Megatooth shark, Otodus Megalodonthe iconic shark is primarily represented by the enormous teeth of the Neogene fossil record, but the lack of well-preserved skeletal hampers an understanding of various aspects of its biology. In the new study, paleontologists reassessed some of their biological properties using a new approach, based on known vertebral specimens. Otodus Megalodon 165 species of extinction and 10 orders of living sharks. Their results show that Otodus Megalodon Their bodies were thin and could have reached about 24.3 m in length.
Otodus Megalodon It was extinct 3.6 million years ago. Image credit: Alex Boersma/PNAS.
Otodus MegalodonIt is also called Carcharocles MegalodonThis is a giant megatooth shark that lived in the oceans of the world from 23 to 3.6 million years ago.
This creature is usually portrayed as a super-sized monster in popular culture, with a recent example of science fiction films.
“Otodus Megalodon A professor, colleagues and colleagues at DePaul University said:
“Several vertebrae, pracoid scales, and tessellated cartilage fragments have also been reported to date.”
“However, the lack of a complete fossil specimen has led to uncertainty regarding the true size of this prehistoric shark.”
In their study, the authors examined incomplete vertebral specimens of Otodus MegalodonIt is composed primarily of trunk vertebrae, 11.1 m from the Miocene of Belgium. It was also a specimen of 165 species of extinction and living Neotheratia sharks.
“Assuming that Otodus Megalodon If there was a body plan that matched the majority of sharks, we determined that their head length and tail length accounted for about 16.6% and 32.6% of the total length, respectively,” they said.
“Because the Belgian specimen is 11.1 m, its head and tail were calculated to be about 1.8 m and 3.6 m in length, respectively, which specifically results in an estimated total length of 16.4 m. Otodus Megalodon Individual. “
“The largest vertebrae in a Belgian specimen is 15.5 cm in diameter, but estimated Otodus Megalodon Vertebrae with a diameter of 23 cm have been reported from Denmark. ”
“If a Danish vertebra represents the largest vertebra in the body, that individual could have measured approximately 24.3 m in length.”
Based on a comparison of their body proportions, they have a body shape Otodus Megalodon It probably looked like a modern lemon shark on the surface (Negaprion Brevillo Stris), has a slender body than the great white sharks of modern times.
They also have huge modern sharks, such as whale sharks.Rhincodon Types) And the shark was exposed (Cetorhinus Maximus), like many other giant aquatic vertebrates like whales, they have slender bodies, as their large stubborn bodies are hydrodynamically inefficient for swimming.
In contrast, dark white sharks that become even more severe as they grow can grow larger, but are not huge (below 7 m) due to hydrodynamic constraints.
“Our new research solidified that idea. Otodus Megalodon “We've been working hard to get the better of our team,” said Phillip Sternes, educator at SeaWorld San Diego.
“What distinguishes our research from all previous papers on body size and shape estimation Otodus Megalodon Jakewood, a doctoral student at Florida Atlantic University, added:
According to the team, it is 24.3 m long. Otodus Megalodon It weighs approximately 94 tons and estimates of cruising speeds of 2.1-3.5 km/h.
“The growth patterns recorded in Belgian vertebral specimens are Otodus Megalodon A newborn about 3.6-3.9 m long was given birth to a newborn, and the embryos were nourished through egg-eating behavior,” the author said.
“A known fossil record with newly inferred additional growth patterns Otodus Megalodon And the white shark lineage supports the idea that the rise of the great white shark likely played a role in the ultimate end mise about five million years ago. Otodus Megalodon For competition. ”
“Many interpretations we have made are still tentative, but they are data-driven and serve as a reasonable reference point for future research into the biology of Otodus MegalodonProfessor Shimada said.
study Published online in the journal Palaeontologia Electronica.
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Shimada Mana et al. 2025. Reassessment of the size, shape, weight, cruising speed and growth parameters of extinct megatooth sharks; Otodus Megalodon (Lamniformes: Otodontidae), and new evolutionary insights into its giants, life history strategies, ecology, and extinction. Palaeontologia Electronica 28(1): A12; doi: 10.26879/1502
Once upon a time, a strong and attractive hero lost one or both of his parents. He then overcomes a series of obstacles and faces off against a monster that terrorized his community. The hero defeated the monsters and was celebrated.
If this story sounds familiar, it’s because it’s a path traveled by Superman, Harry Potter, Luke Skywalker, and countless other fictional heroes dating back centuries. Its enduring appeal has been baffling researchers for almost a long time. However, in recent years, storytelling research has been energized as linguists, psychologists and cultural evolutionary experts have begun to investigate subjects using myths and large private databases, powerful algorithms and evolutionary mindsets. We have finally begun to connect answers to key questions, such as why we make a good story, why there are more permanent than others, and how we can trace the roots of the most popular, and how stories can pass through time and space.
It’s an epic quest, but there has never been a better time to take on it. Unlike his brother Grimm and other early folktales collectors, modern surveyors of storytelling don’t need to do any painstaking fieldwork. They don’t even have to stray from computer screens and diagram the emergence and evolution of stories. “Social media is an almost natural experiment in storytelling, and we do our collections through that platform,” says Timothy Tangerini, folklore player and ethnic editor at the University of California, Berkeley. Furthermore, this new scientific approach can illuminate some phenomena that look like modern times…
It is not well known how lightning starts in a thunderstorm. With the newly developed 3D mapping and polarization system, physicists at the Los Alamos National Laboratory observed that some lightning not only began with positive high-speed discharges, but also faster and wider negative discharges soon began. Surprisingly, the signal polarization is tilted from the direction of the discharge propagation, and the polarization of the two opposite discharges rotates towards each other, indicating that the initiating high-speed discharge is not driven solely by the storm electric field. The authors analyzed these observations in a cosmic ray shower and found that these seemingly strange features could be consistently explained.
Lightning starts with a positive fast discharge followed by a faster, broader negative discharge observed in 3D. The signal polarization from the direction of discharge propagation tilts and rotates between two opposite high-speed discharges. These functions are through a cosmic ray shower that pretreats the discharge path and directs the direction of the discharge current. Image credit: ELG21.
“Scientists still don’t fully understand how lightning starts in a thunderstorm,” says Dr. Xuan-Min Shao, the lead author of the study.
“We noticed an unusual pattern of how lightning started using 3D radio frequency mapping and polarization techniques. Instead of a speedy electrical discharge, the flash of lightning quickly, faster, and negative emissions followed.”
Generally, after the opposition to electrical charge (positive and negative) is separated by clouds, lightning begins, resulting in the emissions that people consider lightning.
In their study, utilizing an innovative, Los Alamos-developed mapping and polarization system called BIMAP-3D, Dr. Xiao and colleagues observed that signal polarization from these discharges had a diagonal pattern from the direction of propagation.
This indicates that something other than the electric field played a role in the initiation of lightning.
In addition to being oblique, physicists have noticed that the direction of polarization has changed between positive and negative emissions.
They attribute this behavior to cosmic ray showers, high-energy particles from spaces entering the Earth’s atmosphere.
These cosmic rays can generate secondary high-energy electrons and positrons in the atmosphere, further ionizing the air, creating paths into thunder, and travel faster after lightning.
Researchers found that high-energy electrons and positrons are pushed in different directions by the Earth’s magnetic field and the cloud’s electric field, leading to oblique discharge currents, i.e. tilted polarization from the path of the cosmic ray shower.
Positrons and electrons were deflected in different directions of the electromagnetic field, explaining why they behaved differently between fast positive and negative discharges.
“This concept can also explain the common case that involves only high-speed positive discharges, and therefore the onset of most lightning flashes,” the scientist said.
Their result It was released on March 3rd Journal of Go Physical Research: Atmosphere.
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Xuan-Min Shao et al. 2025. 3D radio frequency mapping and polarization observations show that a flash of lightning was ignited by a cosmic ray shower. JGR atmosphere 130 (5): E2024JD042549; doi: 10.1029/2024JD042549
Antarctic adelie penguins are under threat from bird flu
Steve Bloom Images/Aramie Stock Photos
H5N1 bird flu was first discovered in a dead bird in Antarctica. Fatal tensions in avian flu are currently spreading south along the Antarctic Peninsula, with devastating consequences for wildlife such as penguins and could spread across the continent.
“It’s scary. Luckily, it only affects a few. [birds]”I say Juliana Viana at the Pope Catholic University of Chile in Santiago. “I hope it stays that way, but the bird flu in Chile and Peru was a disaster. It killed thousands of seabirds and sea lions.”
Between November 2024 and January 2025, Vianna’s team investigated 16 nesting sites for seabirds along the Antarctic Peninsula. Researchers found 35 dead Skuas with no signs of injury. Samples from 11 bodies were found to be positive for the highly pathogenic H5N1 avian influenza virus that has spread around the world in recent years.
Skuas removes corpses and is ahead of other birds, so eating infected birds is particularly likely to cause infection. Skuas in this area are hybrids between the Antarctic (Stercorarius Maccormicki) and brown (Stercorarius Antarcticus)SKUAS.
So far, no other species of birds have been confirmed, but Vianna says she was also said to have been found dead on March 9th. “We spoke with the Chilean Antarctic Institute,” she says. “They saw the dead squau and the penguin.”
As penguins breed in dense colonies, there is a fear that H5N1 spreads rapidly between them, killing most of several groups. Some penguin species may be resistant, as birds’ susceptibility to H5N1 varies from species to species, Vianna said.
The highly pathogenic form of H5N1 avian influenza has been circulating in Europe, Asia and Africa since 2020, killing many wild birds and causing outbreaks on poultry farms. For example, in the UK, H5N1 was killed A quarter of Gannett 2023.
In 2021, it arrived in North America and was later found to infect dairy cows’ breasts and spread between them. By the end of 2022 it had spread to the southern tip of South America, killing thousands of marine mammals and many different species of birds along the way.
The sick brown squat and giant plaster on Bird Island, just off a large island in South Georgia, tested positive for the virus in 2023. South Georgia is approximately 1,500 km from the Antarctic Peninsula.
“Reported deaths of SKUAS are of concern,” he says. Thijs Kuiken At Rotterdam, the University of Erasmus, Netherlands. Some species in the area are only found on small islands and could be wiped out by avian flu, he says.
However, the tests described in Vianna’s study only show that SKUA has been infected with H5 influenza, and Kuiken does not know whether it is a highly pathogenic form.
Vianna says that’s correct, but samples were sent for additional tests not detailed in the paper. “So it’s been confirmed as a highly pathogenic avian flu,” she says.
On February 25th, another group of researchers reported Find H5N1 in the Closet and Kergellen archipelago In the Indian Ocean near Antarctica, where the virus killed elephant seals and several species of birds. That is, the virus moved towards Australia and New Zealand along the way in Antarctica. This is the only major country that is free from the virus.
When her school closed in March 2020, Baltimore English teacher Chimere Sweeney thought that once the US got the new SARS-COV-2 virus, she would return to her students. But “There was another plan in life,” she said when she quickly got Covid and never recovered.
Initially, Sweeney developed only muscle pain. By the second week she began having panic attacks, blurry vision, constipation and partial hearing loss. Half of her face freezes “like concrete.” She forgot her phone number and address and stuttered. Within a month of contracting, she lost 30 pounds.
“In two weeks, I was told I would be better,” said Sweeney, now 42. “But my two weeks didn't come.”
Almost five years later, she still suffers from severe whole body pain, insomnia, depression, painful rash and boiling, uncontrollable urination, short-term memory loss and irregular periods.
“I'm a healthy 37-year-old woman and I might have had to pop allergy pills many times, but I took 10-12 medications per day to control almost every system in my body,” Sweeney said.
The World Health Organization characterized Covid as a pandemic on March 11, 2020, so scientists don't fully understand why some people develop chronic diseases and disordered conditions after their first virus infection. The US may have come throughout the winter after the first pandemic without a massive surge in cases, but each infection is at risk of developing a long community. Some scientists are looking for a new type of clinical trial designed for the longest and most debilitating covid patients.
Long covid is known to be the cause Over 200 different symptoms There are no approved tests or recommended treatments in almost 12 organ systems, including those of the heart, lungs, kidneys, brain, eyes and skin. Research shows long covid It's more common for middle-aged people, especially women and those with weakened immune systems, but anyone who catches the virus can get it.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that there is one in every 20 adults in the United States, or about 14 million. Living with a long covid. Other data shows that 5.8 million children It may be affected by the condition as well. However, experts say these numbers are likely to be underestimated as there is no official surveillance system in place.
Billion Dollar Research Initiative Called Recover Started by the National Institutes of Health, finding the causes and potential treatments of covid, I've reached that promisesays scientists and patient advocates.
Meanwhile, experts fear that extreme cuts in federal spending by the Trump administration could be possible It undermines long Covid's research effortswhich could further delay the discovery of treatment. Last month, President Donald Trump ended his secretary as a health and welfare secretary Advisory Committee on Long Covid.
This indefinite dye microscope image, available to the US National Institutes of Health in February 2020, shows the novel coronavirus SARS-COV-2, shown in yellow, emerges from the cell surface and is cultured in laboratory culture.niaid-rml via AP file
W. Medical Director, UT Health Austin. Dr. Michael Broad Post-Covid-19 Program In Texas, “We build boats while we're at the sea and we're trying to understand together. [with patients] …But we need to build on the progress we have already made. ”
“We are not offering answers that are worthy of the public health crisis we are facing,” he said.
Causes of long covids
SARS-COV-2, which causes Covid, is not the only virus that causes prolonged symptoms. Another condition called myalgia encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS) shares many similarities with the long community; Caused by infection Among other things, Epstein Barr, influenza, and water cell-zoster virus.
Brode said Covid is unique because it is more likely to cause chronic disease than other pathogens. It has not yet been determined why it could lead to long-term symptoms. Experts have come to several theories so far.
