A new study from <a href="https://www.osu.edu/">Ohio State University</a> reveals what is going on inside of your <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/gut-brain-interactions-have-an-influence-on-diseases/">brain</a> when you get lost in a fictional fantasy. The experts discovered that the more immersed we become in the lives of our favorite characters of fiction, the more our brain activity reflects how much we identify with them.
&#8220;When they think about a favorite fictional character, it appears similar in one part of the brain as when they are thinking about themselves,&#8221; said study lead author Timothy Broom.
The research was focused on self-described fans of the HBO series &#8220;Game of Thrones.&#8221; The individuals were instructed to think about themselves, nine of their friends, and nine characters from the drama series. The participants also reported on which character they felt closest to and liked the most.
According to Broom, Game of Thrones was ideal for this study because it attracted a devoted fan base and the large cast presented a variety of characters that people could become attached to.
One of the key findings involved participants who scored highest on &#8220;trait identification.&#8221; These individuals agreed most strongly with statements like &#8220;I really get involved in the feelings of the characters in a novel.&#8221;
&#8220;People who are high in trait identification not only get absorbed into a story, they also are really absorbed into a particular character,&#8221; said Broom. &#8220;They report matching the thoughts of the character, they are thinking what the character is thinking, they are feeling what the character is feeling. They are inhabiting the role of that character.&#8221;
The researchers used an fMRI machine to measure activity in various parts of the brain through small changes in blood flow. As the participants&#8217; brains were scanned, they were evaluating themselves, their friends, and Game of Thrones characters. 
A part of the brain called the ventral medial prefrontal cortex (vMPFC) is known to show increased activity when people think about themselves and, to a lesser extent, when they think about close friends.
While in the fMRI, the individuals were shown a series of names &#8211; including themselves, friends, or characters &#8211; along with a trait, such as lonely, sad, trustworthy, or smart. The participants simply said &#8220;yes&#8221; or &#8220;no&#8221; to imply whether the trait fit the person.
As expected, the vMPFC was most active when people were evaluating themselves, less active when they evaluated friends, and least active when they evaluated characters from Game of Thrones.
However, among those who were high in trait identification, the vMPFC was more active when they thought about the fictional characters than it was for participants who identified less with the characters. This region of the brain was particularly active when the individuals evaluated the character they identified with the most.
Study co-author Dylan Wanger said the findings help explain how fiction can have such a big impact on some people.
&#8220;For some people, fiction is a chance to take on new identities, to see worlds though others&#8217; eyes and return from those experiences changed,&#8221; said Wagner.
&#8220;What previous studies have found is that when people experience stories as if they were one of the characters, a connection is made with that character, and the character becomes intwined with the self. In our study, we see evidence of that in their brains.&#8221;
The study is published in the journal <a href="https://academic.oup.com/scan">Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience</a>.
&#8211;&#8212;
By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

What happens in your brain while you're lost in fiction

Most of us have heard a parent or grandparent say, “Time goes by faster every year,” while shaking their head at how quickly July 4 seems to roll around. 



When you’re twelve, however, the brain has a different perception of time - the wait for summer vacation feels endless, and a single school day can feel as slow as a traffic jam in August heat.



That gap between the child’s long afternoon and the adult’s lightning-fast month isn’t just storytelling, it’s how our brain's perception of time changes, altering the way it measures all of the moments that make up our lives.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-first-vs-fresh-experiences">First vs. fresh experiences</h2>



Children cram their days with firsts: a first dive into the pool, a first try at long division, a first sleepover away from home.



These fresh experiences swarm the brain with new images to file away, stretching the subjective length of a single afternoon.



Adults, by contrast, tend to replay <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/extreme-heat-impacts-our-daily-routines-and-transportation/">familiar routines</a>. With fewer novel snapshots to store, the days collapse into something closer to a highlight reel than a feature film.



According to psychologist Marc Wittmann at the Institute for Frontier Areas of Psychology and Mental Health <a href="https://igpp.de/en/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">(IGPP</a>), the feeling that time accelerates is tightly linked to how much new material our brains record each day.



He points out that <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/memory-clutter-speeds-up-aging-in-the-brain/">memory</a> and time perception sit on the same neural bench; when one slows, the other shrinks. "Newness" holds the key to this phenomenon.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-human-brain-and-time-perception">Human brain and time perception</h2>



Whenever a brain encounters something it has never processed before, a quick surge of attention flags the event as worth keeping. The more flags raised, the thicker the <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/human-brains-use-storage-trick-to-keep-your-memories-in-sequential-order/">memory log</a> becomes, and the longer that span later feels.



Kids, still green to nearly everything, throw flags left and right. A lunchroom joke, a new word in science class, or a game of tag - each registers as its own small chapter.



Adults often glide through copy-and-paste days that differ only by the date on the calendar. With fewer chapters recorded, the book of any given week reads as a short story.



Research using immersive virtual reality in 2024 showed that older volunteers underestimated simple time intervals by roughly 15 percent, highlighting how novelty <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S096800042300302X" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">sharpens the inner clock</a>.



Routine doesn’t just compress the past; it also drains the present.



Studies tracking holiday seasons in several countries found that people who stuck to predictable daily rhythms felt that Christmas or Ramadan arrived sooner every year, while those who sprinkled in new activities reported a slower march toward the festivities.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-brain-processing-speed-linked-with-time">Brain processing speed linked with time</h2>



Every sensation has to travel from eye or ear to cortex. In youngsters, those <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/speech-pattern-wfd-that-is-a-clear-indication-a-person-is-in-cognitive-decline/">neural highways</a> are short and well-paved. As bodies grow, the routes lengthen, and the conduction speed though still quick can’t match its earlier zip.



Add natural age-related slowing of signal processing and the brain starts sampling the world less often each second.



Fewer samples mean fewer “ticks” on the subjective stopwatch, so a morning meeting seems to vanish faster for a forty-year-old than for a fourth grader.



This sampling <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/scientists-link-pupil-dilation-to-brains-working-memory-levels/">shows up in the eyes</a>. Our eyes jerk from point to point in rapid saccades, pausing in brief fixations while the brain grabs a visual frame.



Young, rested eyes squeeze in more fixations per minute. Older or fatigued eyes lag, offering the brain fewer still frames to stitch together. With a thinner film strip, the projection of the day speeds along.



Scientists studying eye movements liken perception to a flipbook. Each fixation is a page; flip them fast enough and you see smooth action.



When fixations slow, the flipbook loses pages. Motion still appears, but the storyline gets choppy, and, in recall, it shortens.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-sleep-and-alertness">Sleep and alertness</h2>



A single night of <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/sleep-can-boost-memory-in-a-surprising-way/">good sleep</a> can pull the brake on runaway days. When neurons are well-rested, they fire faster, notice more, and form clearer memories.



Athletes know the flip side: stepping onto the field after too little shut-eye makes the whole match blur. The plays happen, but the mind records only a highlight or two before the final whistle.



Students grinding through an all-nighter meet the same fate - an exam that seems to finish moments after it starts.



<a href="https://www.earth.com/news/what-is-the-best-treatment-for-excessive-daytime-sleepiness/">Chronic fatigue</a> magnifies the effect. Continually short-changing rest lowers baseline alertness, trimming snapshots day after day.



Over months, life can feel like it’s slipping through the cracks, not because the clock sped up but because the recorder slowed down.



<a href="https://www.health.harvard.edu/mind-and-mood/dopamine-the-pathway-to-pleasure" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Dopamine</a>, a neurotransmitter tied to motivation and time estimation, also dips with sleep debt, further warping the <a href="https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/psychology/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1364166/full" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">sense of duration</a>.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-social-media-and-lost-time-perception">Social media and lost time perception</h2>



Endless feeds promise variety, yet most algorithms serve look-alike posts. Swipe through video after video of the same dance trend, and the brain barely registers a change.



Hours evaporate while the memory log remains nearly blank. Compound that with the blue-light-induced bedtime delay, and you have a double punch: fewer snapshots captured and fewer hours slept.



Cutting back on passive scrolling or swapping it for an activity with genuine novelty - trying a new recipe, learning a chord on guitar - feeds the brain more distinct moments. Those moments stretch subjective time, turning a blur of an evening into something that feels full.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-with-age-comes-responsibility">With age comes responsibility</h2>



Beyond slower processing, adults juggle long lists of responsibilities. Focus narrows to tasks at hand - emails, errands, budgets - scanning less of the environment for new input. Novelty drops, and subjective days shorten.



<a href="https://www.tiaa.org/public/institute/publication/2023/young-adults-their-attitudes-and-outlook-toward-retirement-and-the-future" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">A 2023 survey</a> comparing young adults with retirees found that the older group reported the year as “rushing by” nearly twice as often, linking the feeling to the predictability of daily routines rather than to health issues.



Even so, not every senior feels the rush. Researchers tracking so-called “<a href="https://www.nm.org/healthbeat/healthy-tips/4-habits-super-agers" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">super-agers</a>” note that those who keep learning new skills and staying socially engaged maintain sharper senses of time, along with stronger memory performance. Variety keeps the brain’s camera clicking.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-use-your-brain-to-slow-time-perception">Use your brain to slow time perception</h2>



Here's the good news - the tools to lengthen your days fit into ordinary life. Go to bed on a schedule that honors the seven-to-nine-hour rule.



Plan at least one activity each week that forces you out of autopilot: a different jogging route, a museum you’ve never visited, a new language app.



While doing it, pay close attention to sights, sounds, and textures. Engagement packs extra snapshots into the mental album.



Stay curious daily. Swap a lunchtime scroll for a short walk and notice five things you’ve never clocked before - a mural, a bird call, the scent of a bakery vent.



Those micro-discoveries add pages to the flipbook, expanding the subjective afternoon. Over time, the habit can "thicken" the memory book that tells the story of a year, making December feel like it belongs twelve full months away, right where the calendar says it should be.



The full study was published in the journal <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/european-review/article/why-the-days-seem-shorter-as-we-get-older/2CB8EC9B0B30537230C7442B826E42F1" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">European Review</a>.



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Scientists explain why time seems to move faster and 'fly by' as we age

Most of us have heard a parent or grandparent say,...

How did life on Earth begin? People have been asking that for ages. The answers remain scattered across rocks, oceans, and ancient landscapes. One clue hides in an essential ingredient for life - phosphorus.



Phosphorus is everywhere in living things. It holds together DNA and RNA. It forms the framework of cell membranes. No life can grow or function without it. 



Yet, phosphorus mostly stays trapped in rocks. It hides inside phosphate minerals, which barely dissolve in water. That raises an old and puzzling question: how did early Earth get enough phosphorus to <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/scientists-discover-one-simple-rule-that-explains-all-life-on-earth-bioregions/">spark</a> life?



Yuya Tsukamoto and Takeshi Kakegawa from <a href="https://www.tohoku.ac.jp/en/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Tohoku University</a> took that question seriously. They decided to look where most people wouldn’t - deep under the sea, in rocks that are billions of years old.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-key-element-for-life-on-earth">Key element for life on Earth</h2>



The researchers focused on the Pilbara Craton in Western Australia, which holds some of the oldest known seafloor rocks. 



The rocks are an astonishing 3.455 billion years old. The team's discovery wasn’t subtle. It jumped out from the data.



"We analyzed 3.455-billion-year-old basaltic seafloor rocks in drill core samples recovered from the Pilbara Craton, Western Australia, discovering that P was significantly leached from the hydrothermally altered rocks compared to the least altered rocks," explained Tsukamoto.



He noted that further mineralogical analyses indicated that phosphate minerals had undergone dissolution in rocks where P was depleted. 



Simply put, hot fluids moved through these rocks and pulled phosphorus out. That phosphorus didn’t just disappear. It entered the surrounding seawater, turning parts of the ocean into phosphorus-rich zones.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-tracking-the-source-of-phosphorus">Tracking the source of phosphorus </h2>



The rocks alone didn’t tell the whole story. The team wanted to understand what made this phosphorus release possible. They uncovered two kinds of hydrothermal fluids that shaped this <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/third-state-of-existence-beyond-life-and-death-confirmed-by-scientists/">process</a>.



One type was hot, rich in sulfur, and capable of breaking down minerals quickly. The other was more surprising - mildly acidic to alkaline fluids at lower temperatures. 



These fluids were common in the Archean era because Earth’s atmosphere back then was filled with carbon dioxide. That unique atmosphere made these fluids react in unexpected ways with the rocks.



The result? Massive amounts of dissolved phosphate in the water. The numbers were shocking. These fluids could carry up to 2 millimolar phosphate - nearly 1,000 times higher than what’s found in modern seawater.



Suddenly, early <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/luca-last-universal-common-ancestor-progenitor-all-life-on-earth/">Earth</a> wasn’t a barren place. Its oceans were filled with phosphorus.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-earth-s-oceans-held-elements-for-life">Earth’s oceans held elements for life</h2>



This wasn’t just a chemistry experiment. The results changed how scientists think about early Earth. The researchers calculated how much phosphorus these underwater systems could release. 



The findings were stunning. The amount of phosphorus released into the oceans by these hydrothermal systems could match, or even exceed, the amount entering modern oceans through rivers and weathering of land rocks.



"Importantly, this study provides direct evidence that submarine hydrothermal activity leached P from seafloor basaltic rocks and quantifies the potential P flux from these hydrothermal systems to the early ocean," adds Tsukamoto.



Imagine ancient oceans filled with nutrients. These phosphorus-rich waters may have supported some of Earth’s earliest microbial life. 



The ancient communities didn’t need a vast, lush <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/rocks-reveal-the-turning-point-when-oxygen-changed-earth-forever/">planet</a>. It only needed these hidden underwater environments to get started.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-hot-springs-and-hidden-worlds-on-land">Hot springs and hidden worlds on land</h2>



The study also pointed to something beyond the oceans - hot springs on land. Hydrothermal systems aren’t just found under the sea. They exist on land too, in places like hot springs.



These environments might have also released phosphorus on early Earth. That means life’s building blocks weren’t limited to deep-sea vents. They could have existed in steaming pools on land.



This opens the door for more discoveries. Scientists now plan to study how phosphate behaves in rocks across different periods of Earth’s history. By tracing phosphorus through time, they hope to unlock new chapters of Earth’s story.



The message is clear: Life’s ingredients may have come from places on Earth we’ve only just begun to explore. Deep beneath the waves, within rocks touched by ancient fluids, the story of life may have quietly begun.



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0016703725003266?via%3Dihub" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta</a>.



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Earth may have always held the key ingredients for life

How did life on Earth begin? People have been asking...

cinco-microhabitos-neurociencia-aprender-mas-rapido-recordar-mej

Varicose veins bulge and twist across the calves of up to 30 percent of adults, a reminder that blood sometimes pools instead of flowing home to the heart. When sluggish blood flow lingers, clots can form and, in rare cases, travel to the lungs or brain.



Centuries ago physicians in China brewed teas from <a href="https://www.missouribotanicalgarden.org/PlantFinder/PlantFinderDetails.aspx?kempercode=z990" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Ginkgo biloba</a> leaves to sharpen memory. Today researchers wonder whether the same ginkgo leaves might support weary leg veins and cut the risk of small, yet dangerous, blood clots.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-why-circulation-can-falter">Why circulation can falter</h2>



Blood rising from the feet must fight gravity, and faulty valves can leave veins stretched and valves leaky. The lingering pressure distends vein walls, encourages <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/fasting-helps-the-body-fight-inflammation-and-chronic-diseases/">inflammation</a>, and slows platelet aggregation, the first step toward clotting.



Slow venous return creates the setting for deep‑vein thrombosis as well as the aching, throbbing symptoms many patients feel after a day of standing. 



That overlap has pushed vascular specialists toward plant‑based compounds that might tone the vein wall and limit sticky platelets.



After logging stroke cases at Xuanwu Hospital in Beijing, neurologist <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/scientific-contributions/Xiangqian-Huang-2265510495" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Xiangqian Huang</a> of <a href="https://ccmu.cucas.cn/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Capital Medical University</a> began probing ginkgo’s effects on clot behavior in the brain, work that now informs leg‑vein research.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-ginkgo-leaves-and-blood-flow">Ginkgo leaves and blood flow</h2>



Ginkgo extract made <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/drinking-from-plastic-bottles-linked-to-high-blood-pressure-and-heart-problems/">blood platelets</a> less sticky when triggered by one type of chemical but didn’t have much effect when triggered by another. 



Dr. Xiangqian Huang and the team also noticed that blood took slightly longer to clot after treatment with the extract.



The leaf contains natural compounds that seem to interact with enzymes responsible for forming clots. 



In a 2025 animal <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/40462336/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">study</a>, researchers found that ginkgo reduced damage inside blood vessels in rats with clotting problems and slightly increased the time it took for their blood to clot. 



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-insights-from-a-beijing-stroke-ward">Insights from a Beijing stroke ward</h2>



Huang’s real‑world study followed 99 patients for five days. Among stroke survivors who received ginkgo plus baby <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/daily-aspirin-use-strongly-tied-to-colorectal-cancer-prevention/">aspirin</a>, arachidonic‑acid platelet aggregation fell more than in peers on aspirin alone, while major bleeding did not rise.



Minor nose or gum bleeds surfaced in four of thirty‑three combination patients, a signal that enhanced anticoagulation deserves monitoring. No severe hemorrhages occurred, suggesting short‑term safety when doses stay low.



The design also enrolled participants with internal jugular venous stenosis, a group whose <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/artificial-sweetener-erythritol-sugar-substitute-linked-to-blood-clots-heart-disease/">clots</a> mirror those in leg veins. 



In that arm ginkgo alone curbed blood platelet stickiness within 24 hours, and the effect held steady through day five.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-aspirin-ginkgo-and-blood-clots">Aspirin, ginkgo, and blood clots</h2>



A team of <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/17982321/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">scientists</a> led by <a href="https://med.stanford.edu/profiles/christopher-gardner" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Christopher Gardner</a> from <a href="https://med.stanford.edu/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Stanford Department of Medicine</a> examined the potential adverse effects of concomitant aspirin and Ginkgo biloba on blood platelet function after giving the duo to older adults for four weeks. The worry was that the herbs might blunt or boost common drugs. 



Gardner and colleagues detected no dangerous bleeding, yet laboratory tests showed additive platelet inhibition, suggesting that low‑dose pairings could protect high‑risk patients who cannot tolerate stronger pharmaceuticals. 



Doctors, however, should adjust regimens around surgeries or when other blood thinners enter the mix.



Because the leaf targets arachidonic‑acid pathways that aspirin already touches, the partnership makes pharmacologic sense. 



Still, anyone taking nonsteroidal anti‑inflammatory drugs should discuss timing and dosage to avoid stacking identical mechanisms.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-helping-legs-feel-lighter">Helping legs feel lighter</h2>



Deep veins are not the only place where endothelial cells detach under strain. 



In a classic double‑blind trial, scientists found that a capsule combining ginkgo, troxerutin, and heptaminol cut circulating endothelial cell counts by 14.5 percent in patients with chronic varicose veins, placebo achieved only 8.4 percent.



<a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK26848/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Endothelial cells</a> are early barometers of vein injury, so their decline hints at real structural healing. 



Participants also reported reduced ankle swelling and night cramps, benefits echoed by later Russian and Italian studies that tracked leg circumference.



