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Did ancient supernovae prompt human ancestors to walk upright?
Supernovae bombarded Earth with cosmic energy starting as many as 8 million years ago, with a peak some 2.6 million years ago, initiating an avalanche of electrons in the lower atmosphere and setting off a chain of events that feasibly ended with bipedal hominins. A paper published today in the Journal of Geology makes the…
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Small ‘snowflakes’ in the sea play a big role
In the deep waters that underlie the productive zones of the ocean, there is a constant rain of organic material called ‘marine snow.’ Marine snow behaves similarly to real snow: large flakes are rare and fall quickly while abundant smaller flakes take their time. Scientists have now discovered that precisely those features explain why small…
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Past climate change pushed birds from the northern hemisphere to the tropics
Researchers have shown how millions of years of climate change affected the range and habitat of modern birds, suggesting that many groups of tropical birds may be relatively recent arrivals in their equatorial homes. The researchers, from the Universities of Cambridge and Oxford, applied climate and ecological modelling to illustrate how the distribution of major…
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Compostable food containers could release PFAS into environment
Compostable food containers seem like a great idea: They degrade into nutrient-rich organic matter, reducing waste and the need for chemical fertilizers. But much of this packaging relies on per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) to repel water and oil. Now, researchers have shown that PFAS can leach from the containers into compost. However, the potential…
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Climate change may not expand drylands
Does a warmer climate mean more dry land? For years, researchers projected that drylands — including deserts, savannas and shrublands — will expand as the planet warms, but new research challenges those prevailing views. Previous studies used atmospheric information, including rainfall and temperature, to make projections about future land conditions. The real picture is more…
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Keeping cats indoors could blunt adverse effects to wildlife
A new study shows that hunting by house cats can have big effects on local animal populations because they kill more prey, in a given area, than similar-sized wild predators. This effect is mostly concentrated relatively close to a pet cat’s home, since most of their movement was a 100-meter radius of their homes, usually…
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Multiple individuals are buried in the Tomb of Nestors Cup, study finds
The Tomb of Nestor’s Cup, a famous burial in Italy, contains not one deceased individual, but several, according to a new study. The Tomb of Nestor’s Cup is considered one of the most intriguing discoveries in Mediterranean pre-classic archaeology. Formally designated Cremation 168 and dating to the 8th century BCE, this tomb is one of…
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Warming climate to result in reduced corn production; irrigation blunts effect
No matter which of the widely accepted global circulation models ultimately comes closest to predicting the amount of warming caused by climate change, corn production will be reduced, according to a new study. They evaluated the potential impacts of 18 warming scenarios, dictated by various atmospheric greenhouse gas concentrations, to determine the potential effects of…
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Face masks protect against aerosolized toxins from algal blooms, study finds
Intense blooms of toxic algae are becoming common occurrences along the coast of Florida and elsewhere. Results from a new study found that wearing the face mask everyone has become accustomed to during the COVID-19 pandemic may help protect against these airborne toxins too. The UM Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science researchers designed…
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How a two-faced molecule can silence problematic genes
Researchers have developed a technology, heteroduplex oligonucleotide (HDO), that silences certain genes whose high expression levels fuel disease. Adding a specific molecular tag allowed them to target the HDO to immune cells called lymphocytes safely and efficiently. Doing so with an HDO specific to a gene called Itga4 improved symptoms in a mouse model of…