Cosmic Cannon; Mars Dust Storm Forecast; Dione’s Subsurface Ocean
Astronomers Find a Cosmic Cannon Astronomers have spotted super-hot blobs of plasma blasting into space like cannonballs near a dying red giant star, some 1,200 light years away. Using the Hubble Space Telescope to make their discovery, the scientists found that the balls of hot gas are flying so fast a trip from the Earth […]
Monarch Butterfly Mexico Migration Hits All-time Low
One of nature’s most beautiful sights is when a monarch butterfly comes fluttering into view. Monarchs are the only known North American butterfly to migrate south for the winter, hibernating and returning in the spring as birds do. However, a new report finds the number of these butterflies hibernating in Mexico reached an all-time low […]
Studies Provide Fresh Insight into the Ancestry of Early Europeans
Two recently released studies have shed new light on ancient Europeans. Taking maternally-inherited mitochondrial DNA samples from bones and teeth of the skeletons of 364 people who lived about 5,000 years ago in what is now Central Europe, researchers in one study said that they were able to reconstruct the first detailed genetic history of […]
Whales Get Sunburned Too
Anyone who has experienced the searing pain of sunburn knows that too much sun can wreak havoc on your skin. Turns out that our fellow mammal, the whale, can also tan and get sunburn. A study published in ‘Scientific Reports, from the publishers of the journal Nature, reveals the sun produces an increase in pigment […]