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Categories: Geoscience: Geochemistry, Offbeat: Plants and Animals

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Palaeontological analysis shows that a renowned fossil thought to show soft tissue preservation is in fact just paint. The fossil discovered in 1931 was thought to be an important specimen for understanding early reptile evolution. While not all of the celebrated fossil is a forgery, scientists urge caution in how the fossil is utilized in future.

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Researchers studied the composition and function of bacteria in the seabed off Svalbard, during alternating periods of polar night and midnight sun. To do this, they specially developed a sampling device, the Ellrott grab. In contrast with bacterial communities in the overlying water, the sediment bacteria hardly change with the seasons. This is probably due to the fact that in the seabed some hard-to-digest foods are available all year round.

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New research has shown that the tropical subsurface ocean gained oxygen during the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum (commonly referred to as PETM). During this short-lived interval of time in Earth s history that occurred 56 million years ago the average temperatures rose by up to six degrees within a few thousand years.

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Researchers have discovered a solid material that rapidly conducts lithium ions. Consisting of non-toxic earth-abundant elements, the new material has high enough Li ion conductivity to replace the liquid electrolytes in current Li ion battery technology, improving safety and energy capacity. The research team have synthesized the material in the laboratory, determined its structure and demonstrated it in a battery cell.

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Scientists have developed a new method to measure and remove sulfate from water, potentially leading to cleaner waterways and more effective nuclear waste treatments.

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When the female gametes in plants become fertilized, a signal from the sperm activates cell division, leading to the formation of new plant seeds. This activation can also be deliberately triggered without fertilization, as researchers have shown. Their findings open up new avenues for the asexual propagation of crop plants.

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Biologists present compelling evidence that exotic cats possess the remarkable ability to discriminate between familiar and unfamiliar human voices.

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Our planet's lithosphere is broken into several tectonic plates. Their configuration is ever-shifting, as supercontinents are assembled and broken up, and oceans form, grow, and then start to close in what is known as the Wilson cycle.

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Researchers report that ancient viruses may be to thank for myelin -- and, by extension, our large, complex brains. The team found that a retrovirus-derived genetic element or 'retrotransposon' is essential for myelin production in mammals, amphibians, and fish. The gene sequence, which they dubbed 'RetroMyelin,' is likely a result of ancient viral infection, and comparisons of RetroMyelin in mammals, amphibians, and fish suggest that retroviral infection and genome-invasion events occurred separately in each of these groups.

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A new study offers a glimpse into the possible impact of climate change on coastal wetlands 50 years or longer into the future. Scientists are usually forced to rely on computer models to project the long-term effects of rising seas, but an unexpected set of circumstances enabled a real-world experiment along the Gulf Coast.

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Some people from an ancient community in what is now northern Italy were interred with animals and animal parts from species such as dogs, horses and pigs. The reasons remain mysterious, but might indicate an enduring companion relationship between these humans and animals, or religious sacrificial practices, according to a new study.

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From lab-grown chicken to cricket-derived protein, these innovative alternatives offer hope for a planet struggling with the environmental and ethical impacts of industrial agriculture. Now, scientists add a new recipe to the list -- cultured beef rice -- by growing animal muscle and fat cells inside rice grains. The method results in a nutritious and flavorful hybrid food that, once commercialized, could offer a more affordable protein alternative with a smaller carbon footprint.

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Researchers have succeeded in biomanufacturing from chemically synthesized sugar for the first time in the world. With refinement of this technology, one can envision a future society in which the sugar required for biomanufacturing can be obtained 'anytime, anywhere, and at high rate'. In the future, biomanufacturing using chemically synthesized sugar is expected to be a game changer in the biotechnology field -- including the production of biochemicals, biofuels, and food, where sugar is an essential raw material -- ultimately leading to the creation of a new bio-industry.

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Babies playfully tease others as young as eight months of age. Since language is not required for this behavior, similar kinds of playful teasing might be present in non-human animals. Now cognitive biologists and primatologists have documented playful teasing in four species of great apes. Like joking behavior in humans, ape teasing is provocative, persistent, and includes elements of surprise and play. Because all four great ape species used playful teasing, it is likely that the prerequisites for humor evolved in the human lineage at least 13 million years ago.

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Researchers are further improving CRISPR's versatility to engineer new grasses and yeasts for biochemical production.

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Desert ants find their way during an early learning phase with the help of the Earth's magnetic field. The associated learning process leaves clear traces in their nervous system.

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Researchers have created a new version of a microbe to compete economically with E. coli -- a bacteria commonly used as a research tool due to its ability to synthesize proteins -- to conduct low-cost and scalable synthetic biological experiments.

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New research revealed that when coral bleaching occurs, corals release unique organic compounds into the surrounding water that not only promote bacterial growth overall, but select for opportunistic bacteria that may further stress reefs.

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The bead found at the La Prele Mammoth site in Wyoming's Converse County is about 12,940 years old and made of bone from a hare.

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Researchers have unveiled a groundbreaking discovery shedding light on the intricate play between legume plants and nitrogen-fixing bacteria. Their study details the crucial role played by phosphorylation in driving the formation of symbiotic organs, known as nodules, on plant roots. The long-term goal is to enable symbiosis in root nodules in important crops such as barley, maize and rice to avoid the use of chemical fertilizers.