One idea is that Virus remains hidden in different tissues Broad said after the infection subsided. These viral particles continue to thrust and stimulate the immune system in ways that cause long covid symptoms.
Another potential cause is Reactivation of other virusessitting in a dormant state of people's bodies, such as EBV and HIV.
Dr. Igor Coralnik, co-director of Northwest Medicine's Comprehensive COVID-19 Centre, said Covid could also trick the immune system into producing antibodies that attack people's own healthy organs and tissues.
Some evidence shows covid It affects the inner layer of blood vesselswhich leads to the formation of small clots and helps explain the symptoms, such as irregular heartbeat and heart failure, that some long-term community patients experience, Koralnik said.
It is unclear whether one or a combination of these factors will cause long covid, experts say. But the evidence suggests that they are all linked to an increase in inflammation in the body, Coralnik said, it's yours The risk of long covid increases with each covid infection.
“It's like a river that's over a dam,” Coralnik said. “The more episodes of Covid, the higher the river levels will go to where it is overflowing, and there will be a long flood of COVID symptoms.”
Diagnosis of long covids can be complicated
There are diagnostic tools to check for long covid symptoms, such as MRI scans for heart abnormalities. There are no tests that can diagnose the condition Or distinguish it from similar diseases, the CDC says.
As a result, people need to stay away from work, school or other responsibilities and endure numerous clinical tests and scans that are not only expensive, but also stressful and time-consuming. This is a broad exclusion process that prevents people from getting the help they need, Broad said.
Eye, intestine, and immune system clue
The current challenge is to find one or more biomarkers of genes, proteins, or other substances associated with a particular condition that will help diagnose long covid.
a Recover your research Released last year, routine lab tests, including 25 standard blood and urine tests, showed little difference in biomarkers, with or without previous symbiotic infections. Researchers concluded that these tests may not be useful in the diagnosis of long-term COVID.
Koralnik and his team recently discovered that people with long covids are reducing blood flow in small blood vessels in the retina. This reduced flow is thought to reduce blood circulation in and around the brain, and the small organelles called mitochondria, which convert oxygen into energy, are described as “toxic.”
This theory can explain why many people with long covid experience cognitive problems, fatigue and exercise intolerance, Coralnik said. Overall, the findings published in the Journal of Imaging in February are The retina can become a long covid biomarker.
Other studies suggest that biomarkers may be present in the gut and immune system, but Brode noted that these early findings are based on small groups of people and should be considered in salt grains.
As useful as diagnostic tests, experts say that for those with prolonged symptoms, some experts should not slow scientists in searching for long covid treatments.
Julia Moore Vogel, senior program director at Scripps Research, and Patient-led research cooperation Regarding long covid, he said that other conditions like migraines do not have reliable biomarkers or tests to confirm the diagnosis. Several drugs have been approved To handle it.
“I think we'll get there,” said Vogel, a long-distance runner before developing the long-time Covid in 2020. “But I personally don't think it should contain anything.”
Unfortunate advances in long covid treatments
The Food and Drug Administration has not approved treatments, particularly for long covids. Experts are not sure if they'll get it anytime soon.
“When I first got sick, I was OK, I had to survive for just three to five years. At least, I think I have options as I have decent symptom management trial data. But we've made little progress in treatment,” Vogel said. “There are currently promising research beginning, but it's not close to the amount that should be burdened by the disease.”
Most clinical trials test whether medications used to treat other conditions are useful for long-term COVID. For example, researchers at the University of British Columbia Low-dose naltrexone – Approved drugs for opioid and alcohol use disorders. The drug is thought to have anti-inflammatory and pain relief properties and is used off-label in people with fibromyalgia and ME/CFS, making it potential as a long-term symbiotic treatment.
Other drugs Barishinibapproved for treating rheumatoid arthritis and acute charlation, and Temelimabuexperimental drugs often administered to people with multiple sclerosis have also been investigated as potential long covid treatments.
Instead of a particular treatment, people with long covids must balance rest and activity in a strategy called pacing and undergo physical and cognitive behavioral therapy for further support. Many people will often rely on several drugs, including antiviral Paxlovid, to treat symptoms.
But realistically, “we may not actually have one silver bullet treatment,” says Alison Cohen, an epidemiologist at the University of California, San Francisco, who coexisted for three years for a long time. Cohen said that long covid will take a “multi-faceted approach” to take a “multi-faceted approach” in a very diverse way.
What will you do in the future for recovery?
As long as SARS-COV-2 continues to spread, everyone is at risk of a long Covid, Cohen said. And now, evidence shows that recovery from the condition is rare. A survey released last month found it Only about 6% of people with long covid recover According to Cohen, two years later. Covid vaccinations were associated with better long-term recovery, especially among those who won booster shots.
People who improve are experiencing many “ups and downs,” Coralnik said. “You need to expect a lot of collisions on the road.”
“Living with a long Covid is tiring,” Cohen said. “So for everyone who doesn't live with it, it's important to think about what we can do to support those who have them.”
In the meantime, clinical trials must be designed to accommodate and include the patients they intend, Vogel said. Many people are tied to their homes and beds and cannot travel due to the risk of multiple in-person visits or flare-ups of symptoms, she added. “There are too many things you can't know until you put them on the table,” she said.
Although we don't know when a long community community finally gets the answers and security they need, Vogel keeps her head high.
“We know we can do that. We are confident that a well-designed and well-tested exam will at least improve the quality of life. “But I can't think of any other way. I can't accept that this is for my life.”
Serhiihudak/ukrinform/future Publishing by Getty Images
Frequent blood donors may be gaining more than a warm, ambiguous feeling from altruism, as giving blood can increase their ability to produce healthy blood cells and potentially reduce the risk of developing blood cancer.
Hector Huerga Encabo The Francis Crick Institute in London and his colleagues analyzed genetic data extracted from blood cells donated from 217 German men aged 60 to 72 years old. They also looked at samples from 212 men of similar age who donated their blood less than 10 times and found that frequent donors were likely to have blood cells with specific mutations in the genes called. dnmt3a.
To understand this difference, the team added genetically engineered human blood stem cells that produce all blood cells in the body along with these mutations, along with unmodified cells, to the lab dish. To mimic the effects of blood donation, they also added a hormone called EPO. This was the body produced it later and added it to part of the dish.
After 1 month, cells with frequent donor mutations grew 50% faster than cells without mutations, but only in dishes containing EPO. Without this hormone, both cell types would have grown at similar rates.
“It suggests that all blood donation, you have a burst of EPO in your system, and this will support the growth of these cells dnmt3a Mutations,” Encabo says.
To investigate whether it would be beneficial to enable more effectiveness of these mutated blood cells, the team mixed with cells with mutations that cause the risk of leukemia, and again discovered that in the presence of EPO, frequent don cells can effectively lay other blood cells. this is, dnmt3a Mutations are beneficial and may inhibit cancer cell growth, Encabo said.
“It appears that blood donations provide selection pressure to improve stem cell fitness and capacity to fill up.” Ash Toy At the University of Bristol, UK. “It may not only save someone’s life, it may also increase fitness in the blood system.”
I say it needs more work to see if this is really true Markman Soor University College London provides a very simplified picture of what happens in the body of a lab experiment. “This should be examined across much larger cohorts, different ethnicities, women and other age groups,” Mansour says. He also points out that there is no donor. dnmt3a Mutations may not see this benefit.
In a new laboratory experiment, scientists at the University of Southern California showed that when mice encountered a social partner familiar with the unconscious state caused by anesthesia, they escalated to powerful behaviors such as biting or pulling their partner’s mouth and tongue, showing clear and consistent behavior.
Mice have their own “first aid” practices to help other mice in need. Image credits: Sun et al. , doi: 10.1126/science.adq2677.
“There are many factors that determine mammals’ empathy and social bonds,” says Professor Li Zhang, a researcher at the University of Southern California.
“However, this is the first time this study has seen first responder-like behavior in mice.”
New research shows that mice tend to help other mice they know to be unconscious.
Their responses range from mild sniffing and grooming to more powerful actions such as mouth and tongue biting, and eventually escalates to pulling the tongue out of the unconscious mouse.
“The behavior was particularly unique because it was similar to how humans behave in emergency responses. Dr. Wenzian Sang, PhD of the University of Southern California, said:
Interestingly, scientists were first witnessed rehabilitation behavior in mice paired together in an unrelated study.
When humans encounter unconscious individuals, emergency response changes, such as assessing the situation, checking for responsiveness, seeking help and performing cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) for the individual.
The urgent “helper mice” target the unconscious companion’s mouth and tongue appears to improve their companion’s airways and lead to faster recovery,” said Huizhong Tao, professor at the University of Southern California.
“We learned in this study that tongue pulling between mice cannot be interpreted as an offensive gesture.”
“Social behavior in this study was significantly more pronounced among familiar mouse pairs, and was rarely seen when one of the paired mice was simply sleeping or active.”
“And also, after the unconscious mice regained consciousness, they regularly used their tongues.”
In this study, the authors utilized advanced neuroimaging and optogenetics to investigate the neural mechanisms behind social behavior in helper mice.
“One of the most interesting aspects of our neurologic observations was the discovery of the activation of oxytocin neuropeptides,” Professor Chan said.
“Oxytocin is widely known as a hormone that plays an important role in social bonds.”
“Oxytocin is sometimes called love hormone because it is linked to trust, bonding and affection.”
“This was the first study showing that oxytocin is an important factor in social ties in mice.”
“Our findings not only enhance our understanding of animal behavior, they also highlight the important role of the oxytocin system.
result It will be displayed in the journal Science.
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Wenjian Sang et al. 2025. Prosocial behaviors like resurrection in response to the unconscious or dead homologue of rodents. Science 387 (6736); doi:10.1126/science.adq2677
The ARP 105 features star and gas tide tails that exceed 362,000 light years.
The elliptical galaxy NGC 3561B (top left) and the Spiral Galaxy NGC 3561A (bottom right) form the ongoing merger-sparking guitar shapes known comprehensively as ARP.
ARP 105 It is located approximately 400 million light years from Earth, in the constellation of Ursa major.
Also known as NGC 3561, it was discovered by British astronomer John Herschel on March 30, 1827.
It consists of two huge galaxies, the elliptical galaxy NGC 3561B and the Spiral Galaxy NGC 3561A.
“The ARP 105 is one of the brightest objects in the busy Galaxy Cluster Abell 1185,” Hubble Astronomers said in a statement.
“Abell 1185 is a chaotic cluster of at least 82 galaxies, many of which are not only interacting, but many wandering spherical clusters that are not gravity attached to a particular galaxy.”
The gravity dance between the NGC 3561B and NGC 3561A creates the features of an attractive collision galaxy.
“The giant tail is drawn from two galaxies by gravity interaction, embedding a cluster of stars and a galaxy of d star,” the astronomer said.
“The uniquely shaped arrangement of the galaxy and tail gives the grouping the nickname: guitar.”
“The long lanes of dark dust emerging from the NGC 3561b oval galaxy may be ingesting the bright blue region of star-forming at the bottom of the guitar known as Ambartsumian's Knot.”
“Ambartsumian's Knot is a tidal star galaxy. It is a type of star-forming system that develops from fragments of the tidal arms of interacting galaxies.”
“The two bright blue regions of star formation are evident in Hubble images at the edge of a distorted helical galaxy.”
“The region on the left of the spiral galaxy may be very similar to the knot of Ambartumian, the knot of intense star-forming knot caused by the merger.”
“The area on the right is still under investigation. It may be part of the collision, but its velocity and spectral data are different from the rest of the system, so it could be a galaxy in the foreground.”
“The thin, faint gas tips are barely visible that stretch between two galaxies.”
“These tendrils are of particular interest to astronomers as they may help define the timescale of this collision evolution.”
Paleontologists working in northern Patagonia, Argentina, have excavated fossils of a small Rinconsaurus titanosaurus, a previously unknown species.
Chadititan Kalboy. Image credit: Gabriel Rio.
The newly discovered dinosaurs roamed the globe during the late Cretaceous period, about 78 million years ago.
It has been named Chadititan Kalboythe ancient species belong to the Argentine Titanosaurus group Rinconsora.
“Rinconsen Auria was first established in 2007 with the aim of incorporating the genus. Rinconsaurus and Muirensaur“The “Bernardino Rivadavia” of Argentino de Ciencias Natures and the “Felix de Azara” of Fandacion de Historia Natural, said Dr. Federico Agnolin, a fellow paleontologist.
“This clade contains a tiny Titanosaurus, elongated, lightly constructed – less than 11 m in length.
According to researchers, Chadititan Kalboy It was a very small, Rinconsaurus Titanosaurus constructed of gracyl.
“Compared to the length of the femur Bonatitanestimated body length Chadititan It could be estimated to be about 7 m in length,” they said.
“The new Titanosaurus shows that the Rinconsau factions are characterized by a different physique than other Titanosaurus.
Fossilized bones from several individuals Chadititan Kalboy Fossils found in new areas of Analecto Layer Near General Roca City in the Rio Negro province of Argentina.
“The new area is located within Marine Family Farm, close to the Pasocordoba area, 10km southwest of the city of Loca,” the scientist said.
“The area consists of scattered bad lands and low hills separating the eastern edge of the lowlands of “Salinity Moreno.” ”
“They produced numerous fossil specimens despite their relatively small outcrop size.”
“It's worth mentioning that there is no single osteoderm from Chadititan Kalboy It was discovered in this area,” they added.
“We can assume that these Titanosaurs are absent because no osteoderms were found in connection with other Rinconsenserurs.”
In addition to Chadititan Kalboythe authors unearthed new assemblages of invertebrates and vertebrate fossils.
The collection includes gulfish, lungfish, turtles, crocodile parents, dinosaurs, snails and beetles deposited in small ponds surrounded by dunes and palm trees.
The team revealed the first fossil record of Neocyclotidae (a family of tropical land snails) and the first incontroversial record of Sabrinid genus Reptinariaa kind of small tropical air-breathing land snail.