Modern <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/home/phl" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">phlebology</a> still relies on compression stockings and laser ablation, yet many sufferers ask for gentler first steps. 



A standardized ginkgo formula, already licensed for vascular disorders in parts of Europe, may slot neatly between lifestyle changes and invasive procedures.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-blood-clot-prevention-with-ginkgo">Blood clot prevention with ginkgo</h2>



Yang’s rat data showed lighter <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/cause-of-strokes-cervical-artery-dissection-has-increased-400-percent-since-2005/">clots</a>, higher nitric‑oxide levels, and longer clotting times after gavage with 60 milligrams per kilogram of extract. 



Nitric oxide relaxes vessel walls and counters platelet stickiness, aligning with human data from stroke and vein clinics.



<a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26030402/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Network‑pharmacology</a> maps place AKT1, ALB, and TNF at the center of ginkgo’s target web. Those same genes regulate inflammation, suggesting that the tree’s reach extends beyond platelets to the very lining of our veins.



Because oxidative stress weakens venous valves, the antioxidant side of the extract warrants equal attention. 



Flavonols scavenge free radicals, potentially slowing the progressive dilation that makes early spider veins blossom into rope‑like cords.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-talking-with-your-doctor">Talking with your doctor</h2>



Ginkgo supplements crowd store shelves, yet extracts used in clinical trials are highly standardized. Look for<a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/12757407/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener"> EGb 761</a> or products specifying at least 24 percent flavonol glycosides and 6 percent terpene lactones.



Patients on warfarin, <a href="https://www.ahajournals.org/doi/10.1161/JAHA.120.017559" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">direct oral anticoagulants</a>, or upcoming dental work should alert their clinicians before starting any form of ginkgo. 



Health professionals may stagger doses, check clotting labs, or advise pausing the herb to keep bleeding risk low.



For those with aching calves and a family history of clots, discussing ginkgo as an adjunct to compression or low‑intensity exercise could make sense. 



Evidence remains preliminary, yet the plant’s dual action on platelets and vein walls is steadily moving from bench to bedside.



Future multicenter trials ought to track long‑term safety and measure quality‑of‑life changes such as heaviness, itch, and nightly restlessness. If findings stay positive, an ancient tree might soon earn a modern role in vascular medicine.



The study is published in <a href="https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11803947/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Thrombosis Journal</a>.



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Leaves from this popular tree may improve circulation and prevent blood clots

Varicose veins bulge and twist across the calves of up...

Astronomers poring over new data from the James Webb Space Telescope have reported the most compelling hints yet that “dark stars,” cosmic behemoths fed by dark matter, really existed. 



A new <a href="https://arxiv.org/pdf/2505.06101" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">analysis</a> of five ultra‑distant objects shows spectra and shapes that match simulations of dark <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/tiny-star-giant-gas-planet-toi-6894b-breaks-current-planetary-formation-rules/">stars</a> rather than ordinary fusion‑powered suns.



The candidates sit more than 13 billion light‑years away, meaning their light left them when the universe was only a few hundred million years old. 



The dark star <a href="https://arxiv.org/abs/0705.0521" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">concept</a> was first introduced in 2007 by Katherine Freese and colleagues at the <a href="https://www.utexas.edu/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">University of Texas at Austin</a>.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-dark-matter-powering-giant-stars">Dark matter powering giant stars</h2>



Dark matter accounts for about 85 percent of the <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/planet-forming-disks-surrounding-stars-often-last-much-longer-than-expected/">universe</a>’s mass but reveals itself only through gravity. Two decades of underground detectors have yet to capture a single dark‑matter particle, yet its invisible pull sculpts galaxies and galaxy clusters.



Freese proposed that in the first halos of gas, self‑annihilating dark‑matter particles could generate heat faster than the gas could cool, inflating stars that grow to millions of solar masses without ever igniting fusion. 



Once the local dark‑matter reservoir ran out, the stars would collapse, possibly forming black holes hefty enough to seed the earliest quasars.



Webb's infrared vision extends far enough redward to catch such ancient, swollen <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/massive-new-super-earth-kepler-725c-found-in-habitable-zone-around-its-star/">stars</a>, and its sensors have already revealed dozens of unexpectedly bright objects in the epoch known as Cosmic Dawn.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-webb-spotted-strange-ancient-stars">Webb spotted strange ancient stars</h2>



Freese’s team studied <a href="https://science.nasa.gov/missions/webb/nasas-webb-sees-galaxy-mysteriously-clearing-fog-of-early-universe/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">JADES‑GS‑z11‑0, JADES‑GS‑z13‑0</a> and three even more distant specks, finding that each could be explained by a single dark star rather than a whole infant galaxy.



“If it’s real, then I don’t know how else you’d explain it other than with a dark star,” said Freese. A second clue comes from a tentative absorption dip at rest‑frame <a href="https://ned.ipac.caltech.edu/level5/Sept15/Johnson/Johnson4.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">1,640 Å</a>, the signature of <a href="https://arxiv.org/abs/1110.6202" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">He II</a>, that appears in one spectrum and is predicted only for dark‑star atmospheres.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-some-doubt-the-dark-star-idea">Some doubt the dark star idea</h2>



Daniel Whalen of the <a href="https://www.port.ac.uk/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">University of Portsmouth</a> studies massive stars forming without dark matter. He is not convinced about the existence of dark stars.



"They ignore an entire body of literature on the formation of supermassive primordial stars, some of which could give signatures very similar to the signatures that they show,” said Whalen. 



Whalen argues that rapid gas accretion alone can inflate stars to a million suns, and that Webb’s photometry cannot yet distinguish between such hot leviathans and Freese’s cooler, puffier dark stars.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-dark-stars-may-explain-early-black-holes">Dark stars may explain early black holes</h2>



The debate matters because JWST and Chandra recently found a black hole in <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/missions/chandra/nasa-telescopes-discover-record-breaking-black-hole/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">galaxy UHZ‑1</a> whose mass approaches ten billion Suns just 500 million years after the big bang. Traditional growth models struggle to build such giants so fast. 



A dark star collapsing after millions of years would supply a head start that ordinary <a href="https://astronomy.swin.edu.au/cosmos/*/Population+III" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Population III stars</a> cannot match.



Supermassive primordial stars could also create big seeds, but they rely on rare <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/first-direct-image-cosmic-web-filaments-hidden-highways-universe-framework/">conditions</a> - pristine gas streams and intense ultraviolet fields - that may not occur often enough to explain the abundance of early quasars.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-light-signals-may-prove-dark-stars">Light signals may prove dark stars</h2>



The dark star candidates give off light that’s much cooler and puffier than expected from galaxies or fusion‑based suns, which means their spectral energy distribution should look unique. 



One telltale feature would be an absorption dip caused by <a href="https://physics.nist.gov/PhysRefData/Handbook/Tables/heliumtable4.htm" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">singly ionized helium</a>, known as He II, at 1,640 Å. If confirmed, this dip could act like a fingerprint. In the Webb spectrum of <a href="https://esawebb.org/images/jades4/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">JADES‑GS‑z14‑0</a>, researchers spotted a faint signal that lines up with where the He II dip should appear.



However, the signal‑to‑noise ratio was just 2.4, which is barely above the threshold of what’s considered statistically meaningful. That makes it too early to declare the case closed. 



On top of that, observations from <a href="https://www.almaobservatory.org/en/home/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">ALMA</a> spotted oxygen nearby, which shouldn't be present in pure dark stars. This could mean the dark star is part of a system with other stars, or something more complex is going on.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-future-research">Future research</h2>



One wrinkle is that ALMA detects oxygen in one candidate’s vicinity, implying metal‑rich companions that classic dark‑star theory does not expect. 



Future deep spectra will need to confirm whether the He II feature is genuine and whether metals truly permeate the system.



Webb keeps adding targets, and the <a href="https://roman.gsfc.nasa.gov/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Roman Space Telescope</a> will survey wider areas, potentially catching hundreds of dark‑star‑like objects at redshifts beyond 14. 



For now, dark stars remain an intriguing, if unproven, explanation for several mysteries in the early universe.



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://arxiv.org/html/2505.06101v1" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences</a>.



Image Credit: Pierluigi Rinaldi / Rafael Navarro-Carrera / Pablo G. Pérez-González



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Signs of 'dark stars' discovered in the early universe

Astronomers poring over new data from the James Webb Space...

Pregnancy is one of nature’s most intricate achievements. At its core lies a delicate exchange between mother and fetus, where two genetically distinct bodies maintain close contact and constant communication. 



This connection happens at the fetal-maternal interface - the meeting point between a baby’s placenta and the mother’s uterus - and it plays a critical role in allowing pregnancies to last long enough for full fetal development.



A new study by researchers from the <a href="https://www.univie.ac.at/en/">University of Vienna</a> explores how this unique interface came to be. 



The research sheds new light on how cellular communication and cooperation evolved over millions of years to support successful pregnancies in <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/ancient-mammals-bulked-up-to-deal-with-drastic-changes/">placental mammals</a>, including humans.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-what-mammals-teach-us-about-pregnancy">What mammals teach us about pregnancy</h2>



The team examined single-cell transcriptomes - snapshots of active genes in individual cells - across six mammalian species. 



The species included humans, macaques, mice, guinea pigs, the tenrec (an early placental mammal), and the opossum (a marsupial whose evolutionary path diverged before complex placentas emerged). 



The goal was to understand how the different cells at the fetal-maternal interface evolved and how their communication systems work.



The experts focused on two major players: placenta cells from the <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/the-battle-of-the-sexes-begins-in-the-womb/">fetus</a> that invade maternal tissue, and uterine stromal cells from the mother that respond to this invasion. These interactions need to be tightly controlled. 



If the connection is too weak, the fetus may not get the nutrients it needs. But if it's too strong, the mother's immune system might recognize the fetus as foreign and attack it.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-the-genetic-memory-behind-pregnancy">The genetic memory behind pregnancy</h2>



Using powerful molecular tools, the team uncovered genetic signatures tied to specific cell types and their unique functions. 



One striking discovery was a shared genetic signature linked to the invasive behavior of fetal placenta cells - and this signature has remained in place for over 100 million years.



This challenges the long-held idea that these invasive cells are unique to <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/human-development-has-a-pause-button/">humans</a>. Instead, they appear to be a deeply rooted feature of mammalian biology. 



Meanwhile, maternal cells weren’t standing still either. In placental mammals (but not in marsupials), new forms of hormone production emerged. 



These hormonal innovations likely played a key role in extending pregnancy durations, giving developing babies more time in the womb. It also suggests that the evolution of pregnancy might have been shaped by a give-and-take between mother and fetus.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-cooperation-or-conflict">Cooperation or conflict?</h2>



To understand the tug-of-war - or possible teamwork - between <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/moms-pass-a-unique-set-of-breast-milk-antibodies-to-her-baby/">mother</a> and fetus, the researchers tested two evolutionary theories.



The first theory, called the “disambiguation hypothesis,” proposes that over time, certain hormonal signals became clearly assigned to either the mother or the fetus. This helps prevent confusion or manipulation between the two. 



The results backed this theory up: hormones like WNT proteins, immune signals, and steroid hormones could be clearly traced to one source or the other.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-coordination-between-mother-and-fetus">Coordination between mother and fetus</h2>



The second theory, known as the “escalation hypothesis,” sees pregnancy as an arms race. Here, the <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/pregnancy-stress-may-have-lasting-effects-on-fetal-development/">fetus</a> might ramp up growth signals while the mother tries to keep them in check.



Some evidence supported this theory, especially with genes like IGF2 that control growth. But overall, the data pointed more toward cooperation than conflict.



“These findings suggest that evolution may have favored more coordination between mother and fetus than previously assumed,” said Daniel J. Stadtmauer, lead author of the study. 



“The so-called mother-fetus power struggle appears to be limited to specific genetic regions. Rather than asking whether pregnancy as a whole is conflict or cooperation, a more useful question may be: where is the conflict?”



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-understanding-the-origins-of-pregnancy">Understanding the origins of pregnancy</h2>



The real breakthrough came from combining two techniques: single-cell transcriptomics and evolutionary modeling. 



This allowed the team to compare gene activity in different<a href="https://www.earth.com/news/the-hidden-struggles-of-pregnant-humpback-whales/"> species</a> and even make predictions about what those interactions looked like in long-extinct ancestors.



“Our approach opens a new window into the evolution of complex biological systems - from individual cells to entire tissues,” said Silvia Basanta, co–first author of the study. 



The research not only offers insights into how pregnancy evolved, but it could also help us better understand - and perhaps one day improve - how we treat complications during pregnancy.



By zooming in on the cellular scale, the team has given us a clearer picture of the deep evolutionary roots of one of life's most remarkable biological collaborations.



The full study was published in the journal <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41559-025-02748-x">Nature Ecology &amp; Evolution</a>.



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Ancient secrets of a modern miracle: How pregnancy evolved

Pregnancy is one of nature’s most intricate achievements. At its...

Drones deliver packages, inspect bridges, and shoot video, but their high‑pitched whine still irritates neighbors and wildlife. Engineers want rotor shapes that hush the noise without draining batteries.



One possible design comes from a 15th‑century notebook by <a href="https://www.leonardodavinci.net/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Leonardo da Vinci,</a> a continuous spiral rotor he called an “aerial screw." New simulations suggest that it can lift a modern drone while saving power.



Rajat Mittal of <a href="https://www.jhu.edu/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Johns Hopkins University</a> led a study that puts the Renaissance sketch to the test.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-da-vinci-s-drone-idea">Da Vinci’s drone idea</h2>



Leonardo da Vinci pursued flight long before airplanes - sketching wings, parachutes, and the spiral screw that inspired the helicopter dream. His notebooks show careful airflow doodles even though the science of lift would not be formalized for centuries.



The spiral looks like an overgrown <a href="https://www.britannica.com/technology/Archimedes-screw" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Archimedes' screw</a>, a water‑lifting helix from ancient Greece, except it twists upward to push air downward. Historians note that da Vinci often borrowed proven mechanical ideas for new purposes.



Human muscle could never spin the heavy canvas screw fast enough, so the contraption stayed on paper. Lightweight electric <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/earthcares-first-year-surprising-climate-clues-unveiled-from-space/">motors</a> and carbon‑fiber skins finally give the old idea a chance to rise. 



A small <a href="https://vfs.umd.edu/assets/downloads/2020_elico.pdf">prototype</a> built at the University of Maryland in 2020 confirmed the screw can generate lift, though efficiency data were thin. The new work attacks that gap with supercomputer fidelity.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-testing-the-spiral-rotor">Testing the spiral rotor</h2>



Mittal’s team rebuilt the rotor in code and ran direct numerical simulations. The model tracked every swirl of air around the spiral as it hovered. 



The exercise probed aerodynamics and aeroacoustics at several Reynolds number values - a parameter that links size, speed, and viscosity. Matching those numbers to typical small drones let the results translate to real rotors.



“We were surprised,” said Mittal. The screw needed roughly 20 percent less mechanical <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/cloud-engineering-can-temporarily-cool-our-planet/">power</a> than a two‑blade prop to hold the same weight. 



Because the spiral presents more surface but turns slower, the simulation predicted a weaker pressure pulse and therefore a quieter signature. Earlier modeling of large‑area insect‑inspired rotors hinted at the same trend.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-spiral-rotors-can-reduce-drone-noise">Spiral rotors can reduce drone noise</h2>



Community annoyance rises sharply when drone flights repeat every few minutes, a NASA laboratory <a href="https://ntrs.nasa.gov/api/citations/20240001863/downloads/Vaughn_2024_03_ATWG_05_ASA_v3.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">study</a> found last year. People rated even modest noise harsher when it came in clusters. 



Complaints back that up; the <a href="https://www.faa.gov/noise/inquiries/noise-complaint-inquiry-policy" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Federal Aviation Administration</a> logged 8,746 aircraft noise reports in the first quarter of 2025, with just 60 residents submitting 72 percent of them. Drones are included in the totals for many cities.



“It doesn’t have to be the da Vinci design to achieve this, but it is nice that da Vinci’s does,” said <a href="https://www.bu.edu/eng/profile/sheryl-grace-ph-d/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Sheryl Grace</a> of Boston University. 



A rotor that spins 1,500 revolutions per minute slower cuts broadband noise roughly in half, according to the new simulation. That drop matters more than raw loudness because the whine often falls in the most sensitive range of human hearing.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-da-vinci-s-design-for-drone-deliveries">Da Vinci’s design for drone deliveries</h2>



Drone couriers face strict <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/study-consciousness-is-a-quantum-process-connecting-us-all-to-the-entire-universe/">noise</a> limits near hospitals, schools, and wildlife preserves. A built‑in silencer would lighten regulatory burdens without adding extra shrouds or foam. 



The spiral also trims energy burn, extending range or freeing capacity for heavier batteries. Efficiency gains remain welcome while lithium prices climb.



Challenges persist: forward flight introduces side loads the screw has not yet faced, and the spiral adds mass compared with thin blades. Structural tests will need to prove the membrane can survive sudden gusts. 



Even so, quieter fleets could reduce the buffer zones that push drone depots to industrial parks and away from customers, shrinking the road miles trucks must still cover.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-future-plans-for-spiral-rotors">Future plans for spiral rotors</h2>



Mittal’s group plans to tweak pitch, taper, and turn count to squeeze more lift per square inch while keeping the low hum. The same code that vetted the classic shape can rank new variants in days instead of months. 



Lab prototypes will follow, spun by off‑the‑shelf hobby motors to compare thrust and decibels against standard props. Microphones will map the sound field in three‑dimensional space.



If the results stay promising, an industry partner could bolt a spiral onto a quadcopter for outdoor trials under current <a href="https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-14/chapter-I/subchapter-F/part-107" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Part 107 rules</a>. City officials watching Amazon’s recent delivery setbacks know neighbors care more about noise than novelty. 



Leonardo da Vinci never flew, yet his spiral might help future drones coexist with people and birds in crowded skies.



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://arxiv.org/html/2506.10223v1" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">arXiv</a>.



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Leonardo da Vinci design solves modern drone noise problems

Drones deliver packages, inspect bridges, and shoot video, but their...

Greenland sharks cruise the North Atlantic at a pace slower than most people walk, yet some were already adults when the United States was founded. 



Their astonishing lifespan has turned this elusive fish into a living time capsule, capturing the imagination of biologists and longevity researchers alike.



Julius Nielsen of the <a href="https://www.ku.dk/en" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">University of Copenhagen</a> leads many of the modern expeditions that tag, scan, and sometimes briefly corral these giants in the icy dark.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-why-greenland-sharks-live-so-long">Why Greenland sharks live so long</h2>



<a href="https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.aaf1703" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Eye‑lens radiocarbon dating</a> shows females can live at least 272 years, with one specimen estimated at 392 ± 120 years. The method pinpoints birth dates because the lens proteins stop exchanging carbon after a shark pup forms in utero.



“This is the longest living vertebrate that we know of,” said Nielsen, who helped age the record fish. He and colleagues calculate that females do not reach sexual maturity until roughly 150 years, a timetable unheard of in other sharks.



