The destructive power of an impacting asteroid is primarily estimated by knowledge of its size. The near-Earth asteroid 2024 YR4 reached a peak 2032 impact probability with Earth of 3%, motivating a desire to determine its size. Owing to its infrared capabilities, the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope is uniquely suited for such assessment. Johns…
Light from an extremely distant spiral galaxy was bent and magnified by the gravity of a member of the galaxy cluster SMACSJ0028.2-7537 into a ring-like structure, called an Einstein ring. This composite image, which combines data from Webb’s Near-InfraRed Camera (NIRCam), Hubble’s Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3) and the Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS) instruments,…
New research from the University of Bristol provides evidence that many mammals were already shifting toward a more ground-based lifestyle leading up to the end-Cretaceous mass extinction that wiped out non-avian dinosaurs 66 million years ago. Dryolestes, a Late Jurassic relative of Cretaceous therian mammals. Image credit: James Brown / Pamela Gill / University of…
Certain lichen species can withstand Mars-like conditions with an X-ray radiation dose of 50 Gy (Grays) that is expected on the Mars surface over one year of strong solar activity, according to new research from Jagiellonian University and the Space Research Centre at the Polish Academy of Sciences. Morphological and anatomical characteristics of Cetraria aculeata…
An unexpected phenomenon called convection could help explain many of the volcanoes and other features of the Venusian landscape. Artist’s impression of a volcano erupting on Venus. Image credit: ESA / AOES Medialab. “Nobody had really considered the possibility of convection in the crust of Venus before,” said Washington University in St. Louis Professor Slava…
A 20-year Hubble study of Uranus provide valuable data for understanding the atmospheric dynamics of this distant ice giant, which can serve as a proxy for studying exoplanets of similar size and composition. The image columns show the change of Uranus for the four years that Hubble’s STIS instrument observed Uranus across a 20-year period….
Astronomers using the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope have captured an amazing new photo of the spiral galaxy NGC 4941. This Hubble image shows NGC 4941, a spiral galaxy some 67 million light-years away in the constellation of Virgo. The color image is composed of near-infrared, optical and ultraviolet observations from Hubble’s Wide Field Camera 3…
A paleontologist at the University of Leicester has described a new genus and species of enigmatic multisegmented arthropod using a fossilized specimen found over two decades ago in South Africa. Keurbos susanae. Image credit: Sarah Gabbott / University of Leicester. Scientifically named Keurbos susanae and nicknamed ‘Sue’ after its discoverer’s mum, the ancient arthropod lived…
The origin of life on Earth required a supply of phosphorus for the synthesis of universal biomolecules. Closed lakes may have accumulated high concentrations of this element on early Earth. However, it is not clear whether prebiotic phosphorus uptake in such settings would then have been sustainable. New research by scientists from ETH Zurich, the…
These toxin delivery systems are fully analogous to and often rival the complexity of venom delivery systems found in animals such as venomous snakes, scorpions and spiders. Four representative plant species showcasing venom delivery systems: (A) co-habiting ants that numerous ant-plants provide a home and food for; (B) haustria of parasitic plants that attack other…
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