“In addition to ” Chadititan KalboyFossils identifying mollusks, fish and turtles enrich our understanding of this ancient ecosystem and expand our knowledge of life in Patagonia near the end of the dinosaur era.”
“Just looking at the presence or absence of species in the area can suggest what makes the environment unique.”
“In this case, the rarity of turtle-rich turtles and crocodiles compared to regions in Europe and North America during this period further emphasizes how Patagonia's ecosystems differ when the continent drifted during the Cretaceous period.”
“One of the most prominent aspects of the discovered fauna is its overwhelming freshwater turtle abundance, accounting for more than 90% of the recovered fossils.”
“This high proportion is very rare. Turtles rarely make up more than 50% of fauna, like in joint locales in North America and Europe,” added Dr. Agnolin.
Team's paper Published in the journal Revista Del Museo Argentino Ciencias Naturales.
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Federico L. Agnoline et al. 2024. A description of a new fossil region from the Anagre Formation (Late Cretaceous, Campanian) from northern Patagonia, a new Titanosaurus. Pastor Argentina cienc. nut 26(2): 217-259; doi: 10.22179/revmacn.26.885
Physicists have long known that electrons can form vortices from quantum materials. What's new is evidence that these small particles create tornado-like structures in momentum space.
In quantum materials called Tantalum harsenide (TAAS), electrons form vortices in momentum space. Image credits: Think-Design / Jochen Thamm.
Momentum space is a fundamental physics concept that explains electron motion in terms of energy and orientation rather than precise physical location.
The counterpart, the position space, is an area where familiar phenomena such as water vortices and hurricanes occur.
Until now, even quantum vortices of materials have been observed only in positional space.
Eight years ago, Dr. Roderrich Mossner of the Max Planck Institute for the Physics of Complex Systems and the Excellence ct.qmat of the Würzburg Denden cluster theorized that quantum tornadoes could also form in momentum spaces.
At the time, he described this phenomenon as a smoke ring. Because, like a ring of smoke, it is made up of vortices.
But up until now, no one knew how to measure them.
To detect quantum tornadoes in momentum space, Dr. Moessner and colleagues have enhanced a well-known technique called ARPES (angle-resolved light emission spectroscopy).
“ARPES is a fundamental tool in experimental solid-state physics,” explained Dr. Maximilian ünzelmann, researcher at the University of Werzburg, the experimental Physik VII and the Würzburg-Dresden Cluster of Excellence Cluster.
“It involves shining light on a material sample, extracting electrons, and measuring energy and outlet angles.”
“This allows us to see the electronic structure of the material directly in the momentum space.”
“By skillfully adapting this method, we were able to measure orbital angular momentum.”
Team's work It will be displayed in the journal Physics Review x.
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T. figgemeier et al. 2025. Imaging of orbital vortex lines in three-dimensional momentum space. Phys. Rev. X 15, 011032; doi:10.1103/physrevx.15.011032
Astronomers using the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope have produced the epic image of the Spiral Galaxy NGC 4900.
This Hubble image shows the NGC 4900, a spiral galaxy about 45 million light years away in the Virgo constellations. Image credits: NASA/ESA/Hubble/SJ Smartt/C. Kilpatrick.
NGC 4900 It is about 45 million light years away from the Virgo constellations.
Also known as the Leda 44797 or IRAS 12580+0246, this Spiral Galaxy has 66,000 light years.
The NGC 4900 was discovered by German and British astronomer William Herschel on April 30, 1786.
Galaxy is a member of the NGC 4753 group and a member of the Virgo II group.
“The data are more than 20 years apart in two different observational programs. This is a true testament to Hubble's long scientific life,” said the Hubble astronomer.
“Both programs aimed to understand the end of a giant star.”
“For one, researchers were aiming to study the locations of past supernovaes, estimate the masses of the exploded stars, and investigate how the supernova interacts with their surroundings.”
“NGC 4900 was selected for research because it hosted a named supernova SN 1999BR. ”
“In other programs, researchers have laid the foundation for studying future supernovaes by collecting images of more than 150 nearby galaxies.”
“After a supernova is detected in any of these galaxies, researchers can look up these images and search for stars at the supernova location.”
“Identifying supernova progenitor stars in pre-explosion images gives valuable information about how, when, and why supernovae occur.”
But since then, the tech giant has been increasingly burning from researchers who say it’s not doing something of a kind. “My impression is that the response of the expert physics community is overwhelmingly negative. Personally, people are just furious.” Sergei Frolov at the University of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
Microsoft’s claim is based on an elusive, exotic quasiparticle called Majorana Zero Modes (MZMS). These can theoretically be used to create topological kibits, new types of qubits, i.e. components of information processing within quantum computers. Due to their unique properties, such qubits can be excellent at reducing errors and can address the major drawbacks of all quantum computers used today.
MZM is theorized to emerge from the collective behavior of electrons at the edges of thin superconducting wires. Microsoft’s new Majorana 1 chip contains some such wires, and according to the company it contains enough MZM to create eight topological maize. A Microsoft spokesperson said New Scientist Chip was a “big breakthrough for us and the industry.”
However, researchers say Microsoft does not provide sufficient evidence to support these claims. In addition to the press release, the company published its paper in the journal Nature He said the results confirmed the results. ” Nature The papermark shows a peer-reviewed confirmation that not only did Microsoft have been able to create majorana particles, but it also helps protect quantum information from random interference, but also allows for reliable measurement of information from that information. A Microsoft press release said.
But the editor Nature It explicitly made it clear that this statement was incorrect. A published report on the Peer-Review process states, “The editorial team wants to point out that the results of this manuscript do not represent evidence of the existence of Majorana Zero Mode in the device on which it was reported.”
In other words, Microsoft and Nature They are directly contradictory to each other. “The press release says something completely different [than the Nature paper]” I say Henry Legg At St Andrews University, UK.
This is not just an unorthodox aspect of Microsoft’s papers. Legg points out that two of the four peer reviewers initially gave rather critical and negative feedback. The peer review report shows that by the final round of editing, one reviewer still opposed the publication of the paper, and three others registered with it. spokesman for Nature I said New Scientist The ultimate decision to publish it came down to the possibilities we saw for future experiments with MZM on Microsoft devices.
Also, one of the reviewers is rare. Hao Chang Legg says that at China’s University of Tsingea, previously collaborated on MICSOFT and MZM research. The work published in Nature In 2018, it was later withdrawn, and the team apologized, “.” Scientific rigor is insufficient” After other researchers have identified inconsistencies in the results. “That’s very shocking Nature You can choose the judge who retracted the paper just a few years ago,” says Legg.
Chang says there was no conflict of interest. “I wasn’t an employee at Microsoft either. [the firm]. Of the more than 100 authors of Microsoft Paper recently, I have worked with three before,” he says. “It was seven years ago, but back then they were Tu Delft students. [in the Netherlands]not an employee of Microsoft. “
Microsoft says the team wasn’t involved in the selection of reviewers and was not aware of Zhang’s participation until the review process was completed. Nature The decision was based on a spokesman who said, “The quality of the advice received can be seen from the reviewer’s comments.”
Looking at the issue, both Leg and Frolov are making more fundamental challenges to Microsoft’s methodology. Experiments using MZM have proven extremely difficult to perform over the past decades. This is because imperfections and obstacles within the device can produce false signals that mimic quasiparticles even if they are not present. This was a challenge for researchers related to Microsoft, including the withdrawn 2018 paper. The withdrawal notice explicitly refers to new insights into the impact of the failure. To address this, Microsoft has been working on 2023. The procedure has been published in the journal Physical Review b It was called the “Topology Gap Protocol” and claimed to tease these differences.
“The whole idea of this protocol was that it was a binary test of whether Mallorna is there,” says Legg. His Unique analysis of code and data However, Microsoft implemented the protocol in 2023, which showed that it was less reliable than expected and changing the format of the data is sufficient to turn the failure into a path. Legg says he raised these issues with Microsoft before its publication. Nature Paper, yet the company was using protocols in new research.
NatureA spokesman for the journal’s editorial team “are aware that some people are questioning the effectiveness of the topology gap protocol used.” Nature Paper and other publications. This was an issue that we were also aware of during the peer review process. “Through the process, the reviewer determined that this was not an important issue at the end of the day, the spokesman said.
Microsoft says it will respond to leg analysis of the 2023 paper. Physics Review B. “Criticism can be summarised as a leg that will build a false strooger for our paper and attack it,” said Microsoft’s Chetan Nayak. He challenged some points to Legg’s work, saying that the 2023 paper “showed that we can confidently create topology phases and Mayorana Zero modes,” and the new paper only strengthens those claims.
A Microsoft spokesperson said: Nature The paper was submitted for review and the company built on its confidence and not only created multi-kut chips, but also tested how to operate these kitz as needed for a working topological quantum computer. The company will release more details at the American Physics Society’s Global Physics Summit in March, the spokesman said. “We look forward to sharing our results and transforming our 20+ year vision of quantum computing into a concrete reality, along with the additional data behind science.”
But for Frolov, the assertion that incomplete results from the past can be ignored as the company is trying to build a more sophisticated device lies in false logic. Legg shares this view. “The fundamental issues of obstacles and materials science don’t go away just because we start manufacturing more fancy devices,” he says.
A traditional traction elevator operates using cables to move the cabin up and down within the building shaft. An attached counterweight at the opposite end of the cable helps facilitate the movement of the cabin. Simply enter the cabin, select a floor, press a button, and let the electric motor transport you to your desired level. As the cabin ascends, the counterweight descends, and vice versa.
Enter the concept of space elevators, a more ambitious take on this idea. The system relies on cables, spanning several thousand meters, extending from space to Earth. Instead of launching rockets into space, the cabin travels along these cables. By utilizing some of the energy from rocket launches, the cable eliminates pollution.
Although it may seem far-fetched, the idea of space elevators has been under serious consideration for many years. The concept was first proposed in 1895 by Russian scientist and space exploration pioneer Konstantin Ziolkovsky, who introduced the concept of the Sky Ladder.
The primary challenge lies in establishing the connection point of the cable to space. Geostationary orbit satellites provide a solution. Positioned at a specific distance from Earth, geostationary orbit satellites remain fixed in one spot above the Earth, creating an ideal anchor point approximately 36,000km (22,200 miles) above the equator.
The process involves dropping lengthy cables from the satellite, causing the satellite to rise and counteract the weight of the cable to maintain its position. To counteract gravity’s effect on the cable under geostationary orbit, the centrifugal effect also contributes to stabilization.
The cables must be anchored and secured to the ground. Some proposals suggest securing anchors on mountaintops or towers to reduce the length of cables required. Another innovative concept suggests utilizing a mobile base on marine aviation vessels or platforms in international waters, allowing for flexibility in avoiding inclement weather or mitigating potential failures at the top.
Currently, a space elevator prototype, known as the “Climber,” is used to transport payloads up the cable. However, experts propose the idea of pulling the entire system into space once payloads reach orbit. Calculations indicate that payloads representing up to 1% of the cable’s mass can be accommodated. Despite the challenges, such as developing a cable 50 times stronger than steel, advancements in materials like carbon nanotubes or graphene offer promising solutions.
With predictions suggesting that space elevators could become a reality in the near future, ongoing research continues to explore innovative approaches to overcome the remaining obstacles.
This article addresses the question posed by Thomas Bletso, “Can we really build a space elevator?”
To submit a question, please email Questions@sciencefocus.com or message us on our Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram Page (be sure to include your name and location).
For fascinating science content, visit our Ultimate Fun Facts page.
Many people around the world now associate Tuesday’s Shrove – the day before Christian Lent that marks the traditional East Feast – with pancakes.
Pancakes are enjoyed by cultures worldwide in various shapes and sizes. French crepes, American griddle cakes, and Indian dosas are just a few examples of these versatile fried batter circles that offer endless sweet and tasty possibilities.
To ensure pancake day success, a bit of science can make a big difference. Materials chemists and food scientists Professor Matt Harting and Professor of Fluid Mechanics Ian Eames have shared their insights to enhance your favorite pancake recipes.
1. Replace regular milk with buttermilk
To achieve the perfect stack of fluffy American pancakes, consider substituting regular milk with buttermilk. Buttermilk adds a unique flavor profile to the pancakes and contains key molecules like diacetyl, aldehydes, ketones, amino acids, and lactic acid that enhance both taste and texture.
If you don’t have buttermilk at home, adding lemon juice to the batter can mimic the acidic effect of buttermilk.
2. Add melted butter to the batter
Melted butter in the pancake batter helps achieve a golden brown color and rich flavor due to the Maillard reaction. Butter ensures consistent thermal contact with the hot pan and contributes to the browning process.
Pro-tip: If using buttermilk, consider adding more baking soda to balance the acidic environment.
3. Use the Golden Ratio
The perfect pancake balance depends on the baker’s ratio, which determines the thickness and texture of the pancakes. For British pancakes, a ratio of 100g flour to 200ml milk is recommended.
4. Let the batter rest!
Allowing the pancake batter to rest for about 30 minutes helps relax the gluten in the flour, resulting in lighter pancakes with a smoother texture.
About our experts
Matt Harting is an associate professor of chemistry at the American University of Washington with expertise in food chemistry.
Ian Eames is a professor of fluid mechanics at the University of London and has conducted scientific studies on pancake-making.
The first researchers in science created mice that exhibit properties similar to extinct woolly mammoths.
Colossal Biosciences, an American Biotechnology Company, utilized CRISPR genome editing technology to develop the “Colossal Woolly Mouse.”
These mice are not miniature mammoths but have DNA designed to express mammoth-like properties, making them well-suited for cold environments.
An unpublished study published on Biorxiv explains how researchers modified seven mouse genes to give them a woolly coat.
This marks the first instance of a “living model” of animals with mammoth-like attributes.
