Stars ripped from their home galaxies as they collide with other galaxies can get slung into giant invisible cocoons of dark matter, researchers say, which might explain mysterious radiation pervading the sky.
These findings suggest the halos of dark matter surrounding galaxies are not completely dark after all, but contain a small number of stars, investigators added.
[Full Story: Mystery Glow of Dark Matter Halos Fueled by Extragalactic Stars]
The natural world was a lifelong passion for U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt. At age 8, Roosevelt started his own collection of natural history specimens, and on his deathbed, he was writing a book review about pheasants.
Some of the specimens he collected, as well as other Roosevelt artifacts, remain at the American Museum of Natural History, an institution with which he had a lifelong association.
[Full Story: NYC Museum Celebrates Teddy Roosevelt's Conservation Work]
Dinosaurs may have wooed potential mates with flashy feathers, peacock style. Researchers have discovered lengthy wisps on a sexually mature adult, but absent in the toddler specimen of the same dinosaur species.
These findings shed light on the origin of wings and feathered flight, scientists added.
[Full Story: Dinosaurs Looking for Love Grew Alluring Feathers]
A teensy bat embryo covering its eyes with wings, an ant carrying her larva and wobbly-looking newborn spiderlings are just a few of the winners of a photography contest honoring the little things in life — including babies, it seems.
The winners of the 2012 Nikon International Small World photography contest were announced today (Oct. 23), with a brightly colored image of the blood-brain barrier in a live zebrafish embryo awarded 1st place. The second-place winner in the small-world contest was a creepy-cute photograph of newborn lynx spiderlings by Walter Piorkowski.
[Full Story: Winning Photos Bring World of the Itsy-Bitsy to Life]
This space-y photo of a fruit fly (Drosophila melanogaster) visual system halfway through pupal development took home fourth prize. Image shows the fruit fly's retina (gold), photoreceptor axons (blue) and brain (green).
[View Images: In Images: 2012 Nikon Small World Contest Winners]
The tantalizing seasonal flows observed on Mars last year may indeed be caused by liquid water, a new study suggests.
The melting and subsequent evaporation of frozen salty water could cause the intriguing dark streaks, researchers said. These lines, which were spotted by NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter spacecraft, extend down some Martian slopes during warm months and fade when winter comes.
[Full Story: Flowing Water on Mars May Cause Seasonal Streaks: Study]
A baby beluga whale born at the end of August is starting to shed its slate-colored skin for the more mature creamy-white covering, and the baby is a "she," aquarium staff have just announced.
The ever-growing calf, now 5 feet (1.5 meters) long, will make her public debut Friday (Oct. 26) at Shedd Aquarium in Chicago. Both mom and baby are plumping up, as the calf weighs about 205 pounds (93 kilograms) and is steadily packing on 12 to 15 pounds a week. Her 1,200-pound mom Mauyak has nearly tripled her normal diet — downing up to 88 pounds (40 kg) of fish daily — to accommodate a hungry, nursing calf.
[Full Story: Baby Beluga Whale Is … a Girl!]
The lava lake inside Halema'uma'u crater, at the top of Mount Kilauea in Hawaii, is closer than ever to reaching the crater floor and spilling out on it, the U.S. Geological Survey said.
The summit lava lake is deep within a cylindrical vent with nearly vertical sides. In the past two weeks, the lake level surged about 50 feet (15 meters) and now has only 110 feet (33 m) to go until the lava reaches the top of the vent and floods the crater floor, the USGS said today (Oct. 23).
[Full Story: Hawaii Volcano's Lava Lake Threatens to Overflow]
The rumble of a 40-year-old plane packed with scientists has returned to the Antarctic skies.
NASA's Operation IceBridge recently kicked off its fourth year with a survey of land and sea ice in West Antarctica, near the bay where a massive iceberg may soon break off Pine Island Glacier.
[Full Story: NASA's IceBridge Mission Spies on Antarctic Ice]
Astronomers have spotted a rare X-ray star explosion near the center of our Milky Way galaxy, revealing a previously unknown black hole munching on gas from a neighboring sun-like star.
NASA's Swift satellite made the cosmic find last month when it detected a new and rapidly brightening X-ray source a few degrees from the galactic center of the Milky Way. Astronomers identified the outburst as a short-lived bright X-ray nova, which is produced when a stream of gas rushes toward either a neutron star or a black hole. Unlike a supernova, which is the explosive death of a star, novas are smaller explosions that do not completely destroy a star.
[Full Story: Rare Star Explosion Reveals Hidden Black Hole in Our Galaxy]
