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Categories: Biology: Zoology, Geoscience: Geography
Published Fossil shows how penguins' wings evolved



A tiny fossil penguin plays a huge role in the evolutionary history of the bird, an international study shows.
Published Sea level changes shaped early life on Earth, fossil study reveals



Shifts in the Earth's continental plates that drove long-term changes in sea level set the stage for the evolution of the earliest animals on Earth, a study suggests.
Published Combined effects of plastic pollution and seawater flooding amplify threats to coastal plant species



A new study highlights how a combination of environmental stressors -- namely plastic pollution and seawater flooding -- can increase the threats faced by plants in some of the planet's critical ecosystems. It showed that both stressors had some effects on the species tested, but being exposed to both microplastics and flooding together -- a threat likely to increase as a result of climate change and plastic use -- had a more pronounced impact on their resource allocation.
Published Flamingos don't preen more than other waterbirds



Despite their famously fancy feathers, flamingos don't spent more time preening than other waterbirds, new research shows.
Published Half a billion-year-old spiny slug reveals the origins of mollusks



Exceptional fossils with preserved soft parts reveal that the earliest mollusks were flat, armored slugs without shells. The new species, Shishania aculeata, was covered with hollow, organic, cone-shaped spines. The fossils preserve exceptionally rare detailed features which reveal that these spines were produced using a sophisticated secretion system that is shared with annelids (earthworms and relatives).
Published Climate change may lead to shifts in vital Pacific Arctic fisheries



Commercially important marine fish and invertebrate species will likely shift northwards under a warmer climate, according to new research.
Published Study examines effect of fish oil in older adults' brains



A clinical trial suggests that a subset of older adults with a genetic predisposition to Alzheimer's disease may benefit from fish oil supplements.
Published Tipping risks from overshooting 1.5 °C can be minimized if warming is swiftly reversed



Current climate policies imply a high risk for tipping of critical Earth system elements, even if temperatures return to below 1.5 C of global warming after a period of overshoot. A new study indicates that this risk can be minimized if the warming is swiftly reversed. That is why reducing emissions in the current decade is crucial for the stability of the Earth systems functions, researchers write. They analyzed the tipping risks for four interconnected core climate tipping elements: the Greenland Ice Sheet, the West Antarctic Ice Sheet, the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC), and the Amazon Rainforest.
Published Towards smart cities: Predicting soil liquefaction risk using artificial intelligence



Soil liquefaction that results in infrastructure damage has long been a point of contention for urban planners and engineers. Accurately predicting the soil liquefaction risk of a region could help overcome this challenge. Accordingly, researchers applied artificial intelligence to generate soil liquefaction risk maps, superseding already published risk maps.
Published Mass extinction 66 million years ago triggered rapid evolution of bird genomes



Study finds that the mass extinction caused by an asteroid about 66 million years ago led to critical changes in bird genomes that ultimately sparked the incredibly diversity living birds.
Published Underwater mapping reveals new insights into melting of Antarctica's ice shelves



Clues to future sea level rise have been revealed by the first detailed maps of the underside of a floating ice shelf in Antarctica. An international research team deployed an unmanned submersible beneath the Dotson Ice Shelf in West Antarctica.
Published Scientists devise method to secure Earth's biodiversity on the moon



New research led proposes a plan to safeguard Earth's imperiled biodiversity by cryogenically preserving biological material on the moon. The moon's permanently shadowed craters are cold enough for cryogenic preservation without the need for electricity or liquid nitrogen.
Published Researchers explore cancer susceptibility in birds



In one of the largest studies of cancer susceptibility across bird species, researchers describe an intriguing relationship between reproductive rates and cancer susceptibility.
Published Cash and conservation: A worldwide analysis of wildlife represented on money



Researchers investigate the representation of native fauna on 4,541 banknotes from 207 countries between 1980 and 2017, to identify geographic hotspots and taxonomic patterns, and determine whether threatened and endemic species were more readily represented.
Published Climate change means that tropical cyclones in Southeast Asia are developing faster, lasting longer



A study reveals that tropical cyclones in Southeast Asia are now forming closer to coastlines, intensifying more rapidly, and lingering longer over land.
Published Monarch butterflies need help, and a little bit of milkweed goes a long way



Researchers and community scientists monitored urban milkweed plants for butterfly eggs to learn what makes these city gardens more hospitable to monarchs. They found that even tiny city gardens attracted monarchs and became a home to caterpillars.
Published What's the weather like in the deep sea?



A new study has revealed how even the deepest seafloors are affected by the daily back-and-forth of the tides, and the change of the seasons, and that currents at the bottom of the ocean are far more complicated than previously thought. These findings are helping us understand the deep-sea pathways of nutrients that support important deep-sea ecosystems, assess where microplastics and other pollutants accumulate in the ocean, and reconstruct past climate change.
Published Strong El Nino makes European winters easier to forecast



Forecasting European winter weather patterns months in advance is made simpler during years of strong El Ni o or La Ni a events in the tropical Pacific Ocean, a new study has found.
Published Scientists using new sound tech to save animals from extinction



Scientists are using new technology to help endangered animals by listening to their sounds.
Published North Sea oil and gas extraction spikes pollution by 10,000 percent, study finds



North Sea oil and gas extraction can cause pollution to spike by more than 10,000 percent within half a kilometer around off-shore sites, a study has found. The research has uncovered the true impact on Britain's seabed life -- with the number of species plummeting nearly 30 percent near platforms.