Slow annual growth, barely half an inch, means injuries heal gradually but bones and organs escape the cumulative cellular wear seen in faster‑growing <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/shark-skeletons-could-lead-to-technological-innovations/">animals</a>. 



Researchers suspect a combination of frigid water, low oxygen demand, and genes that police DNA damage all contribute, yet no single “silver bullet” for longevity has appeared.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-greenland-sharks-have-slow-heartbeats">Greenland sharks have slow heartbeats</h2>



Greenland sharks have resting <a href="https://journals.biologists.com/jeb/article/221/19/jeb186957/33812" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">heart rates</a> of about 10 beats per minute and unusually low blood pressure. That’s much lower than what you’d find in other large sharks, and it may help protect their blood vessels from long-term damage like heart attacks or strokes.



Even with such a slow heartbeat, each pump moves a lot of blood, keeping their <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/different-shark-species-seen-scavenge-feeding-together-in-rare-event/">bodies</a> fueled during slow swimming under Arctic ice. 



Doctors are paying attention, hoping this natural “strong pump, gentle pressure” system could offer ideas for treating high blood pressure in people.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-slow-bodies-save-energy">Slow bodies save energy</h2>



These sharks burn energy very slowly. In fact, their oxygen use is among the <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-020-76371-0" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">lowest ever recorded</a> for a fish their size. That kind of slow metabolism may reduce cell damage over time and help them survive long gaps between meals. 



A 280-pound shark might get through the day on fewer calories than a cheeseburger, making a single big meal last for months.



Because the deep Arctic is so cold, they digest food slowly too. Instead of burning energy for speed or growth, they stretch it out for <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/mediterranean-sharks-face-growing-threats-despite-conservation-efforts/">survival</a>.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-why-they-are-toxic-top-predators">Why they are toxic top predators</h2>



Greenland shark meat is laced with <a href="https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5127123/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">trimethylamine N‑oxide</a>, a compound that stabilizes proteins under high pressure yet renders the raw flesh neurotoxic to mammals.



Icelanders neutralize it through months of fermentation to create the ceremonial dish kæstur hákarl, but few tourists finish more than a nibble.



The species ranks as an apex predator; evidence shows adults seizing fish, squid, and the occasional sleeping seal. 



Sightings in the Gulf of Mexico and off Spain reveal a wider range than once believed, hinting at deep‑water corridors that connect polar and temperate seas.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-greenland-sharks-are-at-risk">Greenland sharks are at risk</h2>



Commercial trawlers unintentionally haul up about 3,500 Greenland <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/melissacristinamarquez/2022/11/07/greenland-shark-finally-gets-protection/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">sharks</a> each year as bycatch. Because breeding may not begin for a century and a half, losing even sub‑adults chips away at population recovery.



The <a href="https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/60213/3112909" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">International Union for Conservation of Nature</a> lists the species as “Vulnerable,” citing low fecundity and expanding deep‑sea fisheries. 



Simple changes, switching to LED‑lit nets that deter sharks, banning deep set gill nets in nursery zones, and funding release‑training for crews, can cut mortality without shrinking catches of cod or halibut.



Scientists also urge Arctic nations to establish no‑take refuges around known mating aggregations once those secret sites are found. Protecting a fish that may still be swimming in 2425 demands policies that look far beyond typical political horizons.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-the-search-for-hidden-nursery-grounds">The search for hidden nursery grounds</h2>



No one has ever observed Greenland sharks mating or giving birth in the wild. Only one pregnant female has been studied, and her embryos suggest the species may be <a href="https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/feature-story/sharpen-your-shark-facts" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">aplacental viviparous</a>, meaning the young develop inside eggs that hatch within the mother’s body.



Females seem to carry up to 10 pups at a time, but the <a href="https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/feature-story/five-wild-facts-about-shark-reproduction" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">gestation period</a> could last several years. Without regular breeding or nursery sightings, it's hard to estimate how often they reproduce or whether their range shifts during these vulnerable periods.



This gap in knowledge makes population modeling difficult. Without better data, scientists can't say how quickly these sharks could recover if current bycatch trends continue. 



Tagging mature females may help reveal mating routes or hidden nursery grounds. Learning how and where they reproduce could play a key role in designing effective marine protected areas.



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.aaf1703" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Science</a>.



Image Credit: Julius Nielsen



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Longest-living vertebrates on Earth survive for centuries in icy waters

Greenland sharks cruise the North Atlantic at a pace slower...

A crew clearing ground for a championship golf course near Inverness expected to see nothing more dramatic than sand and <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/sun-stones-and-sacrifice-how-ancient-farmers-faced-climate-chaos/">stones</a>. Instead, they uncovered a complete iron tire that once clamped around a wooden wheel, quietly waiting underground for roughly 2,200 years.



They soon called in Andy Young of <a href="https://avonarch.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Avon Archaeology Highland</a>, who led the rescue excavation and confirmed that the rim belonged to a ceremonial Iron Age chariot.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-iron-wheels-in-the-highlands">Iron wheels in the highlands</h2>



The discovery sits within a <a href="https://scarf.scot/regional/higharf/iron-age/7-3-settlement-evidence/7-3-2-palisaded-enclosures/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">palisade circle</a>, a type of prehistoric enclosure marked by concentric ditches and timber fencing. Only one other Iron Age chariot burial has been excavated in <a href="https://headlandarchaeology.com/the-newbridge-chariot-burial-a-winters-tale-of-an-unexpected-and-unique-discovery/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Scotland</a>, near Newbridge in 2001.



“They are such a rare thing. We were a bit bemused,” said Young. 



Researchers lifted the 55‑inch‑diameter rim in two curved pieces, its inner lips still showing the slight bevel that once locked against a wooden felloe. 



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-what-makes-an-iron-wheel-ceremonial">What makes an iron wheel ceremonial</h2>



The wheel lay beside cremated bone, coarse pottery, and animal fragments, a cluster that signals a high‑status burial rather than a junk heap. 



The tire's iron would have demanded substantial ore, charcoal, and smithing skill, suggesting that the individual interred nearby ranked as a local leader.



In Iron Age Scotland, <a href="https://www.engr.psu.edu/mtah/articles/techniques_blacksmith.htm" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">metalwork</a> signaled power because workable ore was patchy and smelting required large fuel loads. 



A single one‑inch‑thick rim could consume an oak tree’s worth of charcoal during forging, according to traditional blacksmithing estimates.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-iron-craftsmanship-and-technology">Iron craftsmanship and technology</h2>



To create such rims, smiths first forge‑welded short bars into a hoop, heated it until fiery red, then hammered it onto the wooden wheel, quenching the iron so it shrank tight. 



The faint weld lines and hammer scars on the Inverness tire match that description, hinting at a travelling workshop able to serve elite clients.



The archaeological team also retrieved a slag bloom, waste from smelting, inside the outer trench, implying that secondary metalworking may have occurred on site. 



Such evidence feeds debates on whether Highland communities imported finished objects or ran local forges during 500 BCE–500 CE, the conventional Scottish <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/iron-age-societies-were-more-progressive-than-most-women-central-role/">Iron Age</a> span.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-a-window-onto-iron-age-society">A window onto Iron Age society</h2>



Two concentric ditches ring the tire's pit, forming a penannular enclosure about 65 feet across. 



Postholes flanking a southeast entrance held six‑inch‑wide timbers, probably gateway uprights that heightened the spectacle of any funeral procession.



Inside, archaeologists mapped three empty pits aligned with the inner ditch. They might once have supported stone stelae or tall posts, turning the space into an open‑air shrine visible from <a href="https://www.visitscotland.com/info/see-do/moray-firth-p2570111" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Moray Firth</a> a mile away.



<a href="https://www.earth.com/news/ancient-tree-rings-help-predict-extreme-solar-storms/">Radiocarbon</a> samples from charred plant remains are now in the lab, but field stratigraphy hints at a single‑stage construction. 



That differs from lowland Yorkshire sites where chariot burials reused older mounds, indicating regional diversity in mortuary customs.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-why-this-discovery-matters">Why this discovery matters</h2>



Though Iron Age cart burials are well-documented in continental Europe, particularly in Gaul and northern Italy, they remain extremely rare in Britain, and even more so in Scotland. 



This new <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/archaeologists-find-2300-year-old-celtic-swords-adorned-with-gems-and-ancient-symbols/">discovery</a> adds weight to the argument that Highland communities had broader connections to pan-European elite traditions than previously believed.



<figure class="wp-block-image aligncenter size-full"><a href="https://www.earth.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/iron-tire-wheel_ceremonial_iron-age-scotland_credit-Avon-Archaeology_1m.jpg"><img src="https://www.earth.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/iron-tire-wheel_ceremonial_iron-age-scotland_credit-Avon-Archaeology_1s.webp" alt="Vertical photograph showing the Palisade Enclosure as excavated. Credit: Avon Archaeology Highland" class="wp-image-1976549"/></a><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Vertical photograph showing the Palisade Enclosure as excavated. Click image to enlarge. Credit: Avon Archaeology Highland</figcaption></figure>



Archaeologists from the <a href="https://www.ed.ac.uk/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">University of Edinburgh</a> and the <a href="https://www.nms.ac.uk/national-museum-of-scotland" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">National Museum of Scotland</a> have already expressed interest in further investigating the site. 



They believe this could reshape how scholars understand social stratification and ritual practices in northern Scotland during the first millennium BCE.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-questions-that-remain-unanswered">Questions that remain unanswered</h2>



One puzzle is whether the burial originally included two wheels. Young believes that a modern plow may have destroyed or displaced the second one, a possibility supported by disturbed soil patterns near the site. 



If true, this would suggest a complete cart or chariot was once interred there, in line with known Iron Age funerary rites.



Another mystery is the identity of the person buried. The cremated remains were fragmentary, making it difficult to determine age, sex, or status. 



Still, the presence of a forged iron tire and careful burial design points to someone with significant social influence likely a tribal leader or high-ranking warrior.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-protecting-the-past">Protecting the past</h2>



“This has been a remarkable journey from prehistoric times to the present, right here on our doorstep,” said <a href="https://golfweek.usatoday.com/story/sports/golf/courses/2025/05/03/cabot-highlands-golf-course-site-nets-prehistoric-findings/83428084007/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Stuart McColm</a>, vice‑president of golf development at <a href="https://cabothighlands.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Cabot Highlands</a>. 



Developers re‑buried the enclosure beneath the geotextile and reshaped the fairway so stray golf balls will fly well clear.&nbsp;



The golf resort also pledged the associated pottery, flint, and Bronze Age urn to local museums in Inverness and Edinburgh, allowing future researchers to revisit the assemblage with fresh techniques.



“We were pretty amazed,” Young added, reflecting on a career that had never before produced a complete tire from the turf. 



Young’s team plans a full <a href="https://www.stat.cmu.edu/~brian/701/notes/paper-structure.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Data Structure Report</a> and radiocarbon program, hoping to pin down whether the wheel arrived new for the burial or was retired after years of use.&nbsp;



The study is published in the <a href="https://her.highland.gov.uk/api/LibraryLink5WebServiceProxy/FetchResourceFromStub/1-3-0-3-7-0_40c99a2d006336c-130370_14c10cc87e29a0a.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Avon Archaeology Highland Data Structure Report</a>.



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Rare ceremonial wheel from the Iron Age accidentally discovered by scientists

A crew clearing ground for a championship golf course near...

DNA from a man buried in a hillside tomb in Egypt nearly five millennia ago is now rewriting part of ancient history. 



No one knew his name. His body was placed inside a ceramic pot and laid to rest long before mummification became standard. For thousands of years, the man's story sat in silence - until now.



Researchers have extracted and sequenced his DNA, making it the oldest known Egyptian genome ever decoded. He lived between 4,500 and 4,800 years ago, during a time of massive cultural and political change - the early days of pyramid construction.



The study, led by scientists from the <a href="https://www.crick.ac.uk/">Francis Crick Institute</a> and Liverpool John Moores University, is the first to successfully sequence a complete genome from ancient Egypt. 



The findings open a window into human movement and ancestry during the early dynastic period.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-dna-confirms-cross-regional-mixing">DNA confirms cross-regional mixing</h2>



At the time this man lived, Egypt had emerging trade links with parts of West Asia, particularly the Fertile Crescent - a region that includes today’s Iraq, Iran, and Jordan. 



Archaeologists have found artifacts and symbols suggesting cultural exchanges. But until now, genetic proof of these human connections was missing.



The team analyzed the man’s DNA, extracted from a tooth, and discovered that while most of his ancestry traces back to ancient North Africa, about 20% comes from the <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/how-bread-wheat-gave-rise-to-civilization/">Fertile Crescent</a> - specifically Mesopotamia. That’s modern-day Iraq.



This supports the idea that people from West Asia weren’t just sending goods. They were moving to Egypt and mixing with local communities.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-a-story-preserved-in-bone-and-clay">A story preserved in bone and clay</h2>



The remains came from a burial site in Nuwayrat, a village 265 kilometers south of Cairo. The skeleton had been excavated in 1902 and eventually housed at World Museum Liverpool. 



The man's tomb had survived war and time - even the bombings of World War II that destroyed most of the museum’s human remains.



He was buried between the Early Dynastic and Old Kingdom periods - on the edge of one era becoming another. His body was placed inside a clay pot and buried before <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/mummification-processes-in-europe-are-older-than-expected/">mummification</a> became common. That likely helped preserve his DNA.



Clues from his bones and teeth painted a more personal picture. Chemical signals showed he had grown up in Egypt. The shape and wear of his skeleton suggested the kind of physical work he likely performed.



Study co-author Joel Irish is a professor of anthropology and archaeology at Liverpool John Moores University.



“The markings on the skeleton are clues to the individual’s life and lifestyle - his seat bones are expanded in size, his arms showed evidence of extensive movement back and forth, and there’s substantial arthritis in just the right foot," noted Irish. 



He explained that the clues point towards pottery, including use of a pottery wheel, which arrived in Egypt around the same time. 



"That said, his higher-class burial is not expected for a potter, who would not normally receive such treatment. Perhaps he was exceptionally skilled or successful to advance his <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/moving-up-social-status-can-lower-dementia-risk/">social status</a>."



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-years-of-dna-extraction-failures">Years of DNA extraction failures</h2>



This breakthrough builds on decades of failed attempts to retrieve usable DNA from ancient Egyptian remains. Heat and humidity usually destroy DNA over time, making preservation in Egypt extremely rare. 



Study co-senior author Pontus Skoglund is the group leader of the Ancient Genomics Laboratory at the Crick.



Skoglund noted that 40 years have passed since the early pioneering attempts to retrieve DNA from <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/cocaine-use-detected-in-the-brains-of-17th-century-mummies/">mummies</a> without successful sequencing of an ancient Egyptian genome.



"Ancient Egypt is a place of extraordinary written history and archaeology, but challenging DNA preservation has meant that no genomic record of ancestry in early Egypt has been available for comparison," Skoglund said. 



"Building on this past research, new and powerful genetic techniques have allowed us to cross these technical boundaries and rule out contaminating DNA, providing the first genetic evidence for potential movements of people in Egypt at this time."



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-more-than-bones-and-genes">More than bones and genes</h2>



This was more than just a genetic scan. The scientists used every available clue - from isotopes in the man’s teeth to the shape of his bones - to reconstruct a picture of who he was and where he came from.



“Piecing together all the clues from this individual’s DNA, bones and teeth have allowed us to build a comprehensive picture," said study first author Adeline Morez Jacobs. 



"We hope that future DNA samples from ancient Egypt can expand on when precisely this movement from West Asia started."



The researchers aim to collaborate further with Egyptian scientists to collect more ancient samples. Each one could add another piece to the puzzle of how people moved, lived, and changed <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/solar-eclipse-may-have-changed-the-architecture-of-ancient-egypt-forever/">Egypt</a> during one of its most iconic eras.



The full study was published in the journal <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-025-09195-5">Nature</a>.



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Ancient Egypt’s oldest genome reveals surprising ancestry mix

DNA from a man buried in a hillside tomb in...

Bumble bees, like humans, sometimes eat the wrong things. A new study shows they may pick foods that don’t meet their nutritional needs - and those choices might actually harm their health.



In research conducted at <a href="https://www.psu.edu/">Penn State University</a>, scientists found that when bumble bees were offered diets enriched with varying levels of protein, fat, and carbohydrates, their eating habits didn’t lead to better health. 



The study raises new questions about how bees choose what to eat - and whether those choices are good for them.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-bumble-bees-don-t-choose-healthy-options">Bumble bees don't choose healthy options</h2>



The researchers designed a controlled study where bumble bees were split into groups and given specific diets. Some groups received <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/bee-survival-depends-on-more-than-just-pollen-abundance/">pollen</a> with added protein or fat. Others got nectar-like sugar solutions with different sugar levels. 



A control group was allowed to eat a standard diet of wild pollen and a 60% sugar solution. All the bees were the same age and housed in small groups to keep testing conditions consistent. 



What happened next surprised the researchers. The bumble bees didn't go for the food options that were healthy. 



The bees ate more when protein levels in pollen were higher, less when fat levels were higher, and they over-consumed sugar when the nectar was watered down. 



None of the eating patterns benefited the physical health of the bumble bees. Egg-laying declined. Body weight stayed the same or dropped. Nothing the bees chose to eat led to better outcomes than the control group.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-bumble-bees-make-bad-food-choices">Bumble bees make bad food choices</h2>



The results challenge the long-standing assumption that bees instinctively know what to eat to stay healthy.



Etya Amsalem is an associate professor of entomology in the College of Agricultural Sciences and lead author of the study. She noted that bee preferences are unlikely to reflect true needs and more likely result from evolutionary constraints.



“For instance, bees may under-consume lipids not because high-lipid diets are harmful, but because their physiology is not well-suited for digesting or storing large amounts of lipids," said Professor Amsalem.



“Bees may over-consume proteins because they have evolved to seek them out whenever they’re available, even though excess protein can be detrimental because it affects how efficiently bees can eliminate nitrogen from their bodies."



This mismatch - between what bees eat and what actually helps them - may be putting more strain on already vulnerable bee populations.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-why-this-matters-for-bee-survival">Why this matters for bee survival</h2>



Bumble bees are under serious stress worldwide. Habitat loss, <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/pesticides-attack-bees-in-multiple-ways-throughout-the-body/">pesticide</a> exposure, climate change, and industrial farming have drastically reduced the variety and quality of flowers bees depend on. 



In many areas, rich, diverse meadows have been replaced by monocultures or urban development. That leaves bees with fewer options - and often with subpar food sources.



This drop in floral diversity doesn’t just mean less food overall - it means less nutritionally balanced food. Even when bees find enough to eat, the quality of that food may not support key functions like reproduction, colony growth, or immune strength.



Nutrition plays a big role in <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/organic-farming-and-flower-strips-improve-honey-bee-health/">bee health</a>. But if bees can’t always tell what’s good for them, that complicates conservation efforts.



“It’s an odd assumption when you think about it - my toddler prefers chocolate over broccoli, but I wouldn’t conclude from that that chocolate is healthier for her,” said Professor Amsalem. 



“So, why do we assume bees are different? Understanding potential mismatches between consumption and fitness outcomes is important, as most conservation and management strategies assume bees can self-regulate their diets for optimal health.”



