Offbeat: Space Space: Astronomy Space: Exploration Space: Structures and Features Space: The Solar System
Published

Using cosmic weather to study which worlds could support life      (via sciencedaily.com) 

As the next generation of giant, high-powered observatories begin to come online, a new study suggests that their instruments may offer scientists an unparalleled opportunity to discern what weather may be like on far-away exoplanets.

Offbeat: Space Space: Astrophysics Space: Exploration Space: Structures and Features
Published

Webb snaps highly detailed infrared image of actively forming stars      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Young stars are rambunctious! NASA's James Webb Space Telescope has captured the 'antics' of a pair of actively forming young stars, known as Herbig-Haro 46/47, in high-resolution near-infrared light. To find them, trace the bright pink and red diffraction spikes until you hit the center: The stars are within the orange-white splotch. They are buried deeply in a disk of gas and dust that feeds their growth as they continue to gain mass. The disk is not visible, but its shadow can be seen in the two dark, conical regions surrounding the central stars.

Ecology: Endangered Species Ecology: Invasive Species
Published

Aphids make tropical milkweed less inviting to monarch butterflies      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

When oleander aphids infested tropical milkweed, monarch butterflies laid fewer eggs on the plant, and the caterpillars developing on those plants were slower to mature.

Ecology: Endangered Species Ecology: Extinction Ecology: Invasive Species Geoscience: Environmental Issues
Published

Climate change threatens 771 endangered plant and lichen species      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

All plants and lichens listed as endangered under the Endangered Species Act are sensitive to climate change but there are few plans in place to address this threat directly, according to new research.

Space: Astronomy Space: Astrophysics Space: Exploration Space: Structures and Features
Published

New planetary formation findings      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Astronomers have discovered new evidence of how planets as massive as Jupiter can form.

Space: Astronomy Space: Astrophysics Space: Exploration Space: Structures and Features
Published

Astronomers reveal new features of galactic black holes      (via sciencedaily.com) 

An international team of scientists, including astrophysicists, report on a dedicated observational campaign on the Galactic microquasar dubbed GRS 1915+105. The team revealed features of a microquasar system that have never before been seen. Using the massive Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical radio Telescope (FAST) in China, astronomers discovered a quasi-periodic oscillation (QPO) signal in the radio band for the first time from any microquasar systems.

Ecology: Endangered Species Ecology: Extinction Ecology: Invasive Species
Published

Genetic study reveals that a captive-bred population could save endangered crocodile from extinction      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Performing a genetic evaluation on the largest captive-bred population of the critically endangered Orinoco crocodile, researchers have revealed that the population preserves much of its founder diversity and no inbreeding, making it suitable for implementing wild releases. Since this species is almost extinct in the wild, the news brings hope for the recovery of populations.

Offbeat: Space Space: Astronomy Space: Astrophysics Space: Exploration Space: Structures and Features
Published

Dark energy camera captures galaxies in lopsided tug of war, a prelude to merger      (via sciencedaily.com) 

The spiral galaxy NGC 1532, also known as Haley's Coronet, is caught in a lopsided tug of war with its smaller neighbor, the dwarf galaxy NGC 1531.

Biology: Microbiology Ecology: Invasive Species
Published

Western science catches up with First Nations' medicinal use of ant honey      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Scientists have discovered the honey produced by Australian ants possesses unique anti-microbial activity against bacteria and fungi that could make the liquid useful medicinally.

Archaeology: General Ecology: Invasive Species Geoscience: Geology Paleontology: Fossils Paleontology: General
Published

Missing island explains how endemic species on the Miyako Islands emerged      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Miyako Islands are home to various native species of snake and lizards. How these species came to call these islands home has long puzzled scientists. A group of researchers have compiled the latest geological and biological data, proposing that an island once facilitated migration between Okinawa and Miyako Islands.

Ecology: Invasive Species Environmental: Ecosystems
Published

Brown widow spiders: Invasive species prosper in favorable habitats and from a lack of local predators      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Lower parasitism and predation in urban habitats may contribute to the invasion success of brown widow spiders, according to new research.

