Photosynthesis fix may enhance food production Researchers are trying to replicate in food crops a change they made to tobacco plants that repaired a defect in photosynthesis in which plants inadvertently took hold of oxygen molecules instead of carbon dioxide, forcing the plant to use valuable energy clearing up that mistake. Researchers have tried to […]
Shark tooth in pteranodon fossil suggests air-sea battle A shark tooth has been found embedded in the partial skeleton of a pteranodon that lived during the Late Cretaceous period. “We’ve got good direct evidence that a good-sized shark took a chunk out of a big flying reptile over 80 million years ago,” said Michael Habib […]
Juno space probe gets close-up view of storms at Jupiter’s poles Massive storms at the poles of Jupiter have been spotted in images taken by a camera on NASA’s Juno space probe and processed by citizen scientists. BBC Elongated skulls may be linked to Neanderthal DNA Some modern-day humans with slightly more elongated skulls may […]
Mass extinction event likely result of warmed oceans, depleted oxygen A mass extinction of nearly all marine animals approximately 252 million years ago was caused by volcanic activity that released greenhouse gases, resulting in warmer ocean waters and depleted oxygen. Researchers used computer models to simulate conditions of the so-called Great Dying, saying that current […]
Star formation topped out around 10B years ago A comprehensive study of high-energy gamma rays suggests that star formation in the universe reached its highest rate about 10 billion years ago. Researchers examined 740 space objects that produce high-energy gamma rays using the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope to chart star formation history throughout 90% of […]
Yellow band is Milky Way’s reflection on moon in new depiction Milky Way radio waves can be seen as a bright splash of yellow reflected on the moon’s surface in a new image. Astronomers used data from the Murchison Widefield Array in Australia to create the image and plan to use the technique to learn […]
Patient with Parkinson’s gets experimental stem cell-based treatment Researchers have placed 2.4 million dopamine precursor cells derived from induced pluripotent stem cells into the brain of a patient with Parkinson’s disease, the first of seven people to undergo the experimental treatment. “The patient is doing well, and there have been no major adverse reactions so […]
Astronomers identify star with clues to early days of universe A nearby star may have been around since shortly after the Big Bang and could help astronomers learn more about what the universe was like back then. The star, 2MASS J18082002-5104378 B, is thought to be approximately 13.5 billion years old. Space.com Bodies burn more […]
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 […]