Paleontologists have described a new genus of small, bird-like dinosaur that lived in what is now New Mexico approximately 73 million years ago.

The post New Troodontid Dinosaur Genus Identified from Fossil Bone Found Decades Ago in New Mexico appeared first on Sci.News: Breaking Science News.

Neanderthals vanished roughly 42,000 years ago, but a piece of their biology appears to be quietly at work in some people today, according to a new study led by scientists from the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology.

The post Neanderthal Gene Still Shapes Muscle and Jaws in Some Living Humans appeared first on Sci.News: Breaking Science News.

Astronomers using the 4-m Daniel K. Inouye Solar Telescope in Hawaii have detected tiny plasma vortices on the Sun’s surface (photosphere) for the first time, revealing a long-suspected process that could transport energy into the million-degree corona.

The post Inouye Solar Telescope Discovers Hidden Plasma Vortices on Sun appeared first on Sci.News: Breaking Science News.

A team of researchers from the University of Sydney and the University of Glasgow argues that dietary sugars, not animal foods, may have played the decisive role in the expansion of the human brain over the past 4 million years, as hominin brain size grew nearly fivefold, from about 300 grams in early relatives like […]

The post Study Points to Sugar, Not Just Meat, as Fuel for Human Brain Evolution appeared first on Sci.News: Breaking Science News.

New research led by University of Lethbridge scientists offers the most detailed look yet at how the dodo (Raphus cucullatus) -- the flightless bird driven to extinction by the 1600s -- actually perceived its world, suggesting the ‘stupid bird’ had a far more complex sensory life than its reputation implies.

The post Dodo Had Surprisingly Keen Sense of Smell and Owl-Like Vision, New Study Reveals appeared first on Sci.News: Breaking Science News.

Paleontologists studying the La Brea Tar Pits, one of the world’s richest Ice Age fossil sites, have identified a previously unknown species of spadefoot toad that lived in what is now California during the latest Ice Age.

The post La Brea Tar Pits Yield New Species of Ice Age Toad appeared first on Sci.News: Breaking Science News.

More than 150 years after Charles Darwin first wondered whether certain sticky-leaved Saxifraga plants might be secretly carnivorous, Kunming Institute of Botany researcher Tao Deng and colleagues say they have finally confirmed it.

The post Scientists Add Unlikely New Member to World’s Carnivorous Plants appeared first on Sci.News: Breaking Science News.

Paleontologists working in southern Wyoming have identified a previously unknown species of omomyid primate, adding a new chapter to the story of one of the best-studied fossil lineages in North America.

The post Tiny New Primate Species Emerges from 50-Million-Year-Old Wyoming Sandstone appeared first on Sci.News: Breaking Science News.

NASA’s Curiosity rover has stumbled on the largest patch of polygon-shaped ground fractures it has ever seen on Mars, a discovery that could reveal more about the planet’s watery past.

The post Curiosity Finds Massive Field of Honeycomb-Shaped Fractures on Mars appeared first on Sci.News: Breaking Science News.

Moving a free-roaming cat indoors for good is a decision many owners approach with dread: guilt over confining a former outdoor explorer, worry about litter boxes and scratched furniture, and doubts about whether the cat will ever adjust.

The post Moving Cat Indoors is Easier than Owners Expect: Study appeared first on Sci.News: Breaking Science News.

Paleontologists working in southern China have identified a new species of sauropod dinosaur that appears to belong to a group never before documented anywhere in East Asia.

The post Fossil Find in China Reveals Dinosaur Family Never Before Seen in East Asia appeared first on Sci.News: Breaking Science News.

High-resolution images from ESO’s Very Large Telescope and the Large Binocular Telescope reveal that the E-type asteroid (44) Nysa may be unlike any other world in the Solar System, with three connected lobes and a newly discovered satellite that could help explain how the bizarre object formed.

The post Astronomers Discover First-Ever Three-Lobed Asteroid appeared first on Sci.News: Breaking Science News.

An exquisitely preserved specimen of Austronaga minuta, a small, long-necked marine reptile from the Triassic of China, contains a fossilized stomach, liver and intestines, offering paleontologists their oldest detailed glimpse yet of how early reptiles digested food.

The post 244-Million-Year-Old Fossil Preserves Earliest Reptilian Digestive System appeared first on Sci.News: Breaking Science News.

Pluto’s tenuous atmosphere appears to have begun contracting after years of holding steady, according to a new study published in the Planetary Science Journal.

The post Pluto’s Thin Atmosphere May Be Starting to Shrink appeared first on Sci.News: Breaking Science News.

In a perspective paper published in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, a team of researchers and health experts calls for a ‘paradigm shift’ in how public health agencies address hypertension.

The post Scientists Propose New Strategy in Fight against High Blood Pressure appeared first on Sci.News: Breaking Science News.

New research led by the University of California, Berkeley reveals that beyond Neanderthals and Denisovans, humans interbred with two mysterious ‘ghost’ lineages: one in Africa more than 50,000 years ago, another in Eurasia over 1.7 million years ago.

The post Scientists Find Traces of Two Unknown Archaic Hominins in Human DNA appeared first on Sci.News: Breaking Science News.

A fossilized skull fragment of Homo sp. unearthed in central Spain offers paleoanthropologists a fresh window into the story of ancient humans who lived in Europe hundreds of thousands of years ago.

The post 224,000-Year-Old Homo Skull Fragment Adds New Mystery to Human Origins appeared first on Sci.News: Breaking Science News.

Scientists at the Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology have found that moth wings are equipped with odor-detecting receptors, suggesting the insects use their wings -- not just their antennae -- to sense chemical cues in the air while flying.

The post Moths Can Smell With Their Wings, Researchers Say appeared first on Sci.News: Breaking Science News.

Paleontologists have identified the earliest-known cephalopod equipped with a siphuncle -- a tubular extension of the mantle found in shelled cephalopods -- pushing back the fossil record of this key evolutionary feature to the Early Cambrian, roughly 520 million years ago.

The post 520-Million-Year-Old Fossil from China Fills Gap in Evolutionary History of Cephalopods appeared first on Sci.News: Breaking Science News.

The Chicxulub impact not only plunged Earth into an impact winter but also produced a dust blanket that later overheated the planet, according to new research from Purdue University and the University of Colorado, Boulder.

The post Dinosaur-Killing Asteroid Didn’t Just Strike Earth, Its Dust Cloud Cooked It appeared first on Sci.News: Breaking Science News.