The newly-discovered isotope, plutonium-227, has a half-life of 0.78 seconds, according to a team of physicists from China. The region of the nuclear chart 87≤Z≤97 and 112≤N≤136 shows the new isotope plutonium-227 (red star) and the 12 nuclides (blue star) that were discovered at the Institute of Modern Physics at the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
Archaeologists excavating Tam Pà Ling (Cave of Monkeys) in northeastern Laos have recovered fossil evidence for some of the earliest Homo sapiens presence in mainland Southeast Asia. Excavations in Tam Pà Ling, northeastern Laos. Image credit: Hernandez et al., doi: 10.1016/j.quascirev.2024.108982. “Using a technique known as microstratigraphy, we were able to reconstruct the cave conditions
Paleontologists have identified a new genus and species of sauropod dinosaur from a semi-articulated specimen found in the 1990s in northern Wyoming, the United States. Life reconstruction of Ardetosaurus viator. Image credit: Ole Zant. The newly-described species roamed Earth during the Late Jurassic epoch, some 150 million years ago. Dubbed Ardetosaurus viator, this dinosaur was
In a new study, astronomers compared high-resolution images of Uranus from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope to the more-distant view from NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft. Their results may serve as ‘ground-truth’ observations to use as a baseline to interpret exoplanet direct-imaging data from future observatories. In this image, two three-dimensional shapes (top) of Uranus are
Viruses collected in a Northwestern University-led study are bacteriophages — a type of virus that infects and replicates inside of bacteria. The average American spends 93% of their time in built environments, almost 70% of that is in their place of residence. Human health and well-being are intrinsically tied to the quality of our personal
Paleontologists have described three new enantiornithine birds from the Cretaceous Hell Creek Formation, two of which represent new avisaurid species. These birds lived alongside dinosaurs 68 million years ago and their powerful feet bones suggest they could have captured and carried off prey. Reconstruction of an avisaurid (e.g., Avisaurus darwini). Image credit: Clark et al.
In a study led by the Sapienza University of Rome, caffeine intake was positively correlated with the percentage of circulating endothelial progenitor cells in lupus patients. Orefice et al. studied the role of caffeine intake on endothelial function in lupus patients by assessing its effect on circulating endothelial progenitor cells. Image credit: Sci.News. Vascular disease
The island of Sicily is considered to be among the first occupied by humans in the European Upper Paleolithic. Studies to understand early occupation of the island are mostly concentrated on the northern shores. An international team of archaeologists led by Washington University in St. Louis has now searched for the human occupation traces in
