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Categories: Biology: Botany, Space: Astrophysics
Published Soil bacteria respire more CO2 after sugar-free meals
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Researchers tracked how plant matter moves through bacteria's metabolism. Microbes respire three times as much carbon dioxide (CO2) from non-sugar carbons from lignin compared to sugar from cellulose. Although microbes consume both types of plant matter at the same time, each type enters a different metabolic pathway. Findings could improve predictions of how climate-dependent changes in soil carbon types will affect microbial CO2 production.
Published Origins of fast radio bursts come into focus through polarized light
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source What scientists previously thought about where Fast Radio Bursts (FRBs) come from is just the tip of the iceberg. A new study details the properties of polarized light from 128 non-repeating FRBs and reveals mysterious cosmic explosions that originated in far-away galaxies, similar to our own Milky Way.
Published Algae offer real potential as a renewable electricity source
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source The need to transition away from fossil fuels to more sustainable energy production is critical. That's why a team of researchers is looking at a potential power source that not only produces no carbon emissions but removes carbon as it works: algae.
Published How did a satellite galaxy of the Milky Way come to be?
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Crater 2, located approximately 380,000 light years from Earth, is one of the largest satellite galaxies of the Milky Way. Extremely cold and with slow-moving stars, Crater 2 has low surface brightness. How this galaxy originated remains unclear. A team of physicists now offers an explanation.
Published Lone Star State: Tracking a low-mass star as it speeds across the Milky Way
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Astronomers have discovered a rare hypervelocity L subdwarf star racing through the Milky Way. More remarkably, this star may be on a trajectory that causes it to leave the Milky Way altogether.
Published NASA's Webb opens new window on supernova science
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Peering deeply into the cosmos, NASA's James Webb Space Telescope is giving scientists their first detailed glimpse of supernovae from a time when our universe was just a small fraction of its current age. A team using Webb data has identified 10 times more supernovae in the early universe than were previously known. A few of the newfound exploding stars are the most distant examples of their type, including those used to measure the universe's expansion rate.
Published Fine-tuning leaf angle with CRISPR improves sugarcane yield
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source A CABBI research team has used CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing to optimize leaf angle in sugarcane, increasing the amount of sunlight it captures and the amount of biomass it produces.
Published Early life exposure to weed pollen could increase childhood asthma risk
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source A study has found children who are exposed to tree and weed pollen in urban environments are at increased risk of respiratory health problems, including asthma. While green areas in urban settings decrease exposure to air pollution, allow kids to be active, and offer positive contact to a diverse microbiota -- which in turn may help the positive development of a child's immune system -- they can also lead to the development of childhood asthma. Thankfully, trees can help mitigate this effect to some degree, thanks to their canopy.
Published Hubble finds surprises around a star that erupted 40 years ago
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Astronomers have used new data from NASA's Hubble Space Telescope and the retired SOFIA (Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy) as well as archival data from other missions to revisit one of the strangest binary star systems in our galaxy -- 40 years after it burst onto the scene as a bright and long-lived nova. A nova is a star that suddenly increases its brightness tremendously and then fades away to its former obscurity, usually in a few months or years.
Published Webb telescope reveals asteroid collision in neighboring star system
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Astronomers have captured what appears to be a snapshot of a massive collision of giant asteroids in Beta Pictoris, a neighboring star system known for its early age and tumultuous planet-forming activity.
Published The solar system may have passed through dense interstellar clouds 2 million years ago, altering Earth's climate
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Astrophysicists calculate the likelihood that Earth was exposed to cold, harsh interstellar clouds, a phenomenon not previously considered in geologic climate models.
Published Galactic bloodlines: Many nearby star clusters originate from only three 'families'
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Astronomers have deciphered the formation history of young star clusters, some of which we can see with the naked eye at night. The team reports that most nearby young star clusters belong to only three families, which originate from very massive star-forming regions. This research also provides new insights into the effects of supernovae (violent explosions at the end of the life of very massive stars) on the formation of giant gas structures in galaxies like our Milky Way.
Published Changes Upstream: RIPE team uses CRISPR/Cas9 to alter photosynthesis for the first time
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Scientists used CRISPR/Cas9 to increase gene expression in rice by changing its upstream regulatory DNA. While other studies have used the technology to knock out or decrease the expression of genes, this study, is an unbiased gene-editing approach to increase gene expression and downstream photosynthetic activity. The approach is more difficult than transgenic breeding, but could potentially preempt regulatory issues by changing DNA already within the plant, allowing the plants to get in the hands of farmers sooner.
Published Better farming through nanotechnology
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Advanced technologies enable the controlled release of medicine to specific cells in the body. Scientists argue these same technologies must be applied to agriculture if growers are to meet increasing global food demands.
Published Researchers upend theory about the formation of the Milky Way Galaxy
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Research reveals a shocking discovery about the history of our universe: the Milky Way Galaxy's last major collision occurred billions of years later than previously thought.
Published Exotic black holes could be a byproduct of dark matter
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source In the first quintillionth of a second, the universe may have sprouted microscopic black holes with enormous amounts of nuclear charge, MIT physicists propose. The gravitational pull from these tiny, invisible objects could potentially explain all the dark matter that we can't see today.
Published Planet-forming disks around very low-mass stars are different
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Using the James Webb Space Telescope, a team of astronomers studied the properties of a planet-forming disk around a young and very low-mass star. The results reveal the richest hydrocarbon composition seen to date in a protoplanetary disk, including the first extrasolar detection of ethane and a relatively low abundance of oxygen-bearing species. By including previous similar detections, this finding confirms a trend of disks around very low-mass stars to be chemically distinct from those around more massive stars like the Sun, influencing the atmospheres of planets forming there.
Published Scientists detect slowest-spinning radio emitting neutron star ever recorded
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Scientists have detected what they believe to be a neutron star spinning at an unprecedentedly slow rate -- slower than any of the more than 3,000 radio emitting neutron stars measured to date.
Published Uptake of tire wear additives by vegetables grown for human consumption
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Car tires contain hundreds of chemical additives that can leach out of them. This is how they end up in crops and subsequently in the food chain. Researchers have now detected these chemical residues in leafy vegetables for the first time. Although the concentrations were low, the evidence was clear, a finding that is also known for drug residues in plant-based foods.
Published Frequent mowing puts poisonous weed into survival mode
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source A study has found that frequent mowing of Solanum elaeagnifolium, also known as silverleaf nightshade, may help create a 'superweed.' A professor of entomology and plant pathology has been studying silverleaf nightshade for more than a decade. New findings have shown that the more silverleaf nightshade was mowed, the more it developed ways to avoid destruction. The taproot went down further, nearly 5 feet deep, in the first generation of mowed plants. More spikes popped out on the stem as a defense against caterpillars feeding on the flowers. The flowers became more toxic to caterpillars, leading to less pressure from natural predators.