Polar vortices are present in planetary atmospheres, from the Earth-like rocky planets to Jupiter- and Saturn-like gas giants. However, not much is known about their existence and characteristics on our Sun due to the present lack of direct observations at the poles. Unlike planetary atmospheres, the subsurface layers of the Sun are highly influenced by

Skiphosoura bavarica, a species of pterosaur that lived around 149 million years ago in what is now southern Germany, bridges the gaps between the early monofenestratan pterosaurs and the later pterodactyloids. Life restoration of two Skiphosoura bavarica in flight. Image credit: Gabriel Ugueto. For two hundred years, paleontologists split the pterosaurs into two major groups

In a new paper published today in the journal Optica, physicists describe how a laser beam can be made to cast a shadow that behaves as any other ordinary shadow. Photographic images of the shadow of a laser beam; a high-power green laser beam (the object), traveling through a cube of ruby, is illuminated from

Astronomers using the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope have discovered three ultra-massive galaxies — nearly as massive as our own Milky Way Galaxy — already in place within the first billion years after the Big Bang. Part of the JWST/FRESCO survey, this discovery indicates that stars in the early Universe grew much more rapidly than

Until now, β-hydroxybutyrate (BHB) has been known as a compound produced by the liver to be used as fuel. In a new study, researchers discovered that BHB also participates in another metabolic pathway; in this case, an enzyme called CNDP2 joins BHB to amino acids; furthermore, the most abundant BHB-amino acid, N-β-hydroxybutyryl phenylalanine (BHB-Phe), can

In 1961, American astrophysicist and astrobiologist Dr. Frank Drake devised an equation in which several factors are multiplied together to estimate the number of intelligent civilizations in our Milky Way Galaxy capable of making their presence known to humans. More than 60 years on, astrophysicists have produced a different model which instead focuses on the

Jay-yi Nah is an underwater archaeological site dating to the Early Classic Maya period (250-600 CE) that focused on salt production for local use or perhaps local production for down-the-line trading. Incurved wall bowls from the sea-floor survey at Jay-yi Nah in Belize. Image credit: H. McKillop. The diet of the Maya civilization focused primarily

Marine biologists at Queensland Museum Kurilpa have described a new species of hermit crab, Strigopagurus fragarchela (common name is the strawberry-clawed hermit), from the continental shelf off south‑east Queensland, Australia. Strigopagurus fragarchela. Image credit: Queensland Museum. “The central Indo-West Pacific diogenid genus Strigopagurus currently contains five species: Strigopagurus strigimanus, Strigopagurus bilineatus, Strigopagurus boreonotus, Strigopagurus elongatus