Research News

A study led by scientists at The University of Texas at Austin is providing a glimpse into dinosaur and bird diversity in Patagonia during the Late Cretaceous, just before the non-avian dinosaurs went extinct. The fossils represent the first record of theropods — a dinosaur group that includes both modern birds and their closest non-avian … Read more

Lizards living in different cities have parallel genomic markers when compared to neighboring forest lizards, according to a new study published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The genetic variations linked to urbanization underlie physical differences in the urban lizards, including longer limbs and larger toe pads that show how these lizards have … Read more

Although the human body is externally symmetrical on left and right, it has remarkable left and right asymmetries in the shape, size and positioning of many internal organs, including the heart, lungs, liver, stomach and brain. These asymmetries can range from benign to not-so-benign, causing a range of conditions that affect multiple organs. The left-right … Read more

An internal circadian clock controls distinctive concentric rings of flowering in sunflowers, maximizing visits from pollinators, a new study by plant biologists at the University of California, Davis shows. The U.S. National Science Foundation-supported work is published in eLife. A sunflower head is made up of hundreds of tiny florets. Because of the way sunflowers grow, … Read more

Spread across vast distances, the islands of the tropical Pacific Ocean are thought to have been populated by humans in two distinct migrations beginning approximately 3,330 years ago. The first followed a northern route out of what is today the Philippines and the second followed a southern route from Taiwan and New Guinea. People arrived … Read more

As technologies keep advancing at exponential rates and demand for new devices rises accordingly, miniaturizing systems into chips has become increasingly important. Microelectronics has changed the way electricity is manipulated, enabling sophisticated electronic products that are now an essential part of our daily lives. Similarly, integrated photonics has been revolutionizing the way we control light … Read more

Fossils of a tiny sea creature that died more than half a billion years ago may compel a science textbook rewrite of how brains evolved. A U.S. National Science Foundation-supported study published in Science provides the first detailed description of Cardiodictyon catenulum, a wormlike animal preserved in rocks in China’s southern Yunnan province. Measuring barely half … Read more

During the ice ages of the Pleistocene, the Florida Peninsula regularly grew to twice its current size as glaciers expanded near the planet’s poles, only to be reduced to a series of islands as melting ice returned to the sea during warm periods. All told, glaciers advanced and retreated 17 times, and, according to a … Read more

A new study by University of Central Florida researchers has found strong evidence that the outgassing of molecules from comets could trace the chemical composition of the early solar system. Outgassing occurs when comets, which are small bodies of dust, rock and ice in the solar system, warm and start to release gases. The work … Read more