Biology: General Biology: Zoology Ecology: Endangered Species Ecology: Extinction Ecology: General Ecology: Invasive Species Ecology: Nature Ecology: Research Geoscience: Geography
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New Zealand's flightless birds are retreating to moa refuges      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Researchers have found New Zealand's endangered flightless birds are seeking refuge in the locations where six species of moa last lived before going extinct.

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Dark matter flies ahead of normal matter in mega galaxy cluster collision      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Astronomers have untangled a messy collision between two massive clusters of galaxies in which the clusters' vast clouds of dark matter have decoupled from the so-called normal matter.

Biology: Biochemistry Biology: Zoology Ecology: Endangered Species Environmental: Water Geoscience: Oceanography
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Researchers record images and data of a shark experiencing a boat strike      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Researchers have captured what they believe is the first ever video of a shark or any large marine animal being struck by a boat.

Ecology: Endangered Species Geoscience: Geography Geoscience: Oceanography Offbeat: Earth and Climate Offbeat: General Offbeat: Plants and Animals
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Whale shark tracked for record-breaking four years      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Researchers have been tracking a 26-foot endangered whale shark -- named 'Rio Lady' -- with a satellite transmitter for more than four years -- a record for whale sharks and one of the longest tracking endeavors for any species of shark.

Offbeat: General Offbeat: Space Space: Astronomy Space: Exploration Space: General Space: Structures and Features Space: The Solar System
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Images of nearest 'super-Jupiter' open a new window to exoplanet research      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Using the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), astronomers imaged a new exoplanet that orbits a star in the nearby triple system Epsilon Indi. The planet is a cold super-Jupiter exhibiting a temperature of around 0 degrees Celsius and a wide orbit comparable to that of Neptune around the Sun. This measurement was only possible thanks to JWST's unprecedented imaging capabilities in the thermal infrared. It exemplifies the potential of finding many more such planets similar to Jupiter in mass, temperature, and orbit. Studying them will improve our knowledge of how gas giants form and evolve in time.

Ecology: Endangered Species Ecology: Extinction Ecology: Nature Environmental: Biodiversity Environmental: Ecosystems Environmental: General Geoscience: Environmental Issues
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A window of opportunity for climate change and biodiversity      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

World leaders must take advantage of a pivotal window of opportunity for forging a much-needed joined-up approach to tackle climate change and biodiversity loss, say scientists. Without this, work on tackling either crisis could inadvertently harm progress on the other.

Ecology: Endangered Species Ecology: Extinction Ecology: General Ecology: Invasive Species Ecology: Nature Ecology: Research Environmental: Biodiversity Environmental: Ecosystems Environmental: General Geoscience: Earth Science
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Tropical plant species are as threatened by climate change as widely feared, study confirms      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Biologists who set out to better understand the effects of climate change on plant species in tropical mountain regions found that even small variations in temperature and moisture can have massive impacts, threatening not only plants that live there, but also the ecosystems they support. A study based on labor-intensive fieldwork and analysis in tropical mountain regions shows that a warmer and drier climate will lead to massive losses of plant species.

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Astrophysicists uncover supermassive blackhole/dark matter connection in solving the 'final parsec problem'      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Researchers have found a link between some of the largest and smallest objects in the cosmos: supermassive black holes and dark matter particles. Their new calculations reveal that pairs of supermassive black holes (SMBHs) can merge into a single larger black hole because of previously overlooked behavior of dark matter particles, proposing a solution to the longstanding 'final parsec problem' in astronomy.

Offbeat: General Offbeat: Space Space: Astronomy Space: Astrophysics Space: Exploration Space: General Space: Structures and Features Space: The Solar System
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Life signs could survive near surfaces of Enceladus and Europa      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Europa and Enceladus, icy moons of Jupiter and Saturn respectively, have evidence of oceans beneath their crusts. A NASA experiment suggests -- if these oceans support life -- signatures of that life in the form of organic molecules (like amino acids and nucleic acids) could survive just under the surface ice despite the harsh, ionizing radiation on these worlds. If robotic landers were to go to these moons to look for life signs, they would not have to dig very deep to find amino acids that have survived being altered or destroyed by radiation.

Offbeat: General Offbeat: Space Space: Astronomy Space: Astrophysics Space: Cosmology Space: Exploration Space: General Space: Structures and Features
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Another intermediate-mass black hole discovered at the center of our galaxy      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

So far, only about ten intermediate-mass black holes have been discovered in the entire universe. The newly identified black hole causes surrounding stars in a cluster to move in an unexpectedly orderly way.

