This Tiny Knee Bone Had Nearly Vanished As Humans Evolved. It's Coming Back

 Posted on October 17, 2022  |  2 minutes  |  376 words  |  Fernande Dalal

A tiny bone hidden in the tendon of the knee started to disappear over the course of human evolution ... or so scientists thought. Now, a new study finds that this so-called fabella (Latin for "little bean") is making a comeback. The bone, which is a sesamoid bone, or one that's embedded in tendons, is three times more common in humans now than it was a century ago, scientists reported Wednesday (April 17) in the Journal of Anatomy. [Read More]

Tiny, Shiny Lizard Discovered in Asian Forest

 Posted on October 17, 2022  |  2 minutes  |  361 words  |  Fernande Dalal

A new lizard species has been uncovered in Cambodia, a remarkable creature with a long, snakelike body, tiny legs and scales that shimmer with a rainbow-hued iridescence. The disco-ready lizard is tiny, about 3 inches (7 centimeters) long from snout to tail, and researchers found only a single specimen. In early 2010, a small search team discovered the adult male near a stream, during a daytime trek through an evergreen forest in the remote northeast region of the country, near the Laotian border. [Read More]

Ultrathin Electric 'Tattoo' Can Monitor Muscles and More

 Posted on October 17, 2022  |  2 minutes  |  378 words  |  Trudie Dory

It's a temporary tattoo more advanced than anything you'll ever find in a Cracker Jack box: Researchers have developed a thin, flexible electrode that can measure electrical signals on the skin after being applied like a temporary tattoo. The technology was designed to make long-term, stable recordings of muscle activity without inconveniencing the person wearing it. "The key innovation is making the electrodes extremely thin," study leader Yael Hanein, a professor of electrical engineering at Tel Aviv University in Israel, told Live Science in an email. [Read More]

Why a 4-Billion-Year-Old Particle That Hit Antarctica Is Such a Big Deal

 Posted on October 17, 2022  |  7 minutes  |  1398 words  |  Mittie Cheatwood

A single, high-energy neutrino struck Earth on Sept. 22, 2017. It came from a distant galaxy, wrapped around a supermassive black hole. And, beginning with a blockbuster paper published today (July 12) in the journal Science and signed by hundreds of scientists spread across dozens of laboratories, it's leading giddy astrophysicists to rewrite their models of the universe. That's because, for the first time, this high-energy neutrino, a ghostly particle that barely interacts with other matter, left enough clues for them to figure out where it came from. [Read More]

Why Are These Water Buffaloes Covered with Tiny Frogs?

 Posted on October 17, 2022  |  3 minutes  |  468 words  |  Mittie Cheatwood

Water buffaloes wallowing in the wetlands of northern Turkey are carrying some unlikely passengers on their backs — tiny frogs. Researchers spotted the buffalo-riding amphibians — marsh frogs Pelophylax ridibundus — in the Kizilirmak Delta along the coast of the Black Sea, a region with freshwater and brackish lakes, and plentiful marsh vegetation alongside farmlands and pastures. From April to November, domesticated Anatolian water buffaloes (Bubalus bubalis) are released from their pastures to roam the marshes. [Read More]

400 stone-cut chamber tombs, filled with wall paintings and treasures, discovered in Turkey

 Posted on October 16, 2022  |  6 minutes  |  1078 words  |  Mittie Cheatwood

Archaeologists in Turkey have discovered 400 rock-cut chamber tombs that date to 1,800 years ago and make up part of one of the largest rock-cut chamber tomb necropolises in the world. The team found the tombs in the ancient city of Blaundos (also spelled Blaundus), located about 110 miles (180 kilometers) east of the Aegean Sea in what is now Turkey. The city was founded during the time of Alexander the Great and existed through the Roman and Byzantine periods. [Read More]

478-Million-Year-Old Spiky Slug Solves Long-Held Mollusk Mystery

 Posted on October 16, 2022  |  4 minutes  |  688 words  |  Trudie Dory

A tiny, hat-like shell that adorns a 478-million-year-old spiky slug is helping scientists figure out how mollusks evolved over the ages, according to a new study. The newly identified species solves a decades-old puzzle. Mollusks are a diverse group of invertebrates that includes both water and land animals, from the clever octopus to the slow snail. However, it's unclear whether mollusks evolved from an ancestor with no shell, one shell or two shells, the researchers said. [Read More]

A Sea Snail Glows From the Inside

 Posted on October 16, 2022  |  3 minutes  |  440 words  |  Patria Henriques

Tracing the mysterious green flashes of light produced by a sea snail has revealed a creature built to shine from the inside – and with a shell that may be designed for communication as well as protection.   Typically found in tight clusters or groups at rocky shorelines, the clusterwink snail, or Hinea brasiliana, was known to produce light. But scientists like Dimitri Deheyn assumed the sea snails did their light thing just like their pals on the land. [Read More]

Ancient Plants Resurrected from Siberian Permafrost

 Posted on October 16, 2022  |  3 minutes  |  446 words  |  Arica Deslauriers

Thirty thousand years after their burial on the Siberian tundra, immature fruits have been cultivated into small, weedy plants — the oldest successful regeneration of a living plant from ancient tissue. The plants, Silene stenophylla, grew and produced lacy white flowers. When fertilized, the ancient plants fruited and produced viable seeds of their own. "This is very exciting," said Jane Shen-Miller, a University of California, Los Angeles biologist who was not involved in the study. [Read More]

Astronomers Baffled by 'Cosmic Mountain Ranges' Jutting Through the Milky Way

 Posted on October 16, 2022  |  4 minutes  |  835 words  |  Mittie Cheatwood

To us, the night sky may look like a random splattering of stars, but astronomers are learning that in some regions of our galaxy, stars have clumped into features that resemble ones on Earth — streams, waves, arches and mountain ridges.  Tectonic activity creates Earth's wide array of features, but scientists aren't exactly sure what's making those stellar mimics in the Milky Way. Now, researchers are testing for a culprit, including forces coming from outside of our galaxy. [Read More]