A rock 'twice as big as Earth' pushed Uranus onto its side

Researchers speculate the crash may reveal a "missing planet" beyond Pluto. Uranus's magnetic field is also lopsided.

Atomic clocks so precise they can measure the distortion of space-time

These clocks are so accurate they'd lose just half a second if they lasted the age of the universe. The clocks' exquisite precision, outlined in Nature today, means they can measure how space-time distorts under gravity forces.  Eventually, astrophysicists could enlist their help to detect mysterious dark matter.

Biggest black hole collision yet detected by gravitational waves

Some 9 billion years ago, a pair of black holes — around 51 and 34 times the mass of the Sun — merged in a colossal collision.  They formed a new black hole around 80 times the mass of the Sun, and the ensuing blast in their final seconds sent gravitational waves coursing through space-time.  Travelling at the speed of light, those infinitesimally tiny ripples washed through Earth on July 29 last year.

Spectacular cosmic pinwheel set to blast gamma rays across the Milky Way

Astronomers have named the breathtaking pinwheel Apep, after the Egyptian god of chaos and destruction.  At its centre are two massive, fast-spinning "Wolf-Rayet stars" which appear to be on the point of exploding.  Stars like these are thought to be a source of long gamma ray bursts — a violent blast of radiation never before seen in our galaxy.

Signs of an exo-planet orbiting Barnard's star

Barnard's star is the closest single-star system to us.  Astronomers have detected signs of a frozen alien world 3.2 times the mass of Earth.  If it is confirmed, it will be the second-closest exoplanet to Earth.

Goffin's cockatoos cut tools to the length they need to reach food

Goffin's cockatoos were trained to cut cardboard strips to use as tools. Tools were cut to the right length to reach food. Only the female cockatoo could adjust the tool width.

World's oldest-known animal cave art painted at least 40,000 years ago in Borneo

A number of caves in the Indonesian province of Kalimantan contain thousands rock art images of animals, hand stencils and symbols.  Sophisticated dating of the paintings shows the earliest paintings were created at least 40,000-52,000 years ago.  Paintings shifted from animals to humans at the peak of the Ice Age between 20,000-21,000 years ago.

Dinosaur eggs were colourful

Palæobiologists analysed fossilised eggshells for traces of pigments and found eggs laid by dinosaurs closely related to birds were coloured, while more distantly related dinosaurs were plain, which suggests that modern birds inherited their eggshell hues from dinosaurs, rather than evolving them independently.

Third dwarf planet discovered on outskirts of solar system

A round frozen dwarf planet just 300 kilometres across, nicknamed the Goblin, has been discovered well beyond Pluto, further redefining our solar system.  This is the third dwarf planet recently found to be orbiting on the frigid fringes of our solar system.

Goblin's orbit is extremely elongated — so stretched out, in fact, that it takes 40,000 years for it to circle the sun. At its most distant, the Goblin is 2,300 times further from the sun than Earth. That's 2,300 astronomical units (AU). One AU is the distance from Earth to the sun, or roughly 150 million kilometres. At its closest, the Goblin is 65 times farther from the sun than Earth, or 65 AU. Pluto, by comparison, is approximately between 30 and 50 AU.

Fossilised cholesterol confirms Dickinsonia as Earth's oldest known animal

The true identity of one of evolution's greatest mysteries has finally been revealed by ancient fat molecules extracted from 558 million-year-old fossils discovered in Russia.  The creatures preserved in the fossils, known as Dickinsonia, are among the earliest known animals in the geological record, settling a 75-year-old debate about the nature of these organisms.

Oldest-known hashtag made by Stone Age humans in Africa

A tiny stone flake covered in a red ochre cross-hatch design has been unearthed in South Africa in a famous cave where paints, paint tool boxes, spears and beads have previously been found.  The discovery indicates early modern humans were capable of symbolic behaviour between 70,000 and 100,000 years ago.

See also Neanderthal 'hashtag' carving found in cave.

