We might have to rethink everything we thought we knew about the evolutionary history of the nightshade (Solanaceae) family of plants, a category that includes tomatoes, potatoes, and chili peppers. The recent identification of several fossils suggest these plants have been around a lot longer than previously thought. And we mean a lot longer –
Month: April 2023
Despite our knack for tying knots in everything from shoelaces to laser beams, there is still a lot we humans can learn from a tiny tangle-inclined worm. Commonly known as the California blackworm, the tiny invertebrate Lumbriculus variegatus has graciously shared a few of its secrets in a new study examining the math behind its
I was part of a team that recently discovered human-made pollutants in one of the deepest and most remote places on Earth – the Atacama Trench, which goes down to a depth of 8,000 meters (26,246 feet) in the Pacific Ocean. The presence of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) in such a remote location emphasizes a crucial
By teaching a machine to learn a few quantum tricks, physicists have uncovered a strange new phase of hydrogen in solid form. While it’s purely theoretical for now, the discovery could help us better understand the behavior of matter from the tiniest scales to the internal mechanics of the largest planets in the Universe. This
For a team of Canadian and French researchers, dark clouds on the horizon are potentially ominous not because they signal an approaching storm – but because they were found in a recent study to carry drug-resistant bacteria over long distances. “These bacteria usually live on the surface of vegetation like leaves, or in soil,” lead
Voyager 2’s demise has been postponed after NASA found a way to hack a backup source of power to keep the probe going until 2026. Voyager 1 and 2 have provided crucial scientific information in their 45 years of spaceflight. Today, the probes are traveling in interstellar space, 12 and 14 billion miles away from
Anemia was common in mummified ancient Egyptian children, according to a new study that analyzed child mummies in European museums. Researchers used computed tomography (CT) scans to peer non-invasively through the mummies’ dressings and discovered that one-third of them had signs of anemia; they found evidence of thalassemia in one case, too. “Our study appears
A study of 26 years’ worth of wolf behavioral data, and an analysis of the blood of 229 wolves, shows that infection with the parasite Toxoplasma gondii makes wolves 46 times more likely to become a pack leader. The research shows that the effects of this parasite in the wild have been horrendously understudied –
New images of the Universe’s most photogenic pit of darkness are providing insight into a mysterious black hole behavior. For the first time, we are looking at the source of a colossal jet of plasma blasting into space from the edge of supermassive black hole M87*. It’s also the first time that we’ve seen the
Gravitational wave astronomy is still in its early stages. So far it has focused on the most energetic and distinct sources of gravitational waves, such as the cataclysmic mergers of black holes and neutron stars. But that will change as our gravitational telescopes improve, and it will allow astronomers to explore the Universe in ways
We’re used to hearing about viruses spreading from wildlife to humans, but infection across species can go in the reverse, too. Just over 1,000 mountain gorillas are left in the world, and any mass mortality event will push this species further to the brink. For this reason, the often lethal Ebola virus – which scientists
The acronym CRISPR has become synonymous with editing DNA in recent years, taking center stage in the molecular geneticist’s toolbox as a means of identifying genetic codes and then cutting into them with uncanny precision. In its original function as a means of immunity in bacteria, the CRISPR/Cas (Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats/CRISPR-associated endonuclease)
The strange asteroid responsible for Earth’s annual shower of Geminid meteors just got even more peculiar. Every orbit, as it approaches the Sun and heats up, 3200 Phaethon grows a comet-like tail of material, which streams away in a pale fog. Phaethon’s tail was thought to consist of tiny grains of dust, but new observations
Sourcing human tissue samples for biological investigations isn’t always easy. While they are ethically obtained through organ donation or from tissue that’s removed during surgical procedures, scientists are finding them increasingly difficult to get hold of. And it’s not just because there’s a limited supply of human tissue samples. There’s also restricted availability of the
Like gravitational waves (GWs) and gamma-ray bursts (GRBs), fast radio bursts (FRBs) are one of the most powerful and mysterious astronomical phenomena today. These transient events consist of bursts that put out more energy in a millisecond than the Sun does in three days. While most bursts last mere milliseconds, there have been rare cases
In a forest in southern Chile, a giant tree has survived for thousands of years and is in the process of being recognized as the oldest in the world. Known as the “Great Grandfather,” the trunk of this tree measuring four meters (13 feet) in diameter and 28 meters tall is also believed to contain
