Paleontologists Believe 2.5 Billion T. rex Roamed the Earth Over the Cretaceous Period
Over their entire late-Cretaceous reign, the total number of Tyrannosaurus rex that ever lived on Earth was roughly 2.5 billion individuals, according to a new…
American Association for the Advancement of Science
Origin of Modern Rainforests Traced to Cataclysmic Asteroid Impact That Destroyed Nearly 75% of All Terrestrial Life on Earth
In an analysis of thousands of fossil pollen and leaves spanning the Cretaceous-Paleogene (K/Pg) boundary, researchers found that the cataclysmic asteroid impact that resulted in…
Bizarre Manta-Like Sharks Once Soared Through Late Cretaceous Oceans
Introducing a “bizarre” shark from the Late Cretaceous that, more than 66 million years ago, plied the seas feasting upon plankton while soaring through the…
Earth Has a Hot New Neighbor: Discovery of a Nearby Exoplanet Suitable for Atmospheric Investigation
Using both transit and radial velocity data, researchers discovered Gliese 486 b — a super-Earth exoplanet orbiting the nearby red dwarf star Gliese 486. At…
Major Los Angeles Earthquake Threat May Be Posed by Overlooked Strand of the Southern San Andreas Fault
Addressing uncertainties about where large earthquakes are most likely to occur along the southern San Andreas fault, which splits into multiple strands east of Los…
Black Hole in Cygnus X-1 Is So Massive That It Challenges Current Stellar Evolution Models
Weighing in at roughly 21 solar masses, the black hole in the X-ray binary system Cygnus X-1 is so massive that it challenges current stellar…
Spread of Respiratory Virus Linked to a Rare and Mysterious Paralyzing Disease
Harnessing a predictive algorithm, Sang Woo Park and colleagues have mapped out new trends in the incidence of the respiratory virus enterovirus D68 in the…
COVID-19: An Analysis of Coronavirus Mutations in More Than 1,000 People
An analysis of SARS-CoV-2 genome diversity in more than 1,000 people in the United Kingdom suggests that if viral mutations do arise, they can be…
Using Google’s 10,000-km-Long Underwater Fiber-Optic Cable as a Seafloor Seismic Sensor
Using “Curie” — Google’s 10,000-kilometer-long underwater fiber-optic cable connecting Los Angeles, California and Valparaiso, Chile — researchers have demonstrated a novel method for detecting deep-sea…
Earth’s Magnetic Field Reversal 42,000 Years Ago Triggered a Global Environmental Crisis
Nearly 42,000 years ago, when Earth’s magnetic fields reversed, this triggered major environmental changes, extinction events, and long-term changes in human behavior, a new study…
New Measurement of the Hubble Constant – Rate of Expansion of the Universe – From Combined Observations of Neutron Stars
Combining signals from multiple observations of neutron stars has allowed researchers to better understand the properties of ultra-dense matter and constrain the Hubble constant, which…
Dazzling Array of Complex Shapes Found in Planetary Nebulae Generated by Stellar Winds Interaction With Binary Companions
Interactions with binary companions shape the stellar winds blowing from elderly stars, generating the dazzling array of complex shapes found in the planetary nebulae they…
Unexpected Discovery of Star Cluster With Extreme Composition on Outskirts of the Nearby Andromeda Galaxy
Low-Metallicity Globular Star Cluster Challenges Formation Models On the outskirts of the nearby Andromeda Galaxy, researchers have unexpectedly discovered a globular cluster (GC) — a…
A Little-Known Threat: Infectious Microbes (Harmful Living Bacteria and Fungi) in Wildfire Smoke
Smoke from the growing number of annual wildfires across the western United States and Australia has led to lengthy periods of unhealthy and hazardous air…
Science’s 2020 Breakthrough of the Year: Effective COVID-19 Vaccines
For many, 2020 was a year of life suspended, as the novel coronavirus spread rapidly across the planet and forced people indoors — often far…
Where to Sit in a Car and Which Windows to Put Down to Prevent COVID-19 Transmission
Airflows inside passenger cars and implications for airborne disease transmission. A new series of computational fluid dynamics simulations suggests that, for two people who must…
Portable Saliva-Based Smartphone Platform Could Rapidly Expand COVID-19 Testing
A smartphone-read ultrasensitive and quantitative saliva test for COVID-19. Offering an ultrasensitive yet accessible approach to COVID-19 testing, a portable saliva-based smartphone platform provides results…
COVID-19 Scientists Recognized With 2020 Golden Goose Award
The ninth annual Golden Goose Award ceremony on December 1, 2020 will recognize three teams of scientists whose research has greatly benefited society. Led by…