It is microscopic and rod-shaped, can create spores, and may have evolved to survive hundreds of miles above our planet’s surface. This bacterium, never before seen on Earth, was detected on China’s Tiangong space station. It has been named Niallia tiangongensis, and it inhabited the cockpit controls on the station, living in microgravity conditions. According…
A new species of bacteria that functions like electrical wiring has recently been discovered on a brackish beach in Oregon. The species was named Candidatus Electrothrix yaqonensis in honor of the Yaquina tribe of Native Americans that once lived in and around Yaquina Bay, where the bacteria were found. This species is a type of…
Ronald Diaz/ Conservation International An amphibious mouse with webbed feet and a blob-headed fish are among 27 new species scientists have discovered in Peru. They were found in an expedition to Alto Mayo – which includes the Amazon rainforest – by scientists from the non-profit organisation Conservation International and members of local indigenous groups. Up…
A new Mayan city, lost in the dense jungle of southern Mexico for centuries, has been discovered from the computer of a PhD student hundreds of miles away. This is the story of how he did it. The settlement, named Valeriana after a nearby freshwater lagoon, has all the characteristics of a classic Maya political…
