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Categories: Paleontology: Fossils, Space: The Solar System
Published Building materials for water-rich planets in the early solar system
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Age data for certain classes of meteorite have made it possible to gain new findings on the origin of small water-rich astronomical bodies in the early solar system. These planetesimals continually supplied building materials for planets -- also for the Earth, whose original material contained little water. The Earth received its actual water through planetesimals, which emerged at low temperatures in the outer solar system, as shown by computational models carried out by an international research teach with participation by earth scientists.
Published Ancient large kangaroo moved mainly on four legs, according to new research
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source A type of extinct kangaroo that lived during the Pleistocene around two and a half million to ten thousand years ago, known as the 'giant wallaby', was a poor hopper, a study has found.
Published Stench of a gas giant? Nearby exoplanet reeks of rotten eggs, and that's a good thing
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source An exoplanet infamous for its deadly weather has been hiding another bizarre feature -- it reeks of rotten eggs, according to a new study of data from the James Webb Space Telescope.
Published Ancient dingo DNA shows modern dingoes share little ancestry with modern dog breeds
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source A study of ancient dingo DNA revealed that the distribution of modern dingoes across Australia, including those on K'gari (formerly Fraser Island), pre-dates European colonization and interventions like the dingo-proof fence.
Published Moon 'swirls' could be magnetized by unseen magmas
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Mysterious, light-colored swirls on Moon's surface could be rocks magnetized by magma activity underground, laboratory experiments confirm.
Published Machine learning could aid efforts to answer long-standing astrophysical questions
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Physicists have developed a computer program incorporating machine learning that could help identify blobs of plasma in outer space known as plasmoids. In a novel twist, the program has been trained using simulated data.
Published Giant salamander-like creature was a top predator in the ice age before the dinosaurs
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Meet Gaiasia jennyae, the swamp creature with a toilet seat-shaped head. It lived 40 million years before the first dinosaurs, and it was the top predator in its ecosystem.
Published Extinct humans survived on the Tibetan plateau for 160,000 years
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Bone remains found in a Tibetan cave 3,280 m above sea level indicate an ancient group of humans survived here for many millennia.
Published Organic material from Mars reveals the likely origin of life's building blocks
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Two samples from Mars together deliver clear evidence of the origin of Martian organic material. The study presents solid evidence for a prediction made over a decade ago that could be key to understanding how organic molecules, the foundation of life, were first formed here on Earth.
Published Sixty-million-year-old grape seeds reveal how the death of the dinosaurs may have paved the way for grapes to spread
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Scientists discovered the oldest fossil grapes in the Western Hemisphere, which help show how after the death of the dinosaurs, grapes spread across the world.
Published This desert moss has the potential to grow on Mars
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source The desert moss Syntrichia caninervis is a promising candidate for Mars colonization thanks to its extreme ability to tolerate harsh conditions lethal to most life forms. The moss is well known for its ability to tolerate drought conditions, but researchers now report that it can also survive freezing temperatures as low as 196 C, high levels of gamma radiation, and simulated Martian conditions involving these three stressors combined. In all cases, prior dehydration seemed to help the plants cope.
Published New class of Mars quakes reveals daily meteorite strikes
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source An international team of researchers combine orbital imagery with seismological data from NASA's Mars InSight lander to derive a new impact rate for meteorite strikes on Mars. Seismology also offers a new tool for determining the density of Mars' craters and the age of different regions of a planet.
Published Ammonites' fate sealed by meteor strike that wiped out dinosaurs
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Ammonites were not in decline before their extinction, scientists have found.
Published Prehistoric 'Pompeii' discovered: Most pristine trilobite fossils ever found shake up scientific understanding of the long extinct group
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Researchers have described some of the best-preserved three-dimensional trilobite fossils ever discovered. The fossils, which are more than 500 million years old, were collected in the High Atlas of Morocco and are being referred to by scientists as 'Pompeii' trilobites due to their remarkable preservation in ash.
Published Why the harsh Snowball Earth kick-started our earliest multicellular ancestors
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Why did multicellularity arise? Solving that mystery may help pinpoint life on other planets and explain the vast diversity and complexity seen on Earth today, from sea sponges to redwoods to human society. A new article shows how specific physical conditions -- especially ocean viscosity and resource deprivation -- during the global glaciation period known as Snowball Earth could have driven eukaryotes to turn multicellular.
Published Almonds, pottery, wood help date famed Kyrenia shipwreck
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Researchers have identified the likeliest timeline of the famous Hellenistic-era Kyrenia shipwreck, discovered and recovered off the north coast of Cyprus in the 1960s.
Published Shocked quartz reveals evidence of historical cosmic airburst
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Researchers continue to expand the case for the Younger Dryas Impact hypothesis. The idea proposes that a fragmented comet smashed into the Earth's atmosphere 12,800 years ago, causing a widespread climatic shift that, among other things, led to the abrupt reversal of the Earth's warming trend and into an anomalous near-glacial period called the Younger Dryas.
Published Surprising phosphate finding in NASA's OSIRIS-REx asteroid sample
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Early analysis of the asteroid Bennu sample returned by NASA's OSIRIS-REx mission has revealed dust rich in carbon, nitrogen, and organic compounds, all of which are essential components for life as we know it. Dominated by clay minerals, particularly serpentine, the sample mirrors the type of rock found at mid-ocean ridges on Earth. The magnesium-sodium phosphate found in the sample hints that the asteroid could have splintered off from an ancient, small, primitive ocean world.
Published New evidence for how heat is transported below the sun's surface
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Solar physicists have revealed the interior structure of the sun's supergranules, a flow structure that transports heat from the sun's hidden interior to its surface. The researchers' analysis of the supergranules presents a challenge to the current understanding of solar convection.
Published Telltale greenhouse gases could signal alien activity
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source If aliens modified a planet in their solar system to make it warmer, we'd be able to tell. A new study identifies the artificial greenhouse gases that would be giveaways of a terraformed planet.