King Solomon's Wall Found

An ancient wall excavated in Jerusalem dates back to the tenth century B.C. and is believed to be the wall built by King Solomon, as referenced in the biblical book of I Kings, as part of a larger defensive complex including a gatehouse and guard tower.

Micro-Listening Device

Using tiny etched dishes and glass beads suspended by lasers ("optical tweezers"), scientists have developed a micro-ear, the aural equivalent of a microscope, which can be used to listen to sounds on the scale of microorganisms or Brownian motion.

Fish See Ultraviolet Patterns

Researchers have found that the damselfish (Pomacentrus amboinensis and P. moluccensis) discriminate each other through distinctly different ultraviolet (UV) patterns around the eyes and face, suggesting that some species may communicate using the UV part of the spectrum.

Tidal Forces Destroying Planet

Discovered only in 2008, new observations have determined the extrasolar planet WASP-12b, a planet 80% larger than Jupiter yet orbiting just over 1 million miles from its parent star, is being torn apart by the tidal forces of that star and is allowing astronomers their first direct data of a planet being destroyed.

Bronze-Age Shipwreck Found

Recently discovered in the English Channel off the coast of the Plymouth, the remains of a ship that sank in 900 B.C. (one of the world's oldest shipwrecks) reveal a cache of hundreds of copper and tin ingots and sophisticated trade relations between ancient Britons and Europe.

New Utah Dinosaur Fossils

Fossil remains of a previously unknown species of sauropod (Abydosaurus mcintoshi) have been discovered in eastern Utah rock so hard they had to be removed using explosives, including an extremely rare two complete sauropod skulls.

Magnetic Fields of Massive Stars

New observations using the MERLIN radio telescope network have shown how the magnetic field strength and structure around massive stars (stars more than eight times as large as our sun) strongly influence their formation by controlling how gaseous matter is transferred to the growing embryonic star.

Metal Material Mimics Bone

A new porous "metal foam" with a modulus of elasticity similar to human bone has been developed, opening a new branch of biomedical implants lighter than aluminum yet with strength and rejection properties closer to actual bone.

Dolphins Control Their Diabetes

Researchers have found that bottlenose dolphins have developed a type of insulin resistance, equivalent to type 2 diabetes in humans, yet have a physiological mechanism to activate this trait only when conditions require it -- essentially turning their "diabetes" on and off at will.

Seafaring Earlier than Expected

Recent discoveries of primitive hand tools on the island of Crete suggest that primitive humans may have taken to the sea, hopping from island to island across the Mediterranean, tens of thousands if not a hundred thousand years earlier than is commonly believed.

New Pocket Mouse Species

A new species of spiny pocket mouse (Heteromys catopterius) has been identified in the mountainous forests of the northern coast of Venezuela, a rare find for mammalian species.

DNA Tests on King Tut

Modern DNA testing and CT scans have yielded the most complete medical and genetic data yet on the Egyptian ruler Tutankhamun along with hundreds of other mummies, revealing the young king suffered from multiple genetic disorders, severe malaria and a broken leg.

Meteorite with Organic Molecules

Analysis of the small Murchison meteorite found in Australia in 1969 has revealed that it contains more than 14,000 organic (carbon-containing) compounds and may be older than the Sun, yielding new insight into the early Solar System and its formation.

Hottest Temperature Ever

Brookhaven National Laboratory has smashed gold ions together to create the hottest temperature ever produced in a laboratory setting, about 4 trillion degrees Celsius, a level that has not existed since the microseconds following the creation of the universe.

Ancient Human DNA Sequenced

DNA from the frozen hairs of a 4000-year-old Greenlander has been sequenced, opening a new dimension of forensic anthropological research into the origins of diseases and personal inheritable traits.

Birds' Ancestry Challenged

A new study provides further evidence that although modern birds share a common ancestor with theropods, they are not direct evolutionary descendants of those dinosaurs but developed separately along their own path.

Field of Dinosaur Footprints

A site with more than 3000 fossilized footprints of at least six dinosaur types has been discovered in the Zhucheng area of eastern China, with all prints facing the same direction and possibly a record of either a migration or a stampede.

New Type of Lightning

Scientists have discovered a new type of volcanic lightning that accompanies eruptions, with bolts less than 1 meter long and possibly due to electrically charged silica interacting with the local atmosphere.

New Pluto Photos

New images from the Hubble Space Telescope reveal dynamic and rapid color changes in the atmosphere of Pluto, possibly indicating seasonal changes on the dwarf planet that has not yet undergone a full year since being discovered in 1930.

Meteorite Impact Circa A.D. 500

Satellite data reveal a double crater in Australia's Gulf of Carpentaria dating from about A.D. 500, possibly due to a meteorite or comet that fragmented and caused tsunami and global cooling around this time, an event that may have been witnessed and recorded by the Aboriginal peoples.

Barefoot Running

Scientists have found that running barefoot produces a markedly different impact profile than running in shoes, using more of the whole leg to lessen impact and injury instead of a potentially damaging "heel-strike" of more than two to three times body weight.