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Published

A chemical mystery solved -- the reaction explaining large carbon sinks      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

A mystery that has puzzled the scientific community for over 50 years has finally been solved. A team has discovered that a certain type of chemical reaction can explain why organic matter found in rivers and lakes is so resistant to degradation.

Anthropology: General Biology: Biochemistry Biology: Evolutionary Biology: General Biology: Marine Ecology: Nature Ecology: Sea Life Offbeat: General Offbeat: Paleontology and Archeology Offbeat: Plants and Animals Paleontology: Fossils
Published

Bioluminescence first evolved in animals at least 540 million years ago      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Bioluminescence first evolved in animals at least 540 million years ago in a group of marine invertebrates called octocorals, according to the results of a new study. The study focuses on an ancient group of marine invertebrates that includes soft corals, pushes back the previous oldest dated example of trait by nearly 300 million years.

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Published

Squids' birthday influences mating      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

The day a male spear squid hatches determines which mating tactic he will use throughout his life, according to new research. Spear squid (Heterololigo bleekeri) that hatch earlier in the season become 'consorts' which fight for mating opportunities. Those which hatch later become 'sneakers,' which use more clandestine mating tactics. Researchers found that the mating tactic determined by the birth date was fixed for the squid's whole life. Understanding how mating tactics are influenced by birth date, and the environmental conditions at that time, can help researchers consider how squid might be affected by climate change and the implications for marine resource management.

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Frog species evolved rapidly in response to road salts      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

When we think of evolution, we think of a process that happens over hundreds or thousands of years. In research recently published, a species of frog that has evolved over the course of merely 25 years. The adaptation was spurred on by something many assume is innocuous: salt.

Biology: Biochemistry Biology: Biotechnology Biology: Cell Biology Biology: Developmental Biology: General Biology: Genetics Biology: Microbiology Biology: Molecular Chemistry: Biochemistry Chemistry: General Chemistry: Organic Chemistry
Published

Researchers create artificial cells that act like living cells      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Researchers describe the steps they took to manipulate DNA and proteins -- essential building blocks of life -- to create cells that look and act like cells from the body. This accomplishment, a first in the field, has implications for efforts in regenerative medicine, drug delivery systems and diagnostic tools.

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Published

Fossil frogs share their skincare secrets      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Palaeontologists have solved a hundred-year-old mystery of how some fossil frogs preserve their fleshy parts -- it's all down to their skin. Palaeontologists studied 45-million-year-old fossil frogs from the Geiseltal site in central Germany. Remarkably, the fossils show full body outlines of the soft tissues. The team discovered that the excellent condition of the fossil frogs is due to preservation of ancient skin remnants.

Chemistry: Biochemistry Chemistry: General Chemistry: Inorganic Chemistry Chemistry: Organic Chemistry
Published

New copper-catalyzed C-H activation strategy      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Inspired by what human liver enzymes can do, chemists have developed a new set of copper-catalyzed organic synthesis reactions for building and modifying pharmaceuticals and other molecules. The new reactions are expected to be widely used in drug discovery and optimization, as well as in other chemistry-based industries.

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Lemur's lament: When one vulnerable species stalks another      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

What can be done when one threatened animal kills another? Scientists studying critically endangered lemurs in Madagascar confronted this difficult reality when they witnessed attacks on lemurs by another vulnerable species, a carnivore called a fosa.

Biology: Biochemistry Biology: Biotechnology Biology: Cell Biology Biology: Developmental Biology: General Biology: Genetics Biology: Microbiology Biology: Molecular Chemistry: Biochemistry Chemistry: Organic Chemistry
Published

Light show in living cells      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Observing proteins precisely within cells is extremely important for many branches of research but has been a significant technical challenge -- especially in living cells, as the required fluorescent labeling had to be individually attached to each protein. The research group has now overcome this hurdle: With a method called 'vpCells,' it is possible to label many proteins simultaneously, using five different fluorescent colors.

Chemistry: Biochemistry Chemistry: General Chemistry: Inorganic Chemistry Chemistry: Organic Chemistry
Published

From defects to order: Spontaneously emerging crystal arrangements in perovskite halides      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

A new hybrid layered perovskite featuring elusive spontaneous defect ordering has been found, report scientists. By introducing specific concentrations of thiocyanate ions into FAPbI3 (FA = formamidinium), they observed that ordered columnar defects appeared in the stacked crystalline layers, taking up one-third of the lattice space. These findings could pave the way to an innovative strategy for adjusting the properties of hybrid perovskites, leading to practical advances in optoelectronics and energy generation.

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Published

Study finds iron-rich enamel protects, but doesn't color, rodents' orange-brown incisors      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Chattering squirrels, charming coypus, and tail-slapping beavers -- along with some other rodents -- have orange-brown front teeth. Researchers have produced high-resolution images of rodent incisors, providing an atomic-level view of the teeth's ingenious enamel and its coating. They discovered tiny pockets of iron-rich materials in the enamel that form a protective shield for the teeth but, importantly, don't contribute to the orange-brown hue -- new insights that could improve human dentistry.

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Making crops colorful for easier weeding      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

To make weeding easier, scientists suggest bioengineering crops to be colorful or to have differently shaped leaves so that they can be more easily distinguished from their wild and weedy counterparts. This could involve altering the crops' genomes so that they express pigments that are already produced by many plants, for example, anthocyanins, which make blueberries blue, or carotenoids, which make carrots orange. Then, they say, weeding robots could be trained to remove only the weeds using machine learning.

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Published

Older males out-compete young males outside breeding pairs, bird study shows      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Young male blue tits are less successful in fathering offspring outside their breeding pair, not because of a lack of experience, but because they are outcompeted by older males, researchers report.

Chemistry: General Chemistry: Inorganic Chemistry Chemistry: Organic Chemistry Chemistry: Thermodynamics
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Researchers advance pigment chemistry with moon-inspired reddish magentas      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

A researcher who made color history in 2009 with a vivid blue pigment has developed durable, reddish magentas inspired by lunar mineralogy and ancient Egyptian chemistry.

Biology: Biochemistry Biology: General Offbeat: General Offbeat: Plants and Animals
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Can animals count?      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Researchers have made a groundbreaking discovery regarding number sense in animals by confirming the existence of discrete number sense in rats, offering a crucial animal model for investigating the neural basis of numerical ability and disability in humans.

Biology: Biochemistry Biology: Biotechnology Biology: Cell Biology Biology: Developmental Biology: General Biology: Genetics Biology: Microbiology Biology: Molecular Offbeat: General Offbeat: Plants and Animals
Published

Unlocking the 'chain of worms'      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

An international team of scientists has published a single-cell atlas for Pristina leidyi (Pristina), the water nymph worm, a segmented annelid with extraordinary regenerative abilities that has fascinated biologists for more than a century.

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Evolution's recipe book: How 'copy paste' errors cooked up the animal kingdom      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

A series of whole genome and gene duplication events that go back hundreds of millions of years have laid the foundations for tissue-specific gene expression, according to a new study. The 'copy-paste' errors allowed animals to keep one copy of their genome or genes for fundamental functions, while the second copy could be used as raw material for evolutionary innovation. Events like these, at varying degrees of scale, occurred constantly throughout the bilaterian evolutionary tree and enabled traits and behaviours as diverse as insect flight, octopus camouflage and human cognition.