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Published

Astronomers discover first population of binary stripped stars      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Astronomers have discovered a population of massive stars that have been stripped of their hydrogen envelopes by their companions in binary systems. The findings shed light on the hot helium stars that are believed to be the origins of hydrogen-poor core-collapse supernovae and neutron star mergers.

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Published

Reaching for the (invisible) stars      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Supernovae -- stellar explosions as bright as an entire galaxy -- have fascinated us since time immemorial. Yet, there are more hydrogen-poor supernovae than astrophysicists can explain. Now, scientists may have found the missing precursor star population.

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Published

AI provides more accurate analysis of prehistoric and modern animals, painting picture of ancient world      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

A new study of the remains of prehistoric and modern African antelopes found that AI technology accurately identified animals more than 90% of the time compared to humans, who had much lower accuracy rates depending on the expert.

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Unexpected chemistry reveals cosmic star factories' secrets      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Two galaxies in the early universe, which contain extremely productive star factories, have been studied by a team of scientists. Using powerful telescopes to split the galaxies' light into individual colors, the scientists were amazed to discover light from many different molecules -- more than ever before at such distances. Studies like this could revolutionize our understanding of the lives of the most active galaxies when the universe was young, the researchers believe.

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Published

Tiniest free-floating brown dwarf      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Brown dwarfs are objects that straddle the dividing line between stars and planets. They form like stars, growing dense enough to collapse under their own gravity, but they never become dense and hot enough to begin fusing hydrogen and turn into a star. At the low end of the scale, some brown dwarfs are comparable with giant planets, weighing just a few times the mass of Jupiter.

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Published

Some icy exoplanets may have habitable oceans and geysers      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

A new study expands the search for life beyond our solar system by indicating that 17 exoplanets (worlds outside our solar system) could have oceans of liquid water, an essential ingredient for life, beneath icy shells. Water from these oceans could occasionally erupt through the ice crust as geysers. The science team calculated the amount of geyser activity on these exoplanets, the first time these estimates have been made. They identified two exoplanets sufficiently close where signs of these eruptions could be observed with telescopes.

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Published

Best areas for rewilding European bison      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Simulations integrate historical records, fossils, and ancient DNA to reveal why the European bison nearly went extinct, and pinpoint optimal areas for conservation.   Since the near-extinction of the European bison, enormous conservation efforts have helped to restore wild populations, and its numbers are on the rise. However, the study authors argue that ensuring the species's long-term protection and recovery requires understanding why they nearly went extinct in the first place.    'Our study also suggests areas where rewilding attempts are most likely to be successful,' said lead author July Pilowsky, currently a disease ecologist at Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies. Pilowsky completed the research while working on their PhD at University of Adelaide and University of Copenhagen.   

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Published

NASA's Webb stuns with new high-definition look at exploded star      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Like a shiny, round ornament ready to be placed in the perfect spot on a holiday tree, supernova remnant Cassiopeia A (Cas A) gleams in a new image.

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Published

This Japanese 'dragon' terrorized ancient seas      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Researchers have described a Japanese mosasaur the size of a great white shark that terrorized Pacific seas 72 million years ago. The mosasaur was named for the place where it was found, Wakayama Prefecture. Researchers call it the Wakayama Soryu, which means blue dragon.

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Published

Molecular fossils shed light on ancient life      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Paleontologists are getting a glimpse at life over a billion years in the past based on chemical traces in ancient rocks and the genetics of living animals. New research combines geology and genetics, showing how changes in the early Earth prompted a shift in how animals eat.

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Published

Study reshapes understanding of mass extinction in Late Devonian era      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

A recently published study puts forth a new theory that volcanic eruptions combined with widespread ocean detoxification pushed Earth's biology to a tipping point in the Late Devonian era, triggering a mass extinction.

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Published

Giant doubts about giant exomoons      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

The extrasolar planets Kepler-1625b and Kepler-1708b are supposedly the home worlds of the first known exomoons. A new study now comes to a different conclusion.

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It turns out, this fossil 'plant' is really a fossil baby turtle      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Researchers re-examined a plant fossil found decades ago in Colombia and realized that it wasn't a plant at all: it's a fossilized baby turtle. It's a rare find, because juvenile turtles' shells are soft and often don't fossilize well.

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Geoscientists map changes in atmospheric carbon dioxide over past 66 million years      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

An international consortium of geoscientists has reconstructed atmosphereric levels of carbon dioxide going back 66 million years using proxies in the geoloogical record. Today's concenteration, 420 parts per million, is higher than it's ever been in 14 million years.

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Published

Ancient stars made extraordinarily heavy elements      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

How heavy can an element be? An international team of researchers has found that ancient stars were capable of producing elements with atomic masses greater than 260, heavier than any element on the periodic table found naturally on Earth. The finding deepens our understanding of element formation in stars.

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Published

Stellar winds regulate growth of galaxies      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Galactic winds enable the exchange of matter between galaxies and their surroundings. In this way, they limit the growth of galaxies, that is, their star formation rate. Although this had already been observed in the local universe, an international research team has just revealed the existence of the phenomenon in galaxies which are more than 7 billion years old and actively forming stars, the category to which most galaxies belong. The team's findings thus show this is a universal process.

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Unlocking neutron star rotation anomalies: Insights from quantum simulation      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

A collaboration between quantum physicists and astrophysicists has achieved a significant breakthrough in understanding neutron star glitches. They were able to numerically simulate this enigmatic cosmic phenomenon with ultracold dipolar atoms. This research establishes a strong link between quantum mechanics and astrophysics and paves the way for quantum simulation of stellar objects from Earth.

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Astronomers determine the age of three mysterious baby stars at the heart of the Milky Way      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Through analysis of high-resolution data from a ten-meter telescope in Hawaii, researchers have succeeded in generating new knowledge about three stars at the very heart of the Milky Way. The stars proved to be unusually young with a puzzling chemical composition that surprised the researchers.

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Interpreting the afterglow of a black hole's breakfast      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

An entirely new way to probe how active black holes behave when they eat has been discovered by an international team of astronomers.

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10-billion-year, 50,000-light-year journey to black hole      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

A star near the supermassive black hole at the center of the Milky Way Galaxy originated outside of the Galaxy according to a new study. This is the first time a star of extragalactic origin has been found in the vicinity of the super massive black hole.