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-rethinking-bumble-bee-health">Rethinking bumble bee health</h2>



The results suggest that preference alone isn’t a reliable guide for diet planning - not for bees, and likely not for conservation strategies either. 



Instead of assuming bees will naturally eat what’s best for them, the researchers say we need a deeper understanding of how diet affects their health at a physiological level. According to Professor Amsalem, future research needs to dig deeper.



“Future research could investigate why bees fail to optimize diet - for example, metabolic limitations, gustatory biases or ecological tradeoffs - and may explore nonmacronutrient components like vitamins and minerals that may explain fitness discrepancies,” she said.



For conservation groups, farmers, and scientists trying to support healthy bee populations, this study is a clear reminder: what bees choose to eat may not be what’s best for them. And that makes understanding their real nutritional needs more urgent than ever.



The full study was published in the journal <a href="https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0022191025000769">Journal of Insect Physiology</a>.



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How bumble bees are sabotaging their own health

Bumble bees, like humans, sometimes eat the wrong things. A...

The Arctic has always seemed like the perfect place to hide secrets. Thick ice, biting winds, and months of darkness. For years, people believed that during the coldest ice ages, the Arctic Ocean vanished beneath an enormous ice shelf, one as thick as a skyscraper is tall.



That idea has stuck around for decades. A slab of ice, nearly a kilometer deep, covering the entire Arctic? It sounded dramatic. But not every dramatic story survives forever. A new study now shatters this icy myth.



In a study published in the journal Science Advances, scientists explain why this old theory no longer holds up. Their findings suggest something else happened during the last 750,000 years. 



The <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/arctic-climate-will-permanently-change-by-2050-scientists-warn/">Arctic</a>, even in its most brutal days, wasn’t entirely sealed under thick ice. Instead, it had patches of open water. Life kept going. The sea ice came and went with the seasons.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-ancient-mud-shows-open-arctic-seas">Ancient mud shows open Arctic seas</h2>



The researchers dug deep. They drilled into the seafloor of the <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/arctic-peatlands-are-spreading-as-temperatures-rise/">Arctic</a>-Atlantic gateway and the Nordic Seas. There, buried in the mud, they found tiny fingerprints left by algae.



Some of these algae bloom only in open waters. Others live under seasonal sea ice, the kind that melts and freezes every year. These ancient traces told a clear story.



“Our sediment cores show that marine life was active even during the coldest times,” said Jochen Knies, lead author of the study from <a href="https://en.uit.no" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">UiT The Arctic University of Norway</a>, Tromsø. 



“That tells us there must have been light and open water at the surface. You wouldn’t see that if the entire Arctic was locked under a kilometre-thick slab of ice.”



That’s not all they found. A molecule called IP25 showed up again and again in the sediments. This molecule comes from algae that thrive in seasonal sea ice. Its steady presence revealed a world where sea ice wasn’t permanent. It came. It melted. It returned again.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-arctic-life-survived-through-ice-ages">Arctic life survived through ice ages</h2>



Sea ice wasn’t the only thing that moved with the seasons. The <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/arctic-grazers-secretly-shape-plant-growth-and-survival/">ocean</a> itself stayed alive. Phytoplankton, the tiny floating plants of the sea, kept growing, even when the cold hit hard.



Biomarkers of phytoplankton like epi brassicasterol and dinosterol showed up consistently in the sediment cores. These tiny clues pointed to a surprising fact. Life did not vanish during glaciations. It slowed down, but it never stopped.



Even during the Last Glacial Maximum, around 21,000 years ago, the sea ice still followed a seasonal rhythm. The same thing happened about 140,000 years ago during an even colder spell.



The Arctic breathed. It froze in winter. It opened in summer. And where light could sneak through, life flourished.



Some giant icebergs also roamed the seas during these cold spells. They were like wandering giants, breaking free from Greenland and the Canadian Arctic. 



The icebergs sometimes got stuck on shallow shelves, leaving deep marks on the seafloor. Yet, these icebergs were visitors, not rulers. They never formed a permanent lid over the entire ocean.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-arctic-ice-was-not-permanent">Arctic ice was not permanent</h2>



To double-check their findings, the scientists turned to <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/arctic-meltdown-is-accelerating-global-warming-already-changing-earth-in-unimaginable-ways/">climate</a> models. They used the AWI Earth System Model, a detailed computer simulation of ancient climates.



These simulations showed the same thing the sediments revealed. Even during extreme cold, warm Atlantic waters kept sneaking into the Arctic. This flow of water stopped the ocean from freezing solid.



“The models support what we found in the sediments,” said Knies. “Even during these extreme glaciations, warm Atlantic water still flowed into the Arctic gateway. This helped keep some parts of the ocean from freezing over completely.”



The models also captured the restless movement of sea ice. It spread in winter. It melted back in summer. It drifted along powerful ocean currents like the Transpolar Drift and the Beaufort Gyre.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-a-glimpse-of-the-arctic-at-its-coldest">A glimpse of the Arctic at its coldest</h2>



There was one chapter in this icy story that stood out. It happened during Marine Isotope Stage 16, about 650,000 years ago. That’s when the biomarkers nearly vanished.



It looked as if the Arctic locked itself down for a brief time. No sign of open water. No hint of seasonal ice. Just endless cold.



This period lines up with the coldest known stretch of the Quaternary period. Carbon dioxide levels dropped to their lowest point, around 180 parts per million. Everything about this time screams extreme cold.



“There may have been short-lived ice shelves in some parts of the Arctic during especially severe cold phases,” said Knies. “But we don’t see any sign of a single, massive ice shelf that covered everything for thousands of years.”



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-giant-ice-shelf-theory-now-disproved">Giant ice shelf theory now disproved</h2>



For years, scientists pointed to strange patterns on the seafloor as proof of an ancient Arctic ice shelf. Deep scours, ridges, and grooves looked like evidence of ice pressing down on the ocean floor.



But this study offers a new explanation. Those marks may have come from huge icebergs drifting through the Arctic. These giants could easily gouge the seafloor during their journeys.



The researchers also stress a crucial difference. Sea ice is not the same as ice shelves. Sea ice forms and melts every year. Ice shelves are thick, massive slabs of ice that grow from glaciers on land.



If the Arctic ever had an ice shelf, it likely existed long ago - perhaps during the Mid Pleistocene transition between 950,000 and 790,000 years ago. Since then, the Arctic has danced between ice and water, never staying frozen solid for long.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-arctic-s-past-shows-it-may-survive-future">Arctic’s past shows it may survive future</h2>



This isn’t just a story about ancient ice. It’s also a warning for today. The Arctic is changing fast. The more we understand its past, the better we can predict its future.



“These past patterns help us understand what’s possible in future scenarios,” said Knies. “We need to know how the Arctic behaves under stress and what tipping points to watch for as the Arctic responds to a warming world.”



The Arctic has shown time and again that it doesn’t like to sit still. Even at its coldest, it found ways to stay partly open. It allowed life to hold on.



Today, the Arctic faces a new kind of challenge. Warming is accelerating faster than anything in the past. But this study reminds us that the Arctic has always been more dynamic than we thought. It has never been just a frozen wasteland.



Its icy history tells a story of change, survival, and resilience. The future may still surprise us, just like its hidden past has done.



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.adu7681" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Science Advances</a>.



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Arctic Ocean stayed partly open during harsh ice ages

The Arctic has always seemed like the perfect place to...

Life began small, but even the tiniest cells need a way to copy their instructions. A new laboratory system shows that a simple set of RNA building blocks can get most of the way there, pushing experimental biologists closer to watching life’s opening act unfold in a test tube.



“This was the molecule that ran biology,” said James Attwater of <a href="https://www.ucl.ac.uk/">University College London</a>, who led the study. 



The work centers on an artificial <a href="https://www.news-medical.net/life-sciences/What-are-Ribozymes.aspx" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">ribozyme</a> that joins three‑letter chunks of RNA while cycling between hot, cold, acidic, and alkaline conditions. 



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-rna-played-a-key-role-in-early-life">RNA played a key role in early life</h2>



The idea that one molecule once carried both genetic information and catalytic power, dubbed the RNA <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/319618a0" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">world</a>, was first laid out almost 40 years ago. 



Modern cells still hint at that past because ribosomes, spliceosomes, and many regulatory switches all rely on RNA to keep <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/most-detailed-map-of-human-genetic-mutations-unveiled/">genes</a> working.



Short RNA strands can fold into active shapes, cut other RNAs, and even build peptides, making them plausible ancestors of today’s enzymes. Researchers have spent decades trying to show that RNA can also copy itself fast enough to allow Darwinian evolution.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-solving-the-rna-copying-problem">Solving the RNA copying problem</h2>



Copying RNA sounds easy until you meet the <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30383375/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">strand separation problem</a>. Freshly made daughter strands cling so tightly to their templates that the double helix cannot unwind in time for another round of replication.



Some groups have used heat, acid, crowding agents, or helper oligonucleotides to pry the strands apart, but each fix either damages RNA or stalls the copying chemistry. Freeze-thaw <a href="https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2116429119" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">studies</a> showed that ice concentrates reactants without cooking them, hinting at a gentler route.



Attwater’s team discovered that short trinucleotide triphosphates bind single <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/some-genes-may-predict-infertility-and-disease-by-flipping-like-a-light-switch/">strands</a> strongly enough to stop them from re‑zipping while also doubling as substrates for extension. Three bases form a sweet spot: long enough to grip, yet short enough to avoid frequent errors.



Under pH swings that first melt duplexes at 176 °F, then freeze them at 19 °F, the ribozyme weaves the triplets into fresh complementary strands. So far the enzyme can copy thirty of its 180 letters before running out of steam, but the researchers see clear paths to speedup.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-short-pieces-help-rna-make-copies">Short pieces help RNA make copies</h2>



During each cold phase, the remaining liquid between ice crystals becomes a concentrated <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/engineering/eutectic-phase" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">eutectic phase</a> where magnesium ions, the ribozyme, and triplets are corralled together. 



In that micro‑brine the polymerase connects the triplets, then waits for the next heat pulse to start another <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/gene-regulation-controlling-cells-to-improve-medical-treatments/">cycle</a>.



“There might be a relationship between how biology used to copy its RNA and how biology uses RNA today,” noted Attwater. 



The group watched exponential gains when they put the system through repeated hot-cold swings, confirming that templates made in one cycle feed the next. 



“RNA nucleotide triplets serve very specific informatic functions in translation in all cells,” noted Zachary Adam, a geochemist at the <a href="https://www.wisc.edu/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">University of Wisconsin‑Madison</a> who was not involved in the study. 



The binding preference of <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/7575393/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">GC‑rich triplets</a> echoes the stability pattern of codons that still anchor the genetic code.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-hints-of-the-genetic-code">Hints of the genetic code</h2>



The experts found that the triplets most able to keep strands apart match those believed to seed the <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/15214800/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">earliest triplet code</a>. This overlap suggests that replication chemistry could have nudged evolution toward the codon system long before proteins appeared.



Models of primordial ponds often invoke hot springs that swing between acidic jets and freezing spray, conditions seen in Iceland today. 



Such locales supply the freshwater and rapid pH shifts that the triplet mechanism needs, making the scenario geologically plausible.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-early-signs-of-life-copying-itself">Early signs of life copying itself</h2>



The system didn't just copy preexisting templates. It also generated new RNA sequences from random starting material and then amplified those fragments through multiple rounds.



Some of the strongest amplification came from strands resembling parts of the ribozyme itself, suggesting early self-copying behavior that could foreshadow how functional sequences emerged billions of years ago.



To cross the finish line, the ribozyme must copy its entire 180‑letter body and then repeat the feat indefinitely. Attwater’s team is engineering faster variants and trimming unnecessary folds to lighten the enzymatic load.



If full self‑replication emerges, chemists can finally watch mutation and natural selection operate in a test tube filled with nothing but RNA and simple salts. 



The achievement would turn a long‑standing hypothesis into an observable process, offering the clearest window yet on life’s origin.



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41557-025-01830-y" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Nature Chemistry</a>.



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Life copying itself: Scientists create a self-replicating RNA system

Life began small, but even the tiniest cells need a...

Ants, with their unique genes, outnumber people by roughly 2.5 million to one. Their combined dry mass, about 12 million tons of carbon, rivals one‑fifth of humanity’s weight on land.



An international research team has compared 163 ant genomes to show how these <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/swarm-intelligence-ants-can-anticipate-obstacles-and-plan-ahead/">insects</a> turned cooperative living into an evolutionary engine. They reshuffled DNA while guarding key caste <a href="https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2201550119" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">genes</a> for more than 100 million years.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-genetic-clues-to-colony-life">Genetic clues to colony life</h2>



Dr. Lukas Schrader of the <a href="https://www.uni-muenster.de/en/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">University of Münster</a> helped coordinate the <a href="https://www.cell.com/cell/fulltext/S0092-8674(25)00617-8" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">project</a> and still sounds amazed by its scope.



<a href="https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC2665839/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Charles Darwin</a> once fretted over sterile workers, calling them a “special difficulty” because natural selection seemed unable to favor individuals that never breed. 



Inclusive‑fitness theory, formalized in 1964, solved the logic by showing that workers spread their genes by helping sisters.



The new data add genetic proof to that idea: worker‑specific <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/how-many-ants-live-on-earth-at-any-point-in-time-total-number-is-astounding/">gene</a> clusters stayed almost identical across lineages, hinting that any mutation hurting brood care was swiftly purged.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-ant-colonies-behave-like-bodies">Ant colonies behave like bodies</h2>



Biologists label an ant colony a superorganism because its members behave like cells of one body. 



The new <a href="https://www.cell.com/cell/fulltext/S0092-8674%2825%2900617-8" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">dataset</a> spans army ants with millions of workers, species such as Camponotus japonicus whose queens dwarf their tiniest laborers more than 100‑fold, and even parasites that have lost workers altogether.



Researchers sequenced 145 species from 25 countries and folded in 18 earlier genomes to reach chromosome‑level quality for 17 of them. That’s no small feat when many ants are smaller than a comma.



“The publication is a milestone in our understanding of the molecular and genetic foundations of ants and probably also other social <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/how-ants-could-help-stop-the-tree-killing-lanternfly/">insects</a> such as honeybees,” said Schrader.



Across the tree, queen and worker blueprints sit side by side. Yet workers never hatch reproductive organs because development is rerouted by hormones and gene‑regulation circuits embedded in the shared DNA.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-ants-keep-critical-survival-genes">Ants keep critical survival genes</h2>



The study tracked <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/biochemistry-genetics-and-molecular-biology/synteny" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">synteny</a>, the order of genes along a chromosome. Whole blocks had flipped, fused, or fractured at a rate up to four times that seen in vertebrates. Ant groups with the fastest breakage spawned the most species.



Even so, 970 tiny gene clusters, street blocks in the genetic city, remained frozen across 80 percent of species. Many code for metabolism and caste traits, suggesting that breaking them would cripple <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/paleontologists-found-the-oldest-ant-species-on-earth-113-million-years-old-with-scythe-like-jaws/">colony</a> function.



One conserved block houses two <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/neuroscience/vitellogenin" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">vitellogenin genes</a> vital for queen egg yolk and sits unchanged in 148 genomes. Another links fatty‑acid enzymes to worker‑biased expression, underlining how diet and labor intertwine.



Holding those modules steady while the surrounding landscape rearranged let ants explore new lifestyles without losing the caste machinery that keeps colonies alive.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-hormones-decide-jobs-and-stability">Hormones decide jobs and stability</h2>



A single molecule can tip a larva toward royalty or toil. <a href="https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2406999121" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Juvenile hormone</a> has long been that switch, and gene copies for the enzyme <a href="https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2134232100" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">JHAMT</a> rise in species with extreme queen‑worker size gaps.&nbsp;



Insulin and <a href="https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.abm8767" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">MAPK signaling</a> join the act. In the jumping ant Harpegnathos, blocking MAPK with the drug trametinib makes workers grow larger, echoing lab findings that this pathway expands ovaries when workers become egg‑laying gamergates.&nbsp;



The new comparison shows MAPK genes under intensified selection in lineages where workers can still replace a queen, but relaxed selection where caste roles are rock‑solid. 



That fits the idea that plastic colonies need fine hormonal tuning, while rigid ones lock their switches.



Hormone receptors for juvenile hormone and insulin sit inside conserved synteny islands. This hints that the entire endocrine toolkit rode through deep time as a connected package.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-ant-genes-shift-with-colony-size">Ant genes shift with colony size</h2>



Bigger colonies and steeper queen‑worker dimorphism marched together in evolution; both correlate with trails, trophallaxis, and worker polymorphism. 



Genes tied to brain development, such as <a href="https://www.genecards.org/cgi-bin/carddisp.pl?gene=GCM1" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">GCM</a> and the <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/gene/37892" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">muscarinic receptor mAChR‑A</a>, show worker‑type biased activity and signs of adaptive change in species sporting soldiers beside tiny foragers.



Where workers lost ovaries altogether, selection on oogenesis genes like otu relaxed, but those same genes stay under pressure in species whose workers can still lay male eggs.



Social parasites flip the pattern. Workerless inquilines shed odorant‑receptor genes and rack up chromosomal breaks, mirroring their narrow ecological niche and tiny population sizes.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-ant-genes-explain-social-evolution">Ant genes explain social evolution</h2>



Many themes, hormonal control, preserved gene neighborhoods, break‑induced innovation, also shape honeybees, wasps, and higher termites. Ants simply had a 150‑million‑year head start, offering a living time machine for social evolution.



Knowing which genes stay linked during caste splits could aid synthetic‑biology efforts that aim to engineer division of labor in microbes or even tissues.



The study also reminds us that nature can be both flexible and conservative: colonies reinvent chromosome layouts yet keep critical circuits intact, a balance worth emulating in adaptive technologies.



Ants may be tiny, but their genomes read like manuals on how cooperation rewires life. Future research will test whether the same genetic choreography repeats whenever individual interests yield to collective success.



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.cell.com/cell/fulltext/S0092-8674(25)00617-8" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Cell</a>.



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Ant genes show how evolution created perfect teamwork

Ants, with their unique genes, outnumber people by roughly 2.5...

Milk, a staple in countless diets worldwide, now faces an uncertain future. As climate change accelerates, its effects are being felt far beyond melting glaciers and rising seas. 



One of the most troubling consequences is unfolding silently in dairy farms - where heat is becoming an ever-present threat.



Heat stress in cows is not new. Dairy farmers have long dealt with summer slumps in <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/new-study-shows-that-dairy-milk-cheese-consumption-improves-gut-biodiversity-health/">milk</a> production. But today's climate shifts are not just occasional hurdles. They are becoming regular, intense, and prolonged. 



Scientists now warn that the future of milk production could face irreversible changes, with major impacts on food supplies and farmer livelihoods.



A recent study offers deep insight into this challenge. It reveals that extreme heat reduces milk yields by up to 10 percent, and cooling systems are only partly effective. The results highlight the limits of technology in fighting nature’s heat waves.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-extreme-heat-is-cutting-milk-production">Extreme heat is cutting milk production</h2>



The study examined 320 million daily records from Israeli <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/drinking-raw-milk-health-hazard-pasteurization-important/">dairy</a> farms over 12 years. It shows that extreme humid heat reduces milk yield by up to 10 percent. These effects linger beyond 10 days.



