An international team of astronomers has precisely located one of the most-observed variable-star systems in the sky – a double-star system called SS Cygni – at 372 light-years away. Artist’s conception of the double-star system SS Cygni (David T Hardy) This new measurement of the distance to SS Cygni has finally allowed scientists to solve a decade-old puzzle, confirming understanding...

Geologists led by Dr Lydia Hallis from the University of Hawaii have examined a meteorite that formed on Mars more than 1 billion years ago to determine if conditions were ever right on the planet to sustain life. Miller Range 03346 nakhlite (NASA) The meteorite, called Miller Range 03346 nakhlite (MIL 03346), was recovered in 2003 in the Miller Range of Antarctica. About the size of a tennis ball...

A new study reported in the journal Nature Communications indicates that the Minoans, who 5,000 years ago established the first advanced Bronze Age civilization in present-day Crete, probably were descendents of the first Neolithic humans to reach the island around 7,000 BC and that they have the greatest genetic similarity with modern European populations. The study highlights the high affinity...

Paleontologists from the United States and Canada have described a new species of dinosaur named Albertadromeus syntarsus, the smallest herbivorous dinosaur known from Canada. Life reconstruction of Albertadromeus syntarsus (Julius T. Csotonyi) Albertadromeus syntarsus lived in what is now southern Alberta in the Late Cretaceous about 77 million years ago. It was identified from a partial hind leg,...

German entomologists Dr Bernhard Seifert from the Senckenberg Museum für Naturkunde Görlitz and Dr Sabine Frohschammer from the University of Regensburg have discovered a new enigmatic species of ant in the Philippines. This image shows the bizarre eye pattern of the new pirate ant Cardiocondyla pirata (Bernhard Seifert) The newly discovered ant species, named Cardiocondyla pirata or the pirate...

In ground-breaking experiments conducted at the radioactive isotope facility ISOLDE at CERN, a multinational research team has investigated the atomic structure of astatine (At), the rarest atom on our planet. Resonance ionization laser ion source of ISOLDE (CERN) Astatine was discovered by D. Corson and co-workers in 1940 by bombarding a bismuth target with alpha particles. The most stable isotope...

U.S. researchers studying zebrafish have found that riboflavin, also known as vitamin B2, may mitigate the toxic effects of cyanide. Zebrafish. The inset shows riboflavin powder (Fraser B et al / Patrícia R / CC BY-SA 3 The study, reported in the FASEB Journal, also shows that zebrafish are a viable model for investigating the effects of cyanide on humans. “As with any research involving animal...

A team of genetic scientists led by Dr Shu-Jin Luo from Peking University in Beijing, using whole-genome sequences of white and normally-colored Bengal tigers, has revealed that a mutation in a single pigment gene, called SLC45A2, is responsible for the unusual coloration of white tigers. A white tiger in captivity (S. Klimov / CC BY 3.0) “The white tiger, an elusive Bengal tiger (Panthera tigris...

Researchers from Canada and the United Kingdom led by Prof Chris Ballentine from the University of Manchester have discovered ancient water pockets that have been isolated deep underground for more than a billion years. Billion year old sparkling water (J. Moran) The scientists analyzed water pouring out of boreholes from a mine 1.5 miles (2.4 km) beneath Ontario, Canada. According to their study...

Scientists led by Dr Manish Arora from the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai have reported that they can now use fossil teeth to calculate when a Neanderthal baby was weaned. Neanderthal family (Field Museum) Their new technique is based in part on knowledge gained from studies of teeth from human infants and from macaques at the California National Primate Research Center. Prof Katie Hinde...