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Categories: Paleontology: General, Space: The Solar System
Published Paleontologists unearth what may be the largest known marine reptile
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source The fossilized remains of a second gigantic jawbone measuring more than two meters long has been found on a beach in Somerset, UK.
Published Astronomers uncover methane emission on a cold brown dwarf
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Astronomers have discovered methane emission on a brown dwarf, an unexpected finding for such a cold and isolated world. The findings suggest that this brown dwarf might generate aurorae similar to those seen on our own planet as well as on Jupiter and Saturn.
Published Marine plankton behavior could predict future marine extinctions
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Marine communities migrated to Antarctica during the Earth's warmest period in 66 million years long before a mass-extinction event.
Published Genetic variant identified that shaped the human skull base
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Researchers have identified a variant in the gene TBX1 as key in the development of the unique morphology at the base of the skull. TBX1 is present at higher levels in humans than in closely related hominins. Low TBX1 also occurs in certain genetic conditions causing altered skull base morphology. This study provides a greater understanding of human disease and evolution.
Published 'Tube map' around planets and moons made possible by knot theory
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Scientists have developed a new method using knot theory to find the optimal routes for future space missions without the need to waste fuel.
Published Interspecies competition led to even more forms of ancient human -- defying evolutionary trends in vertebrates
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Competition between species played a major role in the rise and fall of hominins -- and produced a 'bizarre' evolutionary pattern for the Homo lineage -- according to a new study that revises the start and end dates for many of our early ancestors.
Published No gamma rays seen coming from nearby supernova
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source A nearby supernova in 2023 offered astrophysicists an excellent opportunity to test ideas about how these types of explosions boost particles, called cosmic rays, to near light-speed. But surprisingly, NASA's Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope detected none of the high-energy gamma-ray light those particles should produce.
Published Most massive stellar black hole in our galaxy found
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Astronomers have identified the most massive stellar black hole yet discovered in the Milky Way galaxy. This black hole was spotted in data from the European Space Agency's Gaia mission because it imposes an odd 'wobbling' motion on the companion star orbiting it. Astronomers have verified the mass of the black hole, putting it at an impressive 33 times that of the Sun.
Published Seed ferns: Plants experimented with complex leaf vein networks 201 million years ago
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source According to a research team led by palaeontologists, the net-like leaf veining typical for today's flowering plants developed much earlier than previously thought, but died out again several times. Using new methods, the fossilized plant Furcula granulifer was identified as such an early forerunner. The leaves of this seed fern species already exhibited the net-like veining in the late Triassic (around 201 million years ago).
Published How Pluto got its heart
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source The mystery of how Pluto got a giant heart-shaped feature on its surface has finally been solved by an international team of astrophysicists. The team is the first to successfully reproduce the unusual shape with numerical simulations, attributing it to a giant and slow oblique-angle impact.
Published Digging up new species of Australia and New Guinea's giant fossil kangaroos
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Palaeontologists have described three unusual new species of giant fossil kangaroo from Australia and New Guinea, finding them more diverse in shape, range and hopping method than previously thought. The three new species are of the extinct genus Protemnodon, which lived from around 5 million to 40,000 years ago -- with one about double the size of the largest red kangaroo living today.
Published Stellar winds of three sun-like stars detected for the first time
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source An international research team has for the first time directly detected stellar winds from three Sun-like stars by recording the X-ray emission from their astrospheres, and placed constraints on the mass loss rate of the stars via their stellar winds.
Published Exoplanets true to size
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source A star's magnetic field must be considered in order to correctly determine the characteristics of exoplanets from observations by space telescopes such as Kepler, James Webb, or PLATO. Researchers show that the distribution of the star's brightness over its disk depends on the star's level of magnetic activity. This, in turn, affects the signature of an exoplanet in observational data. The new model must be used in order to properly interpret the data from the latest generation of space telescopes pointed at distant worlds outside our Solar System.
Published The hidden role of the Milky Way in ancient Egyptian mythology
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Astrophysicists shed light on the relationship between the Milky Way and the Egyptian sky-goddess Nut. The paper draws on ancient Egyptian texts and simulations to argue that the Milky Way might have shone a spotlight, as it were, on Nut's role as the sky. It proposes that in winter, the Milky Way highlighted Nut's outstretched arms, while in summer, it traced her backbone across the heavens.
Published 3D mouth of an ancient jawless fish suggests they were filter-feeders, not scavengers or hunters
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Early jawless fish were likely to have used bony projections surrounding their mouths to modify the mouth's shape while they collected food. Experts have used CT scanning techniques to build up the first 3D pictures of these creatures, which are some of the earliest vertebrates (animals with backbones) in which the mouth is fossilized. Their aim was to answer questions about feeding in early vertebrates without jaws in the early Devonian epoch -- sometimes called the Age of Fishes -- around 400 million years ago.
Published Study shedding new light on Earth's global carbon cycle could help assess liveability of other planets
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Research has uncovered important new insights into the evolution of oxygen, carbon, and other vital elements over the entire history of Earth -- and it could help assess which other planets can develop life, ranging from plants to animals and humans.
Published Do some mysterious bones belong to gigantic ichthyosaurs?
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Several similar large, fossilized bone fragments have been discovered in various regions across Western and Central Europe since the 19th century. The animal group to which they belonged is still the subject of much debate to this day. A study could now settle this dispute once and for all: The microstructure of the fossils indicates that they come from the lower jaw of a gigantic ichthyosaur. These animals could reach 25 to 30 meters in length, a similar size to the modern blue whale.
Published How the moon turned itself inside out
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Linking analyses of the moon's gravity field with models of its earliest evolution, scientists tell a story of the moon turning itself inside out after it solidified from a primordial magma ocean. The process left behind a vestige of dense, titanium-rich material beneath its Earth-facing side that makes its presence known by gravity anomalies.
Published Climate change threatens Antarctic meteorites
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Antarctica harbors a large concentration of meteorites imbuing the icy continent with an unparalleled wealth of information on our solar system. However, these precious meteorites are rapidly disappearing from the ice sheet surface due to global warming, according to a new study.
Published In the evolution of walking, the hip bone connected to the rib bones
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source A new reconstruction of the 375-million-year-old fossil fish Tiktaalik -- a close relative of limbed vertebrates -- used micro-CT to reveal bones still embedded in matrix. The reconstruction shows that the fish's ribs likely attached to its pelvis, an innovation thought to be crucial to supporting the body and for the eventual evolution of walking.