Biology: Developmental Biology: Evolutionary
Published

DNA tilts and stretches underlie differences in mutation rates across genomes      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Researchers have changed the way to look at DNA. They show that DNA is much more than a linear sequence of building blocks; it has a 3D structure that influences the variation of human genome-wide mutation rates meaningfully and consistently, and this is likely conserved among species.

Computer Science: Quantum Computers Physics: Quantum Computing Physics: Quantum Physics
Published

Current takes a surprising path in quantum material      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Researchers used magnetic imaging to obtain the first direct visualization of how electrons flow in a special type of insulator, and by doing so they discovered that the transport current moves through the interior of the material, rather than at the edges, as scientists had long assumed.

Computer Science: Quantum Computers Physics: Quantum Computing Physics: Quantum Physics
Published

Sensing and controlling microscopic spin density in materials      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Researchers found a way to tune the spin density in diamond by applying an external laser or microwave beam. The finding could open new possibilities for advanced quantum devices.

Biology: Evolutionary Ecology: Endangered Species Ecology: Research
Published

Researchers are using monkey poop to learn how an endangered species chooses its mates      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Northern muriquis, which live in the Atlantic forest of Brazil, are one of the most endangered species of monkey in the world. To better understand what goes on in the mating lives of muriquis, researchers turned to the monkeys' poop to help gain insight into how the primates choose their mates.

Computer Science: Quantum Computers Physics: Quantum Computing Physics: Quantum Physics
Published

Quantum discovery: Materials can host D-wave effects with F-wave behaviors      (via sciencedaily.com) 

In a potential boon for quantum computing, physicists have shown that topologically protected quantum states can be entangled with other, highly manipulable quantum states in some electronic materials.

Biology: Evolutionary Geoscience: Environmental Issues Geoscience: Severe Weather
Published

The history and future of ancient einkorn wheat Is written in its genes      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Researchers have sequenced the complete genome for einkorn wheat, the world's first domesticated crop and traced its evolutionary history. The information will help researchers identify genetic traits like tolerance to diseases, drought and heat, and re-introduce those traits to modern bread wheat.

Biology: Evolutionary Biology: Marine Ecology: Sea Life Paleontology: Fossils Paleontology: General
Published

Oldest known species of swimming jellyfish identified      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Royal Ontario Museum announces the oldest swimming jellyfish in the fossil record with the newly named Burgessomedusa phasmiformis. This 505-million-year-old swimming jellyfish from the Burgess Shale highlights diversity in the Cambrian ecosystem.

Biology: Evolutionary Mathematics: General Mathematics: Modeling Mathematics: Puzzles
Published

Scientists uncover a surprising connection between number theory and evolutionary genetics      (via sciencedaily.com) 

An interdisciplinary team of mathematicians, engineers, physicists, and medical scientists has uncovered an unexpected link between pure mathematics and genetics, that reveals key insights into the structure of neutral mutations and the evolution of organisms.

Biology: Evolutionary Ecology: Invasive Species Geoscience: Environmental Issues
Published

When cheating pays -- survival strategy of insect uncovered      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Researchers have revealed the unique 'cheating' strategy a New Zealand insect has developed to avoid being eaten -- mimicking a highly toxic species.

Biology: Evolutionary Biology: Marine Ecology: General Ecology: Research Ecology: Sea Life
Published

Researchers find evolutionary adaption in trout of Wyoming's Wind River Mountains      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Scientists found that trout from lakes stocked decades ago in the Wind River Mountains have higher numbers of gill rakers, which are bony or cartilage structures in the gullets of fish that act as sieves to retain zooplankton and nourish the trout. The difference is likely a result of the trout adapting to the food sources of the once-fishless high-mountain lakes -- a change that has taken place in a relatively short period of time and at a rate that is generally consistent with the historic timing of stocking for each of the lakes.

Computer Science: Quantum Computers Energy: Technology Offbeat: Computers and Math Physics: Quantum Computing Physics: Quantum Physics
Published

Scientists create novel approach to control energy waves in 4D      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Everyday life involves the three dimensions or 3D -- along an X, Y and Z axis, or up and down, left and right, and forward and back. But, in recent years scientists have explored a 'fourth dimension' (4D), or synthetic dimension, as an extension of our current physical reality.

Computer Science: Quantum Computers Physics: Quantum Computing Physics: Quantum Physics
Published

When electrons slowly vanish during cooling      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Many substances change their properties when they are cooled below a certain critical temperature. Such a phase transition occurs, for example, when water freezes. However, in certain metals there are phase transitions that do not exist in the macrocosm. They arise because of the special laws of quantum mechanics that apply in the realm of nature's smallest building blocks. It is thought that the concept of electrons as carriers of quantized electric charge no longer applies near these exotic phase transitions. Researchers have now found a way to prove this directly. Their findings allow new insights into the exotic world of quantum physics.

Biology: Evolutionary Paleontology: Fossils Paleontology: General
Published

Bees evolved from ancient supercontinent, diversified faster than suspected      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

The origin of bees is tens of millions of years older than most previous estimates, a new study shows. A team led by Washington State University researchers traced the bee genealogy back more than 120 million years to an ancient supercontinent, Gondwana, which included today's continents of Africa and South America.

Biology: Evolutionary Biology: Microbiology
Published

Mutation accessibility fuels influenza evolution      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Scientists showed that fixed mutations within a viral population most likely stem from how easy it is to acquire that mutation (i.e., mutation accessibility) rather than just its benefit.

Biology: Developmental Biology: Evolutionary Offbeat: Plants and Animals
Published

Bees and wasps use the same architectural solutions to join large hexagons to small hexagons      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Bees and wasps have converged on the same architectural solutions to nest-building problems, according to new research.

Biology: Evolutionary Biology: Microbiology
Published

'Swine flu' strain has passed from humans to swine nearly 400 times since 2009      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

A new study of the strain of influenza A responsible for the 2009 H1N1 pandemic -- pdm09 -- shows that the virus has passed from humans to swine about 370 times since 2009, and subsequent circulation in swine has resulted in the evolution of pdm09 variants that then jumped from swine to humans.

Biology: Evolutionary Paleontology: Dinosaurs Paleontology: General
Published

New archosaur species shows that precursor of dinosaurs and pterosaurs was armored      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Researchers have described a new species of armored reptile that lived near the time of the first appearance of dinosaurs. With bony plates on its backbone, this archosaur fossil reveals that armor was a boomerang trait in the story of dinosaur and pterosaur evolution: the group's ancestors were armored, but this characteristic was lost and then independently re-evolved multiple times later among specialized dinosaurs like ankylosaurs, stegosaurs, and others.

Computer Science: Quantum Computers Physics: Quantum Computing Physics: Quantum Physics
Published

A new type of quantum bit in semiconductor nanostructures      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Researchers have created a quantum superposition state in a semiconductor nanostructure that might serve as a basis for quantum computing. The trick: two optical laser pulses that act as a single terahertz laser pulse.

Biology: Evolutionary Biology: Microbiology
Published

Scientists develop AI-based tracking and early-warning system for viral pandemics      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Machine-learning system effectively predicts emergence of prominent variants.

Computer Science: Quantum Computers Physics: Quantum Computing Physics: Quantum Physics
Published

Researchers establish criterion for nonlocal quantum behavior in networks      (via sciencedaily.com) 

A new theoretical study provides a framework for understanding nonlocality, a feature that quantum networks must possess to perform operations inaccessible to standard communications technology. By clarifying the concept, researchers determined the conditions necessary to create systems with strong, quantum correlations.