Crabs Aren’t Hermits When It Comes to House Hunting
Despite its name, the hermit crab can be a very social creature. In fact, when searching for a new home, the crustacean gets by with a little help from its friends, according to a new study in Current Biology. The hermit crab, which is vulnerable to predators, protects itself by making its home in abandoned […]
Bioengineered Jellyfish Could Help Heal Human Hearts
By combining rat cardiac muscle cells with silicone, scientists have bioengineered a free-swimming jellyfish which could eventually lead to improved treatment for heart disease. Researchers from Harvard and California Institute of Technology (Caltech) say their creation shows it’s possible to reverse-engineer a variety of muscular organs and simple life forms, allowing for a broader definition […]
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Scientists Call for Global Action to Protect Coral Reefs
More than 2,600 scientists are calling on governments worldwide to take steps to protect valuable coral reef ecosystems. They’ve endorsed a statement written by scientists brought together by the Center for Ocean Solutions at California’s Stanford University. The statement was released this week to kick off the 12th International Coral Reef Symposium being held in […]
Research Casts Doubt on NASA ‘New Life Form’ Claim
New research throws scientific cold water on NASA’s purported 2010 discovery of a new form of life which lives and thrives off of arsenic rather than phosphorus, an important element that supports life as we know it. In December 2010, NASA announced its researchers, led by Dr. Felisa Wolfe-Simon, had found bacteria in California’s Mono […]
NASA Makes Surprise Discovery in Arctic Ocean
NASA has discovered phytoplankton are much more abundant in Arctic waters than any other ocean region on Earth, which could have a huge impact on our understanding of the region’s ecology. Space agency officials say the revelation is as dramatic and unexpected as finding a rainforest in the middle of a desert. The microscopic, one-celled […]
Insects Use Plants as Telephones to Communicate, Leave ‘Voicemail’
Like humans, insects communicate with each other by “telephone” and can even leave messages, according to Dutch researchers. No special electronics are needed because the bugs literally use green technology – plants – to communicate. According to the new study from the Netherlands Institute of Ecology and Wageningen University, insects which live in and above […]
Birds Ended Reign of Super-sized Insects
Some 300 million years super-sized insects – some as large as hawks – swarmed the Earth. The largest of these mega-insects was a predatory dragonfly-like creature with a wingspan of up to 75 centimeters. That was during the late Carboniferous– early Permian periods, when the atmosphere was rich with oxygen. But then, 150 million years […]
Took 10 Million Years for Life on Earth to ‘Re-set’ After Mass Extinction
More than 250 million years ago, most life on Earth was wiped out by a catastrophic event called the Permian–Triassic extinction. New research suggests it took our planet 10 million years to recover from what is now known as “The Great Dying.” The Great Dying took place millions of years earlier than the Cretaceous-Tertiary extinction, […]
Ancient Dog Mystery Remains Unsolved
Exactly where man’s best friend came from remains a mystery. Thousands of years of cross-breeding have made it difficult for scientists to trace the ancient genetic roots of today’s dogs. Still, British researchers gave it a try. They recently compared genetic data from 1,375 modern-day dogs, from 35 different breeds, to global archeological records of […]