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ScienceDaily: Top Environment News |
| Birds’ dazzling iridescence tied to nanoscale tweak of feather structure Posted: 21 Dec 2021 10:35 AM PST Researchers found that the iridescent shimmer that makes birds such as peacocks and hummingbirds so striking is rooted in an evolutionary tweak in feather nanostructure that has more than doubled the range of iridescent colors birds can display. This insight could help researchers understand how and when iridescence first evolved in birds, as well as inspire the development of new materials that can capture or manipulate light. |
| Exquisitely preserved embryo found inside fossilized dinosaur egg Posted: 21 Dec 2021 10:35 AM PST A 72 to 66-million-year-old embryo found inside a fossilized dinosaur egg sheds new light on the link between the behavior of modern birds and dinosaurs, according to a new study. |
| Crows keep special tools extra safe Posted: 21 Dec 2021 07:27 AM PST Just like humans, New Caledonian crows are particularly careful when handling their most valuable tools, according to a new study. The research reveals that crows are more likely to store relatively complex and efficient foraging tools for future use than more basic tools. |
| Plants as cold specialists from the ice age Posted: 21 Dec 2021 07:27 AM PST Plants of the spoonweed group time-and-again quickly adapted to a changing climate during the Ice Ages of the last two million years. Evolutionary biologists and botanists used genomic analyses to study what factors favor adaptation to extreme climatic conditions. The evolutionary history of the Brassicaceae family provides insights into how plants may be able to cope with climate change in the future. |
| Extinct reptile discovery reveals earliest origins of human teeth, study finds Posted: 21 Dec 2021 07:27 AM PST A new extinct reptile species has shed light on how our earliest ancestors became top predators by modifying their teeth in response to environmental instability around 300 million years ago. |
| An ancient relative of Velociraptor is unearthed in Great Britain Posted: 21 Dec 2021 07:27 AM PST A new bird-like dinosaur that used brute strength to overcome its prey has been found by palaeontologists combing through fossils found on the Isle of Wight, on the South Coast of Great Britain. |
| Looking at factors that accelerate mass extinction in the fossil record as climate changes Posted: 21 Dec 2021 07:27 AM PST The Late Devonian mass extinction (roughly 372 million years ago) was one of five mass extinctions in Earth's history, with roughly 75% of all species disappearing over its course. It happened in two 'pulses,' spaced about 800,000 years apart, with most of the extinctions happening in the second pulse. However, for one group of animals living in eastern North America, the first pulse dealt the deadlier blow. |
| Millipedes ‘as big as cars’ once roamed Northern England, fossil find reveals Posted: 20 Dec 2021 04:07 PM PST The largest-ever fossil of a giant millipede -- as big as a car -- has been found on a beach in the north of England. |
| Desert shrubs cranked up water use efficiency to survive a megadrought Posted: 20 Dec 2021 04:07 PM PST Shrubs in the desert Southwest have increased their water use efficiency at some of the highest rates ever observed to cope with a decades-long megadrought. Researchers found that although the shrubs' efficiency increases are unprecedented and heroic, they may not be enough to adapt to the long-term drying trend in the West. |
| Could acid-neutralizing life-forms make habitable pockets in Venus' clouds? Posted: 20 Dec 2021 04:06 PM PST A new study supports the longstanding idea that if life exists, it might make a home in Venus' clouds. The study's authors identified a chemical pathway by which life could neutralize Venus' acidic environment, creating a self-sustaining, habitable pocket in the clouds. |
| Understanding human-elephant conflict and vulnerability in the face of climate change Posted: 20 Dec 2021 09:07 AM PST Researchers spent years investigating the dynamics between wildlife, people and the environment across the Kavango Zambezi Transfrontier Conservation Area, the world's largest terrestrial transboundary conservation area, extending across five African countries. |
| Developmental origins of tooth classes in vertebrates: A new simple mechanism identified Posted: 20 Dec 2021 09:07 AM PST By taking a closer look at lizards, researchers found the first animal example of apparent changes in tooth type in specific regions of the jaw. The results are relevant to multiple research areas all the way from palaeontology to regenerative medicine. |
| Scientists discover White-handed gibbons that have been evolving in the south of Malaysia Posted: 20 Dec 2021 09:07 AM PST Genetic assessment of captive gibbons to identify their species and subspecies is an important step before any conservation actions. A group of wildlife researchers recently discovered a previously unknown population of white-handed gibbons (subspecies lar) from Peninsular Malaysia. |
| Consciousness in humans, animals and artificial intelligence Posted: 20 Dec 2021 09:07 AM PST A new theory of consciousness provides experimental access to the study of this phenomenon. Not just in humans. |
| Years later, restored wetlands remain a shadow of former selves Posted: 20 Dec 2021 09:07 AM PST A study of restored wetlands on the Danish island of Funen reveals that plant species richness remains extremely poor many years after wetlands restoration. It is widely assumed that restored wetlands will increase local biodiversity and come to resemble natural wetlands over time. However, more must be done to catalyze recovery according to researchers behind the study. |
| Solar power: 'Wonder material' phosphorene nanoribbons live up to hype in first demonstration Posted: 20 Dec 2021 09:07 AM PST Researchers have incorporated phosphorene nanoribbons into new types of solar cells, dramatically improving their efficiency. |
| Space and time: How to better understand biological processes in plants Posted: 20 Dec 2021 09:06 AM PST If the perspective of space and time is not properly applied to plant research, the understanding of biological processes is limited as well as the response to the threats that endanger the life of plants worldwide. |
| Scientists create mind-blowing tool to 'see' millions of brain cell connections in mice Posted: 20 Dec 2021 09:06 AM PST To solve the mysteries of how learning and memory occur, scientists have created a system to track millions of connections among brain cells in mice -- all at the same time -- when the animals' whiskers are tweaked, an indicator for learning. |
| Shark antibody-like proteins neutralize COVID-19 virus, help prepare for future coronaviruses Posted: 17 Dec 2021 07:29 AM PST Small, unique antibody-like proteins known as VNARs -- derived from the immune systems of sharks -- can prevent the virus that causes COVID-19, its variants, and related coronaviruses from infecting human cells, according to a new study. |
| Posted: 16 Dec 2021 12:01 PM PST A study has found an association between air pollution and higher levels of deposition of beta-amyloid protein in the brain and of neurofilament light (NfL) in cerebrospinal fluid. |
| NIH scientists urge pursuit of universal coronavirus vaccine Posted: 16 Dec 2021 12:00 PM PST To counter future coronavirus outbreaks, the global scientific and medical research community should focus a major effort now on three goals: characterize the range of coronavirus genetic diversity in multiple animal species; better understand coronavirus disease pathogenesis in laboratory animal models and people; and apply this knowledge to the development of long-lasting, broadly protective coronavirus vaccines, experts argue in a new commentary. |
| Exploring genetics of SARS-CoV-2 and related viruses in animals around the world Posted: 16 Dec 2021 11:59 AM PST A genetic and geographic analysis of variants of SARS-CoV-2 -- the virus that causes COVID-19 -- and related viruses in humans and animals may provide evidence of interspecies transmission worldwide. |
| Humans reached remote North Atlantic islands centuries earlier than thought Posted: 16 Dec 2021 11:59 AM PST New evidence from the bottom of a lake in the remote North Atlantic Faroe Islands indicates that an unknown band of humans settled there around 500 AD -- some 350 years before the Vikings, who up until recently have been thought to have been the first human inhabitants. The settlers may have been Celts who crossed rough, unexplored seas from what are now Scotland or Ireland. |
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