News Science

Pilgrim’s Skeleton Found at a UK Burial Site Suggests Leprosy Patients were Not Treated as Outcast during Medieval Period

  British archaeologists have found, at a UK burial site, the skeleton of a young man who had died of leprosy. According to researchers, this man was not treated as an outcast but was given a traditional pilgrim burial. The new finding challenges modern misconceptions that during medieval period, leprosy was linked to sinfulness and […]

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Australian Archeologists Discover Four 19th-century Shipwrecks off Queensland Coast

A team of Australian archeologists have discovered four 19th-century shipwrecks at Kenn Reef, more than 500 km off central Queensland coast. The vessels were found by eight archeologists from Australian National Maritime Museum (ANMM)—the same team which had found, in 2009, the government schooner Mermaid lost in 1829 off the coast of Cairns. This time, […]

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Remains of an Ancient Otter Discovered in China Indicate It was a Giant, Wolf-sized Creature

In 2010, the remains of an otter were discovered from a geological site in Yunnan province, China. After 6 years of their study, researchers have published their findings on these creatures, suggesting that they were giant, wolf-sized otters which used to roam China about 6.6 million years ago. According to scientists, this animal, Siamogale melilutra, […]

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Japan’s First Military Communications Satellite Kirameki-2 Launched from Tanegashima Space Port

On Tuesday, 24 Jan 2016, Japan launched its first military communications satellite aboard an H-IIA rocket at 0744 GMT. The lift-off took place from Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency’s Tanegashima Space Center in Kagoshima Prefecture. According to a spokesman for Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, the satellite successfully entered the orbit. Mitsubishi Heavy Industries builds the launcher for […]

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China to Launch Its First Lunar Sample Return Mission Chang’e-5 Later This Year

China is planning to launch Chang’e-5, its lunar sample return mission, in November this year, reported state-run People’s Daily newspaper, citing the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC) – the main contractor for China’s space program. According to CASC, this will be China’s first automated moon surface sampling mission and first moon take-off mission. […]

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A Leopard Shark Reproduces Live Hatchlings Asexually After Being Separated from Her Mate

A leopard shark in Australia has perplexed researchers by reproducing live hatchings asexually after being separated from her mate in 2012. According to researchers, this is the first reported case of a shark switching from sexual to asexual or parthenogenetic reproduction. Leopard sharks are also known as zebra sharks (stegostoma fasciatum) and get their name […]

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Methane-producing Microbes Could Survive the Low Pressure and Extremely Thin Air of Mars, Study Suggests

A new study carried out by researchers from the Arkansas Center for Space and Planetary Sciences (ACSPS) at the University of Arkansas suggests that some terrestrial organisms such as methanogens (the methane-producing microbes) could survive the extremely thin air of Mars. The detailed findings of the study, titled “Low Pressure Tolerance by Methanogens in an […]

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India Poised to Play a Crucial Role in LIGO Research by Setting up the World’s Third Advanced Observatory

India is gearing up to play a crucial role in gravitational waves detection by setting up the world‘s third advanced LIGO (Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory) laboratory in Aundh in Hingoli district of Maharashtra. Fred Raab, an eminent physicist and associate director for operations, LIGO Laboratory, who was at the Presidency University in Kolkata on Tuesday […]

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NASA Releases New Images Captured by Juno Showing Crescent Shaped Jupiter and Its Great Red Spot

NASA has released an astonishing new picture of Jupiter, showing a crescent Jupiter, along with its iconic Great Red Spot and planet’s megastorm. Jupiter is the largest planet in our solar system and appears to astronomers as a deep red orb surrounded by layers of orange, pale yellow, and white. Jupiter’s Great Red Spot is […]

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ESO Joins Hands with Breakthrough Initiatives to Upgrade Telescope in Chile to Look for Planets around Alpha Centauri

The European Southern Observatory (ESO) has partnered with Breakthrough Initiative to upgrade its Very Large Telescope (VLT) in northern Chile to better search for planets around the stars of Alpha Centuri, the closest star system to Earth. The triple-star Alpha Centauri system is located about nearly 4 light-years away from Earth, and scientists think it […]

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Vera Rubin, a Pioneering Astronomer Who Worked on Dark Matter, Dies

Vera Rubin, a pioneering astronomer who worked on dark matter is no more in this world. Her son, Allan Rubin, a professor of geosciences at Princeton University, revealed that Rubin, 88, died on Dec. 25, 2016. Vera Rubin had been living in the Princeton area. She was born on July 23, 1928 in Philadelphia. Rubin […]