Reef fish may know it’s seeing its reflection in mirror A coral reef fish may be able to recognize itself in a mirror. After researchers injected a colored dye on the throats of bluestreak cleaner wrasses and placed them in a mirrored tank, the fish appeared to try to scrape the mark off after seeing […]
Ginger molecules may boost growth of beneficial gut bacteria Molecules found in ginger may help beneficial gut bacteria grow. An increase in such bacteria was observed in mice fed ginger-derived nanoparticles. The Scientist Curiosity’s accelerometers help measure Mount Sharp’s density Accelerometers aboard the Mars rover Curiosity that are used to collect data about the machine […]
Brain responds to rocking during sleep with improved memory A rocking motion may help people sleep better and improve their memory by influencing their brains’ sleep oscillations. “Our volunteers — even if they were all good sleepers — fell asleep more rapidly when rocked and had longer periods of deeper sleep associated with fewer arousals […]
3rd fungus found in lichen Researchers have discovered a third fungus in lichen. In addition to an ascomycete and basidiomycete yeast, scientists have detected another basidiomycete, but they aren’t yet sure if this fungus has a symbiotic relationship with the lichen. The Scientist Microbes found hidden in deep-sea dolomite crystals near Japan Microbes have been […]
Astronomers may have observed black hole’s birth A strange blast approximately 200 million light-years away may have been the birth of a black hole. Astronomers first thought the blast, dubbed “The Cow” because its official name is AT2018cow, was from a black hole consuming a white dwarf, but “further observations of other wavelengths across the […]
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 […]