Using sensitive instruments onboard ESA’s International Gamma-Ray Astrophysics Laboratory (Integral) mission, astronomers have detected a gamma-ray burst named GRB 231115A from the center of Messier 82 (M82, NGC 3034 or the Cigar Galaxy), a starburst irregular galaxy located 12 million light-years away in the constellation of Ursa Major. They suggest that GRB 231115A’s spectral and timing properties,...

ESA’s Mars Express spacecraft have spotted the telltale traces of ‘spiders’ scattered across the southern polar region of Mars. This image of the Martian Inca City was captured by the High Resolution Stereo Camera onboard ESA’s Mars Express orbiter on February 27, 2024. Image credit: ESA / DLR / FU Berlin. “Rather than being actual spiders, the Martian ‘spiders’ form when spring sunshine...

New archaeological excavations have revealed repeated phases of human occupation of Umm Jirsan lava tube in the Harrat Khaybar, north-western Saudi Arabia, ranging from at least the Neolithic through to the Chalcolithic/Bronze Age (10,000-3,500 years ago). Photographs of Umm Jirsan Cave and its interior sections. Image credit: Stewart et al., doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0299292. Intensified field research...

Paleontologists have discovered the tracks of a 5-m- (16.4-foot-) long troodontid at the Longxiang locality in the Chinese province of Fujian. An illustrated reconstruction of the Fujianipus yingliangi track-maker. Image credit: Yingliang. The Longxiang tracksite includes twelve two-toed tracks that fall into two morphologies, differentiated by both size and form. The smaller tracks, around 11 cm...

An international team of scientists has created the tree of life for almost 8,000 (about 60%) genera of flowering plants (angiosperms). This achievement sheds new light on the evolutionary history of flowering plants and their rise to ecological dominance on Earth. Time-calibrated phylogenetic tree for angiosperms based on 353 nuclear genes; all 64 orders, all 416 families and 58% (7,923) of genera...

Goldene in the form of gold monolayer sheets has been prepared by etching away titanium carbide (Ti3C2) slabs from titanium gold carbide (Ti3AuC2). Preparation of goldene. Image credit: Kashiwaya et al., doi: 10.1038/s44160-024-00518-4. “If you make a material extremely thin, something extraordinary happens — as with graphene. The same thing happens with gold,” said Dr. Shun Kashiwaya,...

According to several international, regional, and national guidelines on high blood pressure, or hypertension, lifestyle interventions are the first-line treatment to lower blood pressure. Although diet is one of the major lifestyle modifications described in hypertension guidelines, dietary fiber is not specified. Suboptimal intake of foods high in fiber, such as in Westernized diets, is a major...

An international team of scientists has created the tree of life for almost 8,000 (about 60%) genera of flowering plants (angiosperms). This achievement sheds new light on the evolutionary history of flowering plants and their rise to ecological dominance on Earth. Time-calibrated phylogenetic tree for angiosperms based on 353 nuclear genes; all 64 orders, all 416 families and 58% (7,923) of genera...

Recovering ancient records of Earth’s magnetic field is challenging because the magnetization in rocks is often reset by heating during tectonic burial over their long and complex geological histories. Geoscientists from MIT and elsewhere show that rocks from the Isua Supracrustal Belt in West Greenland have experienced three thermal events throughout their geological history. The first event was...

Recovering ancient records of Earth’s magnetic field is challenging because the magnetization in rocks is often reset by heating during tectonic burial over their long and complex geological histories. Geoscientists from MIT and elsewhere show that rocks from the Isua Supracrustal Belt in West Greenland have experienced three thermal events throughout their geological history. The first event was...