Two “woolly mice” created by scientists
“Observing these mice is akin to peering into the past through a specialized lens,” said Dr. Louise Johnson, an evolutionary biologist at the University of Reading not involved in the study. “This technology provides an exciting avenue to test our theories about extinct organisms.”
She added, “Researchers successfully adjusted the mouse genome towards the mammoth genome for the first time.”
Through extensive computer analysis, researchers studied mammoth and African elephant genomes from 1.2 million years ago, modifying mouse genes related to hair growth and cold tolerance to create the final edited seven-gene combination. However, these mice do not possess an exact replica of mammoth genes, leading researchers to doubt the genes responsible for mammoth properties.
The Significance of this Discovery
According to Colossal Biosciences, this development is a groundbreaking step in addressing extinction. The company aims to reintroduce other extinct species with the goal of rebuilding ecosystems to maintain Earth’s balance. Founder Ben Lam envisions reviving species like dodos, giant ice age bears, and extinct Tasmanian marsupials known as thylacines.
Not all scientists are convinced of the immediate impact of this discovery.
While genetic manipulation has been used to create various models, including humans and extinct species, some remain skeptical. Professor Dusko Ilic, a stem cell science professor at King’s College London, acknowledges the milestone but warns of potential risks and ethical implications of such experiments.
While comparing mammoth and elephant genomes offers insights into adaptation and genetic traits, transforming mice into mammoth-like creatures may not directly translate to creating woolly elephants adapted for Arctic environments.
Many scientists doubt the feasibility of replicating mammoths through genetic manipulation alone without a complete understanding of their genetic makeup.
Colossal Biosciences, a US biotech startup, has announced the birth of what is called the “wool mouse.”
The company says gorgeous hair rodents are living evidence that their mission to restore wool mammoths from extinction within a few years is progressing.
To make mice, scientists have introduced eight simultaneous editing into the genome of experimental mice using modern genetic techniques. These include the addition of genes that make fur grow up to three times longer than usual, as well as other genes that make hair wavy and golden.
Other editing targets target genes associated with fat metabolism, which are thought to help increase mammoth size.
Mice are the result of years of hard work by scientists to reconstruct important parts of the mammoth genome. The last wool mammoth is believed to have died about 3,000 years ago, and scientists are stitching together mammoth DNA, which has been decomposed from relics that range from 35 to 1.2 million years ago.
This is the first time that some of the important genes identified throughout the study have been expressed in living animals.
read more:
Mammoth 2.0
Colossal's ambitious long-term plan is to add many of these mammoth genes to modern elephant embryos to create a mammoth-like hybrid.
Despite claiming to be revived wool mammoth, the original Mammuthus Primigeniuswith all the original genetic complexity and population diversity, it has not been brought back to life. Creatures are more accurately referred to as “cold-resistant elephants.”
Scientists designed a “wool mouse” with the mammoth gene, giving it a very long, wavy golden fur. – Photo Credit: Colossal Biosciences
The Mammoth's return was repeated by various groups and dates back to 2011. The group is generally privately funded, and the exact details of their work are rather opaque.
However, these lifestyle, breathing, and rather cute wool mice show that scientists have made impressive advances in reconstructing some of the key genes that have made mammoths unique. Colossal's Chief Scientist Dr. Beth Shapiro The mouse says it is a “critical step in examining an approach to revive the properties lost to extinction.”
A huge task
There's still a lot to do before you see mammoth-like creatures crossing the tundra or walking through the zoo.
Initially, it is much easier to create gene-edited mice than elephants. Mice have been a staple of genetic experiments for decades and can be quickly raised in a huge number.
Elephants, on the other hand, are rarely used in laboratory experiments, and live mammals happen to have longer gestation periods of over 18 months.
Colossal has made impressive advances by manipulating elephant cells into stem cells.
However, even if Colossal could create a viable elephant mammoth embryo, it would not be able to be used as a large number of surrogates, if any, because both Asian and African elephants are at risk of extinction.
This means that Colossal must develop its own artificial uterus to develop experimental embryos until birth. This has never been done before. Such a system should not only replicate all the complexity of the placenta, but also support calves that are as heavy as Asian elephant calves, exceeding at least 100 kg (220 lbs).
But perhaps the biggest question remaining is simply, why? Colossal says other similar tasks to revive mammoths and revive dodos and tylacine will lead to biotechnology that will help save other species from environmental changes.
The company claims to stimulate interest and investment so that they can't do anything else, starting with these iconic extinct creatures.
Certainly, the project has attracted a lot of media attention and has attracted more than $200 million (£157 million) of investments that probably wouldn't have made it to a traditional conservation project.
And there are already examples of the technology being used to support species facing extinction today. For example, in Australia, gene editing is used to provide resistance to the poison of cane toads, an invasive species that kill many animals in the region (adorable, endangered marsupials).
In the US, scientists used similar biotechnology to increase the genetic diversity of ferrets with black feet, but it had dipped to a population size that was essentially involved.
More broadly, Colossal's research could help scientists produce eggs, sperm and embryos of a variety of endangered species, including Asian and African elephants, which help to increase numbers.
We can ask questions
But do these lofty ambitions justify? Jurassic Park– Blatant use of genetic engineering? Many people are particularly intelligent social animals like elephants, and feel uneasy about corrections, not to mention a complete overhaul of the genome.
And what is the life of the first artificial wool elephant like? Where do they live and are they introduced to herds and families?
Are they healthy or tired of genetic problems? And shouldn't we focus our efforts on saving habitats and ecosystems, not individual species?
Giant wool mouse showing the properties of an extinct wool mammoth – Photo credit: Giant bioscience
In recent years, genetic engineering has gained greater acceptance among the public, and is generally considered an important way to produce new drugs and disease-resistant crops.
Does the creation of a large, shaggy elephant make people feel that biotechnology is going too far? Or, as a huge hope, will it serve as an inspiring symbol of how technology can save thousands of species that are at risk of extinction each year?
This is a question that biologists, ethicists and biotechnology regulators need to carefully consider the work of scaling up from mice to mammoths.
Are you looking to keep your mind sharp as you age? One secret could be as simple as regularly exercising your brain with mathematics and reading comprehension, whether it’s at work, at home, or even while reading this article.
A groundbreaking new study led by Professor Eric Hanushek of Stanford University suggests that engaging in mathematics and reading can help prevent age-related cognitive decline. The research shows that individuals who regularly practice these skills do not experience significant declines in cognitive abilities over time, whether they are reading emails, doing calculations, or reading articles like this one. This challenges the notion that cognitive decline is inevitable with age.
The study reveals that cognitive skills typically peak in a person’s 40s before slowly declining. However, those who consistently engage in mathematics and reading, whether at work or in their daily activities, show no decline at all.
“Our findings indicate a significant increase in average skills in literacy and numeracy until the 40s. After this point, there is a slight decrease in literacy skills and a more noticeable decline in numeracy,” the study notes.
This study may inspire you to tackle your taxes – Credit: Skynesher
These findings challenge previous studies that suggested cognitive decline begins in early adulthood. Unlike past research that compared different age groups at one point in time, this study followed the same individuals over several years, providing a more accurate understanding of how cognitive abilities change with age.
Hanushek and his team propose that what was previously thought to be age-related cognitive decline might actually be due to differences in skill levels between generations rather than the natural effects of aging itself.
By analyzing data from language and mathematics assessments in the German population aged 16-65 and retesting the same group 3.5 years later, researchers found that women’s math skills declined significantly over time, indicating potential gender disparities. Further exploration of these differences is planned for future studies.
Have you ever wondered why some dogs look naturally rounded, no matter how much they run around? After all, the same genes that contribute to human obesity are also found in our dogs.
in New genome researchscientists have identified several genes associated with obesity in dogs. This is a gene that we humans share. This means that our favorite furry friends (sorry, cats) will actually help researchers unlock new insights into weight gain, health and complex diseases.
Environmental factors such as Inexpensive availability of ultra-processed foods Scientists, commonly chosen for increased rates of obesity, emphasize that it is a complex condition with a large number of biological root causes. The main factor is hereditary Research from 2007 People estimate that there is 40-70% of people who develop obesity due to genes they inherit from their parents.
As Dr. Eleanor Rafansaid he will lead the academics with new research. BBC Science Focus, “If you're unlucky enough to get the genes that are prone to obesity, it manifests as a bigger appetite and makes it difficult to resist those drives. Slim people aren't morally good. You don't need to show that much willpower to maintain a healthy weight.”
To see if obesity in dogs is also hereditary, researcher Natalie Wallis and her team looked at the genes of a 241 pet Labrador retriever.
Oscar and Isla, and the Labrador used in this study. Photo credit: Natalie Wallis
Using a heterologous approach, they identified multiple obesity-inducing genes shared by dogs and humans. Among these, the gene dennd1b plays an important role in the way our cells process energy – has emerged as a particularly strong genetic association between human and dog obesity.
“By looking at just a few hundred Labrador retrievers, we discovered new biology about the associations of the whole species. We hope that more people will consider using dog genetic models for more scientific discoveries in the future, especially for complex diseases,” Wallis said. BBC Science Focus.
Not only does it provide scientists with new models to understand human diseases, but this study also helps to care for dogs. Pet obesity is on the rise, and at Royal Veterinary College in London Recently, we have reported 1 in 14 dogs It is recorded as overweight every year in the UK.
In the US, 2022 Pet Obesity Association (APOP) Survey It is found that 59% of dogs are overweight, indicating a wide range of issues in pet health. However, up until now, the genetic basis of dog obesity has not been extensively studied.
Dr. Eleanor Lafan takes chocolate Labrador retrievers. Photo credit: Dr. Eleanor Rafan
Understanding pet genetics may be a game changer for their care. “Our results underscore the importance of encouraging exercise and limiting food intake for pet dogs,” says Dr. Rafan.
“Many people still blame the owners of fat dogs, saying they are lazy or extravagant, and the same stereotypes are reflected on obese people. Our data shows that controlling food intake in high-risk dogs is much more difficult. It should actually change the way dogs deal with obesity. They should target high-risk dog owners and support effective management (rather than criticizing them).”
As the sun returns and the winter blues float away, it’s almost time to adjust the American clock. Daylight Saving Time (DST), a practice of changing your clock twice a year, has a long history full of controversy, diplomacy, and some unique quirks depending on where you live.
Despite its routine nature, DST means longer evenings to enjoy the sun in the end. So, as the date approaches, we’ve gathered all the information you need to know, including when to change the clocks, why it happens, and why some want to do away with DST altogether.
When will the clocks change in March 2025?
For Americans, the time changes on Sunday, March 9th. It will happen at 2 am local time, moving forward by one hour.
This marks the start of DST, but the transition may vary depending on your location. Here’s how it looks in major cities:
Los Angeles: Along with other West Coast cities like Seattle and San Francisco, will shift from standard Pacific time to daylight Pacific time. The sunrise will move from 6:15 am to 7:15 am, and the sunset from 5:54 pm to 6:54 pm.
Chicago: Will transition from Central Standard Time to Central Daylight Time. The sunrise will change from 6:17 am to 7:17 am, and the sunset from 5:47 pm to 6:47 pm.
New York and Washington DC: Will switch from Eastern Standard Time to Eastern Daylight Time. This will shift the sunrise from 6:22 am to 7:22 am, and the sunset from 5:53 pm to 6:53 pm.
How does daylight saving time work?
The concept of Daylight Saving Time is fairly simple. Every year, we adjust our clocks by adding or subtracting an hour. This occurs twice a year and alternates between the two.
These time changes are known as Daylight Saving Time and Standard Time. DST begins in March, moving us forward an hour, ends in November, and then moves back an hour.
On the surface, this may seem strange, but it serves a purpose. DST aims to make better use of sunlight and save energy by providing more daylight in the evening, allowing for more time to enjoy the sun and reducing electricity demands at home.
What is the history of daylight saving time?
The history of Daylight Saving Time dates back quite a long time. While often attributed to Benjamin Franklin in 1784, the actual origins can be traced back before 1907.
William Willett, an advocate for more daylight hours, proposed changing how we view time. This proposal, involving moving the clock forward by 80 minutes in four increments of 20 minutes each Sunday at 2 am, eventually led to the establishment of Daylight Saving Time.
Since then, the system has been refined and simplified. Despite initial resistance, DST eventually became a standard practice in 1966.
Why do some people want to abolish daylight saving time?
Aside from the inconvenience of changing the clock annually, there are reasons why some advocate for the abolishment of DST.
Studies suggest that clock changes can have a negative impact on health, with an increased risk of heart attacks following the spring time change. Additionally, the economic cost of DST changes is estimated to be significant, affecting productivity.
Another important reason is the impact on pets. It’s recommended to gradually adjust your pet to the time change to avoid disruptions to their routines.
It feels harsh. Being forced to sacrifice valuable sleep is tough. In the United States, Daylight Saving Time (DST) will begin on March 9, 2025. At 2am local time, the clock will spring forward an hour, skipping straight to 3am.
Not only does this make the following day feel a bit groggy, but experts are growing concerned about the potential negative impacts of the DST switch on our health.
“When the clock changes, there is a slight increase in stroke, heart attack, car accidents, and sleep loss,” says Vanderbilt’s Director of Sleep, Dr. Beth Malow to BBC Science Focus.
The effects of this time shift are felt not only by the youth but also by older individuals. A study published in the Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine in 2015 found that teenagers lose approximately 2 hours and 42 minutes of weekday sleep after the time change.
Mallow continues, “It has health repercussions for nearly eight months due to the shift in light exposure from the morning and evening times.”
“Morning light is essential for waking up, regulating our biological clock, and enhancing our mood. We use light therapy in the morning to treat seasonal affective disorders and improve sleep quality. Exposure to morning light supports nighttime sleep, while evening light disrupts it.”
However, all hope is not lost. Here are some simple strategies to alleviate the impact of losing that hour:
1. Back up your bedtime for a few days before the clock change
While it may be too late this time, keep this in mind for the future. Sleep experts recommend gradually shifting your bedtime 15-20 minutes earlier each night leading up to the time change.
