Biology: Botany Biology: Marine Biology: Microbiology Ecology: Sea Life Environmental: Water Geoscience: Earth Science Geoscience: Geology
Published

Mineral particles and their role in oxygenating the Earth's atmosphere      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Mineral particles played a key role in raising oxygen levels in the Earth's atmosphere billions of years ago, with major implications for the way intelligent life later evolved, according to new research.

Biology: Marine Biology: Zoology Ecology: Animals Ecology: Sea Life Geoscience: Environmental Issues
Published

Toothed whales catch food in the deep using vocal fry      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Toothed whales, such as dolphins, killer whales and sperm whales communicate and catch food exclusively with sound. Now researchers have for the first time found they evolved a new sound source in their nose that is functionally the same as the human larynx.

Biology: Zoology Ecology: Sea Life Paleontology: General
Published

Prehistoric sea monster may have been shorter, stouter, than once believed      (via sciencedaily.com) 

A big fish story? Maybe so: The greatest sea monster of the Devonian Period (Dunkleosteus terrelli) may be getting downsized. A new article contents that the famous sea monster of the Age of Fishes may not have neared 30-feet in length, as long believed, but topped off at maybe 13 feet. The new assertion brings attention to a famously fierce looking armored fish from 360 million years ago -- and maybe a new debate.

Biology: Marine Chemistry: General Chemistry: Inorganic Chemistry Ecology: Sea Life Environmental: Ecosystems
Published

Coral-friendly sunscreen provides better UV protection than existing options      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Researchers have developed a prototype for coral-reef-friendly sunscreens by using polymerization to create large molecules that still block UV radiation but are too big to penetrate our skin, coral, and algae. The polymeric UV filter was more effective at preventing sunburn in mice than existing sunscreens.

Biology: Marine Ecology: Extinction Ecology: Sea Life
Published

Centuries of whaling data highlight likely climate change effect      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Centuries-old whaling records show how southern right whales are altering their feeding habits.

Biology: Marine Ecology: Nature Ecology: Sea Life
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Blue whale foraging and reproduction are related to environmental conditions, study shows      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

A new study of New Zealand blue whales' vocalizations indicates the whales are present year-round in the South Taranaki Bight and their behavior is influenced by environmental conditions in the region.

Anthropology: General Archaeology: General Biology: Marine Ecology: Animals Ecology: Sea Life
Published

Mysterious new behavior seen in whales may be recorded in ancient manuscripts      (via sciencedaily.com) 

In 2011, scientists recorded a previously unknown feeding strategy in whales around the world. Now, researchers in Australia think they may have found evidence of this behaviour being described in ancient accounts of sea creatures, recorded more than 2,000 years ago. They believe that misunderstandings of these descriptions contributed to myths about medieval sea monsters. Whales are known lunge at their prey when feeding, but recently whales have been spotted at the surface of the water with their jaws open at right angles, waiting for shoals of fish to swim into their mouths. A clip of this strategy was captured in 2021 and went viral on Instagram. This strategy seems to work for the whales because the fish think they have found a place to shelter from predators, not realising they are swimming into danger. It's not known why this strategy has only recently been identified, but scientists speculate that it's a result of changing environmental conditions -- or that whales are being more closely monitored than ever before by drones and other modern technologies.

Anthropology: General Biology: Evolutionary Ecology: Extinction Ecology: Nature Ecology: Sea Life Paleontology: Fossils Paleontology: General
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Jurassic shark: Shark from the Jurassic period was already highly evolved      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Cartilaginous fish have changed much more in the course of their evolutionary history than previously believed. Evidence for this thesis has been provided by new fossils of a ray-like shark, Protospinax annectans, which demonstrate that sharks were already highly evolved in the Late Jurassic.

Computer Science: Artificial Intelligence (AI) Computer Science: General Offbeat: Computers and Math
Published

Will future computers run on human brain cells?      (via sciencedaily.com) 

A 'biocomputer' powered by human brain cells could be developed within our lifetime, according to researchers who expect such technology to exponentially expand the capabilities of modern computing and create novel fields of study.

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

Sea urchin die-offs threaten Caribbean coral reefs      (via sciencedaily.com) 

The sustained loss of a once abundant species of sea urchin in the Caribbean could also result in the functional extinction of diverse coral species from the region's reefs, according to new research.

