ScienceDaily: Strange Science News

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• Hubble witnesses shock wave of colliding gases in Running Man Nebula
• Meat-eating 'vulture bees' sport acidic guts
• Ancient human relative, Australopithecus sediba, 'walked like a human, but climbed like an ape'
• Analysis of Mars’s wind-induced vibrations sheds light on the planet’s subsurface properties

Hubble witnesses shock wave of colliding gases in Running Man Nebula Posted: 24 Nov 2021 12:38 PM PST Mounded, luminous clouds of gas and dust glow in this Hubble image of a Herbig-Haro object known as HH 45. Herbig-Haro objects are a rarely seen type of nebula that occurs when hot gas ejected by a newborn star collides with the gas and dust around it at hundreds of miles per second, creating bright shock waves. In this image, blue indicates ionized oxygen (O II) and purple shows ionized magnesium (Mg II). Researchers were particularly interested in these elements because they can be used to identify shocks and ionization fronts. This object is located in the nebula NGC 1977, which itself is part of a complex of three nebulae called The Running Man. NGC 1977 -- like its companions NGC 1975 and NGC 1973 -- is a reflection nebula, which means that it doesn't emit light on its own, but reflects light from nearby stars, like a streetlight illuminating fog. Hubble observed this region to look for stellar jets and planet-forming disks around young stars, and examine how their environment affects the evolution of such disks.

Meat-eating 'vulture bees' sport acidic guts Posted: 23 Nov 2021 10:10 AM PST A little-known species of tropical bee has evolved an extra tooth for biting flesh and a gut that more closely resembles that of vultures rather than other bees.

Ancient human relative, Australopithecus sediba, 'walked like a human, but climbed like an ape' Posted: 23 Nov 2021 10:08 AM PST The recovery of new lumbar vertebrae from the lower back of a single individual of the human relative, Australopithecus sediba, and portions of other vertebrae of the same female from Malapa, South Africa, together with previously discovered vertebrae, form one of the most complete lower backs ever discovered in the early hominid record and give insight into how this ancient human relative walked and climbed.

Analysis of Mars’s wind-induced vibrations sheds light on the planet’s subsurface properties Posted: 23 Nov 2021 10:07 AM PST NASA's Mars mission InSight probes the geology of the Elysium Planitia, finding alternate layers of basalt and sediments. An international team of scientists compares on-the-ground data with data from models, which helps to understand, e.g., the surface's load-bearing capacity and trafficability.

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