Ancient brains turn paleontology on its head
Tucson AZ (SPX) Nov 13, 2015 -
Science has long dictated that brains don't fossilize, so when Nicholas Strausfeld co-authored the first ever report of a fossilized brain in a 2012 edition of Nature, it was met with "a lot of flack."
"It was questioned by many paleontologists, who thought - and in fact some claimed in print - that maybe it was just an artifact or a one-off, implausible fossilization event," said Strausfe ...
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An arms race among venomous animals
Jerusalem (SPX) Nov 13, 2015 -
In a new study published in the journal PLOS Genetics, scientists at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem have revealed new discoveries about how animal venom evolves. Venom is a complex mixture of proteins and other toxic chemicals produced by animals such as snakes and spiders, either to incapacitate their prey or to defend against predators.
The influence of positive selection (the proces ...
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New drought atlas maps 2,000 years of climate in Europe
New York NY (SPX) Nov 13, 2015 -
The long history of severe droughts across Europe and the Mediterranean has largely been told through historical documents and ancient journals, each chronicling the impact in a geographically restricted area. Now, for the first time, an atlas based on scientific evidence provides the big picture, using tree rings to map the reach and severity of dry and wet periods across Europe, and parts of N ...
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A giant fullerene system inhibits the infection by an artificial Ebola virus
Madrid, Spain (SPX) Nov 13, 2015 -
Different studies have demonstrated that the ebola virus infection process starts when the virus reaches the cellular DC-SIGN receptor to infect the dendritic cells (of the immune system). European researchers have designed a "giant" molecule formed by thirteen fullerenes covered by carbohydrates which, by blocking this receptor, are able to inhibit the cell infection by an artificial ebola viru ...
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Managed bees spread and intensify diseases in wild bees
Riverside CA (SPX) Nov 13, 2015 -
For various reasons, wild pollinators are in decline across many parts of the world. To combat this, managed honey bees and bumblebees are frequently shipped in to provide valuable pollination services to crops. But does this practice pose any risk to the wild bees?
An entomologist at the University of California, Riverside has examined the evidence by analyzing the large body of research ...
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The past shows how abrupt climate shifts affect Earth
Copenhagen, Denmark (SPX) Nov 13, 2015 -
New research shows how past abrupt climatic changes in the North Atlantic propagated globally. The study, led by researchers from Centre for Ice and Climate at the University of Copenhagen's Niels Bohr Institute, shows how interaction between heat transport in the ocean and the atmosphere caused the climatic changes to be expressed in different ways across the Southern Hemisphere.
The resu ...
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Complex skeletons evolved earlier than realized, fossils suggest
Edinburgh, UK (SPX) Nov 13, 2015 -
The first animals to have complex skeletons existed about 550 million years ago, fossils of a tiny marine creature unearthed in Namibia suggest. The find is the first to suggest the earliest complex animals on Earth - which may be related to many of today's animal species - lived millions of years earlier than was previously known.
Until now, the oldest evidence of complex animals - which ...
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