“Climate change will have wide-ranging impacts on what we eat and drink, including that cold glass of milk,” said Eyal Frank, an assistant professor at the <a href="https://harris.uchicago.edu" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Harris School of Public Policy</a>.



Even farms with the best technology could only offset less than half of these losses.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-israeli-farms-offer-global-insights">Israeli farms offer global insights</h2>



Israel's dairy sector uses advanced technology and operates under government-controlled <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/dairy-farms-can-join-the-climate-fight-by-trapping-methane/">milk</a> prices. 



The researchers gathered data from more than 130,000 cows. They also surveyed 306 farmers on their heat mitigation strategies, including cooling technologies.



“The dairy industry in Israel is a good testbed because farms are scattered throughout the country and experience a wide range of temperatures and humidity that represent conditions for top milk producing countries around the world,” noted Ram Fishman, associate professor of Public Policy at <a href="https://english.tau.ac.il" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Tel Aviv University</a>.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-humid-heat-causes-sharp-milk-declines">Humid heat causes sharp milk declines</h2>



The study shows milk yields fall sharply when wet-bulb temperatures exceed 26°C (78.8°F). Wet-bulb temperature captures both heat and humidity, making it more accurate for gauging heat stress.



When cows face these <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/raw-milk-could-carry-deadly-flu-viruses-for-days/">conditions</a>, production drops by nearly 10 percent. It also takes more than 10 days for milk output to recover.



Cooling systems, such as fans and sprinklers, help but lose effectiveness as temperatures rise.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-cooling-helps-but-only-partially">Cooling helps, but only partially</h2>



Cooling equipment can cut losses by about half on moderately hot days. However, on hotter days, this protection weakens.



Farms typically recoup cooling costs within 1.5 years, making it a profitable, though incomplete, solution.



“Dairy farmers are well aware of the negative impacts that heat stress has on their herds, and they use multiple forms of adaptation,” says Ayal Kimhi, associate professor at the <a href="https://en.huji.ac.il" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Hebrew University of Jerusalem</a>.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-heat-damage-to-milk">Heat damage to milk </h2>



The researchers discovered that heat’s effects on milk production can last longer than previously believed.



Ten consecutive days of humid heat can reduce yields by up to 26 percent. These prolonged impacts suggest that heat stress accumulates, making recovery slow and difficult.



Some farms also shift calving periods and change feeding schedules to reduce heat impacts. These additional tactics offer slight benefits. Farms using both calving and feed adjustments showed better resilience during extreme heat.



Still, the researchers found that these methods offer limited protection compared to the scale of the problem.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-future-heat-will-worsen-milk-shortages">Future heat will worsen milk shortages</h2>



The research models future scenarios for major dairy-producing countries. Without cooling, these nations may lose up to 4 percent of their annual milk production by mid-century.



India, Pakistan, and Brazil face some of the largest losses. Cooling can reduce some of the impact, but not eliminate it.



The study also highlights that even with cooling, losses persist in countries like the United States and China.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-rethinking-dairy-adaptation">Rethinking dairy adaptation</h2>



The researchers found a clear trade-off. Higher-producing cows suffer more from heat stress.



Milk losses are highest during early lactation stages and among older cows that produce more milk. This trade-off raises concerns about the long-term sustainability of high-output dairy systems.



The study raises questions about current dairy farming practices. Full indoor housing can reduce heat exposure but introduces new problems, like stress from confinement.



“Our research underscores the value and the limitations of cooling technologies and other efforts taken by dairy farmers to adapt to climate change,” said Claire Palandri, a postdoctoral scholar at the Harris School of Public Policy.



Palandri urges policymakers to explore alternative ways to ease heat stress on cows, such as reducing confinement or allowing more natural behaviors, to protect milk production in a warming world.



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.adw4780" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Science Advances</a>.



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Milk prices are rising with the heat around the world due to production issues

Milk, a staple in countless diets worldwide, now faces an...

Phyllium,Is,The,Largest,And,Most,Widespread,Genus,Of,Leaf

In the wild, survival often depends on looks. Some insects evolve disguises that trick their predators into keeping a safe distance. One of the most fascinating examples of this is <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/biochemistry-genetics-and-molecular-biology/batesian-mimicry" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Batesian mimicry</a>, where harmless species mimic dangerous ones.



Predators that are wary of painful stings, or toxic bites, learn to avoid the warning patterns on the bodies of these potential prey species. 



But some other species evolve to copy these signals, despite being completely harmless themselves. This strange dance of deception shapes the appearance of many species worldwide.



Recently, researchers at the <a href="https://www.nottingham.ac.uk" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">University of Nottingham</a> pushed this idea further. They explored how advanced 3D printing technologies can unravel mysteries surrounding mimicry. Their results revealed surprising insights about evolution, <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/insects-are-still-disappearing-and-there-are-hundreds-of-reasons-why/">predators</a>, and survival strategies.



This study not only shines a light on insect mimicry but also offers a deeper look at the forces that mold nature’s endless forms.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-how-predators-judge-insect-disguises">How predators judge insect disguises</h2>



The Nottingham team, led by Dr. Tom Reader and Dr. Christopher Taylor, decided to take an experimental leap. They created life-size, 3D-printed models of insects to study how predators respond to different levels of mimicry.



By controlling every aspect of these models - such as shape, color, size, and patterns - they crafted accurate representations of real <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/rising-heat-shrinking-habitats-insects-face-hidden-threats/">species</a>. These included wasps that are known for their stings, and hoverflies that are famous mimics of wasps.



This approach allowed the scientists to explore a central question: Why do some mimics look almost identical to their models, while others resemble them only vaguely?



With 3D printing, they could manipulate every trait precisely and test how predators react to slight variations. This marked a significant step beyond previous studies that relied on natural specimens alone.



“In our study, we are asking a question about how evolution works and what determines where evolution reaches at a particular point in time," Dr. Reader said.



"Our experiments looked at the competing influences which might ultimately shape what organisms look like. Insects and mimicry offer a powerful and accessible way to investigate questions that are relevant across the entire tree of life,” he explained.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-color-and-shape-matter">Color and shape matter</h2>



The team employed cutting-edge imaging tools to scan real wasps and <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/hoverflies-navigate-by-aligning-their-bodies-with-the-sun/">hoverflies</a>. Then, using advanced morphing software, they modified these images to create insects with varying degrees of accuracy in terms of mimicry.



These experiments allowed the researchers to demonstrate the potential for using modern 3D imaging, along with computer morphing, to design insect models that displayed many different combinations of colors and patterns, shapes and sizes.



“The models enabled us to ask ‘what-if’ questions about these insects. What if they were better mimics because their color was more wasp-like?" said Dr. Taylor.



"It allowed us to play around with the insect’s appearance in a way you can’t with real specimens," he said. "Which meant we could ask a much broader range of questions about what it is that makes a good or bad mimic.”



This experimental flexibility opened new doors for exploring mimicry. The researchers could fine-tune every trait independently and combine them in unexpected ways.



Their key aim was to understand how much precision a mimic needs in order to avoid being eaten. They also wanted to see why poor mimics still manage to survive in nature.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-birds-demand-better-insect-disguises">Birds demand better insect disguises</h2>



In their experiments, the scientists presented their models to real predators in controlled settings. Their main subjects were wild birds, particularly great tits, which rely heavily on sight to identify prey.



The results showed that birds responded strongly to variations in mimicry. They focused mainly on color and size, ignoring finer pattern details.



<figure class="wp-block-image aligncenter size-full"><a href="https://www.earth.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/insect-imitation_3d-printed-wasps_credit-UNottingham_1m.jpg"><img src="https://www.earth.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/insect-imitation_3d-printed-wasps_credit-UNottingham_1s.webp" alt="3D printed models of a common wasp. The model in front is life-sized. Credit: Dr. Tom Reader (University of Nottingham)" class="wp-image-1976458"/></a><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">3D printed models of a common wasp. The model in front is life-sized. Click image to enlarge. Credit: Dr. Tom Reader (University of Nottingham)</figcaption></figure>



The birds were quick learners. They soon began to avoid models that looked more like wasps, even if those models were still rewarding to eat.



Interestingly, the team discovered that intermediate mimics, those blending traits of two different wasp models, gained no extra protection. Birds seemed to prefer clear signals over mixed ones, demanding accurate mimicry.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-sloppy-mimics-still-survive">Sloppy mimics still survive</h2>



While birds proved strict judges, invertebrate predators reacted differently. The team tested crab spiders, jumping spiders, and mantises alongside birds to compare predator responses.



Invertebrates showed less concern about precise mimicry. They tolerated models with poor resemblance and attacked more broadly.



This revealed an important insight: <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/ocean-noise-can-be-fatal-to-marine-invertebrates/">invertebrates</a> impose weaker pressure on mimics to evolve perfect disguises. Some insects can survive despite their sloppy mimicry if their main threats come from these predators.



This creates a fascinating evolutionary tension. Birds push for more accurate mimics, but invertebrates allow greater variation to persist.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-how-evolution-shapes-insect-disguises">How evolution shapes insect disguises</h2>



A major breakthrough in this study was the creation of an adaptive <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/modern-farming-is-causing-many-insect-species-to-collapse/">landscape</a> for mimicry. By using their 3D printed models, the team could systematically map how changes in traits affected predator decisions.



They designed smooth transitions between models, allowing them to visualize shifts in predator responses as traits varied. The experiments showed that the landscape was steep for color and size, traits that birds select strongly for, but flatter for other features like pattern.



This landscape explained why some mimics evolve to look highly accurate, while others remain imperfect. It all depends on the types of predators in their environment.



In bird-heavy areas, precise mimicry becomes essential. In areas dominated by invertebrates, imperfect mimics can survive without major risks.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-simulating-future-disguises">Simulating future disguises</h2>



3D modeling and visualization tools allow researchers to create life-size, full-color models of potential past or future hoverflies and then test them with real predators like birds and <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/spiders-adapt-their-webs-to-filter-out-human-made-noise/">spiders</a> to see how they respond to those traits.



“As an evolutionary biologist, you are constantly trying to understand something that happened in the past, and without a time machine you can’t know how a hoverfly ended up like it did, " Dr. Reader said.



This study not only revealed the subtle pressures shaping insect disguises today but also hinted at how those forces may have operated throughout history.



By bridging technology and biology, the team has crafted a remarkable tool for studying evolution. Their work helps explain how nature fine-tunes survival strategies and keeps evolving in unexpected ways.



Their experiments brought new clarity to questions that have puzzled scientists for decades, showing how insect mimicry remains one of nature’s most astonishing tricks.



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-025-09216-3" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Nature</a>.



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Mimicry among insects: 3D models reveal how nature's disguises trick predators

In the wild, survival often depends on looks. Some insects...

Thirty‑five millennia may sound like a long time, yet for a mammal, it is practically yesterday. A new study uses whole‑genome data to show that the Norwegian lemming, Lemmus lemmus, split from its Siberian cousin only about 35,000 years ago.



“The Norwegian lemming is a key ecological species in the Fennoscandian tundra. Among other things, it serves as primary food for many predator <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/arctic-animals-evolved-in-different-ways-to-beat-the-cold/">species</a>, including some threatened ones such as the Arctic fox,” said David Díez del Molino, a researcher at the Centre for Palaeogenetics, <a href="https://www.su.se/">Stockholm University</a>.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-lemmings-shape-arctic-life">Lemmings shape Arctic life</h2>



Ecologists have tracked lemming booms and busts for decades because those <a href="https://besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1046/j.1365-2656.1999.00258.x" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">cycles</a> ripple through the tundra food web, shaping the breeding success of Arctic foxes, owls, and even geese. 



When rodent numbers crash, fox litters shrink, snowy owls skip nesting, and grasses rebound after seasons of heavy grazing.



Unlike most small <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/world-water-day-2025-preserving-glaciers-protecting-our-future/">mammals</a>, Norwegian lemmings overwinter aboveground by tunneling under snow, a habit that keeps them active when many rodents lie low. Their winter wanderings aerate soil, mix plant nutrients, and feed predators during the hungriest months.



During peak years, the species can reach densities of hundreds per acre. Yet its loud squeaks and bold charge‑and‑bite defense make predators think twice, granting the animal an outsized ecological voice relative to its three‑ounce frame.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-lemmings-became-a-separate-species">Lemmings became a separate species</h2>



Researchers compared nine modern and two ancient lemming genomes and found a clean split from the Western Siberian lemming with no evidence of crossbreeding, even in areas where the two meet today. 



That result stands in sharp contrast to polar bears and brown bears, whose DNA still shows <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22517859/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">ancient admixture</a> from repeated hybridization events.



“Our findings indicate that the Norwegian lemming is among the most recently evolved <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/world-otter-day-2025-on-the-front-lines-of-a-habitat-crisis/">mammals</a>, diverging from its sister taxon, the Western Siberian lemming, at a remarkably shallow time depth,” said <a href="https://palaeogenetics.com/people/edana-lord/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Edana Lord</a>, a postdoctoral researcher at the Centre for Palaeogenetics.



The team’s high‑resolution sequencing also resolved relationships within the genus Lemmus, confirming that Eastern Siberian lemmings belong to a separate species and helping clean up a century of contested rodent taxonomy.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-a-species-born-in-an-ice-age">A species born in an ice age</h2>



The divergence date places the split just before the <a href="https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.1172873" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Last Glacial Maximum</a>, when ice sheets peaked between roughly 26,500 and 19,000 years ago. 



Glacial barriers likely trapped an ancestral lemming population in a Scandinavian refuge, cutting gene flow with Siberian relatives and setting the stage for rapid speciation.



Once the ice retreated, the newly minted Norwegian lineage expanded westward, but climatic swings had already written separation into the animals’ DNA. Modern population genetics shows no trace of later contact, suggesting that geography and behavior together kept the young species distinct.



Because the entire living population coalesces to a common ancestor only about 6,400 years ago, every Norwegian lemming alive today shares surprisingly shallow roots, a reminder that dramatic evolutionary change can happen fast.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-color-blocks-crossbreeding">Color blocks crossbreeding</h2>



Hybridization often lingers for thousands of years after a split, yet these rodents seem to have slammed the door shut. 



One reason may be their vivid black‑and‑yellow coat, a pattern that functions as an <a href="https://www.amnh.org/explore/news-blogs/aposematism-warning-signals" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">aposematic warning</a> and an instant badge of identity, reducing mating mistakes with the drab Siberian form.



Aggressive ritual boxing, loud chirps, and high‑speed chases further isolate the species by favoring individuals that court their own kind and bully outsiders away from snow burrows.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-genes-that-power-survival">Genes that power survival</h2>



Sequencing uncovered unique changes in the <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3093193/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">LYST pigment gene</a> that help produce the lemming’s splashy jacket, a mutation class also linked to altered melanosome function in laboratory mice. 



The same region shows signs of a recent selective sweep, hinting at strong predator‑driven pressure for conspicuous colors.



Other <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30006135/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">mutations</a> appear in <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/gene/53630" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">BCO1</a>, <a href="https://medlineplus.gov/genetics/gene/apob/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">APOB</a>, and <a href="https://www.genecards.org/cgi-bin/carddisp.pl?gene=RELCH" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">RELCH</a> - genes involved in fat transport and storage; in mice, knocking out BCO1 triggers fatty‑liver disease and shifts cholesterol pathways. Extra‑efficient lipid metabolism may keep lemmings fueled through subzero winters when seeds are scarce.



The researchers also found clusters of rapidly evolving olfactory receptor genes, suggesting that a refined sense of smell guides the rodents through deep snow tunnels to mates, food, and lurking stoats.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-lessons-for-arctic-mammals">Lessons for Arctic mammals</h2>



Climate upheaval can spin off new <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/aquatic-robot-inspired-by-flatworms-can-swim-in-harmony-with-nature/">species</a> in a geological blink, and the lemming’s youth underscores how quickly isolation plus selection can rewrite a mammal’s genetic blueprint. 



Similar patterns play out in Arctic whales, foxes, and hares as shrinking ice opens and closes migration corridors.



“This work represents a big step in our understanding of lemming speciation and evolution,” said Love Dalén, a professor in <a href="https://utbildning.su.se/english/education/course-catalogue/bl/bl7082" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Evolutionary Genomics at Stockholm University</a>. 



Professor Dalén noted that tracing ancient DNA in more Pleistocene specimens could reveal exactly when each adaptive mutation took hold.



The study is published in <a href="https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2424333122" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences</a>.



 n

How Norwegian lemmings rapidly evolved into a new species

Thirty‑five millennia may sound like a long time, yet for...

Poke around a British rockpool and you may spot a shell shuffling over the sand. Inside is a hermit crab - an animal that spends much of its life testing the outside world before deciding whether it is safe to venture forth.



New research from the <a href="https://www.plymouth.ac.uk/">University of Plymouth</a> reveals that the speed of that decision, a trait biologists call boldness, hinges on a crab’s built-in sensory toolkit.



The study focuses on microscopic hair-like structures called sensilla that pepper the claws of Pagurus bernhardus, a common UK species.



By counting those hairs on dozens of individuals and matching the totals to behavior in the lab, the team discovered a clear pattern: more sensilla equals faster recovery from a startle response. 



Hermit crabs so equipped are not only bolder, they are also more predictable - showing similar, rapid emergence times across repeated tests.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-measuring-crab-response-times">Measuring crab response times</h2>



The experiment began with a simple but telling ritual. Researchers placed each crab in a small tank and gently startled it with a puff of water or a light tap on the shell.



That cue mimics the sudden pressure wave generated by a <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/climate-chaos-caused-a-mass-extinction-of-top-marine-predators/">predator</a> or rolling wave, prompting the animal to yank its legs and antennae inside its borrowed shell. The team then timed how long it took for eye stalks and claws to reappear.



About a third of a second is considered lightning fast in hermit-crab terms; several minutes, positively timid. Over repeated trials, certain individuals consistently clocked shorter hideouts, indicating a stable personality trait rather than random chance.



“I was especially intrigued by how they used their claws and other sensory appendages, such as their antennae, in their explorations and when re-emerging from their shell,” said lead author Ari Drummond, a PhD student at the University of Plymouth.



That curiosity led to the hunch that claws might act as information-gathering probes, letting crabs “sniff” the water for chemical cues or feel subtle <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/small-ocean-currents-play-a-huge-role-in-earths-climate/">currents</a> that betray lurking threats.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-claw-molts-reveal-sensors">Claw molts reveal sensors</h2>



Linking behavior to anatomy required patience. Hermit crabs, like all crustaceans, periodically molt. During this process, they shed the outer exoskeleton, including the thin cuticle covering each sensillum.



Drummond and colleagues waited for each test subject to <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/cambrian-fossils-reveal-new-clues-about-arthropod-evolution/">molt</a> naturally, collected the discarded claw tissue, and examined it under a scanning electron microscope.



The high-resolution images looked like alien landscapes - ridged terrain studded with evenly spaced bristles. Each bristle is a sensillum, connected to nerve cells that detect touch, water movement, or dissolved chemicals.



By tracing and counting every sensillum in the images, the team created a detailed sensory map for each crab. This noninvasive method marked a major advance over earlier studies, which often required removing limbs.



