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Categories: Biology: Genetics, Geoscience: Earth Science
Published Past climate change to blame for Antarctica's giant underwater landslides
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Scientists found weak, biologically-rich layers of sediments hundreds of meters beneath the seafloor which crumbled as oceans warmed and ice sheets declined. The landslides were discovered in the eastern Ross Sea in 2017, by an international team of scientists during the Italian ODYSSEA expedition, and scientists revisited the area in 2018 as part of the International Ocean Discovery Program (IODP) Expedition 374 where they collected sediment cores to understand what caused them.
Published Watch these cells rapidly create protrusions for exploration and movement
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source In order to move, cells must be able to rapidly change shape. A team of researchers show that cells achieve this by storing extra 'skin' in folds and bumps on their surface. This cell surface excess can be rapidly deployed to cover temporary protrusions and then folded away for next time.
Published Climate change to push species over abrupt tipping points
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Climate change is likely to abruptly push species over tipping points as their geographic ranges reach unforeseen temperatures, finds a new study.
Published Scales or feathers? It all comes down to a few genes
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Scales, spines, feathers and hair are examples of vertebrate skin appendages, which constitute a remarkably diverse group of micro-organs. Despite their natural multitude of forms, these appendages share early developmental processes at the embryonic stage. Researchers have discovered how to permanently transform the scales that normally cover the feet of chickens into feathers, by specifically modifying the expression of certain genes.
Published A better way to study ocean currents
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Computer scientists and oceanographers developed a machine-learning model that generates more accurate predictions about the velocities of ocean currents. The model could help make more precise weather forecasts or effectively predict how oil will spread after a spill.
Published What did the earliest animals look like?
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Surprisingly, genome comparisons have failed to resolve a major question in animal evolution: Which living animals are the descendants of the earliest animals to evolve in the world's oceans? Scientists performed a detailed chromosomal analysis that comes down definitively in favor of comb jellies, or ctenophores, as the most recent common ancestor of all animals, or the sister taxa to all animals. Sponges evolved later.
Published A channel involved in pain sensation can also suppress it
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Pain is good. It's the body's way to keep an animal from harming itself or repeating a dangerous mistake. But sometimes the debilitating sensation can get in the way. So evolution has devised ways to tamp that response down under certain circumstances.
Published Researchers reveal DNA repair mechanism
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source A new study adds to an emerging, radically new picture of how bacterial cells continually repair faulty sections of their DNA.
Published Physicists take the temperature of fluid flows and discover new role for turbulence
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source A team of physicists has discovered a new role for a specific type of turbulence -- a finding that sheds light on fluid flows ranging from the Earth's liquid core to boiling water.
Published African smoke over the Amazon
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Up to two-thirds of the soot above the central Amazon rainforest originates in Africa. Researchers differentiate soot particles using their relative properties and attribute them to their respective points of origin. They found that bush fires and burning savannah in the north and south of Africa make a substantial contribution to air pollution in the central Amazon all year round, thereby playing an important role in the earth radiation budget and water cycle. This is caused by the efficient transatlantic transport of particles through the atmosphere.
Published About 13,000 years ago, the water outflow from the Mediterranean to the Atlantic Ocean was twice that of today’s
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source About 13,000 years ago, a climate crisis caused a global drop in temperatures in the northern hemisphere. This episode of intense cold, known as the Younger Dryas, also caused severe aridity across the Mediterranean basin, which had a major impact on terrestrial and marine ecosystems. But what do we know about the impact of this climate change on water circulation in the Mediterranean?
Published 'Warm Ice Age' changed climate cycles
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Approximately 700,000 years ago, a 'warm ice age' permanently changed the climate cycles on Earth. During this exceptionally warm and moist period, the polar glaciers greatly expanded. A research team identified this seemingly paradoxical connection. The shift in the Earth's climate represents a critical step in our planet's later climate development.
Published How superbug A. baumannii survives metal stress and resists antibiotics
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source The deadly hospital pathogen Acinetobacter baumannii can live for a year on a hospital wall without food and water. Then, when it infects a vulnerable patient, it resists antibiotics as well as the body's built-in infection-fighting response. The World Health Organization (WHO) recognizes it as one of the three top pathogens in critical need of new antibiotic therapies. Now, an international team, led by Macquarie University researchers Dr. Ram Maharjan and Associate Professor Amy Cain, have discovered how the superbug can survive harsh environments and then rebound, causing deadly infections. They have found a single protein that acts as a master regulator. When the protein is damaged, the bug loses its superpowers allowing it to be controlled, in a lab setting. The research is published this month in Nucleic Acids Research.
Published Out of this world control on Ice Age cycles
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source A research team, composed of climatologists and an astronomer, have used an improved computer model to reproduce the cycle of ice ages (glacial periods) 1.6 to 1.2 million years ago. The results show that the glacial cycle was driven primarily by astronomical forces in quite a different way than it works in the modern age. These results will help us to better understand the past, present, and future of ice sheets and the Earth's climate.
Published Phage structure captured, to benefit biotech applications
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Researchers have mapped out what a commonly-used form of phage looks like, which will help design better uses in future.
Published Researcher uses mammal DNA to zoom into the human genome with unprecedented resolution
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Scientists have precisely identified base pairs of the human genome that remained consistent over millions of years of mammalian evolution, and which play a crucial role in human disease. The team analyzed the genomes of 240 mammals, including humans and identified base pairs that were 'constrained' -- meaning they remained generally consistent -- across mammal species over the course of evolution. The most constrained base pairs in mammals were over seven times more likely to be causal for human disease and complex trait, and over 11 times more likely when researchers looked at the most constrained base pairs in primates alone.
Published A look inside stem cells helps create personalized regenerative medicine
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Researchers have examined a specific type of stem cell with an intracellular toolkit to determine which cells are most likely to create effective cell therapies.
Published Ancestral mitoviruses discovered in mycorrhizal fungi
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source A new group of mitochondrial viruses confined to the arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi Glomeromycotina may represent an ancestral lineage of mitoviruses.
Published Great Basin: History of water supply in one of the driest regions in the USA
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source An international team has reconstructed the evolution of groundwater in the Great Basin, USA -- one of the driest regions on Earth -- up to 350,000 years into the past with unprecedented accuracy. The results shed new light on the effects of climate change on water supply and provide important insights for the sustainable use of groundwater resources.
Published New research could help breed for less 'spooky' horses
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Researchers are working to identify genes that influence horses' tendency to react to perceived danger.