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Categories: Biology: Zoology, Geoscience: Severe Weather
Published Hailstone library to improve extreme weather forecasting



Researchers are measuring and scanning samples for a global 'hailstone library'. Storm simulations using 3-D modelling of real hailstones -- in all sorts of weird shapes from oblong to flat discs or with spikes coming out -- show it behaves differently than spherical hail shapes. Data from the hail library could lead to more accurate storm forecasts.
Published Rethinking the dodo



Researchers are setting out to challenge our misconceptions about the Dodo, one of the most well-known but poorly understood species of bird. Researchers have undertaken the most comprehensive review of the taxonomy of the Dodo and its closest relative, the Rodriguez Island Solitaire.
Published New research shows unprecedented atmospheric changes during May's geomagnetic superstorm



On May 11, a gorgeous aurora surprised stargazers across the southern United States. That same weekend, a tractor guided by GPS missed its mark. What do the visibility of the northern lights have in common with compromised farming equipment in the Midwest? A uniquely powerful geomagnetic storm, according to new research.
Published Blind cavefish have extraordinary taste buds



A biologist studies blind cavefish, a species of fish that dwell in cave ponds in Mexico. He looked at the timeline for when the cavefish develop additional taste buds on the head and chin, finding the taste bud expansion starts at five months and continues into adulthood.
Published As human activities expand in Antarctica, scientists identify crucial conservation sites



Establishing Key Biodiversity Areas in the Southern Ocean will be vital for safeguarding the ecosystem from the impact of human activities, researchers say.
Published Hydrometeorology and location affect hospitalizations for waterborne infectious diseases in the US



An analysis of 12 years of data collected from over 500 hospitals in 25 different states shows that weather, geographic location, and urban or rural location all appear to influence hospitalizations for waterborne infectious diseases.
Published Lake Erie walleye growth is driven by parents' size, experience



Parent size and the conditions in which actively spawning adults lived are the most influential factors affecting growth of Lake Erie walleye, a new study has found.
Published Tropical Atlantic mixing rewrites climate pattern rules



Changes in the Atlantic Ocean's mixed layer are the primary force behind the Atlantic Multidecadal Variability (AMV).
Published A belly full of jelly



For a long time, scientists assumed that jellies (commonly known as jellyfish) were a dead-end food source for predatory fish. However, a team has now discovered that fish in Greenland waters do indeed feed on jellyfish. In two of the analyzed species, they even made up the majority of the food. The results suggest that the role of jellyfish as prey in marine food webs should be reconsidered, especially in regards to the fact that they could be profiting from climate change and spreading farther and farther north.
Published Nighttime light data shows inequities in restoring power after Hurricane Michael



Using nighttime lightdata from NASA, remote sensing, official outage records and census information, a study reveals notable differences in power-restoration rates between urbanized and rural areas and between disadvantaged and more affluent communities after Hurricane Michael in Florida's Panhandle. Block groups with higher proportions of minorities, multi-family housing units, rural locations, and households receiving public assistance experienced slower restoration of power compared to urban and more affluent neighborhoods.
Published Decoding the world's largest animal genome



Scientists have sequenced the largest genome of all animals, the lungfish genome. Their data help to explain how the fish-ancestors of today's land vertebrates were able to conquer land.
Published Ecologists put an insect group on century-old map of biodiversity



The distribution of species around the globe is not a random process but an outcome resulting from several evolutionary mechanisms as well as past and current environmental limitations. As a result, since the mid-19th century, biologists have identified several main regions, called biogeographic realms, that depict these large ensembles of species around the world. These biogeographic realms represent one of the most fundamental descriptions of biodiversity on Earth and are commonly used in various fields of biology.
Published Giant fossil seeds from Borneo record ancient plant migration



Ancient fossil beans about the size of modern limes, and among the largest seeds in the fossil record, may provide new insight into the evolution of today's diverse Southeast Asian and Australian rainforests, according to researchers who identified the plants.
Published Climate change raised the odds of unprecedented wildfires in 2023-24



Unprecedented wildfires in Canada and parts of Amazonia last year were at least three times more likely due to climate change and contributed to high levels of CO2 emissions from burning globally, according to the a new systematic review. The State of Wildfires report takes stock of extreme wildfires of the 2023-2024 fire season (March 2023-February 2024), explains their causes, and assesses whether events could have been predicted. It also evaluates how the risk of similar events will change in future under different climate change scenarios.
Published Scientists condition crocodiles to avoid killer cane toads



Scientists have trialled a new way to protect freshwater crocodiles from deadly invasive cane toads spreading across northern Australia.
Published Study reveals urban trees suffer more from heat waves and drought than their rural counterparts



A recent study details how trees in New York City and Boston are more negatively impacted by heat waves and drought than trees of the same species in nearby rural forests. The finding highlights the challenges urban trees face in the context of climate change and underscores the importance of tailored urban forestry management as a tool for protecting tree species and reducing urban heat islands.
Published Pit-building venom mixers



Researchers show that the adaptation of antlions to their ecological niche has also changed their venom. They compared the venom system of antlion and closely related green lacewing larvae. Antlions produce a much more complex venom from three different venom glands than lacewing larvae do. All the venom proteins identified come from the insects themselves, not from symbiotic bacteria. Some of the toxins are new and appear to be unique to antlions. Waiting for their victims in pitfall traps in the sand, antlions can use their venom to immobilize larger prey. The venom therefore plays an important ecological role in adapting to their barren habitat.
Published Rewriting the evolutionary history of critical components of the nervous system



A new study has rewritten the conventionally understood evolutionary history of certain ion channels -- proteins critical for electrical signaling in the nervous system. The study shows that the Shaker family of ion channels were present in microscopic single cell organisms well before the common ancestor of all animals and thus before the origin of the nervous system.
Published Reduce, reuse, 're-fly-cle'



Black soldier flies are now commercially used to consume organic waste -- but genetic modifications proposed by bioscientists could see the insects digesting a wider variety of refuse, while also creating raw ingredients for industry.
Published New study unveils 16,000 years of climate history in the tropical Andes



Researchers highlight the roles of carbon dioxide and ocean currents as key drivers of temperature fluctuations in the tropical Andes over a 16,000 year period.