DNA reveals hybrid of Neanderthal mother and Denisovan father

A tiny bone fragment found in a Siberian Cave belongs to the first-known hybrid child born of different ancient humans. A DNA analysis shows the young girl's mother was Neanderthal and her father was Denisovan. While it's been known for a long time the two groups intermingled from traces of their DNA in modern humans, this is the first direct evidence of their dalliances.

First direct evidence of water ice on the surface of the moon

After years of tantalising hints, scientists have finally found direct evidence of water ice tucked away at the bottom of craters near the moon's poles.

No ancestral link between 'hobbits' and two present-day 'pygmy' lineages

• Groups of pygmy people live near a site where fossils of a short-statured species of hominin called Homo floresiensis were found
• Whether present-day inhabitants are descendants of Homo floresiensis was up for debate
• New DNA analysis shows no ancestral link between current population and Homo floresiensis
• Short stature evolved twice in two separate lineages of hominins on Flores

Blogger Comment:

Given that the Homo floresiensis fossils are physically consistent with Australopithecines and physically inconsistent with both Homo erectus and Homo sapiens, this is not a surprising finding.

Vast lake of liquid water detected beneath Mars' southern pole

A giant lake of liquid water seems to be buried beneath the ice near the Red Planet's south pole. Using ground-penetrating radar on an orbiting spacecraft, an Italian team picked up signs of a 20-kilometre-wide body of liquid water, hidden 1.5 kilometres under the ice cap.

Cosmic neutrinos traced to their source for first time: A distant blazar

For the first time, astrophysicists have traced a single neutrino from beyond our galaxy all the way back to its source: an active supermassive black hole called a blazar, some 4 billion light-years away.

New dinosaur fossil pushes evolution of gigantism in sauropods back 30 million years

The discovery of a new dinosaur species suggests gigantism in sauropods evolved about 30 million years earlier than previously thought.  The newly uncovered bones, belonging to a plant-eater dubbed Ingentia prima, also suggest that there were a couple of different ways these giant dinosaurs evolved.

Extinct gibbon earliest known ape to vanish after the last Ice Age

A partial skull and jawbone excavated from the 2,300-year-old tomb of a Chinese noblewoman belonged to an unknown but now extinct gibbon.

Bogong moths use the Earth's magnetic field to get their bearings on long distance migrations

Bogong moths are the first nocturnal insects discovered to use the Earth's magnetic field in long-distance migration.

Three newly formed planets detected around a faraway star for the very first time

One of the world's biggest radio telescopes has detected the first ever newborn planets, still enveloped in the swirling disc of gas and dust that made them.

Supermassive black hole rips star apart

For the first time, astronomers have captured images of a jet of radio waves blasted into space when a star was ripped apart by a supermassive black hole.

Mars Curiosity rover detects seasonal changes in methane levels

The latest data shows huge swings in the level of methane in the atmosphere as the seasons change, and new types of organic molecules capable of preserving life just beneath its surface.

Mars rover finds organic matter in ancient lake bed

NASA’s veteran Curiosity rover has found complex organic matter buried and preserved in ancient sediments that formed a vast lake bed on Mars more than 3 billion years ago.

The discovery is the most compelling evidence yet that long before the planet became the parched world it is today, Martian lakes were a rich soup of carbon-based compounds that are necessary for life, at least as we know it.

Pluto's dunes made of frozen methane

The icy world has dunes, but unlike Earth's sandy versions, Pluto's seem to be composed of flecks of methane ice.

New map of Alaska’s ancient coast supports theory that America’s first people arrived by boat

New research supports an early sea arrival, by way of the Pacific coast. By dating rocks and animal bones, scientists conclude that the coast of southeastern Alaska was largely ice-free and full of plant and animal life some 17,000 years ago—a welcoming environment for people venturing south into a new world.

