2500-Year-Old Brain

A 2500-year-old human brain found in York in 2008 has been dated to a hanged and decapitated individual between 673 and 482 B.C., the soft tissue remarkably preserved by being "pickled" due to a quick burial separate from the body in low-oxygen mud.

Oldest Flying Insect Found

Fossil hunters in Massachusetts have found the earliest preserved impression of a flying insect, an 300 million-year-old ancestor of the modern mayfly as it struggled while trapped in the mud.

Possible New Particle Found

An anomalous signal detected in proton-antiproton collisions at Fermilab's Tevatron particle collider remains strong yet unexplained, and could lead to new physics outside the standard model if results are confirmed elsewhere.

New Mineral Wassonite

A new mineral has been discovered in a 4.5-billion-year-old meteorite sample found in Antarctica in 1969 composed of sulfur and titanium with a crystal structure not previously seen in nature, named wassonite after geologist and meteorite researcher John T. Wasson.

Ripples in Planets' Rings

Using data from Cassini, Galileo and the New Horizons missions, astronomers have detected ripples in the ring systems of Saturn and Jupiter that can be traced back to collisions with cometary fragments dating back at least 30 years.

Disappearing Antineutrinos

Revised calculations of the production of antineutrinos produced in nuclear reactor experiments suggest that about 3% of these particles are missing from the resulting data, suggesting these particles may turn into "sterile antineutrinos" that escape detection and evidence of phenomena outside the standard model.

"Ribbon" in Heliosphere

NASA's Interstellar Boundary Explorer (IBEX) has detected a mysterious "ribbon" of energy wrapping around the heliosphere, revealing complex dynamics not yet understood between our heliosphere and its motion through the interstellar medium.

Oldest European Writing

A clay tablet found in the Greek village of Iklania holds the oldest known writing of European civilization, a Mycenaean fragment of Greek Linear B dating back between 1450 and 1350 B.C.

Electric Fire Extinguisher

Researchers have developed an electric wand that can extinguish fires by pushing the ionized molecules of the flame away from their fuels source, providing a more resource-efficient method of firefighting than water, chemicals or foam retardants.

Termites Boost Crop Yields

Termites and other burrowing insects have been shown to increase crop yields by as much as 36% in arid areas such as Australia by aerating the soil and providing natural fertilizer in their feces, reducing the need for artificial fertilizer and insecticides.

Earth Getting Windier

Over the past 20 years, average wind speeds have increased about 5%, with strong winds from storms increasing up to 10%, for reasons that are not yet clearly understood and not clearly related to global warming or natural cycles.

Soft Tissue Sea Fossil

A remarkable new fossil has been found in Yunnan Province, China, of a 525-million-year-old sea creature related to starfish and sea urchins called a hemichordate that has preserved all its soft tissue, including minute details such as tiny tentacles used for feeding.

First "Artificial Leaf"

Scientists have announced the development of the first practical "artificial leaf," a card-sized silicon solar cell that converts sunlight and water into energy through a process that mimics the natural photosynthesis of green plants.

Saber-Toothed Herbivore

Paleontologists have discovered the fossil remains of an anomodont (Tiarajudens eccentricus) in Brazil that lived about 260 milliion years ago and had rare five-inch long protruding canine teeth even though its skull indicates it was a herbivore.