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Categories: Chemistry: Organic Chemistry, Paleontology: General
Published How can a pollinating insect be recognized in the fossil record?
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Insect pollination is a decisive process for the survival and evolution of angiosperm (flowering) plants and, to a lesser extent, gymnosperms (without visible flower or fruit). There is a growing interest in studies on the origins of the relationship between insects and plants, especially in the current context of the progressive decline of pollinating insects on a global scale and its impact on food production. Pollinating insects can be recognized in the fossil record, although to date, there has been no protocol for their differentiation. Fossil pollinators have been found in both rock and amber deposits, and it is in rock deposits that the first evidence of plant pollination by insects is being studied across the globe. But how can we determine which was a true insect pollinator in the past?
Published Learning about what happens to ecology, evolution, and biodiversity in times of mass extinction
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Studying mass extinction events from the past can build our understanding of how ecosystems and the communities of organisms within them respond. Researchers are looking to the Late Devonian mass extinction which happened around 370 million years ago to better understand how communities of organisms respond in times of great upheaval.
Published Professor unearths the ancient fossil plant history of Burnaby Mountain
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source New research led by a paleobotanist provides clues about what plants existed in the Burnaby Mountain area (British Columbia, Canada) 40 million years ago during the late Eocene, when the climate was much warmer than it is today.
Published Apes may have evolved upright stature for leaves, not fruit, in open woodland habitats
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Anthropologists have long thought that our ape ancestors evolved an upright torso in order to pick fruit in forests, but new research from the University of Michigan suggests a life in open woodlands and a diet that included leaves drove apes' upright stature.
Published Oldest bat skeletons ever found described from Wyoming fossils
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Scientists have described a new species of bat based on the oldest bat skeletons ever recovered. The study on the extinct bat, which lived in Wyoming about 52 million years ago, supports the idea that bats diversified rapidly on multiple continents during this time.
Published Luminous molecules
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Twisted molecules play an important role in the development of organic light-emitting diodes. A team of chemists has managed to create these compounds with exactly the three-dimensional structure that they wanted. In so doing, they are smoothing the path for new and better light sources.
Published Starting small and simple -- key to success for evolution of mammals
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source The ancestors of modern mammals managed to evolve into one of the most successful animal lineages -- the key was to start out small and simple, a new study reveals.
Published Scientists use peroxide to peer into metal oxide reactions
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Researchers to get a better look at how peroxides on the surface of copper oxide promote the oxidation of hydrogen but inhibit the oxidation of carbon monoxide, allowing them to steer oxidation reactions.
Published Woolly mammoths evolved smaller ears and woolier coats over the 700,000 years that they roamed the Siberian steppes
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source A team of researchers compared the genomes of woolly mammoths with modern day elephants to find out what made woolly mammoths unique, both as individuals and as a species. The investigators report that many of the woolly mammoth's trademark features -- including their woolly coats and large fat deposits -- were already genetically encoded in the earliest woolly mammoths, but these and other traits became more defined over the species' 700,000+ year existence. They also identified a gene with several mutations that may have been responsible for the woolly mammoth's miniscule ears.
Published Toward tunable molecular switches from organic compounds
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Newly synthesized organic molecules can be tuned to emit different colors depending on their molecular structures in crystal form.
Published New atomic-scale understanding of catalysis could unlock massive energy savings
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source In an advance they consider a breakthrough in computational chemistry research, chemical engineers have developed a model of how catalytic reactions work at the atomic scale. This understanding could allow engineers and chemists to develop more efficient catalysts and tune industrial processes -- potentially with enormous energy savings, given that 90% of the products we encounter in our lives are produced, at least partially, via catalysis.
Published Long-forgotten equation provides new tool for converting carbon dioxide
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source To manage atmospheric carbon dioxide and convert the gas into a useful product, scientists have dusted off an archaic -- now 120 years old -- electrochemical equation.
Published Ice sheets can collapse faster than previously thought possible
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Ice sheets can retreat up to 600 meters a day during periods of climate warming, 20 times faster than the highest rate of retreat previously measured. An international team of researchers used high-resolution imagery of the seafloor to reveal just how quickly a former ice sheet that extended from Norway retreated at the end of the last Ice Age, about 20,000 years ago.
Published DMI allows magnon-magnon coupling in hybrid perovskites
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source An international group of researchers has created a mixed magnon state in an organic hybrid perovskite material by utilizing the Dzyaloshinskii--Moriya-Interaction (DMI). The resulting material has potential for processing and storing quantum computing information.
Published Scientists use computational modeling to design 'ultrastable' materials
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Researchers developed a computational approach to predict which metal-organic framework (MOF) structures will be the most stable, and therefore the best candidates for applications such as capturing greenhouse gases.
Published Discovery of crucial clue to accelerate development of carbon-neutral porous materials
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source A recent study has provided a library of those various molecular clusters for future metal building blocks of MOFs, and suggested practical synthetic strategies.
Published Major storage capacity in water-based batteries
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Chemical engineers have discovered a 1,000% difference in the storage capacity of metal-free, water-based battery electrodes.
Published Analysis of dinosaur eggshells: Bird-like Troodon laid 4 to 6 eggs in a communal nest
(via sciencedaily.com) An international research team has determined that Troodon, a dinosaur very close to modern birds, was a warm-blooded animal (an endotherm), but had a reproductive system similar to that of modern reptiles. The scientists applied a new method which allowed for accurate determination of the temperature when the egg's carbonate shell was formed. Furthermore, the researchers showed that Troodon laid 4 to 6 eggs per clutch. As nests with up to 24 Troodon eggs had been found, the scientists conclude that several Troodon females laid their eggs in communal nests.
Published Strong ultralight material could aid energy storage, carbon capture
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Materials scientists showed that fine-tuning interlayer interactions in a class of 2D polymers can determine the materials' loss or retention of desirable mechanical properties in multilayer or bulk form.
Published Plastic transistor amplifies biochemical sensing signal
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source New transistor technology boosts the body's electrochemical signals by 1,000 times, enabling diagnostic and disease-monitoring implants.