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Astronomy

Comet ATLAS May Be Broken-Off Piece of Larger, More Ancient Visitor

This pair of Hubble images of comet C/2019 Y4 (ATLAS), taken on April 20 and April 23, 2020, reveal the breakup of the solid nucleus of the comet. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Quanzhi Ye, University of Maryland / Alyssa Pagan, STScI.

The near-Sun comet C/2019 Y4 (ATLAS) is the first member of a long-period comet group observed to disintegrate well before its closest approach to the Sun. Using images obtained by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope campaign, astronomers have identified two fragment clusters produced by the comet’s disintegration in 2020. This pair of Hubble images of comet C/2019 Y4 (ATLAS), taken on April 20...

Space Exploration

Crust of Dwarf Planet Ceres is Rich in Water Ice, New Research Confirms

This false-color image shows the dwarf planet Ceres. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / UCLA / MPS / DLR / IDA.

Using high spatial-resolution data gathered by the Gamma Ray and Neutron Detector (GRaND) aboard NASA’s Dawn spacecraft, planetary researchers have detected elevated concentrations of hydrogen in and around Occator crater, which contains Ceres’ most prominent bright spots. This false-color image shows the dwarf planet Ceres. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / UCLA / MPS / DLR / IDA. “The dwarf...

Archaeology

Machu Picchu is Several Decades Older Than Previously Thought

Machu Picchu, the famous 15th-century Inca site near Cusco, in southern Peru. Image credit: Oleg Dyachenko.

New research shows that Machu Picchu, an ancient Incan citadel set high in the Andes Mountains in Peru, was occupied from about 1420 to 1532 CE, with activity beginning two decades earlier than suggested by the textual sources. Machu Picchu, the famous 15th-century Inca site near Cusco, in southern Peru. Image credit: Oleg Dyachenko. Machu Picchu, located about 80 km (50 miles) from Cusco, Peru,...

Paleontology

Three New Species of Primitive Ungulate Ancestors Identified

Left to right: Conacodon hettingeri, Miniconus jeanninae, and Beornus honeyi. Image credit: Banana Art Studio.

Paleontologists have identified three new species of placental mammals called condylarths (archaic ungulates) from fossils found in Wyoming, the United States. Left to right: Conacodon hettingeri, Miniconus jeanninae, and Beornus honeyi. Image credit: Banana Art Studio. The newly-discovered archaic ungulates are Miniconus jeanninae, Conacodon hettingeri, and Beornus honeyi. These animals lived in...

Biology

Marine Biologists Find Live Immune Cells in Corals and Sea Anemones

Snyder et al. show that distinct populations of phagocytic cells in cauliflower corals (Pocillopora damicornis) and starlet sea anemones (Nematostella vectensis) engulf bacteria, fungal antigens, and beads. The image shows a cauliflower coral cell challenged with Staphylococcus aureus. Yellow arrow shows an internalized, pH-activated Staphylococcus aureus particle that fluoresces bright green at a low pH. White arrows indicate the cocci bacterial particles. Staphylococcus aureus particles are fluorescent after the fusion of the bacteria with the lysolitic vesicle, which leads to lowered pH. Scale bar - 10 μm. Image credit: Snyder et al., doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2021.662803.

Corals and sea anemones have at least two populations of immune cells and that these specialized cells make up about 3% of the total cell population, according to new research. Snyder et al. show that distinct populations of phagocytic cells in cauliflower corals (Pocillopora damicornis) and starlet sea anemones (Nematostella vectensis) engulf bacteria, fungal antigens, and beads. The image shows...

Physics

Physicists Produce Matter and Antimatter from Photon Collisions

Two gold ions (red) move in opposite direction at 99.995% of the speed of light (v, for velocity, = approximately c, the speed of light). As the ions pass one another without colliding, two photons (γ) from the electromagnetic cloud surrounding the ions can interact with each other to create a matter-antimatter pair: an electron (e-) and positron (e+). Image credit: Brookhaven National Laboratory.

Physicists with the STAR Collaboration at Brookhaven National Laboratory’s Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) have produced definitive evidence for two phenomena predicted more than eight decades ago: production of matter and antimatter from photon collisions and polarization-dependent light-bending (birefringence) in a vacuum. Two gold ions (red) move in opposite direction at 99.995% of the...

Medicine

Brief Naps during Day Don’t Relieve Sleep Deprivation, Study Says

The study sheds new light on the link between sleep deprivation and obesity. Image credit: Sweet Briar College.

Sleeping for a short period (i.e. napping) may help mitigate impairments in cognitive processing caused by sleep deprivation, but there is limited research on effects of brief naps in particular. In a new study, researchers from the University of Pittsburgh and Michigan State University tested the effect of brief naps (30- or 60-min) during a period of sleep deprivation. A brief nap during the day...

Genetics

Scientists Sequence Seadragon and Pipefish Genomes

Key features of the common seadragon (Phyllopteryx taeniolatus) and the alligator pipefish (Syngnathoides biaculeatus) and their phylogenetic positions: (A) the common seadragon has a dragon-shaped body with many special leaf-like appendages and long tubular snout lacking teeth; common seadragon males incubate eggs on a brood patch on the underside of the tail; (B) a male alligator pipefish showing eggs incubated on a brood patch on the underside of trunk; (C) phylogenetic tree of 19 ray-finned fishes. Image credit: Qu et al., doi: 10.1126/sciadv.abg5196.

A team of researchers from Germany, China, Singapore, Belgium, and Japan has successfully sequenced and analyzed male and female genomes of the common seadragon (Phyllopteryx taeniolatus) and the alligator pipefish (Syngnathoides biaculeatus). Key features of the common seadragon (Phyllopteryx taeniolatus) and the alligator pipefish (Syngnathoides biaculeatus) and their phylogenetic positions: (A)...

Geology

Earth’s Continental Crust First Emerged 3.7 Billion Years Ago

An artistic conception of the early Earth. Image credit: Simone Marchi / NASA.

Reconstructing the emergence and weathering of Earth’s continental crust in the Archean eon is crucial for our understanding of early ocean chemistry, biosphere evolution and the onset of plate tectonics. An artistic conception of the early Earth. Image credit: Simone Marchi / NASA. Once land becomes established through dynamic processes like plate tectonics, it begins to weather and add crucial...

Other Sciences

Stradivari and Guarneri Treated Soundboards with Various Chemicals, Study Shows

The ‘Gould’ violin by Antonio Stradivari.

Two renowned violin makers from Cremona, Italy, Antonio Stradivari and Giuseppe Guarneri ‘del Gesù,’ treated their instruments with various chemicals that produced their unique sound, and several of these chemicals have been identified for the first time: borax and metal sulfates for fungal suppression, table salt for moisture control, alum for molecular crosslinking, and potash or quicklime...