Offbeat: Space Space: Astronomy Space: Exploration Space: Structures and Features
Published

New image reveals secrets of planet birth      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Astronomers have gained new clues about how planets as massive as Jupiter could form. Researchers have detected large dusty clumps, close to a young star, that could collapse to create giant planets.

Biology: Marine Ecology: Extinction Ecology: Invasive Species Ecology: Research Ecology: Sea Life
Published

Scientists discover new isopod species in the Florida Keys      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Scientists have discovered a new species of marine cryptofauna in the Florida Keys. Cryptofauna are the tiny, hidden, organisms that make up the majority of biodiversity in the ocean. The tiny crustaceans are the first new gnathiid isopod to be discovered from the Floridian ecoregion in 100 years and are named after singer-songwriter Jimmy Buffett.

Offbeat: Space Space: Astronomy Space: Exploration Space: Structures and Features
Published

Webb detects water vapor in rocky planet-forming zone      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Water is essential for life as we know it. However, scientists debate how it reached the Earth and whether the same processes could seed rocky exoplanets orbiting distant stars. New insights may come from the planetary system PDS 70, located 370 light-years away. The star hosts both an inner disk and outer disk of gas and dust, separated by a 5 billion-mile-wide (8 billion kilometer) gap, and within that gap are two known gas-giant planets.

Space: Structures and Features
Published

To stick or to bounce: Size determines the stickiness of cosmic dust aggregates      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Current evidence suggests that microparticles of cosmic dust collide and stick together to form larger dust aggregates that may eventually combine and develop into planets. Numerical models that accurately characterize the conditions required for colliding microparticle aggregates to stick together, rather than bounce apart, are therefore paramount to understanding the evolution of planets. Recent modeling suggests that dust aggregates are less likely to stick together after a collision as the size of the aggregates increases.

Ecology: Invasive Species Ecology: Trees Environmental: Ecosystems Paleontology: Fossils Paleontology: General
Published

Miocene period fossil forest of Wataria found in Japan      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

An exquisitely preserved fossil forest from Japan provides missing links and helps reconstruct a whole Eurasia plant from the late Miocene epoch.

Offbeat: Space Space: Astronomy Space: Astrophysics Space: Cosmology Space: Exploration Space: Structures and Features Space: The Solar System
Published

Galaxy J1135 reveals its water map      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Researchers look at water in galaxies, its distribution and in particular its changes of state from ice to vapor, as important markers indicating areas of increased energy, in which black holes and stars are formed. A new study has now revealed the distribution of water within the J1135 galaxy, which is 12 billion light years away and formed when the Universe was a 'teenager', 1.8 billion years after the Big Bang . This water map, with unprecedented resolution, is the first ever to be obtained for such a remote galaxy. The map can help scientists to understand the physical processes taking place within J1135 and shed light on the dynamics, still partially unclear, surrounding the formation of stars, black holes and galaxies themselves.

Offbeat: Space Space: Astronomy Space: Structures and Features Space: The Solar System
Published

Does this exoplanet have a sibling sharing the same orbit?      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Astronomers have found the possible 'sibling' of a planet orbiting a distant star. The team has detected a cloud of debris that might be sharing this planet's orbit and which, they believe, could be the building blocks of a new planet or the remnants of one already formed. If confirmed, this discovery would be the strongest evidence yet that two exoplanets can share one orbit.

Offbeat: Space Space: Astronomy Space: Astrophysics Space: Cosmology Space: Structures and Features
Published

The puzzle of the galaxy with no dark matter      (via sciencedaily.com) 

New research has found the first evidence of a massive galaxy with no dark matter. The result is a challenge to the current standard model of cosmology.

Offbeat: Space Space: Astrophysics Space: Exploration Space: Structures and Features Space: The Solar System
Published

Unusual white dwarf star is made of hydrogen on one side and helium on the other      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

In a first for white dwarfs, the burnt-out cores of dead stars, astronomers have discovered that at least one member of this cosmic family is two faced. One side of the white dwarf is composed of hydrogen, while the other is made up of helium.