Life Sciences

Monster salamander with powerful jaws unearthed in Tennessee fossil find
  1. Life Sciences

Monster salamander with powerful jaws unearthed in Tennessee fossil find

A giant, strong-jawed salamander once tunneled through ancient Tennessee soil. And thanks to a fossil unearthed near East Tennessee State University, scientists now better understand how it helped shape Appalachian amphibian diversity. The giant plethodontid salamander now joins the remarkable roster of fossils from the Gray Fossil Site & Museum. The findings appeared in the […]
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Defying Darwin: Scientists discover worms rewrote their DNA to survive on land
  1. Life Sciences

Defying Darwin: Scientists discover worms rewrote their DNA to survive on land

In 1859, Darwin imagined evolution as a slow, gradual progress, with species accumulating small changes over time. But even he was surprised to find the fossil record offered no missing links: the intermediate forms which should have told this story step by step were simply not there. His explanation was as uncomfortable as it was […]
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Cluck once, and the river shakes: Inside the Amazon’s giant snake saga
  1. Life Sciences

Cluck once, and the river shakes: Inside the Amazon’s giant snake saga

As a child, I was fascinated by reports and documentaries about field research and often wondered what it took to be there and what kind of knowledge was being produced. Later, as an ecologist, I felt the need for approaches that better connected scientific research with real-world contexts. I became especially interested in perspectives that […]
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Rainbow reefs revealed: The secret 112-million-year saga of glowing fish
  1. Life Sciences

Rainbow reefs revealed: The secret 112-million-year saga of glowing fish

New research led by scientists at the American Museum of Natural History sheds light on the ancient origins of biofluorescence in fishes and the range of brilliant colors involved in this biological phenomenon. Detailed in two complementary studies recently published in Nature Communications and PLOS One, the findings suggest that biofluorescence dates back at least […]
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Scientists find immune molecule that supercharges plant growth
  1. Life Sciences

Scientists find immune molecule that supercharges plant growth

Within the animal kingdom, a naturally produced molecule known as itaconate serves a prominent role in the immune system as a defensive agent against viruses and inflammation. Itaconate is classified as a metabolite, a natural compound that arises when organisms convert food into energy. While itaconate is well known in animals, its presence and functions […]
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Fruit-eating mastodons? Ancient fossils confirm a long-lost ecological alliance
  1. Life Sciences

Fruit-eating mastodons? Ancient fossils confirm a long-lost ecological alliance

Ten thousand years ago, mastodons vanished from South America. With them, an ecologically vital function also disappeared: the dispersal of seeds from large-fruited plants. A new study led by the University of O’Higgins, Chile, with key contributions from IPHES-CERCA, demonstrates for the first time — based on direct fossil evidence — that these extinct elephant […]
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Africa's pangolin crisis: The delicacy that's driving a species to the brink
  1. Life Sciences

Africa’s pangolin crisis: The delicacy that’s driving a species to the brink

The vast majority of pangolin hunting in African forest landscapes is done for meat consumed by people in the region, rather than for scales shipped to East Asia, a new study led by the University of Cambridge suggests. Pangolins are the most heavily trafficked wild mammal in the world. A solitary, insect-eating animal about the […]
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Scientists warn of bat virus just one mutation from infecting humans
  1. Life Sciences

Scientists warn of bat virus just one mutation from infecting humans

A group of bat viruses closely related to the deadly Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) could be one small mutation away from being capable of spilling over into human populations and potentially causing the next pandemic. A recent study published in the journal Nature Communicationsexamined an understudied group of coronaviruses known as merbecoviruses — […]
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Why past mass extinctions didn't break ecosystems—But this one might
  1. Life Sciences

Why past mass extinctions didn’t break ecosystems—But this one might

Two major environmental shifts have triggered global transformations in large herbivore communities. A new study with researchers from the University of Gothenburg show how these ecosystems remained remarkably resilient despite extinction and upheaval. From mastodons to ancient rhinos and giant deer, large herbivores have been shaping Earth’s landscapes for millions of years. A new study, […]
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Good Reads

Rising Serum Uric Acid Levels in US Teens

In a comprehensive analysis spanning two decades, researchers have uncovered that serum uric acid (UA) concentrations and the prevalence of hyperuricemia have exhibited remarkable stability among adolescents in the United States. This longitudinal insight, meticulously documented in a recent study published in Pediatric Research, challenges prior assumptions about the possible upward trajectory of serum UA […]
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More and more people missing from official data – State of the Planet

Experts are warning that millions of people around the world aren’t being counted in census data, leaving policy makers in the dark about the populations they govern. They say a “quiet crisis” is unfolding with census data not being published due to concerns about declining response rates and the accuracy of data. In a paper […]
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Worlwide

Rising Serum Uric Acid Levels in US Teens

In a comprehensive analysis spanning two decades, researchers have uncovered that serum uric acid (UA) concentrations and the prevalence of hyperuricemia have exhibited remarkable stability among adolescents in the United States. This longitudinal insight, meticulously documented in a recent study published in Pediatric Research, challenges prior assumptions about the possible upward trajectory of serum UA […]
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More and more people missing from official data – State of the Planet

Experts are warning that millions of people around the world aren’t being counted in census data, leaving policy makers in the dark about the populations they govern. They say a “quiet crisis” is unfolding with census data not being published due to concerns about declining response rates and the accuracy of data. In a paper […]
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Cluck once, and the river shakes: Inside the Amazon’s giant snake saga

Cluck once, and the river shakes: Inside the Amazon’s giant snake saga

As a child, I was fascinated by reports and documentaries about field research and often wondered what it took to be there and what kind of knowledge was being produced. Later, as an ecologist, I felt the need for approaches that better connected scientific research with real-world contexts. I became especially interested in perspectives that […]
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