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Categories: Biology: Evolutionary, Geoscience: Geology
Published Researchers find oldest undisputed evidence of Earth's magnetic field
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source A new study has recovered a 3.7-billion-year-old record of Earth's magnetic field, and found that it appears remarkably similar to the field surrounding Earth today.
Published Scientists unveil genetics behind development of gliding
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Researchers explain the genomic and developmental basis of the patagium, the thin skin membrane that allows some mammalian species to soar through the air.
Published Bioluminescence first evolved in animals at least 540 million years ago
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Bioluminescence first evolved in animals at least 540 million years ago in a group of marine invertebrates called octocorals, according to the results of a new study. The study focuses on an ancient group of marine invertebrates that includes soft corals, pushes back the previous oldest dated example of trait by nearly 300 million years.
Published The Italian central Apennines as a source of CO2
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Tectonically active mountains play an important role in the natural CO2 regulation of the atmosphere. Competing processes take place here: At Earth's surface, erosion drives weathering processes that absorb or release CO2, depending on the type of rock. At depth, the heating and melting of carbonate rock leads to the outgassing of CO2 at the surface. In the central Italian Apennine Mountains, researchers have now investigated and balanced all of these processes in one region for the first time -- using, among others, analyses of the CO2 content in mountain rivers and springs.
Published Scientists trigger mini-earthquakes in the lab
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Earthquakes and landslides are famously difficult to predict and prepare for. By studying a miniature version of the ground in the lab, scientists have demonstrated how these events can be triggered by a small external shock wave. Bring a flotation device: it involves the ground briefly turning into a liquid!
Published One third of China's urban population at risk of city sinking, new satellite data shows
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Land subsidence is overlooked as a hazard in cities, according to new research. Scientists used satellite data that accurately and consistently maps land movement across China.
Published Marine microbial populations: Potential sensors of the global change in the ocean
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Animal and plant populations have been extensively studied, which has helped to understand ecosystem processes and evolutionary adaptations. However, this has not been the case with microbial populations due to the impossibility of isolating, culturing and analyzing the genetic content of the different species and their individuals in the laboratory. Therefore, although it is known that populations of microorganisms include a great diversity, this remains largely uncharacterized.
Published RNA's hidden potential: New study unveils its role in early life and future bioengineering
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source The origin of life continues to remain a matter of debate. The ribonucleic acid (RNA) world hypothesis proposes that 'ribozymes' which store genetic information and possess catalytic functions may have supported the activities of early life forms. Now, researchers explore how RNA elongation is regulated allosterically, shedding light on its impact on early life processes and offering insights into the fabrication of arbitrary RNA nanostructures with various modern applications.
Published Mountain chickadees have remarkable memories. A new study explains why
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Mountain chickadees have among the best spatial memory in the animal kingdom. New research identifies the genes at play and offers insight into how a shifting climate may impact the evolution of this unique skill.
Published New butterfly species created 200,000 years ago by two species interbreeding
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Researchers have shown that an Amazonian butterfly is a hybrid species, formed by two other species breeding together almost 200,000 years ago. Researchers have shown that an Amazonian butterfly is a hybrid species, formed by two other species breeding together almost 200,000 years ago.
Published Reproductive success improves after a single generation in the wild for descendants of some hatchery-origin Chinook salmon
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Researchers who created 'family trees' for nearly 10,000 fish found that first-generation, wild-born descendants of hatchery-origin Chinook salmon in an Oregon river show improved fitness.
Published Seed ferns: Plants experimented with complex leaf vein networks 201 million years ago
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source According to a research team led by palaeontologists, the net-like leaf veining typical for today's flowering plants developed much earlier than previously thought, but died out again several times. Using new methods, the fossilized plant Furcula granulifer was identified as such an early forerunner. The leaves of this seed fern species already exhibited the net-like veining in the late Triassic (around 201 million years ago).
Published Twisted pollen tubes induce infertility
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Plants with multiple sets of chromosomes, known as polyploids, are salt-tolerant or drought-resistant and often achieve higher yields. However, newly formed polyploid plants are often sterile or have reduced fertility and are unsuitable for breeding resistant lines. The reason is that the pollen tube in these plants grows incorrectly, which keeps fertilization from taking place. Pollen tube growth is mainly controlled by two genes that could be useful in crop breeding.
Published Millions of gamers advance biomedical research
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source 4.5 million gamers around the world have advanced medical science by helping to reconstruct microbial evolutionary histories using a minigame included inside the critically and commercially successful video game, Borderlands 3. Their playing has led to a significantly refined estimate of the relationships of microbes in the human gut. The results of this collaboration will both substantially advance our knowledge of the microbiome and improve on the AI programs that will be used to carry out this work in future.
Published Evolution's recipe book: How 'copy paste' errors cooked up the animal kingdom
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source A series of whole genome and gene duplication events that go back hundreds of millions of years have laid the foundations for tissue-specific gene expression, according to a new study. The 'copy-paste' errors allowed animals to keep one copy of their genome or genes for fundamental functions, while the second copy could be used as raw material for evolutionary innovation. Events like these, at varying degrees of scale, occurred constantly throughout the bilaterian evolutionary tree and enabled traits and behaviours as diverse as insect flight, octopus camouflage and human cognition.
Published How seaweed became multicellular
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source A deep dive into macroalgae genetics has uncovered the genetic underpinnings that enabled macroalgae, or 'seaweed,' to evolve multicellularity. Three lineages of macroalgae developed multicellularity independently and during very different time periods by acquiring genes that enable cell adhesion, extracellular matrix formation, and cell differentiation, researchers report. Surprisingly, many of these multicellular-enabling genes had viral origins. The study, which increased the total number of sequenced macroalgal genomes from 14 to 124, is the first to investigate macroalgal evolution through the lens of genomics.
Published Oxidant pollutant ozone removes mating barriers between fly species
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Researchers show that ozone levels, such as those found in many places on hot summer days today, destroy the sex pheromones of fruit fly species. As a result, some natural mating boundaries maintained by species-specific pheromones no longer exist. The research team has shown in experiments that flies of different species mate when exposed to ozone and produce hybrid offspring. Since most of these offspring are unable to reproduce, the results could provide another explanation for the global decline of insects.
Published Geobiology: New placozoan habitat discovered
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Traces of DNA in the stomachs of predatory snails give a team og geobiologists new insights into the ecology of placozoans.
Published 3D mouth of an ancient jawless fish suggests they were filter-feeders, not scavengers or hunters
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Early jawless fish were likely to have used bony projections surrounding their mouths to modify the mouth's shape while they collected food. Experts have used CT scanning techniques to build up the first 3D pictures of these creatures, which are some of the earliest vertebrates (animals with backbones) in which the mouth is fossilized. Their aim was to answer questions about feeding in early vertebrates without jaws in the early Devonian epoch -- sometimes called the Age of Fishes -- around 400 million years ago.
Published Birdfeeders are designed to keep unwanted guests away
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source The first birdfeeders were made in the 19th century, and their design rapidly evolved during the 20th century. Researchers at the consider the evolution of the birdfeeder to be an example of multispecies design, where unwanted guests have shaped the human-made artifact.