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ScienceDaily -- Alternative Medicine News - Science
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The oldest ant ever discovered found fossilized in Brazil | ScienceDaily
A 113-million-year-old hell ant that once lived in northeastern Brazil is now the oldest ant specimen known to science, finds a new report. The hell ant, which was preserved in limestone, is a member of Haidomyrmecinae -- an extinct subfamily that only lived during the Cretaceous period. These ants had highly specialized, scythe-like jaws that they likely used to pin or impale prey.
What rattlesnake venom can teach us about evolution: New USF study | ScienceDaily
A new study found that some rattlesnakes are producing simpler venoms containing fewer and more focused toxin families than complex venoms -- a surprising discovery that challenges long-held ideas about how living alongside a variety of other species influences evolution in a world increasingly shaped by human activity.
The eukaryotic cell emerged as an evolutionary algorithmic phase transition | ScienceDaily
An international collaboration has published groundbreaking research, shedding light on the most significant increase in complexity in the history of life's evolution on Earth: the origin of the eukaryotic cell.
How activity in Earth's mantle led the ancient ancestors of elephants, giraffes, and humans into Asia and Africa | ScienceDaily
What roils beneath the Earth's surface may feel a world away, but the activity can help forge land masses that dictate ocean circulation, climate patterns, and even animal activity and evolution. In fact, scientists believe that a plume of hot rocks that burst from the Earth's mantle millions of years ago could be an important part in the story of human evolution.
Environmental variability promotes the evolution of cooperation among humans: A simulation-based analysis | ScienceDaily
Researchers have demonstrated that intensified environmental variability (EV) can promote the evolution of cooperation through simulation based on evolutionary game theory. This result offers a new perspective for the reinterpretation of the variability selection hypothesis (VSH), which attributes improvement in human cognitive abilities to severe EV in Africa during the Middle Stone Age (MSA), as further relevant to the explanation of the evolution of sociality.
Unlocking the genetic basis of adaptive evolution: study reveals complex chromosomal rearrangements in a stick insect | ScienceDaily
Scientists report adaptive divergence in cryptic color pattern is underlain by two distinct, complex chromosomal rearrangements, where millions of bases of DNA were flipped backwards and moved from one part of a chromosome to another, independently in populations of stick insects on different mountains.
Secret to crocodylian longevity | ScienceDaily
Researchers examined teeth and skulls of 99 extinct crocodylomorph species and 20 living crocodylian species to reconstruct their dietary ecology and identify characteristics that helped some groups persist through two mass extinctions. They discovered that one secret tocrocodylian longevity is their remarkably flexible lifestyles, both in what they eat and the habitat in which they get it.
Restoration programs won’t save coral reefs | ScienceDaily
As coral bleaching and deaths become more widespread globally, experts show that over a third of restoration projects fail and might never be scalable enough to have positive effects on reef ecosystems. The results show that major barriers to effective interventions include the small scale of restoration programs, high costs per hectare, and the tendency to restore already compromised reefs that are highly vulnerable to future heat stresses.
In Croatia's freshwater lakes, selfish bacteria hoard nutrients | ScienceDaily
Bacteria play key roles in degrading organic matter, both in the soil and in aquatic ecosystems. While most bacteria digest large molecules externally, allowing other community members to share and scavenge, some bacteria selfishly take up entire molecules before digesting them internally. Researchers now document 'selfish polysaccharide uptake' in freshwater ecosystems.
'Internet of nature' helps researchers explore the web of life | ScienceDaily
A novel paper is widening understanding of how species interact within ecosystems via the so-called 'Internet of Nature.' The paper reveals that species not only exchange matter and energy but also share vital information that influences behavior, interactions, and ecosystem dynamics -- revealing previously hidden characteristics of natural ecosystems.
Coral reefs exude myriad chemicals, fueling dynamic microbial recycling of nutrients | ScienceDaily
New research revealed the remarkable chemical diversity of substances exuded by coral reefs and demonstrated that thousands of different chemicals derived from tropical corals and seaweeds are available for microbes to decompose and utilize.
What's on the menu for Ryukyu's minute mammals? | ScienceDaily
Japan's Ryukyu Islands, which includes Okinawa, are the exclusive home to two rare mammals, the Amami rabbit and Ryukyu long-furred rat. These animals are hard to observe, but conservationists wish to find out specific details about their diets. So researchers inspected the teeth from deceased specimens to find out what the animals were eating, and at different times. Their findings show the rabbits have consistent diets, whereas the rats' change with the seasons.
First ancient genomes from the Green Sahara deciphered | ScienceDaily
An international team has sequenced the first ancient genomes from the so-called Green Sahara, a period when the largest desert in the world temporarily turned into a humid savanna-like environment. By analyzing the DNA of two 7,000-year-old naturally mummified individuals excavated in the Takarkori rock shelter in southwestern Libya, the team showed that they belonged to a long-isolated and now extinct North African human lineage.
'She loves me, she loves me not': Physical forces encouraged evolution of multicellular life, scientists propose | ScienceDaily
A study presents a striking example of cooperative organization among cells as a potential force in the evolution of multicellular life. The study is based on the fluid dynamics of cooperative feeding by Stentor, a relatively giant unicellular organism.
