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Categories: Ecology: Animals, Space: Structures and Features
Published Pancake stack of films on a balloon most accurate gamma-ray telescope



A pancake stack of radioactivity-sensitive films carried through the sky by a balloon was able to take the world's most accurate picture of a neutron star's gamma ray beam. To achieve this, researchers combined the oldest method of capturing radioactive radiation with the newest data capturing techniques and a clever time-recording device.
Published Insects already had a variety of defense strategies in the Cretaceous



Analyses of amber show that insect larvae were already using a wide variety of tactics to protect themselves from predators 100 million years ago.
Published Cosmic lights in the forest



Supercomputer helped astronomers develop PRIYA, the largest suite of hydrodynamic simulations yet made of large-scale structure in the universe.
Published Genetic diversity of wild north American grapes mapped



Wild North American grapes are now less of a mystery after researchers decoded and catalogued the genetic diversity of nine species of this valuable wine crop.
Published Genetics of host plants determine what microorganisms they attract



Plants often develop communities with microorganisms in their roots, which influences plant health and development. Although the recruitment of these microbes is dictated by several factors, it is unclear whether the genetic variation in the host plants plays a role.
Published Study uncovers major hidden human-driven bird extinctions



Humans have wiped out around 1,400 bird species -- twice as many as previously thought -- with major implications for the ongoing biodiversity crisis, a new study has found. The estimated extinctions would mean almost 12 per cent of bird species have died out over modern human history, since the Late Pleistocene around 130,000 years ago, with the vast majority of them becoming extinct directly or indirectly due to human activity.
Published Global inventory of sound production brings us one step closer to understanding aquatic ecosystems



Our understanding of which aquatic species produce sounds just took a big step forward. Scientists have created an inventory of species confirmed or expected to produce sound underwater.
Published Hotter weather caused by climate change could mean more mosquitoesv



Research along James River in Richmond suggests that climate change could shorten window for predators to prey on larvae.
Published Scientists collect aardvark poop to understand how the species is impacted by climate in Africa



In a new study of aardvarks, researchers spent months in sub-Saharan Africa collecting poop from the animal and concluded that aridification of the landscape is isolating them, which they say could have implications for their long-term survival.
Published New method could help estimate wildlife disease spread



A new method could be used to estimate the prevalence of disease in free-ranging wildlife and help determine how many samples are needed to detect a disease.
Published Scientists measure the distance to stars by their music



A team of astronomers has used asteroseismology, or the study of stellar oscillations, to accurately measure the distance of stars from the Earth. Their research examined thousands of stars and checked the measurements taken during the Gaia mission to study the near Universe.
Published New red galaxies turn out to be already known blue galaxies



Not all discoveries turn out to be actual new discoveries. This was the case for the extremely red objects (EROs) found in James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) data. Analysis shows that they are very similar to blue-excess dust obscured galaxies (BluDOGs) already reported in Subaru Telescope data.
Published Astronomers discover first population of binary stripped stars



Astronomers have discovered a population of massive stars that have been stripped of their hydrogen envelopes by their companions in binary systems. The findings shed light on the hot helium stars that are believed to be the origins of hydrogen-poor core-collapse supernovae and neutron star mergers.
Published Reaching for the (invisible) stars



Supernovae -- stellar explosions as bright as an entire galaxy -- have fascinated us since time immemorial. Yet, there are more hydrogen-poor supernovae than astrophysicists can explain. Now, scientists may have found the missing precursor star population.
Published Unexpected chemistry reveals cosmic star factories' secrets



Two galaxies in the early universe, which contain extremely productive star factories, have been studied by a team of scientists. Using powerful telescopes to split the galaxies' light into individual colors, the scientists were amazed to discover light from many different molecules -- more than ever before at such distances. Studies like this could revolutionize our understanding of the lives of the most active galaxies when the universe was young, the researchers believe.
Published Tiniest free-floating brown dwarf



Brown dwarfs are objects that straddle the dividing line between stars and planets. They form like stars, growing dense enough to collapse under their own gravity, but they never become dense and hot enough to begin fusing hydrogen and turn into a star. At the low end of the scale, some brown dwarfs are comparable with giant planets, weighing just a few times the mass of Jupiter.
Published Earliest evidence for domestic yak found using both archaeology, ancient DNA



The high-altitude hero of the Himalayas, yak are among the few large animals that can survive the extremely cold, harsh and oxygen-poor conditions of the Tibetan Plateau. In the mountainous regions of Asia, yak and yak-cattle hybrids serve as vital sources of meat, milk, transportation and fuel. However, little is known about their history: when or where yak were domesticated. In a new study, researchers report archaeologically and genetically confirmed evidence for domestic yak, dating back 2,500 years, by far the oldest record.
Published Trees in wetter regions more sensitive to drought



This holiday season brings surprising news about your Christmas tree. Scientists just discovered that globally, trees growing in wetter regions are more sensitive to drought. That means if your tree hails from a more humid clime, it's likely been spoiled for generations.
Published Study overturns conventional wisdom about wild turkey nesting survival



A new study finds that precipitation levels during nesting season are not related to reproductive success for wild turkeys, which runs counter to the conventional wisdom regarding the role that rainfall plays in wild turkey nesting success. The findings shed new light on how climate change may affect wild turkey populations.
Published Some icy exoplanets may have habitable oceans and geysers



A new study expands the search for life beyond our solar system by indicating that 17 exoplanets (worlds outside our solar system) could have oceans of liquid water, an essential ingredient for life, beneath icy shells. Water from these oceans could occasionally erupt through the ice crust as geysers. The science team calculated the amount of geyser activity on these exoplanets, the first time these estimates have been made. They identified two exoplanets sufficiently close where signs of these eruptions could be observed with telescopes.