Grotta di Castelcivita. Above: The location of the cave (indicated by a white arrow) at the foot of the Alburni massif in the Campania region, southern Italy. Below: The excavation trench of the Upper Paleolithic layers. Credit: University of Tübingen An international team of researchers from the universities of Tübingen (Dr. Armando Falcucci), Siena and … Read more
These images show the two shock regions of the remnant SNR 1181. The bright white in the center is the white dwarf. Credit: 2024 T. Ko, H. Suzuki, K. Kashiyama et al./ The Astrophysical Journal A mysterious remnant of a rare type of supernova recorded in 1181 has been explained for the first time. Two … Read more
Source: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain Microbes used for health, agriculture, or other applications must be able to withstand extreme conditions, and ideally, the manufacturing processes used to make tablets for long-term storage. MIT researchers have now developed a new way to make microbes strong enough to withstand these extreme conditions. Their method involves mixing bacteria with … Read more
Negev Petroglyphs of Animals. Credit: Laura Rabbachin, INTK, Academy of Fine Arts, Vienna The Negev Desert in southern Israel is known for its unique rock art. Since at least the third millennium BCE, hunters, herders, and traders roaming the Negev have left thousands of engravings (petroglyphs) on the rocks. These figures are usually carved into … Read more
Source: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain Pseudomonas aeruginosa, an environmental bacterium that can cause devastating multi-drug-resistant infections, particularly in people with underlying lung conditions, has rapidly evolved and subsequently spread across the globe over the past 200 years, likely driven by changes in human behavior, a new study finds. The work appears in the magazine Science. P. … Read more
Rendered image of the landing of the MARUM-MeBo70 on the seabed of the Amundsen Sea. Credit: MARUM – Center for Marine Environmental Sciences, University of Bremen / Martin Künsting In recent years, global warming has left its mark on the Antarctic ice caps. The “eternal” ice in Antarctica is melting faster than previously assumed, especially … Read more
An illustration of the intron endonuclease cutting the DNA of a competing virus and disrupting its reproduction. Credit: Pogliano Labs, UC San Diego Strange bits of DNA hidden in the genomes of all living things have historically been ignored because they seemed to play no role in the fight for survival, researchers thought. These bits … Read more
Illustration of the diffraction problems with particle-photon beams, and how a “self-guided” combined beam continues to provide pushing force even to distant probes. Credit: Limbach & Hara Getting to Proxima Centauri b will require a lot of new technologies, but there are increasingly exciting reasons to do so. Both public and private efforts have been … Read more
Light curve of nova V1716 Sco observed with NICER with epochs of 10 seconds, from July 25, 2023 to August 30, 2023. Source: Wang et al., 2024. Astronomers from China and Taiwan have observed the nova outburst of V1716 Sco that occurred last year using several X-ray and gamma-ray space observatories. Results of the observation … Read more
Blue-spotted ribbontail ray. Credit: Morgan Bennet Smith Researchers have discovered the unique nanostructures responsible for the electric blue spots of the blue-spotted ribbontail ray (Taeniura lymma), with potential applications for developing chemical-free coloration. The team also has ongoing research into the equally enigmatic blue coloration of the blue shark (Prionace glauca). This research, titled “Ribbontail … Read more