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Using the 1.5 PetaFLOPS MilkyWay@home distributed supercomputer, astronomers have calculated the original mass and size of a dwarf galaxy that was shredded in a collision with our own Milky Way Galaxy several billions of years ago. An artist’s impression of a dwarf galaxy. Image credit: Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. A few dozen dwarf galaxies are known to orbit around our Milky Way Galaxy. Over...

As part of the Breakthrough Starshot Initiative, University of Pennsylvania researcher Igor Bargatin and his colleagues are designing the size, shape and materials for a light sail accelerated to relativistic speeds — speeds approaching the speed of light — by powerful lasers. Campbell et al. show that the diameter and radius of curvature of a circular light sail should be comparable...

In a new paper published this week in the journal Science Advances, paleoanthropologists report hominin fossils from Grotte Mandrin in France that reveal the presence of anatomically modern Homo sapiens in Europe between 56,800 and 51,700 years ago. The discovery indicates that the movement of modern humans into Europe and the overlap with Neanderthals is more complex than previously thought. View...

Woodwardopterus freemanorum was over 1 m (3.3 feet) in length and lived some 252 million years ago (Late Permian epoch) in a freshwater environment. Life reconstruction of Woodwardopterus freemanorum. Image credit: Alison Douglas. Woodwardopterus freemanorum lived in what is now Australia approximately 252 million years ago. The ancient creature belongs to Eurypterida (sea scorpions), an extinct...

Early stone tools represent one of the most important technological milestones in human evolution. The production and use of sharp stone tools significantly widened the ecological niche of our ancestors, allowing them to exploit new food resources. However, despite their importance, it is still unclear how these early stone technologies emerged and which behaviors served as stepping-stones for the...

Physicists at the University of Chicago have demonstrated formation of a new kind of quantum object — dubbed a ‘domain wall’ — in a Bose-Einstein condensate. Their result can help scientists better understand exotic quantum particles and could suggest avenues for new technologies in the future. A ‘domain wall’ in this image is the lighter line between two groups of atoms. Image...

Evidence suggests that caffeine reduces cardiovascular disease risk. However, the mechanism by which this occurs is still unknown. In a new study, researchers from McMaster University and elsewhere investigated the effect of caffeine on the expression of two regulators of circulating low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol — or ‘bad’ cholesterol — levels. Caffeine blocks PCSK9 expression...

Two teams of genetic researchers have sequenced the genome of the numbat (Myrmecobius fasciatus), a critically endangered Australian insectivorous marsupial and the last surviving member of the family Myrmecobiidae. The genome map will enable scientists and conservationists to make better informed decisions about how to safeguard the species into the future. The numbat (Myrmecobius fasciatus). Image...ConvaTec Natura SUR-FIT Skin Barrier Ref#: 411802

Calcium silicate perovskite (CaSiO3) is arguably the most geochemically important phase in the Earth’s lower mantle, because it concentrates elements that are incompatible in the upper mantle. No one has ever successfully retrieved this high-pressure compound from the lower mantle before. This is because CaSiO3-perovskite is ‘unquenchable,’ meaning that it cannot retain its structure after...

Evidence suggests that caffeine reduces cardiovascular disease risk. However, the mechanism by which this occurs is still unknown. In a new study, researchers from McMaster University and elsewhere investigated the effect of caffeine on the expression of two regulators of circulating low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol — or ‘bad’ cholesterol — levels. Caffeine blocks PCSK9 expression...