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Yearly Archives: 2020
Biosignatures may reveal a wealth of new data locked inside old fossils
Step aside, skeletons—a new world of biochemical 'signatures' found in all kinds of ancient fossils is revealing itself to paleontologists, providing a new avenue...
Archaeologists date earliest known occupation of North America
A team led by Newcastle University, UK, used analysis of ancient coprolites—fossilized excrement—to identify that samples from one of the most famous "pre-Clovis" sites...
Blast sends star hurtling across the Milky Way
An exploding white dwarf star blasted itself out of its orbit with another star in a "partial supernova" and is now hurtling across our...
Physicists introduce novel mechanism for electron optics in solid-state systems
Electrons can interfere in the same manner as water, acoustical or light waves do. When exploited in solid-state materials, such effects promise novel functionality...
Astronomers map massive structure beyond Laniakea Supercluster
For the past decade, an international team of astronomers, led in part by Brent Tully at the University of Hawaiʻi Institute for Astronomy, has...
Researchers find younger age for Earth’s moon
The moon formed a little later than previously assumed. When a Mars-sized protoplanet was destroyed in a collision with the young Earth, a new...
Two bizarre brown dwarfs found with citizen scientists’ help
With the help of citizen scientists, astronomers have discovered two highly unusual brown dwarfs, balls of gas that are not massive enough to power...
Liquid crystals create easy-to-read, color-changing sensors
Chameleons are famous for their color-changing abilities. Depending on their body temperature or mood, their nervous system directs skin tissue that contains nanocrystals to...
New research shows that laser spectral linewidth is classical-physics phenomenon
New ground-breaking research from the University of Surrey could change the way scientists understand and describe lasers—establishing a new relationship between classical and quantum...
Arctic Ocean changes driven by sub-Arctic seas
New research explores how lower-latitude oceans drive complex changes in the Arctic Ocean, pushing the region into a new reality distinct from the 20th-century...
To engineers’ surprise, radiation can slow corrosion of some materials
Radiation nearly always degrades the materials exposed to it, hastening their deterioration and requiring replacement of key components in high-radiation environments such as nuclear...
