Single-Fingered Dinosaur Found

Paleontologists have discovered a new species of parrot-sized theropod (Linhenykus monodactylus) that lived in Mongolia 84-75 million years ago and is the first to have only one finger with a large, single claw on each forelimb.

New Family for Pink Meanie

From genetic analysis and visual examinations, reclassification of the predatory pink meanie jellyfish (Drymonema larsoni) as a new species has also required the creation of a new family (Drymonematidae) to include all Drymonema species—the first such major addition since 1921.

Illusion Aided Throwing Skill

A new study has found a natural size-weight illusion was critical to early human's development of the ability to throw objects long distances, a neurological key requiring extremely coordinated timing, motor and perceptive skills on par with social organization and language sharing the posterior parietal cortex in the evolution of the human brain.

Iranian Cheetah Subspecies

Genetic analysis of the critically endangered Asian cheetahs of Iran reveal that it is a distinct subspecies (Acinonyx jubatus venaticus) that split from African cheetahs about 30,000 years ago.

African Fossil Preservation

An ancient cold wind from a prehistoric ice-cap is the reason for the remarkable preservation of animal fossils in the remote Table Mountains of South Africa, providing nutrients to surface vegetation and a stagnant shallow sea that preserved even delicate tissues such as eyes and muscles.

Pterosaur with Preserved Egg

Fossil remains of a pterosaur (Darwinopterus spp.) have been discovered in China that include an intact egg within the body cavity, allowing paleontologists to sex a dinosaur for the first time.

Quantum States in Bird's Eyes

In a process known as the radical pair (RP) mechanism, bird's eyes are thought to detect changes in quantum-entangled electron pairs separated by light and altered by Earth's magnetic field, allowing them to orient themselves by exploiting this phenomenon of long-lived quantum states.

Sungrazer Comet Storm

Between December 13 and 22 of last year, NASA's Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) detected more than two dozen sungrazing comets, a rate dramatically up from a norm of one every few days, and what may be a precursor of a larger as-yet undetected body moving along the same orbit.

Relativistic Effects in Car Batteries

New calculations reveal that the heavier lead nuclei in conventional lead-acid car batteries attract electrons more powerfully, reaching 60% the speed of light and enabling the generation of 2 V, as opposed to lighter elements such as tin that are too weak to provide similar attractive force.

Earth's Rotation Changes Zodiac

Astronomers from the Minnesota Planetarium Society have recalculated the star signs corresponding to the zodiacal constellations and found due to Earth's precession the astrological signs have shifted by about a month from those established millenia ago.

34,000-Year-Old Cells Found

Sealed within a fluid-filled chamber constructed of salt crystals, scientists have found 34,000-year-old microorganisms living in a state of hibernation within a microscopic ecosystem and have been able to culture new microbes from these samples.

Early T. rex Ancestor

Fossils of a new species of early predatory dinosaur (Eodromaeus) have been discovered in Argentina, a small four-foot-long ancestor of later carnivorous dinosaurs such as T. rex, that lived some 230 million years ago.

Cosmological Standard Candles

New observations using NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope show that Cepheid variables, pulsating stars often used as calibration points to measure cosmological distances, can lose mass and shrink over time and thus make measurements of distance more difficult.

Thunderstorms Create Antimatter

NASA's orbiting Fermi Gamma-ray Telescope has detected unexpected positron bursts originating from lightning flashes in thunderstorms on the surface, such radiation focused into a beam by Earth's magnetic field and directed out into space.