted in the Chauvet Cave, France. Lions and tigers were widespread apex predators during the Late Pleistocene and integral components...
New orbital data reveal that the most recently active volcanic systems on Mars weren’t simple one-off blasts into space; instead, long-lived magmatic plumbing beneath Pavonis Mons, one of the Red Planet’s largest volcanoes, reshaped lava flows over time, with distinct eruptive phases and evolving chemical signatures, offering fresh insights into the planet’s inner dynamics and how rocky planets...
New dating of fossil skulls from the Early Pleistocene site of Yunxian in China suggests that early members of Homo erectus lived in eastern Asia nearly 1.77 million years ago, pushing the region’s human story back at least 670,000 years and strengthening the case for a rapid dispersal out of Africa. Reconstruction of Homo erectus. The oldest known fossils of Homo erectus in Asia date to between...
