Russian Academy of Sciences

A microscope image of a Provoran, a micro-organism from the newly discovered supergroup

Biology

New branch on Tree of Life contains organisms unlike any others on Earth

Scientists have discovered a completely new branch on the tree of life. This “supergroup” contains an incredibly diverse range of predatory microbes that are extremely different genetically from any other form of life on Earth.

An artist's illustration of the Russian RATAN-600 radio telescope, which helped trace back the origins of high-energy neutrinos

Physics

High-energy cosmic neutrinos traced back to their home quasars

There are billions of tiny particles called neutrinos streaming through your body right now. But where did they come from? Researchers have now traced back some ultra-high energy neutrinos to their points of origin – radio flares from raging quasars.

At the microscopic level, combustion can't support itself, as it does in this Petri dish filled with ethanol (Image: Kyanite)

Science

Researchers develop new microengine, but aren't sure how it works

A team of researchers from the University of Twente in the Netherlands, the Russian Academy of Sciences, and Germany’s University of Freiburg have developed a micro-engine that burns oxygen and hydrogen, but there’s a small problem; they’re not sure how the thing works.