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Categories: Biology: Zoology, Geoscience: Geography
Published Gigantic Jurassic pterosaur fossil unearthed in Oxfordshire, UK
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source A team of palaeontologists has discovered a fossil of a gigantic flying reptile from the Jurassic period with an estimated wingspan of more than three metres -- making it one of the largest pterosaurs ever found from that era.
Published New light shed on circadian rhythms
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Circadian clocks, which drive circadian rhythms, are entwined with many essential systems in living things including plants, fungi, insects, and even humans. Because of this, disruptions to our circadian clocks are linked to higher disease rates in humans, including certain cancers and autoimmune diseases.
Published Centering relationships between people and place: A critical step towards improving science's contributions to society
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Marine conservation scientists advocate for a cultural shift in academia that fosters deeper connections with places of study and encourages collaboration with local communities to make science more relevant, equitable and meaningful.
Published Microscopic defects in ice shape how massive glaciers flow, study shows
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source A glacier's flow depends on how microscopic defects move through the ice, according to new research that also yielded a new model for predicting how glaciers will flow, ultimately contributing to sea-level rise.
Published Mapping the seafloor sediment superhighway
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source A new scientific model is giving researchers an unprecedented, global look at the activities of clams, worms, and other invertebrate animals that burrow at the bottom of the ocean.
Published Shape and depth of ocean floor profoundly influence how carbon is stored there
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source The movement of carbon between the atmosphere, oceans and continents -- or carbon cycle -- regulates Earth's climate, with the ocean playing a major role in carbon sequestration. A new study finds that the shape and depth of the ocean floor explain up to 50% of the changes in depth at which carbon has been sequestered there over the past 80 million years. While these changes have been previously attributed to other causes, the new finding could inform ongoing efforts to combat climate change through marine carbon sequestration.
Published Best of both worlds: Innovative positioning system enhances versatility and accuracy of drone-viewpoint mixed reality applications
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Researchers have developed an innovative positioning system that enhances the versatility and accuracy of drone-viewpoint mixed reality (MR) applications by aligning real and virtual world coordinates without predefined routes. By integrating visual positioning systems and natural feature-based tracking, this technology is expected to be applied to urban landscape simulation, maintenance, and inspection work.
Published The embryo assembles itself
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Biological processes depend on puzzle pieces coming together and interacting. Under specific conditions, these interactions can create something new without external input. This is called self-organization, as seen in a school of fish or a flock of birds. Interestingly, the mammalian embryo develops similarly. Scientists now introduce a mathematical framework that analyzes self-organization from a single cell to a multicellular organism.
Published Wire snare removal in protected areas is labor-intensive but effective -- and essential to solving the Southeast Asian snaring crisis
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Snaring -- a non-selective method of poaching using wire traps -- is widespread in tropical forests in Southeast Asia. Snaring decimates wildlife populations and has pushed many larger mammals to local or even global extinction. Eleven years of data from ranger patrols in the Thua Thien Hue and Quang Nam Saola Nature Reserves in Viet Nam show that intensive removal efforts are labour-intensive and costly but brought snaring down by almost 40 percent and therefore reduced imminent threats to wildlife. Further reductions were difficult to achieve despite continued removal efforts. Snare removal is therefore necessary but by itself not sufficient to save the threatened wildlife diversity in tropical forests, scientists conclude.
Published Urgent need for action now for increasing threat from invasive alien species
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Urgent action now is needed to tackle the major and growing global issue of invasive alien species, says a team of 88 experts from 47 countries. The paper follows the (IPBES) thematic assessment report on invasive alien species and their control. The experts say co-developing management actions with multiple stakeholders including government and private sector stakeholders, and Indigenous Peoples and local communities will be critical to achieving success in addressing biological invasions.
Published Arctic melting heavily influenced by little-studied meteorological phenomena
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source A team of scientists has combined paleoclimatic data from the last 2,000 years with powerful computer modeling and in-the-field research on lake sediments and tree rings to show that an understudied phenomenon, known as atmospheric blocking, has long influenced temperature swings in the Arctic. As temperatures warm due to climate change, atmospheric blocking will help drive ever-wilder weather events. The study focused on the Norwegian Arctic archipelago, Svalbard, at the edge of the Arctic Ocean.
Published Thawing permafrost: Not a climate tipping element, but nevertheless far-reaching impacts
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Permafrost soils store large quantities of organic carbon and are often portrayed as a critical tipping element in the Earth system, which, once global warming has reached a certain level, suddenly and globally collapses. Yet this image of a ticking timebomb, one that remains relatively quiet until, at a certain level of warming, it goes off, is a controversial one among the research community. Based on the scientific data currently available, the image is deceptive, as an international team has shown in a recently released study. According to their findings, there is no single global tipping point; rather, there are numerous local and regional ones, which 'tip' at different times, producing cumulative effects and causing the permafrost to thaw in step with climate change.
Published Fungus breaks down ocean plastic
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source A fungus living in the sea can break down the plastic polyethylene, provided it has first been exposed to UV radiation from sunlight. Researchers expect that many more plastic degrading fungi are living in deeper parts of the ocean.
Published Greenhouses cover more and more of Earth's surface
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Greenhouse cultivation is booming globally, especially in the Global South -- and across one country in particular. This is revealed in a new study that deploys detailed satellite imagery and AI to map greenhouses across the planet. According to the researchers, the development is a source of both promise and concern.
Published Captivating blue-colored ant discovered in India's remote Siang Valley
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source A new species of blue ant was discovered in Yingku village in Arunachal Pradesh, Northeastern India. It was named Paraparatrechina neela, after the word 'neela' which means blue in various Indian languages. Its unique blue coloration makes it stand out among other ant species.
Published A greener, more effective way to kill termites
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Scientists have discovered a highly effective, nontoxic, and less expensive way to lure hungry termites to their doom.
Published Fjords are effective carbon traps regardless of oxygen levels
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source The fjords on Sweden's west coast act as effective carbon traps regardless of whether the bottom water is oxygen-rich or not.
Published Trout in mine-polluted rivers are genetically 'isolated'
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Trout living in rivers polluted by metal from old mines across the British Isles are genetically 'isolated' from other trout, new research shows.
Published 'Ugly' fossil places extinct saber-toothed cat on Texas coast
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source This fossil looks like a lumpy, rounded rock with a couple of exposed teeth that are a little worse for wear, having been submerged and tumbled along the floor of the Gulf of Mexico for thousands of years before washing up on a beach. But when it was X-rayed a doctoral student saw there was more to the fossil that met the eye: a hidden canine tooth that had not yet erupted from the jaw bone. It was just what researchers needed to identify the fossil as belonging to a Homotherium, a genus of large cat that roamed much of the Earth for millions of years.
Published People are altering decomposition rates in waterways
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Humans may be accelerating the rate at which organic matter decomposes in rivers and streams on a global scale, according to a new study. That could pose a threat to biodiversity in waterways around the world and increase the amount of carbon in Earth's atmosphere, potentially exacerbating climate change. The study is the first to combine a global experiment and predictive modeling to illustrate how human impacts to waterways may contribute to the global climate crisis.