Spectacular Venus-Regulus conjunction in early October!
Brilliant Venus, in and of itself, is worth getting up for, but the tantalizingly close encounter of Venus with the bright star Regulus won’t happen again for another 8 years. Start watching them now!
The video origin of the myth that global warming is good for agriculture » Yale Climate Connections – Yale Climate Connections
Misinformation is at the root of many scientific controversies, and fighting it can feel like a losing battle. But one effective method is to expose the mechanics of misinformation, to show tactics and deceptive processes in broad daylight. And learning…
Lending color to dead cells — A novel natural dye for screening cell viability
Synthetic dyes are commonly used to assess the toxicity of chemical compounds in cell cultures. However, these dyes damage cells, rendering the cultures useless for long-term experiments. Recently, scientists discovered that a natural food pigment can replace synthetic dyes in cell viability assays for three widely varied types of cells — and performs better. Their approach is also environment-friendly and inexpensive, and opens up possibilities in a range of fields including drug discovery.
Island-building in Southeast Asia created Earth’s northern ice sheets
Tectonic processes are thought to have triggered past ice ages, but how? A new analysis of mountain building in the maritime tropics of Southeast Asia attributes the last ice age, which reached a maximum 15,000 years ago, to increasing rock weathering in the rising island arc from Sumatra to New Guinea over the past 15 million years, with the first ice sheets in the Northern Hemisphere appearing about 3 million years ago.
Y chromosomes of Neanderthals and Denisovans now sequenced
An international research team led by Martin Petr and Janet Kelso of the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany, has determined Y chromosome sequences of three Neandertals and two Denisovans. These Y chromosomes provide new insights into the relationships and population histories of archaic and modern humans, including new evidence for ancient gene flow from early modern humans into Neandertals.
Unusual climate conditions influenced WWI mortality and subsequent influenza pandemic
Scientists have spotted a once-in-a-century climate anomaly during World War I that likely increased mortality during the war and the influenza pandemic in the years that followed.
Urgent conservation needed for world’s carnivorous plants
New research has found approximately a quarter of carnivorous plant species across the world may be at risk of extinction due to global climate change, illegal poaching, and the clearing of land for agriculture, mining and development.
Urgent conservation needed for world’s carnivorous plants
New research has found approximately a quarter of carnivorous plant species across the world may be at risk of extinction due to global climate change, illegal poaching, and the clearing of land for agriculture, mining and development.
Y chromosomes of Neandertals and Denisovans now sequenced
(Max-Planck-Gesellschaft) An international research team led by Martin Petr and Janet Kelso of the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany, has determined Y chromosome sequences of three Neandertals and two Denisovans. These Y chromosomes provide new insights into the relationships and population histories of archaic and modern humans, including new evidence for ancient gene flow from early modern humans into Neandertals.
Scientists predict potential spread, habitat of invasive Asian giant hornet
Researchers have predicted how and where the Asian giant hornet, an invasive newcomer to the Pacific Northwest, popularly dubbed the ‘murder hornet,’ could spread and find ideal habitat, both in the United States and globally.
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