According to a new study, some wild plants are predisposed to “taming,” similar to how some wild animals have attributes that made them easier for ancient humans to tame. This might explain why our ancestors targeted certain plants to become crops. In attempting to re-tame wild versions of plant species that ancient farmers previously domesticated,
SpaceX just launched the most powerful rocket the world has ever seen – so powerful that it’s a problem. The 40-story Starship mega-rocket flew toward space for the first time on April 20. At liftoff, the rocket’s Super Heavy booster fired more than two dozen truck-sized Raptor engines at once, blasting the launchpad with up
The Universe is swarming with galaxies, billions upon billions as far as the eye can see. And among this multitude, some galaxies really stand out in a spectacular way. These are the quasar galaxies. Powered by an active supermassive black hole guzzling material at such a tremendous rate, they blaze with some of the brightest
While analyzing the genomes of single-celled microbes, a team of researchers made a startling discovery: Thousands of previously unknown viruses were “hidden” within the microbes’ DNA. The researchers found DNA from more than 30,000 viruses built into genomes of various single-celled microbes, they report in a new study. They explain that viral DNA might enable
Since our earliest school days, we generally accept the idea that some people learn faster than others – but, according to a new study, it turns out that we actually learn at very similar rates given the same opportunities. Researchers looked at 1.3 million “student interactions” across a variety of learning software tools used by
To look at them, squids and octopuses seem to have a lot in common. Both are soft, squishy, marine-dwelling animals with eight sucker-lined arms and a fascinating level of intelligence. But the last common ancestor between the two was around 300 million years ago. Since then, squids and octopuses have forged their own evolutionary paths,
This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Mathew Owens, a professor of space physics at the University of Reading who researches space science and weather as it relates to solar activity and the solar maximum. It’s been edited for length and clarity. We’re close to the next solar maximum, predicted to begin in
Tokyo-based company ispace made a bold attempt to land a spacecraft on the lunar surface on Tuesday, and fears that it ended with a crash landing. The HAKUTO-R M1 lunar lander appeared to be descending to the Moon as planned, posing ispace to claim the historic feat of the first private Moon landing – until
If you think your morning commute is a logjam, you should see the Mackenzie River Delta in Nunavut, Canada. Unlike logjams of idling trucks, sedans, and SUVs, this literal logjam stores carbon. Covering some 51 square kilometers (nearly 20 square miles) it’s the largest-known cumulative logjam on Earth, consisting of fallen trees that have floated
We already know seahorses are among the cutest and most unique critters in the ocean, and now scientists have found out more about a clever and unusual way that they eat. Researchers from Tel Aviv University in Israel and the Rochester Institute of Technology in the US have calculated the power required of specialized anatomy
Slowly and unsurely, humanity is weaning itself off coal. That’s good because coal is the most carbon-intensive fossil fuel and a major driver of human-induced climate change. But it’s not good enough. According to a new study, humans are quitting coal too slowly to meet targets set under the Paris Agreement, the international treaty on
Our galaxy’s largest nearby companion is the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC), a dwarf galaxy visible to the naked eye in the Southern Hemisphere. In recent years, new theoretical research and better observational capabilities have taught astronomers a great deal about our (not-so-little) neighbor. It’s becoming increasingly clear that the LMC is helping shape the Milky
Terrestrial animals do something that fish don’t. Yes, OK, there’s the whole walking around out of the water thing. But there is something else so small you do it without even knowing. Most fish don’t blink. They don’t have the apparatus for it, the eyelids. They also don’t need to blink since the water they
Quakes rumbling through Mars have been detected rolling through its gooey core for the first time, giving scientists the tools they need to figure out what, exactly, Mars’ heart is made of. According to seismic data obtained using NASA’s InSight lander, which monitored the red planet’s innards for four years, Mars’ center is a liquid
A rare world 245 light-years away could be key to unraveling a planetary mystery. An exoplanet called TOI-733b is just under twice the radius of Earth, and is orbiting a star a little smaller than the Sun with a period of 4.9 days. Measurements of its density suggest that it may either have lost its
Physicists believe most of the matter in the Universe is made up of an invisible substance that we only know about by its indirect effects on the stars and galaxies we can see. We’re not crazy! Without this ” dark matter“, the Universe as we see it would make no sense. But the nature of