New warnings of a 'Butterfly Effect' -- in reverse | ScienceDaily
A new study warns that global climate change may have a devastating effect on butterflies, turning their species-rich, mountain habitats from refuges into traps. Think of it as the 'butterfly effect' -- the idea that something as small as the flapping of a butterfly's wings can eventually lead to a major event such as a hurricane -- in reverse. The new study also suggests that a lack of comprehensive global data about insects may leave conservationists and policymakers ill-prepared to mitigate biodiversity loss from climate change for a wide range of insect species.
If native plants are going to survive climate change, they need our help to move -- here's how to do it safely | ScienceDaily
Many native plants in the U.S. cannot possibly move themselves fast enough to avoid climate-change driven extinction. If these native plants are going to have any chance of surviving into the future, they'll need human help to move into adjacent areas, a process known as 'managed relocation.' And yet, there's no guarantee that a plant will thrive in a new area. Furthermore, movement of introduced plants, albeit over much larger distances, is exactly how the problem of invasive species began -- think of kudzu-choked forests, wetlands taken over by purple loosestrife or fields ringed by Japanese honeysuckle. Thanks to new research from a pair of ecologists, we now have a detailed sense of which plant characteristics will help ensure successful relocation while minimizing the risk that the plant causes unwanted ecological harm.
Coral diseases and water quality play a key role for coral restoration and survival efforts | ScienceDaily
Coral diseases, particularly in the Caribbean, have caused major declines in coral populations, especially affecting staghorn (Acropora cervicornis) and Elkhorn (A. palmata) corals, which play a crucial role in reef ecosystems. Despite efforts to identify the pathogens that cause diseases like White Band Disease (WBD), and Stony Coral Tissue Loss Disease (SCTLD), the specific agents remain largely unknown. Coral restoration programs aim to restore these once abundant coral species, but the effectiveness is threatened by multiple stressors, including increases in disease frequency and nutrient pollution caused from runoff from land-based activities.
Global patterns in seed plant distribution over millions of years | ScienceDaily
Why do some plants thrive in specific regions but not in others? A study explores the factors shaping plant distributions and how these patterns have changed over millions of years. Analyzing nearly 270,000 seed plant species worldwide, the research highlights the roles of environmental conditions and dispersal barriers in influencing global plant diversity.
Biologists discover ancient neurohormone that controls appetite | ScienceDaily
Biologists have discovered that bombesin, a neurohormone controlling appetite in humans, also regulates feeding in starfish, revealing its ancient evolutionary origin dating back over 500 million years. The study not only sheds light on the deep evolutionary roots of appetite regulation but also suggests potential applications for managing starfish invasions in shellfish farms impacted by climate change. Alongside weight-loss inducing drugs, compounds that mimic the action of bombesin are in development for treatment of obesity.
Ecologists document Utah's bee species and say beehive state is rich in bee diversity | ScienceDaily
Understanding bee distributions is essential to protecting these vital pollinators. Since conservation efforts and policies are often made at the state level, maintaining state-specific bee species lists can aid conservationists and policy makers. Ecologists have documented 1,167 bee species in the state of Utah.
The evolution of low-temperature adapted enzymes | ScienceDaily
Enzymes originally evolved in high-temperature environments and later adapted to lower temperatures as Earth cooled. Scientists discovered that a key shift in enzyme function occurred over evolutionary time due to amino acid changes distant from the active site. These mutations lowered activation energy, enhancing catalytic efficiency at low temperatures. Their findings highlight how global cooling events influenced enzyme evolution.
The devastating human impact on biodiversity | ScienceDaily
Humans are having a highly detrimental impact on biodiversity worldwide. Not only is the number of species declining, but the composition of species communities is also changing. This is one of the largest studies ever conducted on this topic.
Ecosystem disrupted following the disappearance of Great white sharks | ScienceDaily
A new study has uncovered evidence of far-reaching ecosystem consequences following the disappearance of Great white sharks (Carcharodon carcharias) from False Bay, South Africa. The research spans over two decades and documents cascading ecological disruptions, underscoring the crucial role apex predators play in maintaining ocean health.
Earliest days of Earth's formation | ScienceDaily
New research sheds light on the earliest days of the earth's formation and potentially calls into question some earlier assumptions in planetary science about the early years of rocky planets. Establishing a direct link between the Earth's interior dynamics occurring within the first 100 million years of its history and its present-day structure, the work is one of the first in the field to combine fluid mechanics with chemistry to better understand the Earth's early evolution.
Fragment of a human face aged over one million years discovered | ScienceDaily
The discovery of a human facial fragment aged over one million years represents the oldest known face in western Europe and confirms the region was inhabited by two species of human during the early Pleistocene, finds a new study.
Satellite image analysis delivers new insight into the functional diversity of tropical forests | ScienceDaily
Satellite images from space are allowing scientists to delve deeper into the individual functions of different tropical forest canopies with new and surprising results. Understanding tree traits and functional diversity in the tropics is crucial for biodiversity, ecosystem modelling, and conservation.