Analysis revealed striking variation: some claws sported 50 percent more sensilla than others of similar size. When the researchers plotted those numbers against startle data, the trend became unmistakable. Bolder hermit crabs have more sensilla on the claw surface.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-bolder-crabs-have-more-hairs">Bolder crabs have more hairs</h2>



Why would extra sensory hairs translate into courage? The authors propose that better input reduces uncertainty. With richer information about water chemistry or microcurrents, a crab can judge threats more accurately and resume foraging sooner. 



That efficiency, in turn, may feed back into survival and reproductive success, favoring individuals who “invest” in sensory hardware.



They call the concept the “sensory investment syndrome.” It’s a hypothesis linking an animal’s personality - here, boldness - to the resources it allocates to senses. If confirmed across other species, it could reshape how biologists think about behavioral diversity in nature.



“We’ve known for a long time that individual animals of the same species can show consistent behavioral differences from one another,” said senior author Mark Briffa, a professor at Plymouth. 



“Our new research suggests that in hermit crabs, some of this variation may be linked to how individuals sense the world around them.”



In his opinion, similar mechanisms might operate in <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/insects-are-still-disappearing-and-there-are-hundreds-of-reasons-why/">insects</a>, fish, or even mammals, where variation in eye size, whisker density, or olfactory receptors could underpin consistent behavioral tendencies.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-crab-survival-starts-with-sensing">Crab survival starts with sensing</h2>



Hermit crabs face mounting challenges: coastal pollution, <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/rising-temperatures-will-cut-world-gdp-by-a-staggering-40-percent-if-nothing-changes/">rising temperatures</a>, and habitat disturbance all alter the sensory landscape of rockpools. Understanding how these creatures sense and decide may reveal which populations are most at risk from environmental change.



“In a world where environments and species are increasingly at risk from human impacts, it is essential that we gain a better understanding of what information animals detect, how they use that information and then respond to stay alive,” Drummond said.



Future work will test what each sensillum detects and whether diet, growth, or shell choice affects hair abundance. 



For now, the takeaway is clear: in the miniature dramas playing out between tide and shore, knowledge is power - delivered through a forest of microscopic hairs on a tiny claw.



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rspb.2025.0932">Proceedings of the Royal Society B</a>.



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Microscopic hairs drive courage in hermit crabs

Poke around a British rockpool and you may spot a...

Sagging beams and hollow‑sounding walls can signal a menace that quietly drains bank accounts around the world - termites. Building owners and insurers spend close to $5 billion a year fixing damage and fighting infestations.



Now, a team of researchers led by <a href="https://profiles.ucr.edu/app/home/profile/dchoe003" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Dong‑Hwan Choe</a> at the University of California, Riverside (<a href="https://www.ucr.edu/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">UCR</a>) say they can coax the culprits to a pinpoint dose of insecticide by copying the smell of their favorite meal. 



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-how-termites-cause-problems">How termites cause problems</h2>



The western drywood termite, <a href="https://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/publication/IN526" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Incisitermes minor</a>, thrives along the Pacific Coast and has hitchhiked as far as Florida, Georgia, and even Ontario. 



Its colonies live entirely inside dry wood, so they can chew unseen for years before a blistered board betrays them.



Beyond structural headaches, the insects <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/termites-are-natures-architects-building-well-ventilated-nests/">recycle fallen trees</a> in forests, yet in houses the same appetite leaves rafters brittle and doorframes warped. 



Because they need no soil contact, second‑story condominiums and attic beams are just as vulnerable as ground‑floor studs.



Field surveys show overlapping termite <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/termites-play-an-unexpected-role-in-rainforest-revival/">colonies are common</a> in older buildings, compounding the pace of destruction. Inspectors have documented boards reduced to paper‑thin shells while the painted exterior looked intact.



When swarming season peaks, thousands of alates emerge through ventilation gaps, searching for new lumber to colonize. A single missed pair can restart the cycle inside a freshly repaired wall.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-why-fumigation-falls-short">Why fumigation falls short</h2>



The go‑to remedy, whole‑structure tenting, bathes a building in the <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s43247-024-01294-x" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">gas sulfuryl fluoride</a>, a pesticide that lingers in the atmosphere for roughly forty years and traps heat far more effectively than carbon dioxide.



Homeowners must vacate for several days, double‑bag food, and trust that every gallery fills with gas, yet the treatment leaves no residue to deter the next swarm.



California alone releases up to <a href="https://insideclimatenews.org/news/03042024/california-sulfuryl-fluoride-emissions/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">85 percent</a> of U.S. sulfuryl fluoride emissions, underscoring the climate cost of repeat tentings. 



Each fresh infestation starts the clock, forcing many coastal residents to pay for fumigation every three to five years.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-a-scent-straight-from-the-forest">A scent straight from the forest</h2>



<a href="https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8222632/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Pinene</a> is the crisp aroma wafting from pine needles and conifer sap. For termites the smell signals digestible cellulose rather than festive wreaths.



“Even at low concentrations, pinene is good at attracting termites from a distance,” said Choe. 



Her team reasoned that drifting molecules could guide workers through their winding tunnels toward a precisely drilled injection point. 



Even at parts‑per‑billion levels, the compound spreads faster in air pockets than liquid insecticide can seep through wood fibers.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-testing-on-termites-in-the-lab">Testing on termites in the lab</h2>



The experiments, paired a fipronil plug with an identical plug laced with pinene to mimic local injections in framing lumber. 



Termites released into artificial galleries quickly left their <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/hybrid-termites-could-spread-worldwide-from-florida-boats/">aggregation sites</a> and contacted the treated zone.



“Without pinene, we got about 70 percent mortality. When we added it in, it was over 95 percent,” said Choe. 



Video tracking showed most workers reached the scented plug within six hours, and all feeding halted long before visible signs of distress appeared.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-what-homeowners-can-expect">What homeowners can expect</h2>



Because the method relies on localized injection, technicians need only a few dime‑size holes instead of circus‑style tarps and warning placards. 



Treated wood stays guarded for years because tiny doses of insecticide remain locked inside the lumber.



The active ingredient, <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23980838/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">fipronil</a>, can harm aquatic invertebrates at concentrations below 7 micrograms per liter. 



Embedding the chemical in structural beams slashes the chance of runoff or drift, giving the protocol an environmental edge over perimeter sprays and <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/enormous-desert-structure-termite-mound-built-by-insects-can-be-seen-from-space/">soil drenches</a>.



Early budget modeling by the research group suggests the scent‑boosted injection could cut treatment expenses by half compared with a typical fumigation, since there is no hotel stay, tent rental, or food disposal. 



Contractors also gain scheduling flexibility because residents do not need to vacate, and weather delays become less critical when tarps are no longer part of the plan.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-looking-ahead-for-safer-pest-control">Looking ahead for safer pest control</h2>



Choe’s laboratory is cataloging other tree volatiles to see whether <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/enormous-desert-structure-termite-mound-built-by-insects-can-be-seen-from-space/">termite</a> preferences shift with geography or seasonal wood chemistry. 



Matching the lure cocktail to local diets could push effectiveness even higher without raising insecticide doses.



Collaborators in Florida and Japan are testing the approach against Formosan and powderpost drywood relatives, signaling a future where pest management leans on insect noses more than broad‑spectrum gases.



If regulators approve the formulation, builders may someday treat critical beams during construction, turning the lumber itself into a long‑term shield that keeps houses solid and the climate a little cleaner.



The study is published in the <a href="https://academic.oup.com/jee/article-abstract/117/4/1628/7675403?redirectedFrom=fulltext&amp;login=false" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Journal of Economic Entomology</a>.



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New system attracts and eliminates termites with a natural scent and no toxins

Sagging beams and hollow‑sounding walls can signal a menace that...

Vanilla is more than just a kitchen staple. It is the world’s most popular spice after saffron and finds its way into everything from ice creams to perfumes and medicines. 



The allure of vanilla's rich, sweet aroma has made it a global commodity, supporting industries and smallholder farmers alike. Yet, hidden behind its widespread appeal lies a fragile reality deeply linked to climate change.



The commercial vanilla crop, derived from the Vanilla planifolia orchid, faces growing challenges. These include threats from drought, heat, and diseases, all of which are worsening under climate change. 



Vanilla <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/traditional-forest-farming-is-an-overlooked-climate-solution/">farming</a> already depends heavily on labor-intensive hand pollination. Any further strain on the species could threaten not only its cultivation but also the livelihoods of many farming communities.



Wild Vanilla species, scattered across the tropics, may hold the key to preserving this treasured crop. They offer a wealth of genetic diversity that could help strengthen cultivated varieties. However, these wild species now face their own climate-driven crises.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-how-climate-affects-vanilla-and-pollinators">How climate affects vanilla and pollinators</h2>



Scientists have long recognized the importance of wild Vanilla <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/feeding-the-world-without-harming-nature-the-complex-balance-of-farming/">species</a> as genetic resources. These species possess traits that could improve drought resistance, heat tolerance, and disease resilience in commercial vanilla. However, their survival is tightly linked to pollinators, mainly bees from the Euglossini tribe.



In the natural world, most Vanilla species depend on animal pollinators for reproduction. These intricate relationships, often involving specialized behaviors and physical compatibility, are highly vulnerable to ecological disruptions.



“Climate change may lead to a reduced habitat overlap between Vanilla orchid species and their pollinators, resulting in plant-pollinator decoupling that negatively affects the survival of wild vanilla populations,” said Dr Charlotte Watteyn, a researcher at KU Leuven and the <a href="https://www.ucr.ac.cr" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">University of Costa Rica</a>.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-habitat-shifts-under-climate-pressure">Habitat shifts under climate pressure</h2>



Dr. Watteyn's team analyzed the habitats of 11 Vanilla species along with seven pollinator species. They examined two future climate scenarios: SSP2.4-5 and SSP3-7.0.



The SSP2.4-5 scenario presents moderate climate <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/eco-friendly-farms-can-succeed-but-they-need-support/">risks</a>, with some progress in climate action. In contrast, SSP3-7.0 signals severe challenges, marked by heavy fossil fuel use and limited global cooperation.



Under both scenarios, some Vanilla species may expand their habitats by as much as 140%. However, other species may lose up to 53% of their suitable habitat.



Pollinators face even greater risks. Their suitable habitats are expected to shrink significantly, with the steepest declines under SSP3-7.0. This sharp drop in pollinator populations threatens the entire pollination process.



“Despite the possible increase in suitable habitat for some Vanilla species, their pollinator-dependency may imperil the survival of natural populations,” said Watteyn.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-climate-risks-to-vanilla-pollination">Climate risks to vanilla pollination</h2>



Many Vanilla <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/farming-for-wildlife-how-traditional-practices-can-protect-nature/">species</a> rely on distinct pollination methods. Some provide nectar to attract pollinators, while others use deception. Vanilla pompona employs a combination of floral scents and food mimicry to lure bees.



Pollinators, particularly Euglossini bees, face mounting climate threats. Their habitats are expected to shrink, with smaller bee species showing greater vulnerability than larger ones.



“Vanilla species are known for their specialized relationships with pollinators, hence, they may experience difficulties in replacing pollinators,” explained Watteyn. 



Species like V. planifolia and V. trigonocarpa already have limited overlap with their pollinators. Climate change may worsen this.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-conservation-priorities-for-vanilla-survival">Conservation priorities for vanilla survival</h2>



The study identified current and future areas where Vanilla <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/climate-change-will-devastate-global-food-production/">species</a> and pollinators overlap. They also flagged areas needing conservation or assisted migration.



By 2050, protected areas covering Vanilla-pollinator overlap could shrink significantly. For example, protected overlap for V. pompona may fall from 42 to 17 percent.



The researchers highlighted areas for urgent conservation. They suggested combining in situ protection with ex situ measures such as seed banks and botanical gardens.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-other-threats-beyond-climate">Other threats beyond climate</h2>



Habitat destruction, illegal harvesting, and ecological disruptions also affect Vanilla survival. Many Vanilla species have specific needs, including partnerships with fungi and animals for seed dispersal and germination.



The researchers emphasized the need for more studies on these relationships. “Collaborative research on the ecology and genetic diversity of wild vanilla across its natural distribution is paramount if we want to take vanilla breeding into the future,” said Professor Adam Karremans.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-global-vanilla-trade-needs-protection">Global vanilla trade needs protection</h2>



Vanilla remains a major cash crop with high global demand. It supports smallholder farmers worldwide.



“Like cacao and coffee, vanilla is a global export crop with high international market value. It’s grown to make profit, and is a key driver for rural development, agricultural innovation, and overall welfare,” concluded Dr. Watteyn.



Conserving wild Vanilla species now appears essential not just for ecosystems, but also for global food systems. Protecting these species can help secure vanilla’s future amid climate change.



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/plant-science/articles/10.3389/fpls.2025.1585540/full" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Frontiers in Plant Science</a>.



Image Credit: Charlotte Watteyn



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Climate change is separating wild vanilla from its pollinators

Vanilla is more than just a kitchen staple. It is...

Shower water carries more than suds. Every shampoo rinse sends long‑chain chemicals from our bathrooms into rivers where they can cling to the bodies of small aquatic animals.



A research team led by Hans Sanderson of <a href="http://Aarhus University https://g.co/kgs/wGFv7P9">Aarhus University</a> tracked what those ingredients do once they leave the drain, focusing on a class called <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0166445X24003485?via%3Dihub" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">polyquaternium conditioners</a> that make hair feel smooth.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-how-shampoos-tame-frizz">How shampoos tame frizz</h2>



Hair carries a natural negative charge, and damaged strands hold even more. Manufacturers add <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0166248108701168" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">positively charged polymers</a> so those long molecules wrap around each fiber and neutralize static, leaving a sleek finish.



The most common sub‑group, polyquaterniums, numbers more than 25,000 variations. Together they support a <a href="https://www.businessresearchinsights.com/market-reports/polyquaternium-market-107659" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">market valued</a> at about $0.12 billion in 2024 and projected to grow steadily over the next decade.



Each molecule is huge by <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/how-ocean-animals-connect-countries-and-continents/">chemical</a> standards, so toxicology screens once assumed they were harmless to wildlife because they cannot slip through cell membranes. Sanderson’s team asked whether sticking on the outside of a creature could matter just as much.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-shampoo-harms-tiny-aquatic-animals">Shampoo harms tiny aquatic animals </h2>



Freshwater ponds and lakes are full of <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK2042/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">daphnia</a>, tiny crustaceans <a href="https://www.earth.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Shampoo-animals.jpg">sometimes called water fleas</a>. They filter algae and bacteria, purify water, and form a primary food source for many small fish.



Because daphnia propel themselves with rhythmic strokes of their antennae, any extra drag can slow them down. 



The Aarhus experiments showed that a film of conditioner polymers glued to the animals’ shells, halving their swimming speed and hindering feeding.



“We have conducted the first study in the world to investigate this. The substances do not penetrate the animals’ cells, but rather stick to the surface of the <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/world-environment-day-2025-plastic-pollution-is-choking-our-planet/">animal</a>,” explained Sanderson. 



“This physically affects the animal, making it unable to move as well, and it impairs its ability to ingest food,” continued Sanderson.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-shampoo-s-charge-makes-animals-vulnerable">Shampoo's charge makes animals vulnerable</h2>



The researchers ran complementary tests on two standard laboratory species, <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK2042/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Daphnia magna</a> and <a href="https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/483833-Ceriodaphnia-dubia" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Ceriodaphnia dubia</a>, using three <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0166445X24003485" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">polyquaterniums</a> of different designs. 



The team found toxicity thresholds as low as 0.05 mg per liter for the most highly charged polymer, while the same molecule with a lower charge was 400‑fold less toxic.



The pattern was consistent regardless of molecular weight. That result shifts regulatory focus from size to <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/chemistry/charge-density" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">charge density</a>, a parameter rarely documented on shampoo labels.



Organic matter in natural water, such as dissolved humic acids, partially blunts the polymers’ stickiness. Yet even moderate concentrations still impaired reproduction and growth during 21‑day chronic tests with both daphnia species.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-how-shampoo-chemicals-move-to-animals">How shampoo chemicals move to animals</h2>



Wastewater plants intentionally add the same <a href="https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.macromol.3c01223" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">cationic polymers</a> as a <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/chemistry/flocculant" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">flocculant</a> to clump particles together for easier removal. Ironically, what helps strip other pollutants out of sewage can persist in the resulting sludge or treated effluent.



If facilities discharge more than the <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/climate-change-is-impacting-marine-life-more-than-we-realized/">ecosystem</a> can buffer, sensitive invertebrates pay the price. Because daphnia sit near the base of the food web, their decline can ripple upward and reduce fish recruitment.



Laboratory work measured polymer levels that killed half a daphnia population within 48 hours at phone‑screen brightness‑level concentrations. Field monitoring remains limited, so nobody knows how often small streams approach those doses.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-call-for-smarter-safety-tests">Call for smarter safety tests</h2>



European agencies already demand hazard labels for chemicals that penetrate cells, but large polymers still slip through many guidelines. 



The European Commission is reviewing <a href="https://single-market-economy.ec.europa.eu/sectors/chemicals/chemicals-legislation_en" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">polymer assessment rules</a> under its CLP and <a href="https://environment.ec.europa.eu/topics/chemicals/reach-regulation_en" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">REACH regulations</a>, with updates expected this year.



The researchers argue that future protocols must mimic real‑world water containing organic carbon, rather than the ultra‑clean test media used today. 



They also recommend including movement and feeding endpoints, not just mortality, when assessing ecological risk.



Softening agents may never fully disappear from consumer goods. However, incremental tweaks, lower charge density, biodegradable side chains, or safer alternatives like amino‑based conditioners could cut harm dramatically. 



Manufacturers have incentives to act before formal limits arrive, because production lines adapt faster than legislation.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-reducing-shampoo-s-harm-to-animals">Reducing shampoo’s harm to animals</h2>



Reading an ingredient list will often reveal polyquaterniums by number, for example polyquaternium‑10 or ‑7. Lower single‑digit numbers usually carry higher charge density, although the label alone cannot quantify risk.



Choosing rinse‑off products certified for low aquatic toxicity is one stopgap, though Sanderson notes that even ecolabel formulations sometimes rely on the same chemistry. 



Reducing dosage helps too; a quarter‑sized blob of shampoo cleans most medium‑length hair, and conditioner is unnecessary every wash for many people.



Small behavior shifts add up because each bottle skipped prevents thousands of gallons of rinse water from picking up extra polymers over its retail life. 



Until wastewater infrastructure and regulations catch up, prevention at the source remains the surest shield for freshwater communities.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-toward-a-balanced-bathroom-shelf">Toward a balanced bathroom shelf</h2>



The story of sticky hair conditioners underscores a broader lesson in polymer safety. Size alone cannot protect wildlife if surface charge lets molecules hijack essential behaviors like swimming and feeding. 



Daphnia, though invisible from a shower stall, signal the health of entire lakes and streams. When their numbers fall, algae blooms can surge, water clarity drops, and fish lose a key snack.



Scientists now have lab tools to screen thousands of conditioning agents quickly, ranking them by how strongly they glue onto living surfaces. 



Policy makers can use that knowledge to set practical discharge limits, while industry chemists re‑engineer formulas for performance without collateral damage.



