News
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AnimalsA newly discovered cell helps pythons poop out the bones of their prey
The cells helps the snakes absorb the bones of their prey — and might show up in other animals that chomp their meals whole.
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PaleontologyHow an ancient marine predator snuck up on its prey
Serrations at the edges of a fossilized flipper of the ancient marine reptile Temnodontosaurus suggests it may have been able to swim silently.
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Planetary ScienceThis star offers the earliest peek at the birth of a planetary system like ours
A young sunlike star called HOPS 315 seems to host a swirling disk of gas giving rise to minerals that kick-start the planet formation process.
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SpaceIn a first, an image shows a dying star exploded twice to become a supernova
The image offers the first evidence for a previously unconfirmed origin story of type 1a supernovas.
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Health & MedicineProtein signatures may one day tell brain diseases apart before symptoms
Blood tests could pave the way for distinguishing between Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and some dementias, aiding early treatment for brain diseases.
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Health & MedicineOrgan age, not just your birthday, may determine your health risks
Blood proteins that reveal some organs age faster than others — and that may predict disease and lifespan.
By Celina Zhao -
SpaceThe biggest black hole smashup ever detected challenges physics theories
Gravitational waves spotted by LIGO reveal two black holes, 140 and 100 times the mass of the sun, merged to become a 225 solar mass behemoth.
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SpaceA newly discovered interstellar object might predate the solar system
3I/ATLAS might be over 7 billion years old, a new study reports, which would make it the oldest comet known. But experts caution we need more data.
By Celina Zhao -
ChemistryGut microbes may flush ‘forever chemicals’ from the body
Experiments in mice show that some gut bacteria can absorb toxic PFAS chemicals, allowing animals to expel them through feces.
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Planetary ScienceNew Horizons visited Pluto 10 years ago. We’re still learning from it
Over the past decade, researchers have been puzzling through Pluto’s mysteries. Meanwhile, the New Horizons probe heads for interstellar space.
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AnimalsGreenland sled dog DNA is a window into the Arctic’s archaeological past
A genomic analysis of Greenland’s Qimmeq dogs suggest they and their human partners arrived on the island centuries earlier than previously thought.
By Jake Buehler -
AnimalsAs bird flu evolves, keeping it out of farm flocks is getting harder
New versions of the H5N1 virus are increasingly adept at spreading. Suggestions to either let it rip in poultry or vaccinate the birds could backfire.