Over the past year or so, generative AI models such as ChatGPT and DALL-E have made it possible to produce vast quantities of apparently human-like, high-quality creative content from a simple series of prompts. Though highly capable – far outperforming humans in big-data pattern recognition tasks in particular – current AI systems are not intelligent
The head of the Pentagon office that is reviewing reported unidentified anomalous phenomena (UAP – commonly known as UFOs, unidentified flying objects) told the US Congress this week that his office is now reviewing more than 650 incidents, but so far, none exhibited anything that was evidence of extraterrestrial activity or defied the known laws
Making solar cells more efficient is an obvious win for green energy. It means more electricity from the same number of panels and the same amount of sunlight – and scientists are working hard to take on the challenge. Now a team from the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) in Saudi Arabia
By any measure, the Andes mountains are very, very big. Running for some 8,900 kilometers (5,530 miles) through South America, they reach up to 7 kilometers (4.3 miles) in height and stretch up to 700 kilometers (435 miles) in width. But how did the range grow to this gigantic scale? Plate tectonics – the movement
Researchers from around the world have embarked on an effort to try to build a system allowing humanity to anticipate violent conflicts before they erupt – and thus potentially prevent them. They will examine dramatic advances in artificial intelligence and how the decisions taken by the world’s leaders could be swayed at a time when
Elephant seals drift downwards into the ocean in a “sleep spiral” to catch up on sleep while on months-long foraging trips but are programmed not to drown, according to a new study. The seals fall into sleep during deep dives of up to 377 meters, which is around 1,235 feet, to avoid predators. They spiral
Octopuses are the chameleons of the sea, so it’s hard to keep tabs on who is who at a glance. Thanks to small, pigment-filled skin tissues called chromatophores, color-reflecting iridophores, and light-reflecting leucophores, the mollusk can change its patterns and coloring in a blink. Combined with their hydrostatic skeletons and dexterous muscles shifting their shapes
You learn from your mistakes. At least, most of us have been told so. But science shows that we often fail to learn from past errors. Instead, we are likely to keep repeating the same mistakes. What do I mean by mistakes here? I think we would all agree that we quickly learn that if
A cycle featured in Maya calendars has been a mystery pretty much since it was rediscovered and its deciphering began in the 1940s. Covering a period of 819 days, the cycle is referred to simply as the 819-day count. The problem is that researchers couldn’t match that 819 days up to anything. But anthropologists John
Ambitious targets intended to slam the brakes on our current mass extinction may already be slipping out of reach barely a year after they were established, new research suggests. Data on birds and mammals reveal there’s a huge time lag between environmental change and its impact on animal populations, of up to 45 years depending
In humans and other animals, sex is usually determined by a single gene. However, there are claims that in some species, such as platyfish, it takes a whole ‘parliament’ of genes acting together to determine whether offspring develop as a male or female. In a new analysis, we took a close look at these claims.
Scientists studying hair follicles in mice may have finally uncovered a mechanism behind how and why hair turns gray, which could one day lead to potential new ways to stop or reverse the process. On a basic level, we already know that hair goes gray when specialized pigment-producing cells called melanocytes are in short supply.
It’s the end of an era, at least for the Perseverance rover on Mars, who has lost a long-time friend. For 427 sols or days on Mars, Perseverance has been carrying around a rock in one of its wheels. We’ve been following the saga of this pet rock, which for over a year has stuck
There’s something really odd about the Sun. Actually, there’s a lot of odd somethings about the Sun, but a ground-breaking space probe has just given us the clue we might need to solve one of them. New observations from the European Space Agency’s (ESA) Solar Orbiter suggest that the constant reconnection of tiny magnetic field
SpaceX carried out Starship’s first test flight on Thursday morning – successfully launching the shiny silver mega-rocket that could one day take humans to Mars and beyond. Around 4 minutes after take off, the rocket blew up – or experienced a ‘rapid unscheduled disassembly’ – as the team attempted stage separation. But the fact the
Predicted over a century ago as monstrous concentrations of mass that torture the fabric of the Universe into traps of light and information, black holes are now established as objects of fact. But might every distortion of light we now come across be a certified concentration of infinite density, or should we leave room for