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Categories: Offbeat: Earth and Climate, Space: The Solar System
Published New findings support long-proposed process of planet formation
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Scientists just made a breakthrough discovery in revealing how planets are made. By observing water vapor in protoplanetary disks, they confirmed a physical process involving the drifting of ice-coated solids from the outer regions of the disk into the rocky-planet zone.
Published Animals like crickets use the ground to amplify calls
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source When animals 'sing' sitting on the ground -- such as when crickets chirp -- their volume and reach increase dramatically, by as much as ten-fold. This result contradicts long-held beliefs in the field of animal communication, which presume the ground is a hindrance to sound transmission.
Published Studies of geologic faulting on icy moons aid exploration of extraterrestrial watery worlds
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Earth and space scientists document and reveal the mechanisms behind strike-slip faulting on the largest moon of Saturn, Titan, and Jupiter's largest moon, Ganymede.
Published Chimpanzees use hilltops to conduct reconnaissance on rival groups, study finds
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Research on neighboring chimpanzee communities in the forests of West Africa suggests a warfare tactic not previously seen beyond humans is regularly used by our closest evolutionary relatives.
Published Exploding stars
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source When massive stars or other stellar objects explode in the Earth's cosmic neighborhood, ejected debris can also reach our solar system. Traces of such events are found on Earth or the Moon and can be detected using accelerator mass spectrometry, or AMS for short.
Published 'Jurassic worlds' might be easier to spot than modern Earth
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source An analysis finds telescopes could better detect potential chemical signatures of life in an Earth-like exoplanet that more closely resembles the age the dinosaurs inhabited than the one we know today.
Published Hebrew prayer book fills gap in Italian earthquake history
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source The chance discovery of a note written in a 15th century Hebrew prayer book fills an important gap in the historical Italian earthquake record, offering a brief glimpse of a previously unknown earthquake affecting the Marche region in the central Apennines.
Published The remains of an ancient planet lie deep within Earth
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source The remnants of an ancient planet that collided with Earth to form the Moon lie deep within the earth, according to a new model.
Published How sunflowers see the sun
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Sunflowers famously turn their faces to follow the sun as it crosses the sky. But how do sunflowers 'see' the sun to follow it? Plant biologists show that they use a different, novel mechanism from that previously thought.
Published Giant planets cast a deadly pall
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Giant gas planets can be agents of chaos, ensuring nothing lives on their Earth-like neighbors around other stars. New studies show, in some planetary systems, the giants tend to kick smaller planets out of orbit and wreak havoc on their climates.
Published The importance of the Earth's atmosphere in creating the large storms that affect satellite communications
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Large geomagnetic storms disrupt radio signals and GPS. Now, researchers have identified the previous underestimated role of the ionosphere, a region of Earth's upper atmosphere that contains a high concentration of ions and free electrons, in determining how such storms develop. Understanding the interactions that cause large geomagnetic storms is important because they can disrupt radio signals and GPS. Their findings may help predict storms with the greatest potential consequences.
Published Roosters might recognize themselves in the mirror
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Scrape, cluck, lay eggs -- that's it? Anyone involved in chicken farming knows that the animals are capable of much more. Researchers have found evidence that roosters could recognize themselves in a mirror. Whether this is successful, however, depends on the experimental conditions -- a finding that points beyond the experiment with roosters and could also be of importance for other animal species.
Published Uranus aurora discovery offers clues to habitable icy worlds
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Astronomers confirm the existence of an infrared (IR) aurora on Uranus. This could help astronomers identify exoplanets that might support life, a large number of which are icy worlds.
Published Venus had Earth-like plate tectonics billions of years ago, study suggests
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Venus, may have once had tectonic plate movements similar to those believed to have occurred on early Earth, a new study found. The finding sets up tantalizing scenarios regarding the possibility of early life on Venus, its evolutionary past and the history of the solar system.
Published Rider on the storm: Shearwater seabird catches an 11 hour ride over 1,000 miles in a typhoon
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source New research suggests that increasingly severe weather driven by climate change may push oceangoing seabirds to their limits.
Published Scientists discover molten layer covering Martian core
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source NASA's InSight mission to Mars helped scientists map out Mars' internal structure, including the size and composition of its core, and provided general hints about its tumultuous formation. But findings from a new paper could lead to reanalysis of that data. An international team of researchers discovered the presence of a molten silicate layer overlying Mars' metallic core -- providing new insights into how Mars formed, evolved and became the barren planet it is today.
Published Bizarre new fossils shed light on ancient plankton
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Recently discovered microfossils date back half a billion years. Resembling modern-day algae, they provide insight into early life in our oceans.
Published Raining cats and dogs: Global precipitation patterns a driver for animal diversity
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source A team has identified several factors to help answer a fundamental ecological question: why is there a ridiculous abundance of species some places on earth and a scarcity in others? What factors, exactly, drive animal diversity? They discovered that what an animal eats (and how that interacts with climate) shapes Earth's diversity.
Published Solar farms in space are possible
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source It's viable to produce low-cost, lightweight solar panels that can generate energy in space, according to new research.
Published Astrophysicists scan the Galaxy for signs of life
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Astrophysicists are scanning the Universe for 'technosignatures' emanating from distant planets that would provide support for the existence of intelligent, alien life. Researchers plan to monitor millions of star systems.