The –est
- Paleontology
Earliest sea scorpion discovered in Iowa
Earliest sea scorpion discovered in impact crater in Iowa.
- Anthropology
Oldest humanlike hand bone discovered
Found at Tanzania’s Olduvai Gorge, pinkie bone is 1.84 million years old.
- Paleontology
50-million-year-old fossil sperm discovered
Ancient worm sperm preserved in 50-million-year-old cocoons from Antarctica set age record.
- Astronomy
Brightest galaxy discovered
The brightest known galaxy is about 350 trillion times as bright as the sun, and a supermassive black hole is to blame.
- Paleontology
Oldest known avian relative of today’s birds found in China
Fossil find suggests modern birds’ oldest avian relative lived about 6 million years before previous record holder.
- Physics
Rubidium atoms used to record coldest temperature — ever
A swarm of rubidium atoms has been cooled to about 50 trillionths of a kelvin, making it the coldest substance ever measured.
- Anthropology
People moved into rainforests much earlier than thought
People lived year-round in rainforests well before previous estimates, an analysis of teeth excavated in Sri Lanka suggests.
- Astronomy
Monster black hole lurks in the early universe
A black hole weighing the same as 12 billion suns is the most massive one known in the early universe.
- Astronomy
Closest star approach to the sun
Astronomers discover a binary system that made the closest known flyby of the sun.
- Climate
Super typhoon shoved supersized boulder
Typhoon Haiyan pushed a 180-ton boulder, the most massive rock ever seen moved by a storm.
- Astronomy
Water found on Neptune-sized world
Just four times as wide as Earth, HAT-P-11b is the smallest exoplanet known to store water in its atmosphere.
- Paleontology
World’s largest dinosaur discovered
A plant-eating dinosaur named Dreadnoughtus schrani has claimed the record for most massive land animal discovered to date.