According to the American Academy of Sleep Medicine, sudden changes in sleep schedules, such as switching to daylight saving time, can lead to temporary insomnia symptoms affecting about 30-35% of adults.
By easing into it gradually, Malow suggests, “you can adjust to the new time and get a bit more sleep in the process.”
If you’re short on time and feeling drowsy, going to bed earlier on the night of the time change can also be helpful.
2. Expose yourself to bright light in the morning
Daylight Saving Time aims to provide an extra hour of sunlight in the evening. While this is ideal for post-work socializing, it may disrupt natural sleep-wake cycles and circadian rhythms.
To help you wake up in the morning and consequently sleep better at night, exposing yourself to bright light is crucial. Malow recommends natural light for this purpose, especially as the sun rises earlier during the summer months.
“Morning bright light exposure helps synchronize your biological clock,” she explains. “Aligning your clock will improve your nighttime sleep.”
3. Avoid lengthy naps and late-day caffeine. Opt for exercise instead
If you enjoy taking naps (who doesn’t?), this news may be disappointing. However, if you want to maintain good sleep, avoiding long naps is essential.
“Naps and caffeine impair our ‘sleep drive’,” Malow clarifies. Her solution? Engage in physical exercise instead.
“Physical activity in the afternoon energizes us during that afternoon slump, but comes bedtime, it promotes sleepiness. It enhances our sleep drive,” she adds.
But remember, avoid exercising just before bedtime, as it can stimulate endorphins and raise body temperature, both of which can interfere with sleep.
4. Put away your phone before bedtime
You’ve likely heard this advice before, but it remains just as relevant, particularly when the clock springs forward an hour. Bright light at night, especially from screens emitting blue light, can disrupt your sleep.
Blue light, found in LED screens, inhibits the natural release of melatonin in the brain, a hormone that regulates sleep. Additionally, content like news can trigger anxiety before bed.
Perhaps it’s time to eliminate daylight saving time
While the aforementioned strategies can minimize the impact of the time change, many experts are calling for the abolishment of this antiquated practice entirely.
So, should standard time become the new norm?
Alice Gregory, a psychology professor at Goldsmith’s, believes so. She argues that permanent standard time aligns better with our circadian rhythms compared to daylight saving time.
Mallow echoes this sentiment, stating, “Most individuals are quite fatigued by the interaction.”
About our experts:
Dr. Beth Malow is a neurology and pediatrics professor, Director of the Vanderbilt Sleep Division, Chair of Barry Donations for Cognitive Childhood Development, and Vice-Chair of Clinical Research at Vanderbilt University, USA. She is board-certified in Neurology and Sleep Medicine, conducting research on sleep and its medical and genetic implications.
Alice Gregory is a psychology professor at Goldsmith’s. She conducts research on the link between sleep and mental health, behavioral genetics, sleep paralysis, and nightmare disorder. She is also a prolific science communicator, publishing articles in various outlets like Guardian, GQ UK, and Slate fr.
Astronomers using the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope have created a beautiful new image of the Intermediate Spiral Galaxy NGC 5042.
This Hubble image shows NGC 5042, a mid-spiral galaxy, about 48 million light years away in the Hydra constellations. Image credits: NASA/ESA/Hubble/D. Thilker.
NGC 5042 It is located approximately 48 million light years from Earth, the Hydra constellation.
The galaxy has a diameter of 80,000 light years, known as ESO 508-31, LEDA 46126 or IRAS 13127-2343.
That's what NGC 5042 was I discovered it by British astronomer John Herschel on March 25, 1836.
“The NGC 5042 fills this frame of Hubble image nicely, and there is a single milky star marked with cross-shaped diffraction spikes that attempt to blend in with bright stars along the edge of the galaxy,” the Hubble astronomer said in a statement.
The NGC 5042 is packed with ancient stars, and the galaxy's spiral arms are decorated with patches of young blue stars.
“The elongated yellow orange objects scattered around the image are background galaxies that are far more distant than NGC 5042,” the astronomer said.
“Perhaps the most impressive feature of the NGC 5042 is its collection of vibrant pink gas clouds scattered throughout the spiral arm.”
“These flashy clouds are called the H II region and get a unique color from hydrogen atoms ionized by ultraviolet rays.”
“If you look closely at this image, it appears that many of these reddish clouds are associated with a mass of blue stars, often appearing to form shells around the stars.”
“The H II region is generated by vast clouds of hydrogen gas, producing sufficient high energy light to create the HI II region, and only hot, large stars are produced.”
“The stars that can create the H II region only live for millions of years, and therefore the eye blinks from the galaxy's perspective, so this image represents a fleeting snapshot of the life of this galaxy.”
Six filters were used to sample different wavelengths. Colors are attributed to assigning different hue to each monochromatic image associated with an individual filter.
“Hubble observed NGC 5042 in six wavelength bands ranging from ultraviolet to infrared and created this multicolored portrait,” the researchers said.
It is explained in the paper published today journal Natural Astronomy the discovery means that habitable deplanets may have begun to form much earlier, before they were formed billions of years ago.
This artist's impression shows the evolution of the universe, beginning with the Big Bang on the left. After that, you will see the microwave background of the universe. The formation of the first stars ends the dark ages of the universe, followed by the formation of galaxies. Image credit: M. Weiss/Harvard – Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics.
“We had no oxygen before the first star exploded, so there was no water in space,” said Daniel Warren, an astronomer at the University of Portsmouth.
“Only a very simple nucleus survived the Big Bang: hydrogen, helium, lithium, trace amounts of barium and boron.”
According to Dr. Whalen and his colleagues, water molecules began to form shortly after the first supernova explosion known as the Population III Supernova.
These cosmic events that occurred on first generation stars were essential to creating the heavy elements (such as oxygen) needed for water to exist.
“The oxygen forged in the hearts of these supernovas combines with hydrogen to form water, paving the way for the creation of the essential elements needed for life,” Dr. Whalen said.
In their study, researchers looked at two types of supernovae. This produces corecrolaps supernovae, which produces a modest amount of heavy elements, and more energetic POP III supernovae.
They discovered that both types of supernovae form dense masses of rich gas in water.
The overall amount of water produced by these early supernovae was modest, but was highly concentrated in a gas-dense area called the cloud core, which is thought to be the birthplace of stars and planets.
These early, water-rich regions may have sown planetary formations at the dawn of space long before the first galaxy took shape.
“A significant discovery is that the primitive supernova formed water in the universe ahead of the first galaxy,” Dr. Hualen said.
“So water was already an important component of the first galaxy.”
“This means that the conditions necessary for the formation of life were in place faster than we could have imagined, meaning it was an important step in our early understanding of the universe.”
“The total water mass was modest, but it was very concentrated on the only structures that could form stars and planets.”
“And that suggests that before the first galaxy, a water-rich planetary disc could form at the dawn of space.”
Ultra-high energy cosmic rays are the highest energy particles in the universe, and their energy is more than one million times greater than what humans can achieve.
Professor Farrar proposes that the merger of binary neutron stars is the source of all or most ultra-high energy cosmic rays. This scenario can explain the unprecedented, mysterious range of ultra-high energy cosmic rays, as the jets of binary neutron star mergers are generated by gravity-driven dynamos and therefore are roughly the same due to the narrow range of binary neutron star masses. Image credit: Osaka Metropolitan University / L-Insight, Kyoto University / Riunosuke Takeshige.
The existence of ultra-high energy cosmic rays has been known for nearly 60 years, but astrophysicists have not been able to formulate a satisfactory explanation of the origins that explain all observations to date.
A new theory introduced by Glennnies Farrer at New York University provides a viable and testable explanation of how ultra-high energy cosmic rays are created.
“After 60 years of effort, it is possible that the origins of the mysterious highest energy particles in the universe have finally been identified,” Professor Farrar said.
“This insight provides a new tool to understand the most intense events in the universe. The two neutron stars fuse to form a black hole. This is the process responsible for creating many valuable or exotic elements, including gold, platinum, uranium, iodine, and Zenon.”
Professor Farrer proposes that ultra-high energy cosmic rays are accelerated by the turbulent magnetic runoff of the dual neutron star merger, which was ejected from the remnants of the merger, before the final black hole formation.
This process simultaneously generates powerful gravitational waves. Some have already been detected by scientists from the Ligo-Virgo collaboration.
“For the first time, this work explains two of the most mystical features of ultra-high energy cosmic rays: the harsh correlation between energy and charge, and the extraordinary energy of just a handful of very high energy events,” Professor Farrar said.
“The results of this study are two results that can provide experimental validation in future work.
(i) Very high energy cosmic rays occur as rare “R process” elements such as Xenon and Tellurium, motivating the search for such components of ultra-high energy cosmic ray data.
(ii) Very high-energy neutrinos derived from ultra-high-energy cosmic ray collisions are necessarily accompanied by gravitational waves generated by the merger of proneutron stars. ”
study It will be displayed in the journal Physical Review Letter.
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Glennys R. Farrar. 2025. Merger of dichotomous neutron stars as the source of the finest energy cosmic rays. Phys. Pastor Rett 134, 081003; doi:10.1103/physrevlett.134.081003
New observations from the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope support the presence of three specific functions in the atmosphere (clouds, hot spots, and changes in carbon chemistry) of the rapidly rotating and free floating planetary mass object SIMP J013656.5+093347.
Impressions of the artist of SIMP 0136. Image credits: NASA/ESA/CSA/J. Olmsted, Stsci.
SIMP J013656.5+093347 (SIMP 0136 for short) is a rapidly rotating, free-floating object located just 20 light years from Earth.
It may have a mass of 13 Jupiter masses, does not orbit the star, and instead may be a brown dwarf.
Because it is separated, SIMP 0136 can be directly observed and is not afraid of mild contamination or variability caused by the host star.
The short rotation period, only 2.4 hours, allows for very efficient investigation.
“We've been working hard to get into the world,” said Allison McCarthy, a doctoral student at Boston University.
“We also thought that it might have an effect on temperature fluctuations, chemical reactions, and perhaps the activity of the aurora affecting brightness, but we weren't sure.”
Webb's NirSpec Instruments We captured thousands to 5.3 micron spectra of SIMP 0136. The object completed one full rotation, so I captured it one at a time, one at a time, one at a time, one at a time, over 3 hours.
This led to immediate observation Webb's Milli Musical Instrumentshundreds of measurements of light between 5 and 14 microns were collected. One is one every 19.2 seconds, one in another rotation.
The results were hundreds of detailed rays, each showing a very accurate wavelength (color) brightness change, with different sides of the object rotating into view.
“It was incredible to see the entire range of this object change over a few minutes,” said Dr. Joanna Foss, an astronomer at Trinity College Dublin.
“Until now, we only had a small near-infrared spectrum from Hubble, but we had some brightness measurements from Spitzer.”
Astronomers almost immediately noticed that there were several distinct ray shapes.
At any time, some wavelengths were growing brightly, while others were either dimmed or not changing at all.
Many different factors must affect brightness variation.
“Imagine looking at the Earth from afar,” said Dr. Philip Muirhead, a former member of Boston University.
“Looking each color individually gives you a variety of patterns that tell you something about the surface and the atmosphere, even if you don't understand the individual features.”
“As the ocean rotates towards vision, blue increases. The brown and green changes tell us something about the soil and vegetation.”
To understand what could cause variability in SIMP 0136, the team used an atmospheric model to show where each wavelength of light is occurring in the atmosphere.
“The different wavelengths provide information about the different depths in the atmosphere,” McCarthy said.
“We began to realize that the wavelengths that had the most similar ray shapes also investigated the same depth and reinforced this idea that they must be caused by the same mechanism.”
For example, one group of wavelengths occurs deeply in the atmosphere where there may be patchy clouds made of iron particles.
The second group comes from high clouds, which are thought to be made from small grains of silicate minerals.
Both of these light curve variations are related to the patchiness of the cloud layers.
The third group of wavelengths appears to be occurring at very high altitudes far above the clouds and tracking temperatures.
Bright hotspots may be associated with previously detected auroras at radio wavelengths, or hot gas upwelling from deeper in the atmosphere.
Some light curves cannot be explained by clouds or temperature, but instead show variations related to atmospheric carbon chemistry.
There may be chemical reactions in which carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide pockets rotate within and outside of view, or alter the atmosphere.
“We still don't understand the chemical part of the puzzle yet,” Dr. Vos said.
“But these results are really exciting because they show that the richness of molecules like methane and carbon dioxide can change over time from location.”
“If you're looking at a deplanet and only have one measurement, you should assume that it may not be representative of the entire planet.”
Survey results It will be displayed in Astrophysics Journal Letter.
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Allison M. McCarthy et al. 2025. JWST weather report from isolated exoplanet analog SIMP 0136+0933: pressure-dependent variability driven by multiple mechanisms. apjl 981, L22; doi: 10.3847/2041-8213/AD9EAF
According to new research by scientists at Tsukuba University and the Japan National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology, heat from our sun promotes changes in the atmosphere temperature on Earth and changes in the atmosphere temperature on Earth.
The sun is seen by solar orbiter in extreme ultraviolet rays from a distance of approximately 75 million km. This image is a mosaic of 25 individual images taken on March 7, 2022 by the high-resolution telescope of an extreme ultraviolet imager (EUI) instrument. The image, taken at a wavelength of 17 nanometers in the extreme ultraviolet region of the electromagnetic spectrum, reveals the corona, the upper atmosphere of the sun, with a temperature of about 1 million degrees Celsius. Image credits: ESA/NASA/SOLAR ORBITER/EUI Team/E. Kraaikamp, Rob.
Seismic studies have revealed many of the fundamentals of earthquakes: the tectonic plates move, strain energy accumulates, and that energy is ultimately released in the form of an earthquake.
