This is a montage of New Horizons images of Jupiter and its volcanic moon Io, taken during the spacecraft’s Jupiter flyby in early 2007. The Jupiter image is an infrared color composite taken by the spacecraft’s near-infrared imaging spectrometer, the Linear Etalon Imaging Spectral Array (LEISA) at 1:40 UT on Feb. 28, 2007. The infrared wavelengths used (red: 1.59 µm, green: 1.94 µm, blue: 1.85 µm) highlight variations in the altitude of the Jovian cloud tops, with blue denoting high-altitude clouds and hazes, and red indicating deeper clouds. The prominent bluish-white oval is the Great Red Spot. The observation was made at a solar phase angle of 75 degrees but has been projected onto a crescent to remove distortion caused by Jupiter’s rotation during the scan. The Io image, taken at 00:25 UT on March 1st 2007, is an approximately true-color composite taken by the panchromatic Long-Range Reconnaissance Imager (LORRI), with color information provided by the 0.5 µm (“blue”) and 0.9 µm (“methane”) channels of the Multispectral Visible Imaging Camera (MVIC). The image shows a major eruption in progress on Io’s night side, at the northern volcano Tvashtar. Incandescent lava glows red beneath a 330-kilometer high volcanic plume, whose uppermost portions are illuminated by sunlight. The plume appears blue due to scattering of light by small particles in the plume.

This montage appears on the cover of the Oct. 12, 2007 issue of Science magazine.

Release Date: October 9, 2007

http://pluto.jhuapl.edu/gallery/sciencePhotos/pages/100907_11.html

Aphids' dangerous liaison - October 10, 2007 / http://blogs.nature.com/news/thegreatbeyond/2007/10/aphids_dangerous_liaison.html

T. Rex reigned in Hell Valley - October 10, 2007 / http://blogs.nature.com/news/thegreatbeyond/2007/10/t_rex_reigned_in_hell_valley.html

Dinosaur of the day - October 09, 2007 / http://blogs.nature.com/news/thegreatbeyond/2007/10/dinosaur_of_the_day.html

Those who enjoyed Nature's recent feature on the Walking With Dinosaurs live experience currently touring America may be interested to know that a team including the palaeontologist featured in that article, Ken Lacovara of Drexel University, has just announced the discovery of a fearsome looking but apparently plant eating new dinosaur Suzhousaurus megatherioides. The team was led by Dr Hai-Lu You of the Chinese Academy of Geological Science and the research is published in Acta Geologica Sinica. In a press release, Lacovara describes the therizinosaurs, of which this is one, as being "characterized by feathered bodies, turkey-like heads, Edward Scissorhands-like claws, and plump pot-bellies."

There's been some media pick up in Live Science and in the Pittsbugh papers, reflecting the local affiliation of another team member, Matt Lamanna of Carnegie Museum of Natural History. The Philadelphia Inquirer, though, seems to have passed on it. Meanwhile Fox News cuts to the chase with a classic headline over the Live Science piece: Funny-looking dinosaur found in China.

What's more, Ken and his wife have just had a son. Congratulations!

By Oliver Morton.

Illustration: Mark A. Klingler, Carnegie Museum of Natural History.

Comment des organismes vivant dans l'eau peuvent-ils se retrouver dans des gouttes d'ambre, c'est-à-dire de la résine fossilisée, extrêmement hydrophobe ? La réponse n'était pas claire, d'autant que le cas est exceptionnel. Mais des chercheurs sont tombés sur une collection complète dans un lac de Floride, avec des inclusions de bactéries aquatiques. De quoi espérer bien d'autres découvertes...