The leading hypothesis for the origin of firefly lights has been overturned by a genomic analysis. It had been posited that the bright lights emitted by many species in the Lampyridae family of beetles—better known as fireflies—first ...
Evolution
Jun 25, 2024
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1
Photographing faint objects close to bright stars is incredibly difficult. Yet, by combining data from ESA's Gaia space telescope with ESO's GRAVITY instrument on the ground, scientists managed just that. They took the first ...
Astronomy
Jun 20, 2024
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325
This image of the softly luminous spiral galaxy UGC 11105 is from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope. It lies about 110 million light-years from Earth in the constellation Hercules.
Astronomy
Feb 5, 2024
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70
Like a moth to flame, many scientists and poets have long assumed that flying insects were simply, inexorably drawn to bright lights.
Ecology
Jan 30, 2024
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158
New research has revealed how light can be used to destroy infectious coronavirus particles that contaminate surfaces. Scientists are interested in how environments, such as surgeries, can be thoroughly disinfected from viruses ...
Biochemistry
Jan 10, 2024
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33
With a split-second muscle contraction, the greater blue-ringed octopus can change the size and color of the namesake patterns on its skin for purposes of deception, camouflage and signaling. Researchers at the University ...
Biotechnology
Jan 5, 2024
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82
At night in the Cerrado, Brazil's savanna and second-largest biome, larvae of the click beetle Pyrearinus termitilluminans, which live in termite mounds, display green lanterns to capture prey attracted by the bright light.
Plants & Animals
Jan 2, 2024
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34
Light pollution ruins dark skies. It's a scourge that ground-based observatories have to deal with in one form or another. Scientists used a small observatory in Japan to measure what changed when a nearby town improved its ...
Astronomy
Jan 2, 2024
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21
The most famous comet of all is headed back toward Earth. Halley's comet reached aphelion—its farthest point from the sun—on Dec. 8, at which point it began its long journey back to the sun.
Planetary Sciences
Dec 12, 2023
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891
Silicate glass is a commonly-used glass found in most households, in drinking glasses or windowpanes for example. The integration of gold nanoparticles (NPs) in silicate glass has been used in art and decoration for centuries. ...
Optics & Photonics
Dec 12, 2023
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