Biology: Evolutionary Biology: General Biology: Marine Ecology: Extinction Ecology: Sea Life Environmental: Ecosystems
Published

Adult coral can handle more heat and keep growing thanks to heat-evolved symbionts      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Adult fragments of a coral species can better tolerate bleaching and recover faster when treated with tougher heat-evolved symbionts, new research indicates. The study also found that treatment with the heat-evolved symbionts did not compromise the coral's ability to grow. This differs from previous studies on Great Barrier Reef corals which found that naturally heat tolerant symbionts could enhance heat resistance in adult corals, but at a cost to its growth.

Space: Astrophysics Space: Cosmology Space: General Space: Structures and Features
Published

Researchers find gravitational lensing has significant effect on cosmic birefringence      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Future missions will be able to find signatures of violating the parity-symmetry in the cosmic microwave background polarization more accurately after a pair of researchers has managed to take into account the gravitational lensing effect, reports a new study.

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

Exploding stars      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

When massive stars or other stellar objects explode in the Earth's cosmic neighborhood, ejected debris can also reach our solar system. Traces of such events are found on Earth or the Moon and can be detected using accelerator mass spectrometry, or AMS for short.

Biology: Biochemistry Biology: Biotechnology Biology: Cell Biology Biology: Developmental Biology: Evolutionary Biology: General Biology: Genetics Biology: Marine Biology: Microbiology Biology: Zoology Ecology: Sea Life Offbeat: General Offbeat: Paleontology and Archeology Offbeat: Plants and Animals
Published

Where is a sea star's head? Maybe just about everywhere      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

A new study that combines genetic and molecular techniques helps solve the riddle of sea star (commonly called starfish) body plans, and how sea stars start life with bilateral body symmetry -- just like humans -- but grow up to be adults with fivefold 'pentaradial' symmetry.

Biology: Biochemistry Biology: Evolutionary Biology: General Biology: Zoology Paleontology: Fossils Paleontology: General
Published

How the fish got its shoulder      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

A new analysis of the bones and muscles in ancient fish gives new clues about how the shoulder evolved in animals -- including us.

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

New Nijmegen method reveals hidden genetic variations      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Many hidden genetic variations can be detected with Chameleolyser, a new method. The information is already yielding new patient diagnoses and may also lead to the discovery of as yet unknown disease genes.

Space: Astronomy Space: Cosmology Space: General Space: Structures and Features Space: The Solar System
Published

Giant planets cast a deadly pall      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Giant gas planets can be agents of chaos, ensuring nothing lives on their Earth-like neighbors around other stars. New studies show, in some planetary systems, the giants tend to kick smaller planets out of orbit and wreak havoc on their climates.

Offbeat: General Offbeat: Space Space: Astronomy Space: Exploration Space: General Space: Structures and Features
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The Crab Nebula seen in new light by NASA's Webb      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

NASA's James Webb Space Telescope has gazed at the Crab Nebula, a supernova remnant located 6,500 light-years away in the constellation Taurus. Since the recording of this energetic event in 1054 CE by 11th-century astronomers, the Crab Nebula has continued to draw attention and additional study as scientists seek to understand the conditions, behavior, and after-effects of supernovae through thorough study of the Crab, a relatively nearby example.

Biology: Biochemistry Biology: Evolutionary Biology: Zoology Ecology: Animals
Published

Evolutionary chance made this bat a specialist hunter      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

It is generally believed that, for millions of years, bats and the insects they hunt at night have adapted to each other in an evolutionary arms race to become better at finding or avoiding each other. Now, a new study shows that this may not be the case at all.

Biology: Biochemistry Biology: Biotechnology Biology: Cell Biology Biology: Evolutionary Biology: General Biology: Genetics Biology: Microbiology Paleontology: Fossils Paleontology: General
Published

Genetic methods enable the use of fossil lipids as biomarkers for oxygen-producing primordial bacteria      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Cyanobacteria are a key species in Earth's history, as they introduced atmospheric oxygen for the first time. The analysis of their evolution therefore provides important insights into the formation of modern aerobic ecosystems. For a long time, a certain type of fossil lipid, so-called 2-methylhopanes, was considered to be an important biomarker for Cyanobacteria in sediments, some of which are hundreds of millions of years old. However, this came into doubt when it turned out that not only Cyanobacteria but also Alphaproteobacteria are genetically capable of producing these lipids.

