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Categories: Ecology: Research, Offbeat: Space
Published Plant roots fuel tropical soil animal communities
(via sciencedaily.com) A research team has shed new light on the importance of plant roots for below-ground life, particularly in the tropics. Millions of small creatures toiling in a single hectare of soil including earthworms, springtails, mites, insects, and other arthropods are crucial for decomposition and soil health. For a long time, it was believed that leaf litter is the primary resource for these animals. However, this recent study is the first to provide proof that resources derived from plant roots drive soil animal communities in the tropics.
Published The planet that could end life on Earth
(via sciencedaily.com) A terrestrial planet hovering between Mars and Jupiter would be able to push Earth out of the solar system and wipe out life on this planet, according to a recent experiment.
Published Can artificial intelligence help find life on Mars or icy worlds?
(via sciencedaily.com) Researchers have mapped the sparse life hidden away in salt domes, rocks and crystals at Salar de Pajonales at the boundary of the Chilean Atacama Desert and Altiplano. Then they trained a machine learning model to recognize the patterns and rules associated with their distributions so it could learn to predict and find those same distributions in data on which it was not trained. In this case, by combining statistical ecology with AI/ML, the scientists could locate and detect biosignatures up to 87.5 percent of the time and decrease the area needed for search by up to 97 percent.
Published Phone-based measurements provide fast, accurate information about the health of forests
(via sciencedaily.com) Researchers have developed an algorithm that uses computer vision techniques to accurately measure trees almost five times faster than traditional, manual methods.
Published Resurrected supernova provides missing link
(via sciencedaily.com) Astronomers have discovered a supernova exhibiting unprecedented rebrightening at millimeter wavelengths, providing an intermediate case between two types of supernovae: those of solitary stars and those in close-binary systems.
Published U.S. birds' Eastern, Western behavior patterns are polar opposites
(via sciencedaily.com) Scientists have established what could be considered a baseline map of annual avian functional and species diversity patterns in the U.S., finding that functional diversity patterns in the West, where species and functional richness are both highest during the breeding season, are the polar opposite of what is seen in the East, where functional diversity is lowest when species richness is high.
Published Hansel and Gretel's breadcrumb trick inspires robotic exploration of caves on Mars and beyond
(via sciencedaily.com) Future space missions likely will send robots to scout out underground habitats for astronauts. Engineers have now developed a system that would enable autonomous vehicles to explore caves, lava tubes and even oceans on other worlds on their own.
Published Ultracool dwarf binary stars break records
(via sciencedaily.com) Astrophysicists have discovered the tightest ultracool dwarf binary system ever observed. The two stars are so close that it takes them less than one Earth day to revolve around each other. In other words, each star's 'year' lasts just 17 hours.
Published Mulching time of forest meadows influences insect diversity
(via sciencedaily.com) Researchers have examined how mulching at different times affects insect flower-visitors and larvae.
Published Deforestation in the tropics linked to a reduction in rainfall
(via sciencedaily.com) Deforestation is resulting in reduced rainfall across large parts of the tropics, according to new research. People living in tropical forest communities have often complained that the climate gets hotter and drier once trees are cleared but until now, scientists have not been able to identify a clear link between the loss of tree cover and a decline in rainfall.
Published Baby star near the black hole in the middle of our Milky Way: It exists after all
(via sciencedaily.com) Scientists have detected the heaviest and youngest infant star ever discovered close to the black hole at the center of our Galaxy. They also identified the region where this 'impossible star' may have formed.
Published Flower power: The role of ants in forest regeneration
(via sciencedaily.com) Ants play a key role in forest regeneration, according to a new article.
Published Liquid nitrogen spray could clean up stubborn moon dust
(via sciencedaily.com) A liquid nitrogen spray can remove almost all of the simulated moon dust from a space suit, potentially solving what is a significant challenge for future moon-landing astronauts.
Published Galactic explosion offers astrophysicists new insight into the cosmos
(via sciencedaily.com) Using data from the James Webb Space Telescope's first year of interstellar observation, an international team of researchers was able to serendipitously view an exploding supernova in a faraway spiral galaxy.
Published Australia's rarest bird of prey disappearing at alarming rate
(via sciencedaily.com) Australia's rarest bird of prey -- the red goshawk -- is facing extinction, with Cape York Peninsula now the only place in Queensland known to support breeding populations.
Published Astronomers discover metal-rich galaxies in early universe
(via sciencedaily.com) While analyzing data from the first images of a well-known early galaxy taken by NASA's James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), astronomers discovered a companion galaxy previously hidden behind the light of the foreground galaxy -- one that surprisingly seems to have already hosted multiple generations of stars despite its young age, estimated at 1.4 billion years old.
Published A mysterious object is being dragged into the supermassive black hole at the Milky Way's center
(via sciencedaily.com) An object near the supermassive black hole at the center of the Milky Way galaxy has drawn the interest of scientists because it has evolved dramatically in a relatively short time. A new study suggests that the object, called X7, could be a cloud of dust and gas that was created when two stars collided. The researchers believe it will eventually be drawn toward the black hole and will disintegrate.
Published New discovery sheds light on very early supermassive black holes
(via sciencedaily.com) Astronomers have discovered a rapidly growing black hole in one of the most extreme galaxies known in the very early Universe. The discovery of the galaxy and the black hole at its center provides new clues on the formation of the very first supermassive black holes.
Published New study reveals biodiversity loss drove ecological collapse after the 'Great Dying'
(via sciencedaily.com) By exploring the stability and collapse of marine ecosystems during the Permian-Triassic mass extinction, researchers gain insights into modern biodiversity crisis.
Published Insect bite marks show first fossil evidence for plants' leaves folding up at night
(via sciencedaily.com) Plants can move in ways that might surprise you. Some of them even show 'sleep movements,' folding or raising their leaves each night before opening them again the next day. Now, researchers offer convincing evidence for these nightly movements, also known as foliar nyctinasty, in fossil plants that lived more than 250 million years ago.