Ancient DNA shows first farmers in South-East Asia migrated from China 4,500 years ago

Researchers extracted DNA from ancient bones found in modern-day Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand and Myanmar to estimate when new genes started flowing into the Indigenous hunter-gatherer populations of the time.  They found an influx of genes from South China coincided with the appearance of agriculture in South-East Asia around 4,100 to 4,500 years ago, alongside pottery and tools made in the southern Chinese style.  A second gene "pulse" flowed from China to South-East Asia a couple of thousand years later.

A very distant fast-growing monster black hole discovered

Scientists have discovered the fastest growing black hole known in the universe.  It is growing at a rate of 1 per cent every 1 million years, and it is so big it is consuming a mass equivalent to the Sun every two days.

Artificial intelligence mimics human brain cells used for navigation — and takes shortcuts

A team from Google DeepMind and University College London in the United Kingdom have trained a form of artificial intelligence to traverse a virtual environment from one point to another.

New 'exploding ant' species: Colobopsis explodens

When confronted by an enemy insect, these tree-dwellers latch onto their foe, tear open their own body wall and release yellow toxic goo onto their rival, slowing or killing it.

'Tweezers of light' used to trap two single atoms and build molecule

For the first time, physicists have used lasers to cool, isolate and merge exactly two atoms — one sodium, one caesium — to form a molecule.

Fossilised Finger Bone May Be the Earliest Evidence of Sapiens on the Arabian Peninsula

Archaeologists on Monday announced the discovery of a fossilised human finger bone in the desert of Saudi Arabia that they said was 85,000 years old.  If confirmed, the finding would be the first and earliest Homo sapiens fossil found on the Arabian Peninsula, as well as the oldest specimen of our species to be directly dated outside of Africa and its doorstep, the Levant.

Icarus: the most distant star ever viewed

Scientists have detected the most distant star ever viewed, a blue behemoth located more than halfway across the universe and named after the ancient Greek mythological figure Icarus.

Scientists discover new human organ

A group of scientists say they have discovered a new fluid-filled space inside human tissue that could be its largest organ.  Called interstitium, the space is found everywhere throughout the body, from under the skin to between the organs.  It surrounds arteries, muscles, and the digestive and urinary tracts in a layer long thought to be dense connective tissue.

Mysterious 'ghost' galaxy with no dark matter

The galaxy, called NGC 1052-DF2, or DF2 for short, contains virtually no dark matter, challenging current theories about galaxy evolution and the role of dark matter.

Early humans used ochre and traded tools amid turbulent times in Africa 300,000 years ago

As the earth shook and the climate swung between extremes, early humans in East Africa underwent a radical shift in cultural behaviour. This happens to be around the time anatomically modern Homo sapiens appear in the fossil record.

Jupiter: deep jet streams, dense liquid core — and cyclone mystery

Below whirling jet streams, 3,000 kilometres deep, lies a dense, rotating core of liquid hydrogen and helium.  Under such crushing pressures, atoms are torn apart, and the fluid core acts like a solid mass.  But the new data also toss up a mystery of their own: what's causing the strangely symmetrical, stable pattern of cyclones at Jupiter's poles?

Signals from the first stars in the universe detected

Astronomers have detected a signal from the first stars as they appeared and illuminated the universe, in observations that have been hailed as “revolutionary”.  The faint radio signals suggest the universe was lifted out of total darkness 180m years after the big bang in a momentous transition known as the cosmic dawn. The faint imprint left by the glow of the earliest stars also appears to contain new and unexpected evidence about the existence and nature of dark matter which, if confirmed by independent observatories, would mark a second major breakthrough.

World's oldest-known rock art created by Neanderthals, not modern humans

Neanderthals painted a ladder, dots and hand stencils on the walls of three limestone caves at least 20,000 years before modern humans set foot in Europe.

Ants rescue fallen comrades from the battlefield for emergency treatment

Researchers have learned that Matabele ants save their wounded comrades and transport them back to the nest for medical treatment.

Magpies' brain power may be boosted by living in larger groups

Australian magpies that hang out in large groups appear to be smarter and more successful at breeding than those in smaller groups.

