Supermassive black holes heading for collision found A pair of supermassive black holes about 2.5 billion light-years away appear to be on a collision course with each other in a few more billion years, but astronomers say they can learn a lot about gravitational wave background noise now by observing them. Science Alert Ancient bird […]
Near-death experiences may be linked to REM sleep disorders Many people who report having had near-death experiences also report having had REM sleep disorder symptoms. REM is the sleep phase that features vivid dreaming, and researchers say a combination of the waking and REM states could be linked to the near-death experiences. Live Science Jellyfish-like […]
Fungus induces nonstop mating in cicadas Substances made by a fungus infecting cicadas, Massospora, are causing the insects to mate incessantly. The study discovered several firsts, including the first psilocybin to be produced by a fungus that was not a mushroom and the first nonplant organism to generate an amphetamine, cathinone. Science News New EEG […]
New crater spotted on Mars ranks among largest seen to date The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter has observed a fresh crater on the Red Planet, NASA officials say. The space agency released an image that shows a hole gouged on the planet’s surface, made sometime between September 2016 and February of this year. Space.com Artificial islands […]
Robotics, seals used to figure out reason for Antarctic sea ice holes Researchers used robotic floats and tagged elephant seals to learn why huge holes called polynyas are opening up in Antarctic ice. Strong storms and a higher salt content in the surface waters of the Southern Ocean are likely contributing to the formation of […]
Dragonfish teeth owe translucence to nanoscale structures Nanoscale structures make the teeth of deep-sea dragonfish translucent so they’re invisible to prey. The sharp, thin teeth are obscured in the dragonfish’s mouths due to the way the nanostructures minimize the scattering of light. Science News 10M-light-year-long magnetic field detected between galaxy clusters Two galaxy clusters appear […]
CO 2 used as water alternative in fracking experiment Researchers in China have used carbon dioxide instead of water in a fracking process that could potentially be more environmentally friendly. CO2 was used in five wells drilled in a Chinese oilfield, producing as much as 20 times more oil than the water method, researchers said […]
New tool helps scientists visualize stem cell division A tool developed by the Allen Institute for Cell Science can help scientists see what a human stem cell looks like when it’s dividing. The Integrated Mitotic Stem Cell is a colorful 3D map of an average cell during various points in the cell division process. Forbes […]
E. coli variant created with synthetic genome An artificial version of Escherichia coli was created with a synthetic genome. Researchers built the genome piece by piece because “the bacterial chromosome is so big, we needed an approach that would let us see what had gone wrong if there had been any mistakes along the way,” […]
Oxygen shifts linked to animal evolution during Cambrian explosion The rise and fall of atmospheric oxygen levels during the Cambrian explosion have been linked to the evolutionary changes in animal biodiversity at the time. Researchers looked at changes in organic carbon and sulfur during that period to get an idea of the oxygen fluctuations in […]