Sci.News: Breaking Science News

Gliese 523b (GJ 523b) is a young, ultra-dense planet that orbits almost perpendicular to its star’s spin, according to a team of U.S. astronomers. The post Astronomers Discover Rare ‘Mega-Earth’ Exoplanet: Gliese 523b appeared first on Sci.News: Breaking Science News .

Researchers at King’s College London have identified a surprising new therapeutic mechanism for a type of heart failure called heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF), a condition that affects nearly half of all heart failure patients and has long resisted effective treatment. The post Natural Postbiotic Compound Shows Promise against Hard-to-Treat Heart Failure appeared first on S…

A fossilized bone unearthed two decades ago in northeastern Japan belongs to one of the smallest iguanodontian dinosaurs ever found in the country’s Cretaceous marine rocks, according to new research led by the University of Tsukuba. The post Fossil of Small Duck-Billed Dinosaur Relative Found in Japan appeared first on Sci.News: Breaking Science News .

A new genus and species of sauropterygian reptile that lived during the Triassic period, some 245 million years ago, has been identified from a nearly complete skeleton found in China. The post Spoon-Toothed, Short-Headed Marine Reptile Unearthed in China appeared first on Sci.News: Breaking Science News .

For nearly 110 years, biologists have puzzled over why domestic cats’ kidneys are packed with unusually large numbers of fat-storing structures called lipid droplets. The post Scientists Solve Century-Old Feline Mystery appeared first on Sci.News: Breaking Science News .

Astronomers have spotted a faint, previously unknown star whipping around Sagittarius A*, the Milky Way’s supermassive black hole, on the tightest and most extreme orbit ever recorded. The post Newly-Discovered Star Could Finally Reveal Spin of Our Galaxy’s Central Black Hole appeared first on Sci.News: Breaking Science News .

Dr. Ian Towle, a researcher with the Biomedicine Discovery Institute at Monash University, proposes folding nearly 5 million years of hominin fossils into the genus Homo, arguing that traits once used to separate species -- big brains, tool use -- no longer hold up. The post Anthropologist Proposes Folding Australopithecus and Paranthropus into Genus Homo appeared first on Sci.News: Breaking Scie…

Paleontologists in China have identified a new species of armored, jawless fish from rocks around 419 million years old whose skull was shaped like the wing of a bat and whose unusual head made it an efficient glider through Devonian seas. The post Meet Bataspis crux, Jawless Fish that Cruised Devonian Seas with Batwing Head appeared first on Sci.News: Breaking Science News .

A Neanderthal pelvis -- the basin-shaped ring of bones at the base of the spin -- discovered decades ago may help explain an unusual feature of modern human anatomy: why the pelvises of men and women are shaped so differently. The post Neanderthal Pelvis May Reveal Why Modern Men and Women Walk Differently appeared first on Sci.News: Breaking Science News .

Astronomers using the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope have found definitive evidence that the young Milky Way swallowed a dwarf galaxy just two billion years after the Big Bang, revealing one of the earliest major mergers in the history of our Galaxy. The Milky Way today is a massive spiral galaxy home to hundreds of billions […] The post Milky Way Swallowed Dwarf Galaxy Nearly 11.8 Billion Years…

Two fossilized leg bones of Denisovans dredged decades ago from the seafloor off Taiwan indicate that at least some members of the group were remarkably large-bodied. The post Denisovans Were Surprisingly Tall, New Fossils from Taiwan Suggest appeared first on Sci.News: Breaking Science News .

Archaeopteryx -- the first ever bird to inhabit the Earth -- may have hopped its way into the air, rather than launching with the single powerful leap modern birds use, according to a new biomechanical study published in the journal Developmental Biology. The post Archaeopteryx Took Off with Series of Hops, Not One Big Leap: Study appeared first on Sci.News: Breaking Science News .

Researchers from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and the Universidade NOVA de Lisboa have identified a molecular pathway that may explain how folic acid (vitamin B9) helps prevent neural tube defects, linking the vitamin to a key developmental signal made from vitamin A. The post Scientists Find Missing Piece in Folic Acid’s Role in Pregnancy appeared first on Sci.News: Breaking Science News .

Paleontologists have uncovered the first direct physical evidence that colossal prehistoric crocodiles hunted large plant-eating mammals in what is now Colombia roughly 12 million years ago. The post Giant Crocodiles Once Preyed on Massive Mammals in South America appeared first on Sci.News: Breaking Science News .

Scientists analyzing DNA of Madagascar’s iconic baobab trees have concluded that a widespread species called Adansonia za is actually two, formally resurrecting a name first given to the tree more than a century ago and raising the tally of baobab species native to the island from six to seven. The post New Baobab Species Identified in Madagascar appeared first on Sci.News: Breaking Science News .

A previously unrecognized species of the antthrush genus Chamaeza has been discovered in the isolated highland rainforests of northeastern Brazil. The post Ornithologists Discover New Bird Species in Brazil appeared first on Sci.News: Breaking Science News .

Using data from the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope, astronomers found that IRS 3 is still forging silicate dust and harboring water molecules despite the Galaxy’s most extreme radiation environment. The post Water and Dust Found Surviving near Milky Way’s Central Black Hole appeared first on Sci.News: Breaking Science News .

The baryon number appears to be carried not by the proton’s three quarks alone, but by the web of gluons that binds those quarks together -- a structure known as a baryon junction. The post Physicists Find Evidence for How Protons Carry Their Identity appeared first on Sci.News: Breaking Science News .

Astronomers propose that the dust-rich tori surrounding active galactic nuclei (AGN) -- the energetic cores of galaxies powered by feeding supermassive black holes -- behave much like the protoplanetary disks that spawn planets around young stars. The post Dusty Accretion Disks around Supermassive Black Holes May Be Secret Planet Factories appeared first on Sci.News: Breaking Science News .

Paleontologists studying a 236-million-year-old cynodont fossil from Argentina say they have found the earliest evidence yet of viviparity (live birth) in the evolutionary line that leads to mammals, pushing back the origin of this reproductive strategy by as much as 90 to 95 million years. The post Fossil Evidence Pushes Back Origin of Live Birth by 90 Million Years appeared first on Sci.News: B…