New 3D computer simulations from ETH Zurich show that young rift flanks on Venus stay tall and steep, while older ones flatten out over time.

The post Giant Rift Valleys Hint Venus is Still Tectonically Active appeared first on Sci.News: Breaking Science News.

A 201-million-year-old climate catastrophe turned Europe into a landscape of fern savannahs that repeatedly caught fire, according to new research published in the journal Nature Geoscience.

The post Fern-Fueled Wildfires Raged across Europe for Millennia during End-Triassic Mass Extinction appeared first on Sci.News: Breaking Science News.

Planetary researchers have found the first evidence that bursts of energetic particles from the Sun could warm the lower atmosphere of Mars during massive dust storms, hinting at an unexpected link between space weather and Martian climate.

The post Space Weather May Warp Martian Weather during Dust Storms, Planetary Scientists Suggest appeared first on Sci.News: Breaking Science News.

In a new study of chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) and bonobos (Pan paniscus), scientists found that embraces, touches and other reassuring gestures before competition for food were linked to more peaceful sharing, suggesting the roots of human social touch stretch back at least six million years.

The post Hugs May Be an Ancient Peacekeeping Tool, Ape Study Suggests appeared first on Sci.News: Breaking Science News.

A head-on collision with another galaxy billions of years ago may have dramatically reoriented the Milky Way’s disk, according to new supercomputer simulations that reveal how violent mergers can leave spiral galaxies looking surprisingly normal today.

The post Our Milky Way Galaxy Likely Underwent Disk Flip after Ancient Galactic Collision: Study appeared first on Sci.News: Breaking Science News.

The near-Earth object (875163) 1998 SH2, which is currently classified as an asteroid, has revealed a hidden identity: it’s actually a comet in disguise, according to a new study published in the journal Nature Astronomy.

The post Puzzling Near-Earth Asteroid Turns Out to Be Comet with Weak Tail appeared first on Sci.News: Breaking Science News.

Using the largest sample yet of particles called beauty mesons, physicists with the CMS Collaboration at CERN’s Large Hadron Collider (LHC) refined a decades-old test of the subtle imbalance that let our Universe exist at all.

The post CERN Physicists Take New Look at Why Matter Beat Antimatter appeared first on Sci.News: Breaking Science News.

In a new review paper, Dr. Gregory Marcus from the University of California, San Francisco and colleagues analyzed decades of research on how caffeine -- most often consumed as coffee -- affects the heart and its risk factors.

The post Moderate Coffee and Caffeine Intake Poses Little Heart Risk, and May Even Help appeared first on Sci.News: Breaking Science News.

After decades of searching, astronomers have pinpointed the first of an estimated 10,000 stellar-mass black holes thought to lurk in Omega Centauri, the most massive stellar system in the Milky Way found so far, with a stellar mass of 3.6 million solar masses.

The post Astronomers Find Omega Centauri’s First Stellar-Mass Black Hole appeared first on Sci.News: Breaking Science News.

A new review of previous studies in the journal Appetite undercuts the popular belief that water fills you up at the table.

The post Researchers Challenge Long-Held Beliefs about Water, Spicy Food and Digestion appeared first on Sci.News: Breaking Science News.