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New Research

This spectacular image of the Orion Nebula star-formation region was obtained from multiple exposures using the HAWK-I infrared camera on ESO’s Very Large Telescope in Chile.

New Research

Breathtaking New Images Capture Failed Stars and Planet-Sized Objects Inside the Orion Nebula

It’s the deepest look into the nebula ever seen before

Illustration of Gualicho shinyae hunting with its jaws, not arms.

Arm Day at the Gym Apparently Not a Thing for Newly Found, Tiny-Armed Dino

Turns out T. rex doesn’t have a copyright on those adorably awkward, itty-bitty arms

New Research

Did Ancient Pacific Islanders Use Obsidian to Make Their Tattoos?

A team of Australian researchers think they may have found tools used to ink the ancients

Rachel Kalisher, a member of the physical anthropology team, measures a 10th-9th century BC skeleton

Cool Finds

New Dig Shows the Philistines Weren’t Such Philistines

A graveyard containing over 200 sets of remains is giving researchers their first deep look into the little-known biblical tribe

New Research

Self-Lubricating Swordfish Secrete Oil to Swim Faster

Greased lightning, go greased lightning

New Research

What Do Goats, Puppies and Horses Have in Common?

Goats communicate with humans using eye contact, according to a new study

fMRI changed the way researchers look at the human brain.

New Research

New Study Calls the Reliability of Brain Scan Research Into Question

Three million analyses point to a problem with fMRI brain activity studies

New Research

Google’s Self-Driving Cars Are Learning to Recognize Cyclists’ Hand Signals

Cyclists, meet the nicest car you’ll ever share the road with

Young Syrian refugees play with donated paper and pens in the former Oxy transit camp in Lesvos, Greece.

Child Refugees Pose Unique Challenge for Mental Health Practitioners

As the crisis deepens, mental health experts move from questions of short-term survival to ones of longer-term rehabilitation

Photograph of the megalithic cluster of Carregal do Sal, one of the passage graves in Portugal that may have doubled as an ancient telescope.

New Research

These Ancient Tombs May Have Been Both Grave and Observatory

The best view of the heavens could be from within the tomb

Inside the quiet forests near what was once Ponar, Lithuania lie mass graves that contain up to 100,000 bodies. Now, archaeologists have discovered a tunnel that 80 survivors used to attempt to escape in 1944. Twelve succeeded.

New Research

Archaeologists Found a Hand-Dug Holocaust Escape Tunnel

The tunnel was dug by desperate prisoners using spoons

99-million-year-old flight feathers.

New Research

99-Million-Year-Old Bird Wings Found Encased in Amber

The rare fossils from the age of the dinosaurs look a lot like modern-day bird wings

A scientist looks at mirror segments for the NASA's James Webb Space Telescope. The mirrors underwent cryogenic testing—made possible by scarce helium gas—to see how they would respond to extreme temperatures. Now, scientists have found a huge cache of helium gas that could make the element more accessible to scientists.

New Research

Scientists Found a Huge Reservoir of Much-Needed Helium

Helium is used in everything from particle accelerators to MRI machines, and a dearth of the gas has long plagued researchers

Wieger Wamelink inspects his "Martian" crops

New Research

Researchers Will Soon Get Their First Taste of “Martian” Vegetables

After testing them for heavy metals, the scientists will eat vegetables grown in simulated Martian soil later this week

Wolfgang Neubauer (at Carnuntum’s center) estimates the population at 50,000.

Austria

The Discovery of a Roman Gladiator School Brings the Famed Fighters Back to Life

Located in Austria, the archaeological site is providing rich new details about the lives and deaths of the arena combatants

Screwworm Fly larva

Cool Finds

Researchers Studying “Teen Sex” and Flesh-Eating Maggots Win 2016 Golden Goose Awards

Both quirky and important, these studies went against the grain

New Research

Some Genes Remain “Alive” for Days After the Body Dies

Studies in animals show that even when a creature has ceased to live, some genes are still busy doing their thing

A view of twilight on Pluto

New Research

New Evidence Strengthens the Case for Pluto’s Underground Ocean

Features on the dwarf planet’s smooth surface suggest that not all is frozen on that tiny, distant world

The Sierra Nevadas were created by the fault that defines an entire state.

New Research

Land Around the Infamous San Andreas Fault Is on the Move

Scientists mapped how California rises and falls around its most famous fault

Co-author in the new study, Nick Longrich from the Milner Centre for Evolution at Bath University, poses with some mammal specimens.

New Research

The Event that Wiped out Dinosaurs Also Nearly Did in the Mammals

New estimates suggest a measly seven percent of mammals survived the extinction

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