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Categories: Anthropology: General, Biology: Botany
Published Discovering how plants make life-and-death decisions
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Researchers have discovered two proteins that work in tandem to control an important response to cell stress.
Published Plants offer fruit to insects to disperse dust-like seeds
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Fruit exist to invite animals to disperse the swallowed seeds. A research team found that plants targeting insects rather than birds or mammals for this service are more common than previously thought. These plants produce dust-like seeds and fruit suitable for the minute, ground-dwelling animals.
Published Carvings at ancient monument may be world's oldest calendars
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Markings on a stone pillar at a 12,000 year-old archaeological site in Turkey likely represent the world's oldest solar calendar, created as a memorial to a devastating comet strike, experts suggest.
Published Smallest arm bone in human fossil record sheds light on the dawn of Homo floresiensis
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source A new study reports the discovery of extremely rare early human fossils from the Indonesian island of Flores, including an astonishingly small adult limb bone. Dated to about 700,000 years old, the new findings shed light on the evolution of Homo floresiensis, the so-called 'Hobbits' of Flores whose remains were uncovered in 2003 at Liang Bua cave in the island's west.
Published Study analyzes potato-pathogen 'arms race' after Irish famine
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Researchers reveal more about the tit-for-tat evolutionary changes occurring in both potato plants and the pathogen that caused the 1840s Irish potato famine.
Published Combined effects of plastic pollution and seawater flooding amplify threats to coastal plant species
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source A new study highlights how a combination of environmental stressors -- namely plastic pollution and seawater flooding -- can increase the threats faced by plants in some of the planet's critical ecosystems. It showed that both stressors had some effects on the species tested, but being exposed to both microplastics and flooding together -- a threat likely to increase as a result of climate change and plastic use -- had a more pronounced impact on their resource allocation.
Published Half a billion-year-old spiny slug reveals the origins of mollusks
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Exceptional fossils with preserved soft parts reveal that the earliest mollusks were flat, armored slugs without shells. The new species, Shishania aculeata, was covered with hollow, organic, cone-shaped spines. The fossils preserve exceptionally rare detailed features which reveal that these spines were produced using a sophisticated secretion system that is shared with annelids (earthworms and relatives).
Published Demographics of north African human populations unravelled using genomic data and artificial intelligence
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source A new study places the origin of the Imazighen in the Epipaleolithic, more than twenty thousand years ago. The research concludes that the genetic origin of the current Arab population of north Africa is far more recent than previously believed, placing it in the seventh century AD. The team has designed an innovative demographic model that uses artificial intelligence to analyze the complete genomes of the two populations.
Published Modern behavior explains prehistoric economies
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source What if the 'Market Economy' always existed? Archaeologists tried to answer this question by researching how much Bronze Age people used to spend to sustain their daily lives. Their results show that, starting at least 3,500 years ago, the spending habits of prehistoric Europeans were not substantially different from what they are today.
Published Warming stops tiny organisms working together
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Hotter conditions prevent two tiny organisms working together for mutual benefit, new research shows.
Published Scientists discover entirely new wood type that could be highly efficient at carbon storage
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Researchers undertaking an evolutionary survey of the microscopic structure of wood from some of the world's most iconic trees and shrubs have discovered an entirely new type of wood.
Published From genes to jeans: New genetic insights may lead to drought resilient cotton
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Cotton is woven into the very fabric of our lives, from soft T-shirts to comfortable jeans and cozy bedsheets. It's the world's leading renewable textile fiber and the backbone of a global industry worth billions. As climate change intensifies, cotton farmers face increasing challenges from drought and heat. However, new research offers hope for developing more resilient varieties that can maintain high yields even under water-stressed conditions.
Published Scientists untangle interactions between the Earth's early life forms and the environment over 500 million years
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source The atmosphere, the ocean and life on Earth interacted over the past 500-plus million years in ways that improved conditions for early organisms to thrive. Now, an interdisciplinary team of scientists has produced a perspective article of this co-evolutionary history.
Published Climate is most important factor in where mammals choose to live, study finds
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Using data from 6,645 camera traps across the United States, researchers mapped populations of 25 mammal species. They determined that climate, not human activity, was the primary factor in mammals deciding where to live.
Published The ancestor of all modern birds probably had iridescent feathers
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Birds tend to be more colorful in the tropics, and scientists wanted to find out how they got there: if colorful feathers evolved in the tropics, or if tropical birds have brightly-colored ancestors that came to the region from somwhere else. Scientists built a database of 9,409 birds to explore the spread of color across the globe. They found that iridescent, colorful feathers originated 415 times across the bird tree of life, and in most cases, arose outside of the tropics -- and that the ancestor of all modern birds likely had iridescent feathers, too.
Published Mixed approach to reforestation better than planting or regeneration alone
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Reforestation in low- and middle-income countries can remove up to 10 times more carbon dioxide from the atmosphere at lower cost than previously estimated, making it a potentially more effective option to fight climate change. Most current reforestation programs focus on tree planting alone, but the study estimates that nearly half of all suitable reforestation locations would be more effective at sequestering carbon if forests were allowed to grow back naturally.
Published How well does tree planting work in climate change fight? It depends
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Using trees as a cost-effective tool against climate change is more complicated than simply planting large numbers of them, an international collaboration has shown.
Published Trees reveal climate surprise -- bark removes methane from the atmosphere
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Tree bark surfaces play an important role in removing methane gas from the atmosphere.
Published Biosensor reveals gibberellin's critical role in legume nitrogen-fixation -- paving the way for self-fertilizing cereals
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Researchers demonstrate that the plant hormone gibberellin (GA) is essential for the formation and maturation of nitrogen-fixing root nodules in legumes and can also increase nodule size.
Published Heat-sensitive trees move uphill seeking climate change respite
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Trees in the Brazilian Atlantic Forest are migrating in search of more favourable temperatures with species in mountain forests moving uphill to escape rising heat caused by climate change.