Biology: Evolutionary Biology: Marine Ecology: Animals Ecology: Nature Ecology: Sea Life Ecology: Trees
Published

Who are the first ancestors of present-day fish?      (via sciencedaily.com) 

What is the origin of the ancestors of present-day fish? What species evolved from them? A 50-year-old scientific controversy revolved around the question of which group, the 'bony-tongues' or the 'eels', was the oldest. A study has just put an end to the debate by showing through genomic analysis that these fishes are in fact one and the same group, given the rather peculiar name of 'Eloposteoglossocephala'. These results shed new light on the evolutionary history of fish.

Computer Science: Artificial Intelligence (AI) Engineering: Nanotechnology Engineering: Robotics Research Offbeat: Computers and Math Offbeat: Plants and Animals Physics: Optics
Published

Tiny new climbing robot was inspired by geckos and inchworms      (via sciencedaily.com) 

A tiny robot that could one day help doctors perform surgery was inspired by the incredible gripping ability of geckos and the efficient locomotion of inchworms.

Biology: Marine Ecology: Animals Ecology: Sea Life Environmental: Ecosystems Geoscience: Environmental Issues Geoscience: Severe Weather
Published

Human-wildlife conflicts rising worldwide with climate change      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Scientists reveal that a warming world is increasing human-wildlife conflicts globally. They show that climate shifts can drive conflicts by altering animal habitats, the timing of events, wildlife behaviors and resource availability. It also showed that people are changing their behaviors and locations in response to climate change in ways that increase conflicts.

Computer Science: Artificial Intelligence (AI)
Published

Real or fake text? We can learn to spot the difference      (via sciencedaily.com) 

While apprehensions about employment and schools dominate headlines, the truth is that the effects of large-scale language models such as ChatGPT will touch virtually every corner of our lives. These new tools raise society-wide concerns about artificial intelligence's role in reinforcing social biases, committing fraud and identity theft, generating fake news, spreading misinformation and more. A team of researchers is seeking to empower tech users to mitigate these risks. The authors demonstrate that people can learn to spot the difference between machine-generated and human-written text.

Biology: Marine Ecology: Sea Life
Published

Shrinking age distribution of spawning salmon raises climate resilience concerns      (via sciencedaily.com) 

By returning to spawn in the Sacramento River at different ages, Chinook salmon lessen the potential impact of a bad year and increase the stability of their population in the face of climate variability, according to a new study. Unfortunately, spawning Chinook salmon are increasingly younger and concentrated within fewer age groups, with the oldest age classes of spawners rarely seen in recent years. The new findings suggest changes in hatchery practices and fishery management could help restore the age structure of the salmon population and make it more resilient to climate change.

Biology: Marine Ecology: Endangered Species Ecology: Extinction Ecology: Invasive Species Ecology: Sea Life Environmental: Biodiversity Environmental: Ecosystems Geoscience: Oceanography
Published

Marine heatwaves decimate sea urchins, molluscs and more at Rottnest      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Researchers believe rising sea temperatures are to blame for the plummeting number of invertebrates such as molluscs and sea urchins at Rottnest Island off Western Australia, with some species having declined by up to 90 per cent between 2007 and 2021.

Biology: Marine Ecology: Sea Life Environmental: Ecosystems
Published

'Antisocial' damselfish are scaring off cleaner-fish customers -- and this could contribute to coral reef breakdown      (via sciencedaily.com) 

'Antisocial' damselfish are scaring off cleaner fish customers -- and this could contribute to coral reef breakdown. Damselfish have been discovered to disrupt 'cleaning services' vital to the health of reefs. And climate change may mean this is only likely to get worse.

Biology: Evolutionary Ecology: Endangered Species Ecology: Extinction Ecology: Sea Life Environmental: Biodiversity Geoscience: Environmental Issues
Published

A labyrinth lake provides surprising benefits for an endangered seal      (via sciencedaily.com) 

The endangered Saimaa ringed seal is an Ice Age relict living in the highly labyrinthine Lake Saimaa, Finland. The newly published work shows that although individual seals have greatly reduced genetic variation, the loss of variation has been complementary, preserving the adaptive potential of the whole population.