However, when it comes to predicting them, there is still much to learn to evacuate cities before a catastrophe like the 2011 magnitude 9.0 Tōhoku earthquake
In recent years, research has focused on possible correlations between the sun or moon and seismic activity on Earth, with several studies pointing to tidal or electromagnetic effects that interact with the Earth's crust, core, and mantle.
In a new study, Matheus Henrique Junqueira Saldanha and his colleagues explored the possibility that solar-induced climate could play a role.
“Solar heat can promote changes in atmospheric temperature, which can affect rock properties and groundwater movements, among other things,” said Dr. Junqueira Saldanha.
“Such variations can make rocks more brittle and more prone to breaking, for example. And changes in rainfall and snow thaw can change the pressure on the boundaries of the tectonic plate.”
“Those factors may not be the main factors that cause earthquakes, but they may still play a useful role in predicting seismic activity.”
Using mathematical and computational methods, researchers analyzed seismic data along with solar activity records and surface temperatures on Earth.
Among other findings, they observed that when the surface temperature of the earth was included in the model, predictions of particularly shallow earthquakes are more accurate.
“That makes sense because heat and water mostly affect the upper layers of the Earth's crust,” said Junqueira Saldanha.
The findings suggest that solar heat transfer to the Earth's surface affects seismic activity, but this is only a small measure, and incorporating predictions of solar activity into a detailed earth temperature model could help issue seismic predictions.
“It's an exciting direction and I hope our research will shed some light on the larger picture of what causes earthquakes,” said Dr. Junqueira Saldanha.
study Today I'll be appearing in the journal chaos.
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Matheus Henrique Junqueira Saldanha et al. The role of solar heat in seismic activity. chaos 35, 033107; doi:10.1063/5.0243721
Antarctic Circulating Current (ACC), which is more than four times as strong as the Gulf Stream, is the world’s strongest ocean current and plays an unbalanced role in the climate system due to its role as a major basin conduit. Scientists at the University of Melbourne and the Research Centre in Nordic Norway have shown that ACC will slow by about 20% by 2050 in high carbon emission scenarios. This influx of freshwater into the southern ocean is expected to alter the properties such as the density (salinity) of the ocean and its circulation patterns.
Sohail et al. High-resolution ocean and sea ice simulations of ocean currents, heat transport, and other factors were analyzed to diagnose the effects of temperature changes, saltiness, and wind conditions. Image credit: Sohail et al. , doi: 10.1088/1748-9326/adb31c.
“The oceans are extremely complex, finely balanced,” says Dr. Bishakhdatta Gayen, liquid mechanic at the University of Melbourne.
“If this current ‘engine’ collapses, serious consequences, including more climate change, including extreme extreme climate variability in certain regions, will accelerate global warming due to a decline in the ability of the ocean to function as a carbon sink. “
The ACC acts as a barrier to invasive species, like the southern burkelp and marine vectors such as shrimp and mollusks, which travel in the current from other continents reaching Antarctica.
If this current slows and weakens, it is more likely that such species will head towards the fragile Antarctica, potentially serious effects on food webs, which could change the available diet of Antarctic penguins, for example.
The ACC is an important part of the marine conveyor belt around the world, moving water around the world and linking the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian seas. These are the main mechanisms of exchange of heat, carbon dioxide, chemicals and biology throughout these basins.
In their study, the authors used Gadi, the fastest supercomputer in Australia located on the Access National Research Infrastructure.
They discovered that transport of seawater from the surface to the deepest could also be slower in the future.
“If ice melting accelerates as predicted by other studies, slowdowns are predicted to be similar in low emission scenarios,” Dr. Sohail said.
“The 2015 Paris Agreement aims to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels.”
“Many scientists agree that we have already reached this 1.5 degree target, which could have an impact on the melting of Antarctic ice, making it even hotter.”
“Cooperative efforts to limit global warming (by reducing carbon emissions) will limit the melting of Antarctic ice and avoid the expected slowdown in ACC.”
This study reveals that the effects of ice melting and ocean warming on ACC are more complicated than previously thought.
“The melted ice sheets throw a large amount of fresh water from salt water into the salty sea.”
“This sudden change in ocean salinity has a series of results, including weakening of subsidence to the depths of surface seawater (called Antarctic bottom water), and based on this study, it includes weakening of the powerful marine jets surrounding Antarctica,” Dr. Gayen said.
study Published in the journal Environmental Survey Letter.
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Taimoor Sohail et al. 2025. Decreasing the polar current in the Antarctic due to polarization. environment. res. Rent 20, 034046; doi:10.1088/1748-9326/adb31c
Paleontologists have discovered three racewing larvae in Myanmar's 100 million Kachin amber with large forward trunks (the eyes of Holometabolan). These specimens show highly developed, simple eye convergent evolution of at least two additional lines, indicating the enormous diversity of Cretaceous larvae.
A larva from Kachin Amber, 100 million years ago. Image credit: Haug et al. , doi: 10.1111/1744-7917.13509.
Adult insects are known for their fascinating and complicated eyes. This allows you to achieve amazing sensory feats when performing functions such as food and peers search.
However, in many insect larvae, these eyes are not yet developed. The simple eyes known as the stem are usually sufficient for these larvae. Often, it is a machine that is mostly eating at this stage.
However, some insect larvae are predators, and a few of these have developed highly efficient imaging systems from simple stems.
“The adults and pups of beetles, bees, flies, butterflies and close relative insects also have complex eyes that are present in some larvae,” says Dr. Carolin Haug, researcher at Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München.
“In contrast, most holometaboran larvae have a small group of up to seven simple eyes, known as stems, on either side of the head.”
“The trunk is inherent to holometaborane, usually a simple structure, often slightly radial oriented, creating a wide field of view.”
“However, the fields of the right and left trunks rarely overlap, but denies binocular vision in the larvae.”
“And more, most stems lack the complex internal structures needed to create images.”
“In contrast, several predatory holometaboran larvae evolved anteriorly directed stems, which were expanded with overlapping fields of vision that promote binocular vision.”
“Examples include the larvae of diving beetles known as water tigers, tiger beetles, anthraion and the Whirlgihi beetle.”
“The trunk has been reported in over 120 fossil larvae, but no imaging eyes have been identified that allow binocular vision.”
In a new study, the authors discovered three predatory larvae with unusually large and positive trunks in the Cretaceous Cachin Amber.
They found that the size and orientation of the larvae eyes are comparable to the size and orientation of modern anthraions, allowing for similar optical resolution.
“This is evidence of the first fossils of such an eye and therefore the oldest,” Dr. Haug said.
“The highly refined, simple eyes of predatory larvae evolved with a further double convergence, not just anti-, water tigers and tiger beetles, but also at least among extinct larvae.”
“Our results reveal greater diversity in morphology, ecology, and feeding strategies among Cretaceous larvae than today.”
Karolyn Haug et al. Cretaceous horny larvae with binocular vision show convergent evolution of refined, simple eyes. Insect SciencePublished online on February 18th, 2025. doi:10.1111/1744-7917.13509
A devastating tornado near Minden, Iowa in April 2024
Jonah Lange/Getty Images
Wide range of firing and staffing changes at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) could reduce the reliability of the country's weather forecasts, according to several researchers and the American Meteorological Association.
“The consequences for Americans will be vastly broad, including increasing vulnerability to dangerous weather,” the organization states: statement.
More than 880 NOAA employees have been fired under President Donald Trump's control. statement From US Senator Maria Cantwell. This includes researchers working to improve hurricane predictions and build next-generation weather models, as well as more than 200 people within the National Weather Service, part of NOAA. According to two former NOAA employees, another 500 people accepted an offer to resign from their previous “Folk in the Road” offer, and shouted more for the agency.
A NOAA spokesman declined to discuss shootings and staffing changes. They said the agency will “continue to provide weather information, forecasts and warnings based on our public safety mission.” However, external researchers and former NOAA employees say the cuts could reduce the quality of the agency's weather forecasts.
The change states, “it has a clear cascade effect that affects predictions, even what people are watching on the phone via third parties.” Kari Bowen University of Colorado at Boulder University.
Cuts can quickly affect alerts about extreme weather like tornadoes and hurricanes, and in the long run, even commercial weather apps rely on modeling from NOAA, allowing general weather reports to be more accurate. Below are four ways experts can predict a shooting storm, and four ways that resignation can affect weather forecasts.
Delayed Tornado Warning
National Weather Service operates a network of 122 weather forecasting offices nationwide. At least 16 offices in the central part of the country's prone to tornadoes are currently understaffed. William Galls At Iowa State University. A former NOAA employee said that over 12 offices in the central region have resigned from head meteorologists. And then the harsh weather season begins in the region.
Nearby offices may be able to help understaffed sites track and alert tornadoes, but confusion can lead to delays. “There's a good chance there's a lot of mistakes,” Gallus says.
Such delays were evident last year when a tornado evacuated local forecast offices in Iowa, Galls said. An adjacent station intervened to track the storm. But amidst the chaos, some residents received five minutes of warning that the tornado was heading their path, rather than the minimum 15 minutes that the forecaster aims to provide. In an emergency, these lost times can make a difference whether they can reach safely.
I don't know when a hurricane suddenly becomes stronger
Some employees fired from NOAA were working to improve hurricane forecasts. In particular, we estimate the time when the situation will rapidly intensify. Rapid strengthening can make hurricanes even more dangerous by reducing the time people prepare. However, these events are well known for predicting.
Hurricane modelers at NOAA and other agencies have made great strides in predicting rapid strengthening in recent years, says Brian Tan At Albany University in New York. This is due to improved modeling, data collection and data integration efforts by NOAA researchers. Currently, personnel delivery “destabilizes the entire process of improving hurricane track and intensity prediction,” he says.
“It will be slower to promote the improvements we have been expecting to improve hurricane forecasts over the past 30 years.” Andy Hazeltonworking on improving NOAA's hurricane forecasts before being fired from its position at the agency's environmental modelling centre last week. He says several people have been fired from a group of “Hurricane Hunters” that fly planes into the storm to collect data, including two flight supervisors.
Unreliable weather data
Accurate weather forecasts rely on a continuous stream of information about real-time conditions around the world, collected from marine buoys, satellites, radars and other sensors. Data will then be fed into global weather models that underlie both public and private forecasts. Much of the world's data and modeling is provided by NOAA.
Staff reductions could impact these critical data collection efforts and would reduce the quality of forecasts. In fact, some locals Weather Forecast Center Due to a lack of staff, regular balloon launches have already been suspended.
“All of these observation networks are maintained and run by people.” Emily Becker At the University of Miami in Florida. “And we've already lost a lot of people from those teams. That's going to be an aggregate effect.”
Improvements to future weather forecasts have stopped
At least eight people, a quarter of the staff, were fired from the Environmental Modeling Center. This is responsible for verifying weather data and integrating it into a model that is more or less underlying all predictions, says Hazelton. “What is the temperature this weekend?” and everything is “Are there any tornadoes?”
Personnel delivery at the Environmental Modeling Center will slow research to improve current global weather models, he says. Additionally, 10 people have been fired from the Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Institute, which researchers were building. Next Generation Global weather and climate models.
Such reductions are “very harmful” to efforts to make forecasts more reliable, Gallus says. He says that almost every improvement in forecasts over the past decades depends on improvements in modeling. “If we're losing a ton of researchers working on them, you're basically saying my predictions will never get better.”
Standing up to a science rally in Washington Square Park, New York City on March 7th
James Dinneen
Thousands of people in American cities protested March 7th against the Trump administration's cuts to scientific funding.
In New York City, over 1,000 people gathered at Washington Square Park and chanted “Fund Science Not War!” People had signs of mourning the cut, including one that said, “Science makes America great.”
The protest was one of at least 30 “stand-up for science” rallies in US cities, and over 150 events were expected worldwide. The researchers also left the institute as part of the protest.
Since President Donald Trump took office on January 20th, the administration has cancelled or frozen billions of dollars in federal funds for scientific and medical research. Much of the reduction focuses on research related to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) and research on climate change and gender. The government has also fired thousands of federal employees at U.S. scientific institutions, including the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the National Institutes of Health and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
“Science is something that needs to be cherished. I think everyone has to be here. I'm rather working with my cells in my lab, but I think we need to bring awareness to these issues.” Anna Vivineteda neuroscientist at Weill Cornell Medicine who participated in the New York protest. She had signs that read, “So bad, even introverts are here.”
Demonstrators keep signs during stand-up at a science rally at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, DC on March 7th
Tierney L Cross / Bloomberg via Getty Images
“Science is being attacked, and funds are now being cut for decades in ways that affect the well-being of our country,” says Maia, a researcher at the Columbia University Eco Museum in New York. She says she and her colleagues lost funds for their research.
The largest gathering took place in Washington, D.C., where thousands of people attended. It included scientist Bill Nye. Francis Collins, former director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Several members of the Congress. Over 1,500 people attended the New York event. There, notable researchers also spoke, including Lisa Randall, the chief scientist at Meta Ayan Lekun, former NIH director and Nobel laureate, theoretical physicist at Harvard.
Researchers from around the world participated in the New York protests. “America has been a very exceptional thing to science. I really believe that science has made America great. We are very disappointed because everything is destroyed,” says a French cancer biologist.
New Scientist We also spoke with scientists from Argentina, Israel, Canada and Australia at the rally. Some of them worried that they might have to leave the US to continue their work. “I am heartbroken. Vivinezze, from Argentina, said:
Dennis Robbinsa science educator at Hunter College in New York had a sign that read, “Now I am a crazy scientist.” He says he had the same signs in his first “March for Science” protest in 2017.
#StandUpForScience2025 At the Michigan State Capitol. It's time to still come out and defend government scientific funding and sustaining evidence-based decision-making. pic.twitter.com/jvtktzocaf
– Rebecca Santelli (girlfriend) (@rebeccasantelli) March 7, 2025
A crowd of people at the Philadelphia science march! The most popular sign: “I left the lab for this.” The protests have just begun, so please join us! #marchforscience #science #philly
Paleontologists describe new genus and species of extinct scorpions from the early Cretaceous Ixia Formation in China.
