Astronomers have developed a technique that allows them to detect cloud cycles on distant exoplanets. Using data from the James Webb Sapce Telescope (JWST), the astronomers found that mornings and evenings on the gas giant WASP-94A b have extremely different weather patterns: mornings are riddled with sand clouds, while the skies are clear in the early evenings. By isolating the clouds, researchers can more accurately measure a planet’s atmosphere and provide a clearer picture of the planet’s composition. WASP-94A b, for example, has much less oxygen and carbon than astronomers perviously calculated, making its atmosphere much more like Jupiter than they had originally thought. 

There’s a new T. rex in the fossil record, only this one terrorized the ancient seas. New research uncovers a new, massive species of mosasaur, a marine reptile that lived during the age of the dinosaurs. One of the largest mosasaurs known to date—stretching up to 43 feet long—this top predator was described from 80-million-year-old fossils that were found primarily in northern Texas decades ago. It was named Tylosaurus rex, or T. rex for short, meaning “king of the tylosaurs.”

Hawk moths hold the record for having the world's longest proboscis, the specialized feeding tubes insects use to drink. A new study shows how this structure evolved in hawk moths over the last 44 million years.

G protein-coupled receptors sit in the plasma membrane, the boundary that defines the inside and outside of a living cell. They communicate with nearly every physiological process in our bodies, from the ability to see and smell, to sensing of adrenaline, insulin, nutrients and medicines. Researchers now report using AI to create tiny, computationally designed proteins to activate or block G protein-coupled receptors. The methods used in their study may form a roadmap for future efforts to create new drug candidates for metabolic, inflammatory, and neurological diseases. These approaches would try to target G protein-coupled receptors that have been largely inaccessible to conventional drug discovery.  

Researchers at Penn State designed a system that can manipulate sound waves so that they are only audible at a precise spot slightly wider than an inch. Despite this tiny focal point, their system can produce high-quality audio, potentially offering listeners a crisp, yet private, sound experience. The team detailed their work in a paper recently published in IEEE Transactions on Ultrasonics.

Researchers have uncovered a remarkable fossil site in a remote part of Canada’s Northwest Territories, offering unprecedented insight into the earliest evolution of complex animal life on Earth. Findings from the site represent life from the Ediacaran biota—soft-bodied organisms that lived on the seafloor more than 500 million years ago—and push back the origins of animal movement and sexual reproduction by 5-10 million years.

New research led by the University of Utah documents how carbon markets, a pillar of climate policy, fail to accurately account for the risks U.S. forests face from climate change. The team produced maps that show where the risk of loss from fire, insects and drought are most elevated, and therefore best avoided for forest preservation projects.