Every shampoo rinse cycle connects personal routine to planetary processes, affecting animals too. Balancing clean hair with clean water and protecting animals is no longer guesswork; the data are in view, and the solutions are within reach.



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0166445X24003485" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Aquatic Toxicology</a>.



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Chemicals in shampoos and soaps are infiltrating rivers and killing aquatic life

Shower water carries more than suds. Every shampoo rinse sends...

Far below the ocean’s surface, the Great Barrier Reef hums with life. It is not just about colorful fish or vibrant corals. Something else is happening that we cannot see.



Tiny <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/world-reef-awareness-day-2025-bringing-corals-back-to-life/">coral</a> larvae drift in the currents, carried away from their parents. Some travel far and some barely move at all. Where these larvae end up can decide the fate of entire reefs.



Now, scientists from the <a href="https://www.uq.edu.au" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">University of Queensland</a> have unlocked a key mystery. Their new study shows how far these baby corals can go. The research also reveals why this matters more than we ever realized.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-why-some-coral-babies-survive">Why some coral babies survive</h2>



<a href="https://www.earth.com/news/wild-temperature-swings-boost-coral-reef-resilience/">Corals</a> are under pressure. Heatwaves damage them. Storms cause destruction. Oceans keep getting more acidic. Each year, the risk becomes worse. But not all corals are affected equally. PhD candidate Zoe Meziere explained why some reefs survive better than others.



“Quantifying genetic connectivity can predict the fate of populations as more isolated reefs with lower levels of genetic variation are likely more vulnerable,” said Meziere.



When coral species spread their larvae far, they swap genetic material with distant reefs. This boosts their ability to adapt and recover. Corals that keep their offspring close face greater risks. They may struggle to bounce back after disasters.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-coral-species-take-different-paths">Coral species take different paths</h2>



Meziere and her team searched for answers. They focused on two coral species found across the Great Barrier Reef, Stylophora pistillata and Pocillopora verrucosa.



The <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/fossils-reveal-how-humans-completely-changed-caribbean-reef-ecosystems/">species</a> live near each other, but their ways of reproducing could not be more different. Stylophora pistillata plays it safe. It fertilizes its eggs internally. Its larvae do not venture far. Most settle nearby, just meters from their parent colony.



Pocillopora verrucosa does the opposite. It releases eggs and sperm into the sea. Currents carry its larvae far from home.



The results surprised the researchers. Stylophora pistillata larvae traveled only 23 to 102 meters. Pocillopora verrucosa larvae journeyed as far as 52 kilometers.



Professor Cynthia Riginos noted that this is the first study to quantify how connected different coral populations are across the seascape.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-why-the-journey-of-baby-corals-matters">Why the journey of baby corals matters</h2>



The story does not stop with distance. These differences shape the future of coral populations.



Stylophora pistillata stays close to home. It forms small, tight populations. Over time, these groups grow isolated. They lose genetic diversity. That leaves them vulnerable. Pocillopora verrucosa travels widely. It links distant populations. This mixing keeps its populations strong and diverse.



“Over time, these differences have profound evolutionary impacts with S. pistillata populations being more genetically distinctive with much lower genetic diversity and smaller population sizes than the more widely dispersing P. verrucosa,” explained Professor Riginos.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-where-baby-corals-travel">Where baby corals travel</h2>



The research team did not stop after measuring dispersal. They looked deeper into the genetic maps.



Stylophora pistillata stayed loyal to its local area. Its genetic patterns showed clear boundaries between reefs. Neighboring reefs looked genetically distinct. 



Pocillopora verrucosa showed no such boundaries. Its populations mixed freely throughout the reef. From one end to another, its genetics stayed consistent.



S. pistillata’s world spanned just a few hundred meters, while P. verrucosa’s world stretched across tens of kilometers.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-coral-survival-and-recovery">Coral survival and recovery</h2>



Distance is only part of the story. Gene flow also plays a big role. S. pistillata had weak gene flow. Its reefs relied mostly on themselves. This isolation put them at risk. One disaster could wipe out an entire population with no outside help.



P. verrucosa showed strong gene flow, as distant reefs shared genes often. This flow allowed for faster recovery after disasters.



This means that Pocillopora verrucosa can bounce back after bleaching far more quickly than Stylophora pistillata.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-some-coral-babies-stay-stronger">Some coral babies stay stronger</h2>



Genetic diversity matters for survival. The researchers found striking differences here too.



Stylophora pistillata had low genetic <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/ancient-coral-collapse-may-help-save-the-great-barrier-reef/">diversity</a>. Its diversity also varied wildly between reefs. The lowest levels appeared in southern parts of the Great Barrier Reef.



Pocillopora verrucosa held onto high diversity. Its genetic richness stayed stable across all reefs. S. pistillata lives in a fragile world, and P. verrucosa thrives in a far more connected one.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-smarter-conservation-for-corals">Smarter conservation for corals</h2>



The research offers a clear message for coral conservation efforts. Stylophora pistillata needs focused, local protection. Efforts must center on preserving nearby populations. Without these, this species faces collapse.



Pocillopora verrucosa calls for a broader approach. Large-scale conservation networks can help maintain its natural strength.



"Dispersal and connectivity are important drivers of coral adaptation, and being able to adapt is key to having healthy coral reefs in the future,” said Meziere.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-new-approach-to-reef-restoration">New approach to reef restoration</h2>



Coral restoration should not follow a one-size-fits-all model. Stylophora pistillata may benefit from assisted migration. Moving larvae or adult corals from healthy reefs to damaged ones could restore genetic diversity. 



However, such moves must be done carefully. Forcing new genes into a delicate reef might cause new problems.



Pocillopora verrucosa already benefits from strong natural connections. Protecting these migration routes may be enough.



Each coral species has its own needs. These needs are not the same. Conservation efforts should focus on these differences.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-new-insights-for-coral-conservation">New insights for coral conservation </h2>



Coral reefs have an uncertain future. Their survival depends on how well we understand and protect the hidden connections between them.



The study, funded by the Australian Government’s Reef Trust and the Great Barrier Reef Foundation, brings new insights to reef science.



The research makes one thing clear: not all corals are the same. Some need protection close to home, while others depend on far-reaching connections. 



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.adt2066" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Science Advances</a>.



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Reef survival may depend on how far baby corals travel

Far below the ocean’s surface, the Great Barrier Reef hums...

A new executive order aimed at deregulating the U.S. seafood industry is raising red flags among scientists and policy experts. While the order claims to boost competitiveness and cut red tape, critics warn it could do more harm than good - weakening the very systems that protect seafood sustainability.



Scientists from <a href="https://www.ucsb.edu/">UC Santa Barbara</a> and the University of Washington outlined their concerns in a recent paper. They argue that the executive order misses the mark, prioritizing short-term gains over long-term stability.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-inside-the-seafood-deregulation-order">Inside the seafood deregulation order</h2>



Signed in April 2025, the order - titled “Restoring American Seafood Competitiveness” - claims that U.S. <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/the-seafood-industry-has-been-hit-hard-by-the-covid-19-pandemic/">seafood markets</a> are held back by overregulation and unfair trade practices. It calls for reducing regulatory burdens, eliminating unsafe imports, and strengthening the <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/seafood-spoilage-hidden-dangers-in-the-cold-chain/">seafood supply chain</a>.



However, the researchers say the plan is moving too fast and with too little support. They describe it as a policy that risks unraveling decades of scientific progress.



“(It’s) a significant escalation in undoing federal regulatory frameworks, weakening scientific authority and deemphasizing aquaculture development,” said Halley Froehlich of UC Santa Barbara and Jessica Gephart of the University of Washington.



“Instead of reform, it’s dismantling regulations in a very short amount of time,” added Froehlich, the paper’s lead author.&nbsp;&nbsp;



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-noaa-s-role-under-threat">NOAA’s role under threat</h2>



The scientists point to cuts to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) as a major concern. NOAA oversees roughly 500 commercial fishery stocks in the U.S. It plays a key role in managing, monitoring, and protecting marine resources.



Under the new directive, NOAA faces budget cuts, staff reductions, and tighter controls on communication. That’s a serious blow to its ability to coordinate sustainable fishing, especially across regions where fish migrate between countries.



“It’s quite problematic because NOAA is so central to how we manage our <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/bleaching-effect-coral-loss-threatens-fisheries-and-livelihoods/">fisheries</a>,” Froehlich said. “Data collection, monitoring, oversight, you name it, NOAA is part of that, and a really important part.”



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-the-plan-ignores-the-ocean-s-limits">The plan ignores the ocean’s limits</h2>



The executive order is supposed to help boost domestic seafood production. But the researchers argue that the ocean has limits - and we’re already close to reaching them.



“We are not going to get more out of the ocean,” Froehlich said. “We’re already near ‘peak fish,’ meaning maintenance and recovery of our stocks.”



Wild fisheries - both in the U.S. and globally - are already producing at or near their maximum sustainable levels. That leaves <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/aquaculture-now-produces-more-food-than-wild-fishing/">aquaculture</a> as the only real path for growth. 



However, the new order gives little attention to farmed seafood and offers even less support to the agencies that regulate it. The scientists call it a mismatch between promises and practical outcomes.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-cutting-data-cutting-capacity">Cutting data, cutting capacity</h2>



One of the most troubling issues is the potential loss of data. The researchers warn that NOAA’s online databases, climate research, and monitoring tools may be defunded or decommissioned.



Without this data, managing fisheries becomes guesswork. It also makes it harder to prepare for climate-driven shifts in marine ecosystems.



“Without the data, expertise and capacity to study and understand these systems we run the risk of fishery collapses becoming more common and long-lasting,” the authors wrote.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-trade-conflicts-and-mismatched-markets">Trade conflicts and mismatched markets</h2>



The executive order also makes assumptions about seafood markets that don’t align with reality. 



Much of the seafood farmed in the U.S. isn’t what consumers demand most. And a large portion of seafood caught in U.S. waters is processed overseas before being sold back into the domestic market.



If tariffs are imposed on imported or foreign-processed seafood, prices for high-demand products like <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/shrimp-crisis-alarming-virus-threatens-global-seafood-supplies/">shrimp</a> could rise sharply. Right now, only about 10% of shrimp eaten in the U.S. comes from domestic sources.



“In disrupting the market dynamics we do have, especially with trade wars with our trading partners, it’s likely that we’re going to have the opposite effect of creating opportunity long-term,” Froehlich said.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-an-alternative-to-seafood-deregulation">An alternative to seafood deregulation </h2>



The paper was submitted as evidence in a recent hearing by the House Natural Resources Committee’s Water, Wildlife and Fisheries Subcommittee. The scientists hope their findings will influence how Congress approaches <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/seafood-will-help-feed-earths-future-population-of-10-billion/">seafood policy</a> moving forward.



“When it comes to any shifts in production, these high levels of uncertainty are not a beneficial thing to happen for the sector,” Froehlich said.



While deregulation may sound appealing to some, the authors argue that a stable, well-regulated system - backed by science and data - is what actually keeps seafood both sustainable and competitive. In their view, cutting corners now could cost the industry far more in the future.



The full study was published in the journal <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0308597X25002106">Marine Policy</a>.



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Why seafood deregulation may hurt more than help

A new executive order aimed at deregulating the U.S. seafood...

In a fascinating new study, scientists documented 34 attempts by wild killer whales to give food to humans. These rare cases spanned four oceans and 20 years. Some happened near boats, others in open water or even from the shore. 



The events highlight the <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/killer-whales-use-kelp-to-massage-and-groom-each-other/">orcas</a>’ possible interest in humans and raise important questions about whale intelligence, communication, and social behavior.



“Orcas often share food with each other - it’s a prosocial activity and a way that they build relationships with each other,” said study lead author Jared Towers, of <a href="https://baycetology.org" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Bay Cetology</a> in British Columbia, Canada. “That they also share with humans may show their interest in relating to us as well.”



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-social-lives-of-killer-whales">Social lives of killer whales</h2>



Orcas live some of the most complex social lives in the animal kingdom. They stick together in tight-knit family groups called pods, usually led by an older matriarch. 



These family units aren’t just casual gatherings - they’re lifelong bonds. Calves stay with their mothers for life, swimming, hunting, and <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/photographer-captures-killer-whales-wearing-fish-hats/">playing together</a>. 



In some regions, pods form larger communities or clans that share unique vocal dialects, kind of like cultural accents passed down through generations. This tight social structure helps them coordinate during hunts and <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/killer-whales-use-kelp-to-massage-and-groom-each-other/">protect each other</a> from threats.



But it’s not all business. Orcas socialize for the joy of it too. They engage in what clearly looks like play - tossing kelp, breaching dramatically, or nudging one another during underwater games. 



They form friendships beyond their pods and even flirt, showing preferences and personalities. These interactions suggest that orcas have emotional lives and a sense of identity.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-what-orcas-gave-humans">What orcas gave humans</h2>



The 34 incidents involved six distinct populations of killer <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/ai-helps-humans-have-20-minute-conversation-with-humpback-whale-named-twain/">whales</a>. They offered humans a total of 18 species: six fish, five mammals, three invertebrates, two birds, one reptile, and even one piece of seaweed.



In 97 percent of these cases, the orcas waited for a human response. Some hovered for several minutes. 



On several occasions, they tried again when the humans ignored or returned the offering. In two especially curious cases, whales retrieved birds after humans returned them, only to offer them again.



This behavior could be a form of interspecies curiosity, communication, or even social learning. As the authors suggest, these events might represent "generalized altruism" - an advanced trait observed in only a few social animals.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-exploration-more-than-play">Exploration more than play</h2>



Though play was observed in 38 percent of the interactions, the researchers argue most cases were not playful. The age of the whales varied widely, and many offered whole, fresh prey. 



In over 75 percent of ignored cases, the whales later used the prey for themselves or their group. This suggests the offerings had purpose and value, not just entertainment.



Curiosity-driven behavior, distinct from play, seemed a stronger motivator. As the study explains, animals often explore to reduce uncertainty. 



Offering food to humans might help orcas learn how we respond, just as they would with unfamiliar members of their own <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/whales-blow-bubble-smoke-rings-near-humans-to-communicate/">species</a>.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-deep-social-intelligence-at-work">Deep social intelligence at work</h2>



Some whales returned the same item to humans multiple times. Others acted in pairs or small groups. 



Most of the 34 events involved a single whale separating from a larger group. This suggests the act was not for show. Rather, it might reflect the whale's individual decision to interact.



Interestingly, killer <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/how-dolphin-brains-evolved-to-see-underwater-by-using-sound-echolocation/">whales</a> have also been documented cooperating with human fishers in places like Australia and Russia. The authors noted that this history could influence modern interactions, especially as human activity increases near their habitats.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-whales-may-view-humans-as-companions">Whales may view humans as companions</h2>



Killer whales rank second only to humans in brain-to-body ratio. They also show advanced emotional and social behavior. 



These traits support complex social learning, reciprocal behavior, and possibly even empathy.



“Offering items to humans could simultaneously include opportunities for killer whales to practice learned cultural behavior, explore or play and in so doing learn about, manipulate or develop relationships with us,” the researchers wrote.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-humans-should-not-approach-whales">Humans should not approach whales</h2>



Despite the remarkable nature of these encounters, the researchers urge caution. Orcas can show complex and sometimes unpredictable behavior. 



While no wild killer whale has killed a person, some interactions have been intense. They warn against seeking out such encounters or encouraging the behavior without proper permissions.



Most of these whales belonged to populations that hunt near the surface and share prey frequently. 



No deep-water, fish-only populations were involved. This suggests that cooperative surface hunting may lead to more frequent and visible interspecies interactions.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-complex-minds-of-whales-and-humans">Complex minds of whales and humans</h2>



The findings challenge our assumptions about human-animal relationships. If orcas are experimenting with ways to relate to us, it means they recognize us not as threats, but as potential social partners.



These whales are not just predators. They are thinkers, observers, and maybe, in some way, explorers of culture, curiosity, memory, learning, and emotion. 



Their actions suggest complex minds in both whales and humans, capable of choice, empathy, and communication.



The study is published in the <a href="https://psycnet.apa.org/fulltext/2026-29805-001.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Journal of Comparative Psychology</a>. 



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Killer whales are attempting to bond with humans, according to scientists

In a fascinating new study, scientists documented 34 attempts by...

Plankton,Are,Organisms,Drifting,In,Oceans,And,Seas.,Zooplankton.

They may be small, but zooplankton like copepods, krill, and salps are pulling serious weight when it comes to storing carbon in the Southern Ocean. 



Every year, billions of these tiny animals migrate from the surface to deep waters. In doing so, they help trap tens of millions of tons of <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/how-the-ocean-holds-carbon-hidden-mechanisms-revealed/">carbon</a> far below the ocean surface.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-a-new-look-at-ocean-carbon-storage">A new look at ocean carbon storage </h2>



Until recently, scientists believed most of the carbon stored in the Southern Ocean sank slowly through the water column, tied up in the waste left by larger zooplankton feeding near the surface. But a new study offers a clearer - and more surprising - picture.



The research was led by experts at the Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, the Plymouth Marine Laboratory, the <a href="https://www.plymouth.ac.uk/">University of Plymouth</a>, and the British Antarctic Survey 



The study is the first to measure how much carbon is pulled down by the “seasonal migrant pump.” 



In this process, zooplankton descend each autumn to depths below 1,640 feet (500 meters), stay there for months, and release carbon into the deep ocean through respiration and death.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-tiny-swimmers-store-carbon">Tiny swimmers store carbon</h2>



The team analyzed thousands of net haul samples collected over the past century from across the <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/carbon-storage-mystery-emerges-in-the-southern-ocean/">Southern Ocean</a>. The records helped build a massive database that tracks how deep and how consistently these creatures migrate each year.



What the researchers found is eye-opening: this seasonal migration injects about 65 million tons of carbon annually into the deep ocean. This enormous amount of carbon could otherwise stay in the <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/a-weaker-ocean-will-release-more-carbon-into-the-atmosphere/">atmosphere</a>, contributing to global warming.



“We find that copepods significantly dominate carbon storage overwinter,” said Dr. Jen Freer. “This has big implications as the ocean warms and their habitats may shift."



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-carbon-storage-in-the-southern-ocean">Carbon storage in the Southern Ocean </h2>



<a href="https://www.earth.com/news/tiny-crustaceans-have-what-it-takes-to-survive-climate-change/">Copepods</a> - small, shrimp-like crustaceans - are the main drivers of this deep-sea carbon delivery system. They’re responsible for about 80 percent of the total carbon flux linked to the seasonal migrant pump. <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/antarctic-krill-are-natures-unexpected-carbon-warriors/">Krill</a> contribute another 14 percent, while salps account for six percent.



These numbers matter. The Southern Ocean absorbs about 40 percent of human-released CO2 that ends up in the oceans.



That’s a huge chunk, but until now, models didn’t factor in this seasonal migration. They focused mostly on passive sinking - when detritus like feces or dead material falls through the water.



