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Categories: Anthropology: General, Space: Astronomy
Published First of its kind detection made in striking new Webb image
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source For the first time, a phenomenon astronomers have long hoped to directly image has been captured by NASA's James Webb Space Telescope's Near-Infrared Camera (NIRCam). In this stunning image of the Serpens Nebula, the discovery lies in the northern area of this young, nearby star-forming region.
Published Rare Samoan discovery offers clues to origins of inequality
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source The origins of hierarchical society in Samoa and wider Polynesia have likely been uncovered by a new study led by archaeologists.
Published A hidden treasure in the Milky Way -- Astronomers uncover ultrabright x-ray source
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Astronomers uncovered that a well-known X-ray binary, whose exact nature has been a mystery to scientists until now, is actually a hidden ultraluminous X-ray source.
Published Star clusters observed within a galaxy in the early Universe
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source The history of how stars and galaxies came to be and evolved into the present day remains among the most challenging astrophysical questions to solve yet, but new research brings us closer to understanding it. New insights about young galaxies during the Epoch of Reionization have been revealed. Observations with the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) of the galaxy Cosmic Gems arc (SPT0615-JD) have confirmed that the light of the galaxy was emitted 460 million years after the big bang. What makes this galaxy unique is that it is magnified through an effect called gravitational lensing, which has not been observed in other galaxies formed during that age.
Published New study finds dinosaur fossils did not inspire the mythological griffin
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source For centuries, scientists thought they knew where the griffin legend came from. A new study takes a closer look at the data and folklore's influence on science.
Published Guiding humanity beyond the moon
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source What actually happens to the human body in space? While scientists and researchers have heavily researched how various factors impact the human body here on Earth, the amount of information available about changes that occur in the body in space is not as well-known. Scientists have been studying for years how the body, specifically on the molecular side, changes in space. Recently, findings depict how the modern tools of molecular biology and precision medicine can help guide humanity into more challenging missions beyond where we've already been.
Published Iron meteorites hint that our infant solar system was more doughnut than dartboard
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Iron meteorites are remnants of the metallic cores of the earliest asteroids in our solar system. Iron meteorites contain refractory metals, such as iridium and platinum, that formed near the sun but were transported to the outer solar system. New research shows that for this to have happened, the protoplanetary disk of our solar system had to have been doughnut-shaped because the refractory metals could not have crossed the large gaps in a target-shaped disk of concentric rings. The paper suggests that the refractory metals moved outward as the protoplanetary disk rapidly expanded, and were trapped in the outer solar system by Jupiter.
Published Supermassive black hole appears to grow like a baby star
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Supermassive black holes pose unanswered questions for astronomers around the world, not least 'How do they grow so big?' Now, an international team of astronomers has discovered a powerful rotating, magnetic wind that they believe is helping a galaxy's central supermassive black hole to grow. The swirling wind, revealed with the help of the ALMA telescope in nearby galaxy ESO320-G030, suggests that similar processes are involved both in black hole growth and the birth of stars.
Published Newly discovered dinosaur boasts big, blade-like horns
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source A new dinosaur has been identified and named. The dinosaur's name, Lokiceratops rangiformis, translates roughly to 'Loki's horned face that looks like a caribou.'
Published Jupiter's great red spot is not the same one Cassini observed in 1600s
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Jupiter's iconic Great Red Spot has persisted for at least 190 years and is likely a different spot from the one observed by the astronomer Giovanni Domenico Cassini in 1665, a new study reports. The Great Red Spot we see today likely formed because of an instability in the planet's intense atmospheric winds, producing a long, persistent atmospheric cell, the study also finds.
Published Astronomers see a massive black hole awaken in real time
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source In late 2019 the previously unremarkable galaxy SDSS1335+0728 suddenly started shining brighter than ever before. To understand why, astronomers have used data from several space and ground-based observatories, including the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope (ESO's VLT), to track how the galaxy's brightness has varied. In a study out today, they conclude that they are witnessing changes never seen before in a galaxy -- likely the result of the sudden awakening of the massive black hole at its core.
Published Origins of cumulative culture in human evolution
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Cumulative culture -- the accumulation of technological modifications and improvements over generations -- allowed humans to adapt to a diversity of environments and challenges. But, it is unclear when cumulative culture first developed during hominin evolution. A new study concludes that humans began to rapidly accumulate technological knowledge through social learning around 600,000 years ago.
Published Direct evidence found for dairy consumption in the Pyrenees in the earliest stages of the Neolithic
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source A study on the remains of the Chaves and Puyascada caves, both located in the province of Huesca, Spain, yields the first direct proof of the consumption and processing of dairy products in the Pyrenees already at the start of the Neolithic period, approximately 7,500 years ago, as well as the consumption of pig. The results lead to doubts about the belief that these products were first used much later in the Pyrenean mountain range.
Published Modified gravity theory: A million light years and still going
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source In a breakthrough discovery that challenges the conventional understanding of cosmology, scientists have unearthed new evidence that could reshape our perception of the cosmos. New research shows that rotation curves of galaxies stay flat indefinitely far out, corroborating predictions of modified gravity theory as an alternative to dark matter.
Published Ancient polar sea reptile fossil is oldest ever found in Southern Hemisphere
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source An international team of scientists has identified the oldest fossil of a sea-going reptile from the Southern Hemisphere -- a nothosaur vertebra found on New Zealand's South Island. 246 million years ago, at the beginning of the Age of Dinosaurs, New Zealand was located on the southern polar coast of a vast super-ocean called Panthalassa. 'The nothosaur found in New Zealand is over 40 million years older than the previously oldest known sauropterygian fossils from the Southern Hemisphere.
Published Pair of merging quasars at cosmic dawn
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Astronomers have discovered a double-record-breaking pair of quasars. Not only are they the most distant pair of merging quasars ever found, but also the only pair confirmed in the bygone era of the Universe's earliest formation.
Published Investigating the origins of the crab nebula
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source A team of scientists used NASA's James Webb Space Telescope to parse the composition of the Crab Nebula, a supernova remnant located 6,500 light-years away in the constellation Taurus.
Published New research finds biases encoded in language across cultures and history
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Researchers share evidence that people's attitudes are deeply woven into language and culture across the globe and centuries.
Published Watery planets orbiting dead stars may be good candidates for studying life -- if they can survive long enough
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source The small footprint and dim light of white dwarfs, remnants of stars that have burned through their fuel, may make excellent backdrops for studying planets with enough water to harbor life. The trick is spotting the shadow of a planet against a former star that has withered to a fraction of its size and finding that it's a planet that has kept its water oceans for billions of years even after riding out the star's explosive and violent final throes. A new study of the dynamics of white dwarf systems suggests that, in theory, some watery planets may indeed thread the celestial needles necessary to await discovery and closer scrutiny.
Published Mysterious mini-Neptunes
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source This study discovered mini-Neptunes around four red dwarfs using observations from a global network of ground-based telescopes and the TESS space telescope. These four mini-Neptunes are close to their parent stars, and the three of them are likely to be in eccentric orbits.