Mystery surrounds ancient but advanced tools found in India

More than 7,000 ancient stone tools have been discovered in India that show a distinct upgrade in stone-shaping techniques — including advanced blades, points and scrapers — dating as far back as 385,000 years ago.  This suggests that modern stone tools were being made in India 250,000 years earlier than previously thought. The tools may have been made by an archaic species of hominin, rather than modern humans.

60,000 Mayan structures found preserved under dense Guatemalan jungle

Researchers using a high-tech aerial mapping technique have found tens of thousands of previously undetected Mayan houses, buildings, defence works and pyramids in the dense jungle of Guatemala's Peten region, suggesting that millions more people lived there than previously thought.

Ancient arachnid trapped in amber a missing link in spider evolution

A tiny arachnid discovered in 100-million-year-old amber looks just like a spider, except for one thing: its whip-like tail. The fossil fills a critical gap in the arachnid family tree between today's spiders and spider-like arachnids that lived before the dinosaurs.

The Very First Exoplanets Found Outside The Milky Way

Astrophysicists have discovered for the first time a population of planets beyond the Milky Way galaxy. Using microlensing—an astronomical phenomenon and the only known method capable of discovering planets at truly great distances from the Earth among other detection techniques — researchers were able to detect objects in extragalactic galaxies that range from the mass of the Moon to the mass of Jupiter.

Ancient jaw bone found in Israel shows modern humans left Africa 180,000 years ago

Modern humans were wandering out of Africa at least 180,000 years ago — some 60,000 years earlier than previously thought.  The new migration date comes after ancient stone tools and part of a fossilised Homo sapiens jaw bone with teeth were discovered in a cave in northern Israel.  Until now, the oldest evidence for modern humans outside Africa were only 90,000 to 120,000 years old.

Huge water ice reserves found on Mars

The discovery of a mountain of frozen water lying just under the surface of Mars has been hailed by scientists as game-changer for exploration of the Red Planet. The massive ice cliffs soar 100 metres high, but scientists believe they could be just the beginning when it comes to what lies beneath the surface of the arid planet. The ice could also provide a frozen record of the planet's changing climate over millennia.

A duck-like dinosaur with killer claws ran, swam and tore prey to shreds

It had a graceful, swan-like neck but bizarre "killer claws" that could tear prey to shreds: The fossil of a new, 75-million-year-old species of "duck dinosaur" has been discovered in Mongolia.  The fossil represents a new species of amphibious dinosaur, one that walked on two legs on land like ducks, but also used its flipper-like forelimbs to manœuver in water like penguins. It also relied on its long neck for foraging and ambush hunting.  The scientific name of the creature is Halszkaraptor escuillie.

Dark matter space probe detects tantalising signal

Results reported today by a space science mission provide a tantalising hint—but not firm evidence—for dark matter.

Sponges declared to be sister of all other animals

Longstanding question of whether sponges or comb jellies were first to branch off the evolutionary tree from the common ancestor of all animals may be settled.

Hundreds Of Eggs From Ancient Flying Reptile Found In China

A cache of hundreds of eggs discovered in China sheds new light on the development and nesting behaviour of prehistoric, winged reptiles called pterosaurs.  A single sandstone block held at least 215 well-preserved eggs that have mostly kept their shape. Sixteen of those eggs have embryonic remains of the pterosaur species Hamipterus tianshanensis.

Lone exoplanet has most eccentric orbit ever detected around old giant star

Astronomers have detected a planet orbiting an elderly star in our galactic neighbourhood.  The new planet, known as HD76920b, is four times the size of Jupiter and orbits a star much larger than the Sun, nearly 600 light years away in the constellation of Volans — also known as the flying fish.  It has the most eccentric orbit yet detected around any giant star.

Mars 'flowing streams' found to be sand avalanches

What some planetary scientists thought were trickling salty streams on the Red Planet, potentially harbouring microbial life, could be nothing but avalanches of dry sand.