Biology: Biochemistry Biology: Botany Biology: General Ecology: Endangered Species Geoscience: Environmental Issues
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Groundcherry gets genetic upgrades: Turning a garden curiosity into an agricultural powerhouse      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Imagine a small fruit that tastes like a cross between a tomato and a pineapple, wrapped in its own natural paper lantern. That's the groundcherry (Physalis grisea) -- a little-known relative of tomatoes that's been quietly growing in gardens and small farms across North America for centuries. Now, this humble fruit is getting a 21st-century upgrade thanks to some cutting-edge genetic research.

Biology: Biochemistry Biology: General Biology: Marine Biology: Zoology Ecology: Animals Ecology: Endangered Species Ecology: Sea Life Offbeat: General Offbeat: Plants and Animals
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The courtship of leopard seals off the coast of South America      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

A pioneering study has unveiled the first paired observations of sexual behavior and vocalizations in wild leopard seals. The study on the mysterious leopard seal represents a major advance in understanding the behavior of one of the most difficult apex predators to study on Earth.

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Want to spot a deepfake? Look for the stars in their eyes      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

In an era when the creation of artificial intelligence (AI) images is at the fingertips of the masses, the ability to detect fake pictures -- particularly deepfakes of people -- is becoming increasingly important. So what if you could tell just by looking into someone's eyes? That's the compelling finding of new research which suggests that AI-generated fakes can be spotted by analyzing human eyes in the same way that astronomers study pictures of galaxies.

Offbeat: General Offbeat: Space Space: Astronomy Space: General Space: Structures and Features Space: The Solar System
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Astronomers spot a 'highly eccentric' planet on its way to becoming a hot Jupiter      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

The newly discovered planet TIC 241249530 b has the most highly elliptical, or eccentric, orbit of any known planet. It appears to be a juvenile planet that is in the midst of becoming a hot Jupiter, and its orbit is providing some answers to how such large, scorching planets evolve.

Offbeat: General Offbeat: Space Space: Astronomy Space: Astrophysics Space: Exploration Space: General Space: Structures and Features Space: The Solar System
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How astronomers are using pulsars to observe evidence of dark matter      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Tantalizing evidence of potential dark matter objects has been detected with the help of the Universe's 'timekeepers'. These pulsars -- neutron stars which rotate and emit lighthouse-like beams of radio waves that rapidly sweep through space -- were used to identify mysterious hidden masses. Pulsars earned their nickname because they send out electromagnetic radiation at very regular intervals, ranging from milliseconds to seconds, making them extremely accurate timekeepers.

Offbeat: General Offbeat: Space Space: Astronomy Space: Astrophysics Space: Cosmology Space: Exploration Space: General Space: Structures and Features Space: The Solar System
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Sun-like stars found orbiting hidden companions      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Astronomers have uncovered what appear to be 21 neutron stars in orbit around stars like our Sun. The discovery is surprising because it is not clear how a star that exploded winds up next to a star like our Sun.

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Bizarre 'garden sprinkler-like' jet is spotted shooting out of neutron star      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

A strange 'garden sprinkler-like' jet coming from a neutron star has been pictured for the first time. The S-shaped structure is created as the jet changes direction due to the wobbling of the disc of hot gas around the star -- a process called precession, which has been observed with black holes but, until now, never with neutron stars.

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NASA's Webb investigates eternal sunrises, sunsets on distant world      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Researchers using NASA's James Webb Space Telescope have finally confirmed what models have previously predicted: An exoplanet has differences between its eternal morning and eternal evening atmosphere. WASP-39 b, a giant planet with a diameter 1.3 times greater than Jupiter, but similar mass to Saturn that orbits a star about 700 light-years away from Earth, is tidally locked to its parent star. This means it has a constant dayside and a constant nightside -- one side of the planet is always exposed to its star, while the other is always shrouded in darkness.

Offbeat: General Offbeat: Space Space: Astronomy Space: Astrophysics Space: Exploration Space: General Space: Structures and Features Space: The Solar System
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Scorching storms on distant worlds revealed      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

An international study reveals the extreme atmospheric conditions on the celestial objects, which are swathed in swirling clouds of hot sand amid temperatures of 950C. Using NASA's powerful James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), researchers set out to capture the weather on a pair of brown dwarfs -- cosmic bodies that are bigger than planets but smaller than stars.