Scientists stunned by elusive “mini-dragon” deep in Borneo’s mysterious jungles - Futura, le média qui explore le monde

You know when you stare at cute things for too long and they start to look creepy? I’m thinking garden gnomes, baby dolls, any child in a princess outfit and all cats. Well, now there’s another one to add to the list. The tufted ground squirrel (Rheithrosciurus macrotis) might look bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, but according to the Dayak hunters of Borneo where it lives, it’s a cold-blooded killer.

With 302 neurons, 200 of them in their heads, hermaphrodite female roundworms reveal surprising sex-specific differences in the nervous system and how these differences influence behavior, reproduction, and aging. Researchers at Northeastern University compared brain activity in male and hermaphroditic Caenorhabditis elegans, a microscopic worm widely used in biological research to understand how sex wires males and female nervous systems differently.

Artist’s concept of the new dinosaur species Invictibellatrix amberina, along with the fossil from which it was identified. The fossil had been sitting in a drawer for 100 years, until researchers pulled it out and became curious. Image via Sergey Krasovskiy and Pedro Salas/ Natural History Museum London. You deserve a daily dose of good news. For the latest in science and the night sky, subscribe to EarthSky’s free daily newsletter.

Astronomers using the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope have captured a new view of NGC 1827, an intermediate spiral galaxy seen edge-on in the constellation Columba. This Hubble image shows the edge-on, intermediate spiral galaxy NGC 1827. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Michael Jones, California Institute of Technology / Gladys Kober, NASA / Catholic University of America.