A plan to decode every complex species on Earth The Earth BioGenome Project aims to sequence 1.5 million genomes. Nature News Rainy, green Arabia may have greeted hominids at least 300K years ago Stone tools and animal fossils found in Saudi Arabia that date back between 300,000 and 500,000 years ago hint that hominids travelled […]
Shallow waters helped diversify early vertebrates Researchers gathered almost 3,000 records of early fish fossils and put them into a database that helped them learn how the creatures diversified. “We found that all vertebrates, from the first jawless forms to sharks and bony fishes, originated in very restricted shallow waters hugging the coastline,” said Lauren […]
Tiny arms may have helped T. Rex manipulate prey The Tyrannosaurus rex‘s tiny arms were more useful than previously thought. Researchers used turkey and alligator elbows to simulate movements of a T. rex joint, finding that its ability to rotate its forearms and hands toward the chest may have made it easier to bring prey […]
Hidden companion likely stole material from star A close celestial companion of some kind likely siphoned off the mass of a star before it exploded into an unusual supernova, ejecting very little material. “We call this an ultrastripped envelope supernova,” said Mansi Kasliwal of the California Institute of Technology, adding that the observation is “the […]
Flu outbreaks likely influenced by city size, crowding A city itself influences the contours of its flu season – whether flu cases rise to a wintertime peak or plateau from fall to spring. ScienceNews Review shows vitamin D does not prevent falls, fractures A review of data from 81 studies found vitamin D supplements do […]
Huge Jurassic-period dinosaur had crouching posture An enormous Jurassic-period dinosaur that walked on all fours with an unusual crouching posture has been described in a new study after its remains were fully unearthed last year. The 200 million-year-old sauropodomorph has been dubbed Ledumahadi mafube, which translates to “a giant thunderclap at dawn.” Live Science Mayan […]
Plastisphere studies reveal myriad microbes that may one day clean it up Oceanographer Maria-Luiza Pedrotti and her research team are studying the plastisphere — plastic waste and its byproducts — in the Pacific Ocean and Mediterranean Sea to identify the microbes that populate plastic and determine their biological activities to understand how they affect the […]
New map offers detailed view of Antarctica A new high-resolution map is giving researchers a much more detailed view of Antarctica. Images from the Reference Elevation Model of Antarctica, or REMA, will be made available for free to scientists studying the continent. The New York Times Ancient lava tubes may be behind unusual swirls on […]
Deep Earth scar keeps Mount St. Helens out of line with other volcanoes The Mount St. Helens volcano in Washington state doesn’t line up with other volcanoes in the Cascades mountain range because old tectonic collisions created a scar in Earth’s crust beneath it, changing how the magma flows. Live Science Juno data reveal Jupiter’s […]
A new shape inside your skin The type of cells responsible for forming skin and the lining of an organism’s organs will morph into “scutoids” in order to accommodate those organs’ complex curvature. Motherboard A leap toward lifelike model of human heart Scientists have bioengineered a 3D model of the human heart’s left ventricle, which […]