Jeholia Longkengi It is China's first Mesozoic scorpion. Image credit: Jie Sun/Xuan et al. , doi: 10.1016/j.scib.2025.01.035.
It has been named Jeholia LongkengiThe new species lived around 125 million years ago (early Cretaceous period).
The fossilized scorpion ruins are Yixian Layer In the village of Heishangou in Chifen City, Nei Mongolia, China.
“Scorpions belong to the Arachnida class within the arthropod and have a relatively small number of fossil records,” said Dr. Qiang Xuan, a researcher at the Institute of Geology and Paleontology and a researcher of excellence for the excellence of life and paleoenvironment at the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
“Early scorpions came from the Midsilurian era, and at least some of them are interpreted as transient forms from sea to land.”
“Even though they are among the early terrestrial arthropods, fossils and living scorpions retain mostly conservative body plans.”
“Mesozoic scorpions are primarily from the Burmese system in the Middle Cretaceous, but compressed scorpion fossils that usually accumulate in the hierarchy are relatively rare, except for late Triassic Cuper sandstone formation in England and late Cretaceous Krato formation in Brazil.”
“Three fossil scorpions, including the Miocene scorpion, have been reported from China Sinoscorpius Shandongensis From Devonian Scorpion, County Chandon Hubeiscorpio gracilitarsis From Hubei Province and Permian Scorpion Eoscorpius sp. From Uda, Nei Mongol. ”
Jeholia Longkengi He was a member of the early Cretaceous terrestrial ecosystem known as Jehoru Biotait is internationally renowned for the discovery of exceptional fossils, including feathered dinosaurs, early birds, diverse mammals, pterosaurs, and several arthropod fossils.
“The Jehol Biota is one of the most important and prolific fossil sites for studying early Cretaceous life,” the paleontologist said.
“No previous fossil scorpions have been recorded despite many fossil species being reported.”
The full length of Jeholia Longkengi It was about 10 cm (4 inches). It is larger than other Mesozoic scorpions and considerably larger than many living scorpions.
“Jeholia Longkengi They may feed primarily a variety of insects, including herbivorous, omnivorous, corrosive, fungal and predatory species that are common in gel biotas, and perhaps spiders, frogs, small salamanders, lizards and mammals,” the researchers said.
“We recommend that potential natural enemies of this Cretaceous scorpion include dinosaurs, birds and mammals, according to previously reported Jehol Biota food web model.”
“However, there is no fossil record for the oral sector, so speculation about their feeding habits is in the preliminary stage.”
“Middle centrality is a metric that quantifies the importance of a node in connecting other nodes in the network,” they added.
“It plays a pivotal role in assessing the extent to which a node acts as a bridge and linking other nodes in the network.”
“In Jehor's Biota Food Network, large scorpions exhibit the highest intermediate centrality of all guilds, highlighting the possibility that fossil scorpions had extensive ecological interactions with other species of early terrestrial ecosystems.”
“Our findings contribute to new insights into the complexity of Yel Biota's food web,” they concluded.
Team's paper Published in the journal Science news.
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Qiang Xuan et al. The first Mesozoic scorpion from China and its ecological meaning. Science newsPublished online on January 24th, 2025. doi: 10.1016/j.scib.2025.01.035
Two young protostars are responsible for the sparkling ejection of orange, blue, and purple glowing gas and dust in this colorful dark clouds 483 on NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope.
This webb image shows part of Lynds 483. Image credits: NASA/ESA/CSA/STSCI.
Lynds 483 It’s almost arranged 200 persec (652 light years) Separately in the constellations of Serpen.
This object is named after American astronomer Beverly T. Lyns. Published An extensive catalogue of “dark” and “bright” nebulae from the early 1960s.
“For tens of thousands of years, the central Protostar Webb’s astronomer said in a statement.
“When a recent emission hits an older one, the material crouches and spins around based on the density of what is collision.”
“Over time, these emissions and chemical reactions within the surrounding clouds have produced a range of molecules, such as carbon monoxide, methanol, and several other organic compounds.”
“The two protostars in charge of this scene are at the heart of the hourglass shape, on an opaque horizontal disk of cold gas and dust that fit within a single pixel,” they added.
“More farther above and below the flat disc with thinned dust, bright light from the stars passes through the gas and dust, forming a large, translucent orange cone.”
“It’s equally important to notice where the starlight is blocked. Look for a very dark, wide V-shaped shape that is offset by the orange cone 90 degrees.”
“These areas may appear to be free of material, but in reality, they are the most dense surrounding dust, and small starlights will penetrate it.”
“The L483 is too large to fit in a single Webb snapshot. This image was taken to capture the top and the leak perfectly, so the bottom section is only partially visible,” the astronomer said.
“All symmetry and asymmetry in these clouds could ultimately be explained by updating the model and producing the same effect as researchers reconstruct the history of star emissions.”
“Astronomers also calculate how much material the stars expelled, which molecules were created when the materials were destroyed together, and how dense each region is.”
“Millions of years from now, when the stars form, they may each be about our solar mass.”
“They’ve cleared that area. They wipe out these translucent discharges.”
“All that remains is a small disc of gas and dust that the planet could eventually form.”
Altozillaalso known as the 2001 UQ18, is located outside the solar system, 6 billion km (3.7 billion miles), or 44 times the distance between the Earth and the Sun.
This artist’s concept illustrates one of the possible scenarios for Kuiper Belt’s Altjira system. Image credits: NASA/ESA/Joseph Olmsted, Stsci.
“The Hubble images show two Kuiper Belt Objects (KBOs) about 7,600 km (4,700 miles) apart,” says Meianelsen, an astronomer at Brigham Young University and a colleague.
“However, Altjira’s repeated observations of the unique cooperative movement show that the inner object is indeed two bodies very close to each other.
“In small, far-flung objects, we need to discover that the separation between the two inner members of the system is part of the pixels of Hubble’s camera, using non-imaging methods.”
Astronomers gathered data from the Hubble and WM Keck Observatory for 17 years of observation baselines and looked at the trajectory of objects outside the Altjira system.
“Over time, the direction of the trajectory of the outer object changes, indicating that the inner object is either very elongated or in fact one of two separate objects,” says Dr. Dalin Lagoziczin of Brigham Young University.
“The triple system was perfect when putting Hubble data into different modeling scenarios,” Nelsen added.
“Other possibilities are that the inner object is a contact binary, so close that two separate bodies touch each other, or in fact, oddly flat as pancakes.”
Of the 40 identified binary objects in the Kuiper belt, of another system, Lempoit is known to be triple.
“Now, Altjira and Lempo are likely triples, so they are more likely to be looking for a population of three-body systems formed by the same situation, rather than a strange ball,” the astronomer said.
“But building that evidence requires time and repeated observation.”
The only Kuiper Belt objects explored in detail are PL Pun and the small object Arrocos that NASA’s New Horizons mission visited in 2015 and 2019, respectively.
New Horizons showed that Arrokoth is a contact binary. This means that in the case of KBO, two objects that have moved close to each other are currently touched or merged, often in the form of peanuts.
“Altozilla is the “cous” of Arokos, a member of the Kuiper Belt Objects of the same group,” Dr. Lagozin said.
“The Altjira is 10 times the Arocos, which is 200 km (124 miles) wide.”
“There is no mission that Altozilla plans to fly to get Arrocos level details, but there are other upcoming opportunities to further study the intriguing system,” Nelsen said.
“Altozilla is entering the season of the eclipse, where the outer body passes in front of the central body.”
“This will continue for the next 10 years and give scientists a great opportunity to learn more about it.”
Team’s paper It was published in Journal of Planetary Science.
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Maia A. Nelsen et al. 2025. Beyond the point square. IV. The Transneptinian object Altjira is a hierarchical triple, possibly discovered by non-kipler movements. planet. SCI. j 6, 53; doi:10.3847/psj/ad864d
A primitive amphibian called the Temnospondyls survived the aftermath of the end-of-permian mass extinction that occurred about 252 million years ago. University of Bristol.
Reconstruction of the Temnospondyl species Mastodon Saurus. Image credit: Mark P. Whiton, https://www.markwitton.co.uk.
The Permian mass extinction is the most severe biological crisis in the last 540 million years, eliminating more than 90% of marine species and 75% of terrestrial species.
Dr. Aamir Mehmoud, a researcher at the University of Bristol, said:
“These were predatory animals that ate fish and other prey, but were primarily water-related, just like modern amphibians such as frogs and salamanders.”
“We know that the weather was hot, especially after the extinction event. Why were these water-loving animals so successful?”
The early Triassic period was an era of repeated volcanic activity that led to global warming, motivation, reduced atmospheric oxygen, acid rain, and long stages of widespread wildfires, creating such hostile conditions that the tropics lacked animal life.
This “tropical dead zone” dramatically affected the distribution of both marine and terrestrial organisms.
Dr. Suresh Singh of the University of Bristol said:
“We measured the size and characteristics of the skull and teeth that tell us about their function.”
“To our surprise, we discovered that they weren’t much different due to the crisis,” said Dr. Armin Elssler of the University of Bristol.
“The Temnospondils exhibited the same range of body sizes as the Permian, some of them were small, insect-eating, and others were bigger.”
“These large forms included animals in long snoo trapping fish and generalist feeders covered in vast nudes.”
“However, what’s unusual is that their body size and functional diversity expanded about five million years after the crisis and then returned.”
There is evidence that due to severe global warming in the first 5 million years of the Triassic, life on land and on seas has left the tropical region to avoid fever.
“Our work shows that Temnospondil was able to cross the tropical dead zone unexpectedly,” said Professor Mike Benton of the University of Bristol.
“The fossils are known from South Africa and Australia in the south, North America, Europe, and Siberia in the north.”
“Temnospondyls must have been able to cross the tropical zones during the cool episode.”
“Their explosion of success in the early Triassic period was not tracked,” Dr. Amir said.
“They dealt with hot conditions, perhaps because they could eat most prey animals and perhaps because they had a low food need by hiding in sparse waters.”
“However, when dinosaurs and mammalian ancestors began to diversify in the mid-Triassic period, Temnospondil began to undergo a long decline.”
a paper The findings will be published in the journal Royal Society Open Science.
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Aamir Mehmoud et al. 2025. Permian – the ecology and geography of the recovery of Temnospondil after the mass extinction of the Triassic period. Royal Society Open Sciencein press; doi: 10.1098/rsos.241200
The failure of the SpaceX mission led to the FAA grounding air traffic around Miami, Fort Lauderdale, West Palm Beach, and Orlando, citing concerns about “space-fired debris.”
“After years of traveling, this is a first,” expressed a Facebook user who goes by the name of Rappeck. Executive Peck was flying to South America but had to divert to Miami.
The flight pilot informed passengers that a space rocket had exploded during flight, causing debris to fall along their path. They reassured the passengers that they were safe but needed to circle back to Miami.
Peck shared, “We eventually had to return to Miami. It’s unbelievable. We’ve faced delays due to weather, mechanical issues, and even unruly passengers, but never because of a rocket explosion.”
Jesse Winans, a traveler en route from Costa Rica to Charlotte, found himself in an unexpected layover in Fort Lauderdale along with other passengers.
“They are trying to manage the situation with customers, but I anticipate a long process to reach our destination,” complained the frustrated traveler to NBC South Florida.
Debris from a SpaceX rocket above the Bahamas on Thursday. John Ward
The company stated Thursday night in a released statement, “We will analyze data from today’s flight tests to better understand the root causes. Success stems from our learnings, and today’s flights provide more insight to enhance Starship’s reliability.”
Elon Musk summed it up more succinctly with his statement: “Rocket science is hard.”
David K. Lee
Senior Breaking News Reporter
Brian Hamacher of NBC South Florida and Sarah Mahidri contributed.
Biologist of University of Exeter We conducted the first large-scale study on Asian Hornet diets (Vespa Velutina), exploiting deep sequences to characterize the intestinal content of larvae in Jersey, France, Spain and the UK. European honeybees were the most common species found in the Hornets, but their diet is much broader. The analysis detected 1,449 invertebrate species, increasing the prey abundance of samples from south latitude.
Asian Hornet (Vespa Velutina). Image credit: Gilles San Martin/CC BY-SA 2.0.
The invasive species of Asian hornets are now found in much of Western Europe.
The nests are destroyed every year in mainland Britain as authorities try to lock out the seeds.
“The University of Exeter has been working hard to understand,” said Dr. Sifreya Pedersen, a researcher at the University of Exeter.
“Diets vary strongly across seasons and regions, indicating that they are highly flexible predators.”
“Most insect populations are reduced due to factors such as habitat destruction and chemical contamination.”
“The expanded areas where the Hornets live in Asia pose an extra threat.”
In this study, Dr. Pedersen and colleagues used a method called deep sequencing to identify the visceral prey species of over 1,500 Asian hornet larvae eating foods offered by adult hornets.
Of the top 50 invertebrate prey species identified, 43 are known to visit flowers. Among these were pollinators of three major European crops.
“Insects play an important role in enabling ecosystems to function, including pollination, decomposition and pest control,” Dr. Pedersen said.
“Our research provides important additional evidence of the threat posed as the Asian Hornets spread across Europe,” said Dr. Peter Kennedy of the University of Exeter.
The researchers identified 1,449 operational taxonomic units in the internal organs of hornet larvae.
More than half could be identified as a specific species, but the rest could not. Therefore, the exact number of species contained in the sample is not certain.
“We have provided the most comprehensive view of the European Asian Hornet diet to date, highlighting the highly broad and flexible potential prey,” the scientist said.
“The dietary composition shows that it differs across geographical regions and throughout the Hornets' active season, indicating high adaptability to new ecosystems. It drives both the invasive success of Asian hornets and the risks they pose to a wide range of native invertebrate fauna.”
