Astronomers detect ancient lonely quasars with murky origins
A quasar is the extremely bright core of a galaxy that hosts an active supermassive black hole at its center. As the black hole draws in surrounding gas and dust, it blasts out an enormous amount of energy, making quasars some of the brightest object.....»»
Ancient meets modern as a new subway in Greece showcases archaeological treasures
Greece's second largest city, Thessaloniki, is getting a brand new subway system that will showcase archaeological discoveries made during construction that held up the project for decades......»»
Oldest direct evidence of hot water activity on Mars found
New Curtin University-led research has uncovered what may be the oldest direct evidence of ancient hot water activity on Mars, revealing the planet may have been habitable at some point in its past......»»
Ancient fish-trapping network supported the rise of Maya civilization
The Maya were landscape engineers on a grand scale, even when it came to fishing. On the eve of the rise of the Maya civilization, people living in what’s now Belize turned a wh.....»»
Hubble finds sizzling details about young star FU Orionis
In 1936, astronomers saw a puzzling event in the constellation Orion: the young star FU Orionis (FU Ori) became a hundred times brighter in a matter of months. At its peak, FU Ori was intrinsically 100 times brighter than our sun. Unlike an exploding.....»»
Astronomers snap first up-close image of a star outside our galaxy
Astronomers have taken a detailed image of a star outside of the Milky Way for the first time......»»
Child safety org flags new CSAM with AI trained on real child sex abuse images
AI will make it harder to spread CSAM online, child safety org says. For years, hashing technology has made it possible for platforms to automatically detect known child sexual ab.....»»
A nearby supernova could end the search for dark matter
The search for the universe's dark matter could end tomorrow—given a nearby supernova and a little luck. The nature of dark matter has eluded astronomers for 90 years, since the realization that 85% of the matter in the universe is not visible thro.....»»
Are fast radio bursts caused by interstellar objects crashing into neutron stars?
Every now and then, astronomers will detect an odd kind of radio signal. So powerful it can outshine a galaxy, but lasting only milliseconds. They are known as fast radio bursts (FRBs). When they were first discovered a couple of decades ago, we had.....»»
Astronomers take first close-up picture of a star outside our galaxy
Located a staggering 160,000 light-years from us, the star WOH G64 was imaged thanks to the impressive sharpness offered by the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope Interferometer (ESO's VLTI). The new observations reveal a star puffi.....»»
Child safety org launches AI model trained on real child sex abuse images
AI will make it harder to spread CSAM online, child safety org says. For years, hashing technology has made it possible for platforms to automatically detect known child sexual ab.....»»
Scientists uncover cross-species neural mechanism for early detection of life motion in visual processing
Visual systems of both humans and animals can detect life motion from the environment at the earliest stage of visual processing, research by scientists from the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) uncovered......»»
Chandra and Hubble tune into "flame-throwing" Guitar Nebula
Normally found only in heavy metal bands or certain post-apocalyptic films, a "flame-throwing guitar" has now been spotted moving through space. Astronomers have captured movies of this extreme cosmic object using NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory and.....»»
Oldest known alphabet unearthed in ancient Syrian city
What appears to be evidence of the oldest alphabetic writing in human history is etched onto finger-length, clay cylinders excavated from a tomb in Syria by a team of Johns Hopkins University researchers......»»
Minecraft Movie trailer explores the origins of Steve
Where "anything you can imagine is possible—as long as what you imagine can be built out of blocks." Jack Black stars as Steve in A Minecraft Movie......»»
Researchers use immersive 3D tech to document and study the human past
Archaeologists from the Faculty of Arts at the University of Hong Kong (HKU) are revolutionizing the excavation and documentation of ancient sites with cutting-edge 3D immersive technologies......»»
Dedicated Roman gladiator superfans were the football hooligans of their day
In the amphitheater of Gladiator II, Ridley Scott trains his lens on fighters and emperors—but no account of ancient gladiators is complete without its devotees......»»
Superior photosynthesis abilities of some plants could hold key to climate-resilient crops
More than 3 billion years ago, on an Earth entirely covered with water, photosynthesis first evolved in ancient bacteria. In the following millions of years, those bacteria evolved into plants, optimizing themselves along the way for various environm.....»»
Observations inspect double-lined spectroscopic binary HD 34736
Using various telescopes, an international team of astronomers has conducted a comprehensive study of a double-lined spectroscopic binary known as HD 34736. The study, published November 6 in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, del.....»»
Unlocking the secrets of the first quasars: How they defy the laws of physics to grow
In an article published in the Astronomy & Astrophysics journal, new evidence suggests how supermassive black holes, with masses of several billion times that of our sun, formed so rapidly in less than a billion years after the Big Bang......»»
Algorithm predicts DNA methylation in ancient specimens, providing insight into human evolution
Research published in Nature Ecology & Evolution introduces a novel method for inferring DNA methylation patterns in non-skeletal tissues from ancient specimens, providing new insights into human evolution. As DNA methylation is a key marker of gene.....»»