Biology: Biochemistry Biology: Evolutionary Biology: General Ecology: Animals
Published

Fruit, nectar, bugs and blood: How bat teeth and jaws evolved for a diverse dinnertime      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Noctilionoid bat species evolved wildly different faces as they adapted to exploit diverse food sources -- including insects, fruit, nectar, blood and fish. New research shows that those adaptations include dramatic, but also consistent, modifications to tooth number, size, shape and position.

Biology: Biochemistry Biology: Biotechnology Biology: Botany Biology: Cell Biology Biology: Evolutionary Biology: General Biology: Microbiology Ecology: Sea Life Environmental: Ecosystems
Published

Discovery of three novel minorisa species, the smallest predatory marine picoplankton      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Researchers have made a significant discovery by identifying and characterizing three novel species within the Minorisa genus of marine picoplankton. Before this study, only one species of Minorisa was recognized. This finding reveals previously unseen diversity of Minorisa, thereby enhancing species identification and our understanding of its ecological functions in marine ecosystems.  

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

Uranus aurora discovery offers clues to habitable icy worlds      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Astronomers confirm the existence of an infrared (IR) aurora on Uranus. This could help astronomers identify exoplanets that might support life, a large number of which are icy worlds.

Biology: Biochemistry Biology: Evolutionary Biology: General Biology: Microbiology Environmental: Ecosystems Environmental: General Geoscience: Environmental Issues Geoscience: Geochemistry
Published

Analysis finds diversity on the smallest scales in sulfur-cycling salt marsh microbes      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Scientists have discovered that even among the sulfur-cycling microbes that are responsible for the 'rotten egg gas' smell in salt marsh air, diversity extends all the way to genomes and even to individual nucleotides.

Geoscience: Earth Science Geoscience: Geochemistry Geoscience: Geology Space: Exploration Space: General Space: Structures and Features Space: The Solar System
Published

Venus had Earth-like plate tectonics billions of years ago, study suggests      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Venus, may have once had tectonic plate movements similar to those believed to have occurred on early Earth, a new study found. The finding sets up tantalizing scenarios regarding the possibility of early life on Venus, its evolutionary past and the history of the solar system.

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

Deep learning speeds up galactic calculations      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Supernovae, exploding stars, play a critical role in the formation and evolution of galaxies. However, key aspects of them are notoriously difficult to simulate accurately in reasonably short amounts of time. For the first time, a team of researchers apply deep learning to the problem of supernova simulation. Their approach can speed up the simulation of supernovae, and therefore of galaxy formation and evolution as well. These simulations include the evolution of the chemistry which led to life.

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

Massive space explosion observed creating elements needed for life      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Scientists have observed the creation of rare chemical elements in the second-brightest gamma-ray burst ever seen -- casting new light on how heavy elements are made.

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

First detection of heavy element from star merger      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

A team of scientists has used multiple space and ground-based telescopes to observe an exceptionally bright gamma-ray burst, GRB 230307A, and identify the neutron star merger that generated an explosion that created the burst. Webb also helped scientists detect the chemical element tellurium in the explosion's aftermath.

Biology: Biochemistry Biology: Biotechnology Biology: Cell Biology Biology: Evolutionary Biology: General Biology: Genetics Biology: Microbiology Biology: Zoology Ecology: Animals Offbeat: General Offbeat: Plants and Animals
Published

Finding the genes that help kingfishers dive without hurting their brains      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Scientists studied the genomes of 30 kingfisher species to try to identify the genes that allow kingfishers to dive headfirst into water without huring their brains. The researchers found that the diving birds have unusual mutations to the genes that produce tau: a protein that helps stabilize tiny structures in the brain, but which can build up in humans with traumatic brain injuries or Alzheimer's disease. The researchers suspect that these variations in the kingfishers' tau proteins might protect their brains when they dive.