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Categories: Ecology: Extinction, Offbeat: Space

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Global warming may be interacting with regional rainfall and deforestation to accelerate forest loss in the Amazon, pushing it towards partial or total collapse. New research has identified the potential thresholds of these stressors, showing where their combined effects could produce a 'tipping point' -- in which the forest is so fragile that just a small disturbance could cause an abrupt shift in the state of the ecosystem.

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Australian birds that live on islands are among the species most at risk of extinction, a first-of-its-kind study has shown. Australia has over 750 native bird species. But many of them are facing an uncertain future.

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New research revealed that when coral bleaching occurs, corals release unique organic compounds into the surrounding water that not only promote bacterial growth overall, but select for opportunistic bacteria that may further stress reefs.

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Fossils of a marine animal that lived 500 million years ago, combined with computer simulations, informed the design of a new soft robot.

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Scientists have discovered five dazzling new species of eyelash vipers in the jungles and cloud forests of Colombia and Ecuador.

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Astronomers have uncovered evidence of how the enigmatic gap in the size distribution of exoplanets at around two Earth radii emerges. Their computer simulations demonstrate that the migration of icy, so-called sub-Neptunes into the inner regions of their planetary systems could account for this phenomenon. As they draw closer to the central star, evaporating water ice forms an atmosphere that makes the planets appear larger than in their frozen state. Simultaneously, smaller rocky planets gradually lose a portion of their original gaseous envelope, causing their measured radius to shrink over time.

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Saturn's moon Mimas harbors a global ocean beneath its icy shell, discovered through analysis of its orbit by Cassini spacecraft data. This ocean formed just 5-15 million years ago, making Mimas a prime candidate for studying early ocean formation and potential for life. This discovery suggests life-essential conditions might exist on seemingly inactive moons, expanding our search for life beyond Earth.

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Dinosaurs' range of locomotion made them incredibly adaptable, researchers have found.

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Two astrophysicists have finally solved a 20-year-old astrophysical puzzle concerning the lower-than-expected amounts of the element sulphur found in Planetary Nebulae (PNe) in comparison to expectations and measurements of other elements and other types of astrophysical objects. The expected levels of sulphur have long appeared to be 'missing in action'. However, they have now finally reported for duty after hiding in plain sight, as a result of leveraging highly accurate and reliable data.

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New research reveals that denser, and more sheltered, kelp forests can withstand serious stressors amid warming ocean temperatures.

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Black holes not only existed at the dawn of time, they birthed new stars and supercharged galaxy formation, a new analysis of James Webb Space Telescope data suggests.

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The earliest galaxies are thought to have formed as the gravitational pull of dark matter, which has been impossible to study directly, slowly drew in enough hydrogen and helium to ignite stars. But astrophysicists now show that after the Big Bang, hydrogen and helium gas bounced at supersonic speeds off dense, slowly moving clumps of cold dark matter. When the gas fell back in millennia later, stars formed all at once, creating small, exceptionally bright galaxies. If models of cold dark matter are correct, the James Webb Space Telescope should be able to find patches of bright galaxies in the early universe, potentially offering the first effective test for theories about dark matter. If it doesn't, scientists have to go back to the drawing board with dark matter.

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Floating macroalgal acts as a raft that provides habitat for a diverse array of juvenile oceanic fish a new study has found. The study conducted in the Ningaloo Coast World Heritage Area, Western Australia, revealed that fish were more abundant around macroalgal rafts than in open water, with eleven species of juvenile fishes associated with Sargassum rafts, and one species of both juveniles and adults.

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The James Webb Space Telescope observed 19 nearby face-on spiral galaxies in near- and mid-infrared light as part of its contributions to the Physics at High Angular resolution in Nearby GalaxieS (PHANGS) program.

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New research finds that individual behavioural flexibility and not evolutionary selection is driving the northward shift of Balearic shearwaters. The findings were revealed through a decade-long study which tagged individual birds. The results indicate that individual animals may have greater behavioural flexibility to respond to climate change impacts than previously thought.

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The next generation of advanced telescopes could sharpen the hunt for potential extraterrestrial life by closely scrutinizing the atmospheres of nearby exoplanets, new research suggests.

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Scientists have identified 18 new tidal disruption events (TDEs) -- extreme instances when a nearby star is tidally drawn into a black hole and ripped to shreds. The detections more than double the number of known TDEs in the nearby universe.

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Scientists have employed novel statistical methods to reveal the extent of biodiversity loss in Singapore over the past two centuries. The study paints the most accurate picture to date of the ecological impact of deforestation and urban development in the tropical city-state. From a comprehensive dataset, the study estimated that Singapore has lost 37 per cent of its species.

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Ground-penetrating radar on board NASA's Mars Perseverance rover has confirmed that the Jezero Crater, formed by an ancient meteor impact just north of the Martian equator, once harbored a vast lake and river delta. Over eons, sediment deposition and erosion within the crater shaped the geologic formations visible on the surface today. The discovery of lake sediments reinforces the hope that traces of life might be found in soil and rock samples collected by Perseverance.

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Physicists discovered stars near the edge of the Milky Way travel more slowly than those closer to its center -- a surprise suggesting our galaxy's gravitational core may have less dark matter than previously thought.