Fomalhaut has long been the poster child for bright, nearby stars with spectacular debris disks. But even by cosmic standards, its dusty ring has always looked odd. Now, the sharpest radio images yet from the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) show that the disk’s lopsided shape doesn’t just look off-center – it actually changes shape with distance from the star. …
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Article summary Stable isotope analysis reveals ancient diets: By measuring ratios of carbon and nitrogen isotopes in bones and teeth, scientists can determine whether prehistoric individuals consumed C3 or C4 plants, and whether they were herbivores or carnivores. This technique has illuminated dietary habits from Neanderthals to early hominins. Advanced methods refine dietary insights: Techniques …
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Researchers think that members of the most recently identified “hominin” group (the Denisovans) mixed with early modern humans and passed along parts of their DNA. Evidence points to several separate interbreeding events, each leaving a genetic imprint that influenced the course of human history. In 2010, scientists released the first draft of the Neanderthal genome. Comparing it with modern human …
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Just as ocean waves shape our shores, ripples in space-time may have once set the Universe on an evolutionary path that led to the cosmos as we see it today. A new theory suggests gravitational waves – rather than hypothetical particles called inflatons – drove the Universe’s early expansion, and the redistribution of matter therein. “For decades, we have tried …
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Every now and then, one of the robots on Mars sends back a picture of an unusual rock it has found on its journeys. After all, that’s one of the reasons we sent them there. These can range from the interesting (such as the donut-shaped rock which may not be from the planet) to the silly (hello, avocado rock. What’s …
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NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover used its Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI), a camera on the end of its robotic arm, to view this wind-eroded rock shaped like a piece of coral on July 24, 2025, the 4,608th Martian day, or sol, of the mission. Nicknamed “Paposo” by the rover’s science team, the rock was about 2 inches (5 centimeters) from …
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