“The growing prevalence of dietary bees in Europe has agreed to previous research and reports from beekeepers, supporting concerns about the risks of aquaculture.”
“Our results found that Asian hornets exhibit high predation frequencies on wild pollinators and recyclers, revealing further potential ecosystem-level pressures, implying a threat to the diversity of pollinators and recyclers and the resulting ecosystem services.”
study Published in the journal The science of the total environment.
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Siffreya Pedersen et al. The broad ecological threat of invasive hornets has been revealed through a deep sequencing approach. The science of the total environmentPublished online on March 4th, 2025. doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2025.178978
Astronomers may have ultimately solved the problem of what is causing the highly energy x-rays of WD 2226-210, a white dwarf star located in the heart of the Helix Nebula.
The impression of this artist shows an ex faction (left) that has come too close to the white dwarf (right) and torn apart by the power of the tide from the stars. Image credits: NASA/CXC/SAO/M. Weiss.
Helix Nebula It is a so-called planetary nebulae, a late stage of the star that discharges the outer layer of gas and leaves behind what is known as the white dwarf.
In the past decades, the Einstein X-ray Observatory and the Rosatt Telescope have detected highly energy x-rays from the white d star of the Helix Nebula, WD 2226-210.
White dwarfs like the WD 2226-210, just 650 light years away, usually do not emit powerful X-rays.
“They're the best,” said Dr. Sandino Estrada Dorado, an astronomer at the National Autonomous University of Mexico.
“We may finally have found the cause of a mystery that lasted over 40 years.”
Previously, astronomers determined that Neptune-sized planets were in very close orbits around WD 2226-210.
Dr. Estrada Dorado and colleagues conclude that there may have been a planet like Jupiter, even closer to the star.
The besieged planet may have initially managed to hold a considerable distance from the white dwarf, but moved inwards by interacting with the gravity of other planets in the system.
Once it got close enough to the white dwarf, the gravity of the star would have partially or completely tore the planet.
“The mystical signals we've seen can be caused by fragments from the crushed planet falling onto the surface of a white dwarf and being heated to shine with x-rays,” said Dr. Martin Guerrero, an astronomer at the Andalusian Institute of Astronomy.
“If confirmed, this will be the first case of a planet that is considered to be destroyed by the central star of the planet.”
WD 2226-210 is located at the heart of the Helix Nebula. Image credit: NASA/CXC/SAO/UNIV MEXICO/ESTRADA-DORADO et al. /JPL/ESA/STSCI/M. MEIXNER/NRAO/TA RECTOR/ESO/Vista/J. Emerson/K. Arcand.
This study shows that X-ray signals from the white d star remained roughly constant in brightness between 1992, 1999 and 2002.
However, this data suggests that there are subtle and regular changes in the x-ray signal every 2.9 hours, which may provide evidence of planetary ruins very close to the white d star.
The author also considered whether a low-mass star could have been destroyed rather than a planet.
Such stars are roughly the same size as planets like Jupiter, but are much less likely to have been torn apart by larger, white dwarfs.
WD 2226-210 has some similarities between the two other white d stars that are not within the planet's nebula and the X-ray behavior.
It may separate the material from the planet's ally, but it will separate the material in a more sedative way without the planet being destroyed immediately.
Other white dwarfs may have dragged material onto their surfaces from traces of the planet.
These three white d stars can form variables or objects of change in the new class.
“They're the best,” said Dr. Jess Tora, an astronomer at the National Autonomous University of Mexico.
Soyuz MS Rocket from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan
Rhiannon Adam
This ghostly image of Soyuz Ms Rocket in Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan, was taken the night before it took off to the International Space Station in December 2021, and has a particularly moving resonance for the photographer. Rhiannon Adam.
About a month ago, she was said to be one of the eight-person crew members of the Dearmoon Project. It was set to become the first civilian mission to the moon, and was scheduled to be released in 2023 using a rocket developed by SpaceX, but was later cancelled.
Adam was part of a large crowd that was taken that night to see the Soyuz rocket. When the others began to leave, she strolled around to get a shot of her before being escorted by security. “Before I fired the shutter, I didn’t have a cable release so I held my breath and closed my eyes,” she says. “It was a creepy alien green light, and the flood lights mixed with the fog, so I thought it was a sight I might never see again.”
Adam had to take two frames and cross the fingers that came from the photo before being guided to the waiting bus. “Fortunately, I did. This image is a bit bittersweet for what’s symbolic to me now, but when I can separate it from my life, I still think it’s a beautiful monument to human achievement,” she says.
she, 2025 Sony World Photography AwardsCreate a cut in the “Creative” category of the Photo Series on Mission Cancellation. The overall winner of Photographer of the Year will be named on April 16th.
Blackbird numbers have decreased in the UK as the USUTU virus has taken hold
ytje veenstra/shutterstock
The deadly virus is killing Blackbirds all over the UK. Beyond the risks for birds, its spread indicates that mosquito-borne viruses are currently pose a threat to humans and animals in the country as a result of climate change.
The virus in question, USUTU, occurred in South Africa in 1959, but is now spreading in Europe. It caused fatal diseases in certain birds, especially black swans, and was first detected in the UK in 2020. In some parts of the country, the Blackbird population, the most notable London, has fallen by more than 40% since 2018. “I first noticed a decline when USUTU popped up,” he says. Hugh Hammer With British trust for ornithology.
Though catastrophic to bird life, USUTU poses low risks to humans and mammals. Human infectious diseases are rare and generally cause mild fever, but the arrival of the virus in the UK marked the first time by mosquito-borne viral zoonotic diseases (a disease that can be transmitted from animals to humans) that have appeared in domestic animal hosts. Virus experts are closely monitoring how well and fast the disease is spreading, as it could be a template for the future spread of other mosquito-borne diseases.
For example, the West Nile virus spreads just like USUTU and requires the same environmental conditions. “The same mosquitoes that can send USUTUs can usually send West Nile. [for Usutu] It can also serve as a host for West Nile.” Alanfolly at the British Animal and Plant Health Organization (APHA).
Humans can also contract the West Nile virus when bitten by mosquitoes, but the symptoms can be more severe than those of USUTU. Approximately 20% of infected people experience symptoms including fever, headache, body pain, vomiting and diarrhea. In rare cases, this virus can cause serious inflammation of the brain and spinal cord, which is fatal. There are no known human vaccines.
Climate change has helped accelerate the spreading of the West Nile virus through Northern and Eastern Europe. Research Showas the virus thrives in warm summer temperatures. In the Netherlands, USUTU was first detected in 2016, and the West Nile virus continued in 2020.British officials fear a similar pattern will unfold in their country. Demonstrating research The climate there is becoming more and more kind to mosquito-borne viruses. “The idea is if there's usutu here, West Nile is likely to come at some point and last, given the right conditions,” Folly says.
In response to the threat, APHA launched a project in 2023 to track the emergence and transmission routes of USUTU and other mosquito-borne viruses in wild birds. Infrastructure to track this virus It is essential for the country to respond quickly to West Nile's arrival, Foley says. “Our real goal, or willingness from a government perspective, is to be able to detect these. [new viruses] We circulate animal populations before they can be transmitted to humans. ”
Reina Sikkema The University of Erasmus Medical Center in Rotterdam is studying the emergence of the Netherlands Ustus and the West Nile virus. The West Nile has not been detected since 2022,He believes the virus is circulating at low levels and is now being controlled by a relatively cool climate. “I believe it exists, but it takes the right situation to burn,” she says. Sikkema said detection of the West Nile in the UK is now inevitable, but he believes similar climatic factors can prevent the virus from spreading too widely.
However, the temperature rise in summer including Increased frequency of tropical nights – The UK's Met Office Weather Agency defines Sikkema that if the minimum temperature is not below 20°C, it could change photos of the UK, the Netherlands and other Northern European countries. “Mosquito-borne is not [just] On your Spanish holiday, or when you go to South America,” says Folly.
Like the potential risk of the West Nile virus to people, Folly says we shouldDon't forget what USUTU is doing to Blackbirds in the UK: “If 40% of humans die in Greater London, you'll know about it very quickly.”
Amazing lyrebird (Menura novaehollandiae), a species closely attached to the ground of a wet, moist eucalyptus forest in southeastern Australia, engineer microhabitat fattens its prey, worms, centipedes, spiders and more with its host before returning to the East Feast later.
“Superrier birds are large ground-dwelling passers-inhabiting the wet forests of eastern Australia, and are renowned for their imitation and incredible courtship displays,” said a researcher at Latovo University. Alex Maizie And a colleague.
“During nutrition, aging populations replace vast amounts of garbage and soil during foraging.”
“The reelbird spits out the litter from its leaves and digs into the soil, creating a fine mosaic of exposed soil and foraging herds within the leaf matrix.”
“Depending on the long-term lyrebird activity, reduced soil compaction and increased litter and soil aeration and infiltration can benefit macroinvertebrates.”
“This presents a mechanism that allows lyrebirds engineering activities to create a feedback loop and essentially “farm” prey. ”
Maisey et al. We looked into whether this engineering activity by the amazing lyrebirds is (Menura novaehollandiae) It helps to promote the “agricultural” effect on prey by increasing biomass and taxonomic abundance of biomass and invertebrate animals and altering the composition of invertebrate communities. Image credits: Alex Maisy, University of Wollongong.
This study was conducted in three forest areas in the Central Highlands of Victoria, Australia. (i) Sherbrooke Forest, part of the Dandenong Mountains National Park. (ii) Yarrarrange National Park. (iii) Britannia Creek catchment in Yarra State Forest.
Researchers surrounded an aging environment from small areas in the forest, creating an environment that does not age.
In some of these areas, the authors raked up leaf trash and soil to simulate highlands.
When racking was performed, there were more types and larger invertebrates than the areas without foraging of simulated lyrebird.
“This type of animal agriculture was essentially rare,” Dr. Maisie said.
“Grey establishes a home that is best for prey, creates conditions with more food resources and effectively fattens them before they are eaten.”
“Through foraging, these birds had a major impact on the plants and animals that lived in forests southeastern Australia.”
“In this project, Reelbirds were measured to move an average of 155 tonnes of garbage and soil per hectare per year while farming invertebrates.”
“They also reduce the strength of wildfires by filling up leaves and branches that burn fuel fires, thereby shaping the entire ecosystem.”
“Rielbirds operate across millions of hectares of forests. Their agricultural behavior plays an important role in maintaining forest biodiversity.”
study It was released this week Journal of Animal Ecology.
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Alex C. Myge et al. Foraging activities by the stunning lyrebird, an ecosystem engineer, “farm” its invertebrate prey. Journal of Animal EcologyPublished online on March 4th, 2025. doi:10.1111/1365-2656.70009
Paleontologists have documented a collection of bone tools from one horizon, 1.5 million years ago, in Tanzania’s All-Bai Valley. These bone tools preceded more than a million years ago other evidence of systematic bone tool production, shedding new light on the almost unknown world of early human bone technology.
The elephant’s humerus, which was 1.5 million years ago, has soaked into the tool. Image credit: CSIC.
Early humans had already made stone tools with some capacity for at least a million years, but there was little evidence of widespread adoption from bones about 500,000 years ago.
Humanity, who shaped the newly discovered bone tools, did it in the same way they created stone tools by shaving small flakes and creating sharp edges.
The transfer of this technology from one medium to another shows that the human race who made bone tools had a high understanding of tool creation, and that they can adapt their technology to different materials, important intellectual leaps.
It could be that human ancestors at the time had higher levels of cognitive skills and brain development than scientists thought.
“The discovery envisages that early humans will greatly expand their technical options, previously limited to stone tools production, and now allow new raw materials to be incorporated into a repertoire of potential artifacts.”
“At the same time, this expansion of technological potential demonstrates the advances in the cognitive and mental structures of these humans, who knew how to incorporate innovation by adapting knowledge of stone work to manipulation of bones.”
“The tool provides evidence that their creators work carefully on the bones, shatter the flakes and create useful shapes,” says Dr. Renata Peters, a researcher at the University of London.
“We were excited to find these bone tools from these early time frames.”
“It means that human ancestors were able to transfer skills from stones to bones, a level of complex cognition that we have not seen elsewhere in a million years.”
The 1.5 million-year-old bone tool was discovered at the T69 complex site in Friedalie Ki Collongo West Gully in the All-By Valley in northern Tanzania.
The research authors discovered a collection of 27 bones shaped into the site’s tools. The bones mostly came from large mammals, mostly elephants and hippopotamus.
The tool is made only from the bones of the animal’s limbs. These are because they are the most dense and strong.
Very early stone tools have come from the All Old One era, which grew from about 2.7 million to 1.5 million years ago. It employs a simple method of making stone tools by shaving one or several flakes from the stone core using hammer stones.
The bone tool reported in the current study was a time when ancient human ancestors began in the Akeirian era, when they began around 1.7 million years ago.
Acheulean technology is best characterized by using more complex hand axes carefully shaped by napping.
Bone tools show that these more advanced techniques have been carried over and adopted for use in bone.
Prior to this discovery, bones shaped into tools were only sporadically identified in rare and isolated cases of the fossil record, not a way to imply that human ancestors systematically produced them.
Due to the overall shape, size and sharp edges, exactly what the tool was used is unknown, but it may have been used to deal with animal corpses in food.
It is also unknown that human ancestor species created the tool.
Alongside the collection of bone artifacts, no relics of humanity were found, but they are known at the time, Homo Erectus and Paranthropus Boisei He was a resident of this area.
“These tools were such an unexpected discovery, so we hope that our findings will encourage archaeologists to reconsider bone discoveries around the world in case other evidence of bone tools is missed,” the researchers said.
Their paper Today I’ll be appearing in the journal Nature.
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I. de la Torr et al. Systematic bone tool production 1.5 million years ago. NaturePublished online on March 5th, 2025. doi:10.1038/s41586-025-08652-5
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