<figure class="wp-block-image aligncenter size-full"><a href="https://www.earth.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/zooplankton_mesozooplankton_carbon_southern-ocean_credit-LnO_1m.jpg"><img src="https://www.earth.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/zooplankton_mesozooplankton_carbon_southern-ocean_credit-LnO_1s.webp" alt="A schematic representation of our calculations of the seasonal vertical carbon transport by mesozooplankton, krill, and salps during winter of the Southern Ocean. The values for SVMP flux are totals for mesozooplankton, krill, and salps and the upper and lower ranges for POC flux refer to annual estimates based on sediment traps and earth system models. Credit: Limnology and Oceanography" class="wp-image-1976081"/></a><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">A schematic representation of our calculations of the seasonal vertical carbon transport by mesozooplankton, krill, and salps during winter of the Southern Ocean. The values for SVMP flux are totals for mesozooplankton, krill, and salps and the upper and lower ranges for POC flux refer to annual estimates based on sediment traps and earth system models. Click image to enlarge. Credit: Limnology and Oceanography</figcaption></figure>



Unlike the slow sinking process, the seasonal migrant pump is a direct injection. And it has another upside: it keeps essential nutrients like iron in the upper layers, where they support marine life.



That means zooplankton aren’t just removing carbon - they’re doing it efficiently, without robbing the ocean’s surface of the nutrients needed to keep ecosystems going.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-warming-shifts-zooplankton-paths">Warming shifts zooplankton paths</h2>



The Southern Ocean is changing. Climate warming is shifting the range of species like krill and copepods, and that could reshape how much carbon gets locked away each year.



“The study shows the 'seasonal migrant pump' as an important pathway of natural carbon sequestration in polar regions,” said Dr. Katrin Schmidt. “Protecting these migrants and their habitats will help to <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/can-we-mitigate-climate-change-with-deep-ocean-storage/">mitigate climate change</a>."



The research suggests that climate models are in urgent need of an update. Current Earth System Models don’t include this zooplankton-driven mechanism, which means they may be missing a key part of the ocean’s carbon story.



“This study is the first to estimate the total magnitude of this carbon storage mechanism,” said Professor Angus Atkinson. “It shows the value of large data compilations to get an overview of the relative importance of carbon storage mechanisms."



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-small-creatures-global-impact">Small creatures, global impact</h2>



By building on nearly a century of data and contributions from scientists in China, the UK, and Canada, the study provides one of the clearest pictures yet of how small marine animals influence global climate through ocean carbon storage.



“Our work shows that zooplankton are unsung heroes of carbon sequestration,” said study lead author Dr. Guang Yang. “Their seasonal migrations create a massive, previously unquantified carbon flux - one that models must now incorporate."



Protecting the Southern Ocean means more than safeguarding <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/biodiversity-leaks-conservation-efforts-may-shift-harm-elsewhere/">biodiversity</a>. It means defending one of the planet’s most efficient natural carbon storage systems - powered by creatures smaller than a grain of rice.



The full study was published in the journal <a href="https://aslopubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/lno.70120">Limnology and Oceanography</a>.



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These tiny creatures play an outsized role in Southern Ocean carbon storage

They may be small, but zooplankton like copepods, krill, and...

Virginia faces a stubborn enemy: the spotted lanternfly (SLF). These invasive insects damage trees, crops, and gardens by feeding on plant sap and leaving behind sticky honeydew. A research team led by Assistant Professor Scotty Yang at Virginia Tech has discovered an unexpected helper in the battle against this pest: ants.



Yang and his team found that ants, drawn to honeydew, can carry traces of lanternfly DNA in their bodies. By analyzing the ants, scientists can now detect whether the <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/fish-swim-in-schools-by-stacking-like-ladder-rungs/">pest</a> has reached an area, even without spotting the insect directly.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-ants-collect-lanternfly-dna">Ants collect lanternfly DNA</h2>



The research is based on environmental DNA, or eDNA. This approach collects genetic material that organisms leave behind in their surroundings. 



Spotted lanternflies leave DNA in their sugary waste, which ants readily consume. Scientists then apply a lab technique called polymerase chain reaction, or PCR, to identify SLF DNA inside the ants.



“Ants are nature’s sugar seekers,” Yang said. “If there’s even a tiny drop of honeydew left behind by a spotted lanternfly, ants are likely to find it.”



Yang’s team named the method “antDNA.” Even a single meal of honeydew lets <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/swarm-intelligence-ants-can-anticipate-obstacles-and-plan-ahead/">ants</a> retain the lanternfly's DNA for up to five days. Because ants roam widely, this method can detect SLF activity from as far as 100 meters from the infestation.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-field-tests-across-virginia">Field tests across Virginia</h2>



Researchers tested the method at three Virginia sites: Salem, Lynchburg Site 1, and Lynchburg Site 2. These locations represented low, medium, and high lanternfly densities. 



At each site, they placed honey-baited lure stations along transects, attracting ants with cotton balls soaked in honey.



The Salem site showed a 46.7 percent positive rate for SLF DNA. Lynchburg Site 1 and Site 2 showed 62.1 percent and 62.5 percent, respectively. Most stations attracted ants within 30 minutes, proving the method’s ease of use.



The study also tested ants from nine species. SLF DNA was found even in ants that had not directly fed on honeydew, likely due to food sharing within <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/selfish-dna-in-a-few-ants-can-change-the-behavior-of-the-entire-colony/">colonies</a>. This behavior, known as trophallaxis, helps spread the DNA signal among nestmates.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-ants-outperform-other-lanternfly-detectors">Ants outperform other lanternfly detectors</h2>



The antDNA technique works across landscapes and does not depend on the pest being visible. Unlike other methods, it does not require water, filtration, or special storage. Ants can be preserved in ethanol without refrigeration, reducing the burden on field teams.



Ants are present in nearly every habitat, from forests to cities. The collection setup is simple and inexpensive. The ants’ ability to hold liquid in their crop allows the DNA to stay detectable longer than in typical surface samples. 



The study confirmed that DNA from honeydew lasts longer than DNA from insect tissue, making honeydew a more stable source.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-importance-of-early-detection">Importance of early detection</h2>



Spotted lanternflies harm many plants, including grapevines, hardwoods, and hops. As they feed, they weaken plants and coat them in honeydew. This sticky substance promotes sooty mold, which further harms plant health. 



Early detection is critical because removing the pest becomes harder once it spreads. Current surveillance efforts rely on human sightings of the insect or its egg masses. These sightings often occur only when the population has already grown. 



The ant surveillance method allows early detection of lanternfly species even in low-density zones and inaccessible areas.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-scaling-up-and-looking-forward">Scaling up and looking forward</h2>



Yang and his team are now working on a portable test kit for use in the field. This will allow real-time molecular testing without needing a full lab. Faster results mean quicker action against the pest.



“One of the biggest advantages of using ants is that they live almost everywhere, such as forests, farms, cities - you name it,” Yang said. “Their constant search for food makes them ideal frontline samplers for spotted lanternfly DNA.”



This approach offers a new way to watch for invasive species like lanternflies using ants, without depending on visual surveys. It opens up possibilities for surveillance that is fast, flexible, and low-cost.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-ants-may-detect-other-pests-like-lanternflies">Ants may detect other pests like lanternflies</h2>



The method could be expanded to track other pests. Many <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/how-many-ants-live-on-earth-at-any-point-in-time-total-number-is-astounding/">insects</a> excrete honeydew, and ants can pick up their DNA too. This opens the door for broader pest detection strategies using the same principle.



Ants, in their natural role as sugar hunters, may become an essential part of protecting crops, forests, and native ecosystems. With antDNA, researchers are tapping into nature’s own behaviors to find smarter ways of monitoring invasive threats.



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://scijournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ps.8814" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">NeoBiota</a>.



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How ants could help stop the tree-killing lanternfly

Virginia faces a stubborn enemy: the spotted lanternfly (SLF). These...

In the wild, social lives shape survival. For female chimpanzees, bonds with others aren't just emotional glue. They are critical for keeping babies alive. 



A new study of wild eastern chimpanzees in Gombe National Park finds that social integration predicts whether a newborn survives, even when no close kin is around.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-chimpanzees-with-strong-social-bonds">Chimpanzees with strong social bonds</h2>



Female <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/laughter-lifts-bonobo-moods-offering-clues-to-human-emotion/">chimps</a> are often the ones who leave their birth group. That means most do not live near their mothers or sisters. Still, those who manage to build friendships with other females raise more babies to weaning age.



“In species where females live in groups with their sisters and mothers, it’s less surprising that female sociality is beneficial,” said <a href="https://scholars.duke.edu/person/joseph.feldblum" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Joseph Feldblum</a>, lead author and research professor at Duke. 



“But female chimps don’t usually have that. They are also less gregarious than males, so the fact that forming strong social connections still matters is striking.”



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-babies-of-social-chimpanzees">Babies of social chimpanzees </h2>



The team analyzed 37 years of detailed records from 37 mothers and 110 offspring. Using a composite sociality index (CSI), they tracked how much time females spent associating or grooming others before giving birth.



Their best model showed that higher CSI scores, especially with other <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/baby-talk-may-explain-what-sets-humans-apart-from-apes/">females</a>, greatly increased infant survival to age one and even to age five. The effect held even after excluding mothers who died shortly after giving birth.



A female with a CSI score twice the average had a 95 percent chance of her baby surviving the first year. For those below average, this dropped to 75 percent. 



Among females without any close kin, the trend was stronger. A single unit rise in sociality increased survival odds by over 17 times.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-kinship-and-male-alliances">Kinship and male alliances </h2>



The researchers ran extra tests to see if the benefit was just from living with relatives. It was not. They also checked if relationships with <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/from-rumbles-to-rituals-scientists-map-the-cultures-of-the-animal-kingdom/">males</a> helped. That also came up short.



“That tells us it’s not just about being born into a supportive family,” said Feldblum. “These are primarily social relationships with non kin.”



Even when female kin were present, they had no direct effect on offspring survival. Instead, they raised the chance that a mother had strong friendships. But it was those friendships, not the family ties, that made the difference.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-social-ties-remain-stable-over-time">Social ties remain stable over time</h2>



The benefits of bonding were not a one time fluke. Females who were social before birth stayed social after birth too. Their social worlds remained steady. 



“Our results don’t prove causation, but they point to the value of being surrounded by others who support you, or at least tolerate you,” said Feldblum.



This was not the case for bonds with males. Social connections between male and female chimpanzees were less stable and showed no link to baby survival.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-social-bonds-and-chimpanzee-babies">Social bonds and chimpanzee babies </h2>



How do these friendships help? The exact mechanism remains uncertain. Social bonds might protect chimpanzee mothers from aggression. They could mean better access to food. Friendships might even prevent infanticide.



Earlier studies in this same group of chimps estimated that infanticide by other females may cause 3.5 percent to 19 percent of deaths in the first year. <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/social-curiosity-starts-young-and-helps-us-survive/">Social</a> mothers may face less of that risk.



More research is needed, but one thing is clear. Socially connected females stay in better shape, which could boost prenatal health. Unlike rank or dominance, which did not correlate with survival during this study window, sociality kept its value.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-social-chimps-mirror-humans">Social chimps mirror humans</h2>



Though females often move away from family, they form lasting ties with unrelated females. The Gombe chimps mirror women in human patrilocal societies, who build networks after moving for marriage.



“We humans are remarkably collaborative and cooperative. We cooperate at scales that are pretty much unique in the animal kingdom,” said Feldblum. 



“Human females who don’t have access to kin, for example because they moved to a new city or village, are still able to form strong bonds that can benefit them.”



This study adds to the growing body of evidence that friendship matters. In baboons, dolphins, and horses, social bonds also improve reproductive success. In chimps too, strong bonds give babies a better chance at life.



Studying these dynamics in our closest relatives helps us understand our own nature. Like chimps, human survival does not just depend on strength or status. It depends on others. 



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2589004225011241" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">iScience</a>.



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Babies of social chimpanzee mothers are more likely to survive

In the wild, social lives shape survival. For female chimpanzees,...

Gorillas, often thought of as ground dwellers, spend much more time in the trees than previously assumed. This finding from the Max Planck Institute challenges long-standing ideas about the anatomy and evolution of gorillas.



Western and Bwindi mountain <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/gorillas-are-digging-for-a-surprising-food-in-the-jungle-soil/">gorillas</a>, studied across Gabon and Uganda, were observed over many years. Even the largest males, weighing up to 170 kg, showed substantial tree use. 



Adult females in Loango spent 34% of their time in trees, while Bwindi females clocked 21%. That is a huge jump from the 7% figure for Virunga gorillas.



Study lead author Dr. Martha M. Robbins is a zoologist in the Department of Primate Behavior and Evolution at the <a href="https://www.eva.mpg.de/index/">Max Planck Institute</a> for Evolutionary Anthropology.



“Adult females spent 20% to 30% of their time in the trees, while silverbacks spent 18% to 20% of their time being arboreal, which is much more than 2 to 7% found previously in the Virunga mountain gorillas,” said Dr. Robbins.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-different-gorillas-different-tree-habits">Different gorillas, different tree habits</h2>



The Virunga population shaped our early understanding of <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/some-gorillas-get-sick-from-being-too-social/">gorilla</a> habits. These highland gorillas live in fruit-scarce zones and rarely climb. But the new study included data from five groups in Bwindi and one in Loango, totaling nearly 5,200 observation days.



The findings are clear: tree use varies widely between populations. Even juveniles and subadults in Bwindi and Loango spent 32% to 43% of their time in trees - double the rate seen in Virunga’s younger gorillas.



The researchers also found that body size plays a role but does not prevent tree climbing. 



“This demonstrates that the large body size of gorillas is not necessarily a limiting factor to tree climbing and that gorillas can be just as arboreal as some chimpanzee populations,” said co-author Rhianna Drummond-Clarke.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-climbing-is-not-just-about-fruit">Climbing is not just about fruit</h2>



The researchers expected fruit to be the main driver behind climbing. While gorillas did climb more while eating fruit, the full story is more complex. In Loango, adult females were more arboreal when eating leaves than fruit. In Bwindi, the reverse was true.



Even silverbacks, the heaviest individuals, climbed trees to eat fruit. At Bwindi, silverbacks were arboreal 82% of the time they ate fruit. But fruit formed just 14% of their diet, meaning most of their tree time involved eating leaves.



At Loango, gorillas often ate fallen fruit from the ground. This shows fruit-eating can be a terrestrial act too. Meanwhile, western gorillas also ate lots of tree leaves, about 30% of their diet, driving folivorous tree use, similar to some monkeys.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-feeding-is-the-main-reason-to-climb">Feeding is the main reason to climb</h2>



What were the <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/male-infertility-humans-linked-same-genes-gorilla-small-penises/">gorillas</a> doing in trees? Mostly feeding. Adult female gorillas were far more likely to climb while feeding than when resting or traveling.



Even when eating nonfruit, Loango females climbed more than Bwindi ones. This likely reflects differences in diet and foraging strategy. The energy payoff from fruit seems to outweigh the climbing cost, especially for massive silverbacks.



Also, Loango females were heavier climbers than their Bwindi peers when not eating fruit. This surprising reversal shows that even leaf-seeking gorillas may spend considerable time off the ground.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-what-this-means-for-ape-evolution">What this means for ape evolution</h2>



These results have big implications. <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/most-endangered-primate-species-identified-in-new-report/">Gorillas</a> have long been labeled as terrestrial because of their bulk and plant-heavy diets. But that view no longer holds. The study shows gorilla arboreality spans all life stages, from infants to adults.



That shift affects how we interpret the fossil record. Gorilla-like bones have been taken to suggest ground-based life. But frequent tree climbing changes the picture. 



“We demonstrate that large body size and a largely folivorous diet in apes are also consistent with frequent arboreality,” noted the study authors.



Studies of limb proportions and bone strength now suggest a range, from more tree-based western gorillas to more ground-based Virunga ones. 



This means our models of ancient human relatives may need adjustment. Gorilla-like features may not imply they lived solely on the ground.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-gorillas-are-tree-climbers-not-just-walkers">Gorillas are tree climbers, not just walkers</h2>



Gorillas are not just forest-floor giants. They climb often and for various reasons. From feeding on leaves to exploring the canopy, these behaviors offer key insights into how apes, including humans, evolved.



Future research may look into how such large animals navigate trees. They might distribute their weight across branches or use special movement strategies, similar to orangutans or chimpanzees. 



This research opens new doors in our understanding of ape mobility and evolutionary history.



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.cell.com/current-biology/fulltext/S0960-9822(25)00590-1" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Current Biology</a>.



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Gorillas spend much more time in trees than we previously thought

Gorillas, often thought of as ground dwellers, spend much more...

When humans burst into laughter together, moods lift almost automatically. New research shows that a similar boost happens in our closest cousins.



An international team led by <a href="https://bloomington.iu.edu/">Indiana University</a> scientists has discovered that <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/bonobos-group-cohesion-common-enemy-effect-do-not-kill-inside-their-species/">bonobos</a> become more upbeat after hearing the giggles of their companions. This finding pushes the evolutionary history of positive emotions back millions of years.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-laughter-changed-ape-choices">Laughter changed ape choices</h2>



To explore laughter’s influence, the researchers designed a cognitive-bias test often used in animal psychology to gauge optimism or pessimism.



First, they trained bonobos at the <a href="https://www.apeinitiative.org/">Ape Initiative</a> in Des Moines, Iowa, to recognize two kinds of boxes: black ones that always contained a delicious snack and white ones that were always empty.



Once the apes consistently chose black and ignored white, the experimenters introduced a third, ambiguous gray box. They then played one of two sounds: recorded bonobo laughter or a neutral control noise.



“We know that other apes, like chimpanzees, have contagious laughter during play," said lead author Sasha Winkler, a primatologist at <a href="https://duke.edu/">Duke University</a>. "We were wondering if that behavior could be explained by positive emotions produced from the sound itself.” 



If the bonobos felt a surge of good feeling after hearing laughter, the team expected them to treat the uncertain gray box as if it were the rewarding black one.



That is exactly what happened. “Think of it like the rose-colored glasses effect,” Winkler said. “The bonobos were much more likely to approach the gray boxes after hearing laughter, treating them like the rewarded boxes, and indicating a more optimistic expectation of finding a treat.”



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-tracing-optimism-to-our-ancestors">Tracing optimism to our ancestors</h2>



This study is the first experimental proof that great-ape laughter can shift mood and cognition the way human laughter does.



“The tendency to behave more optimistically after hearing laughter suggests that the sound alone induced a positive emotional state in bonobos,” said senior author Erica Cartmill, the director of Indiana University’s Cognitive Science Program.



“This is the first study of which we're aware to measure a positive affect shift in nonhuman primates from a brief experimental intervention.”



Great apes -&nbsp; bonobos, <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/what-wild-chimpanzees-can-teach-us-about-parenting/">chimpanzees</a>, gorillas, orangutans - all emit play calls that acoustically resemble human chuckles. Earlier work tied those sounds to a common evolutionary origin. The new findings add a cognitive twist.



“Our results suggest that laughter in other apes shares not only phylogenetic and behavioral similarities with human laughter but also perhaps some of the same cognitive-emotional underpinnings,” Winkler noted.



“This emotional contagion appears to have been present in the primate lineage long before the evolution of language.”



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-laughter-empathy-and-apes">Laughter, empathy, and apes</h2>



Emotional contagion is often described as a foundational element of <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/little-benjamina-the-oldest-evidence-of-social-empathy-in-humans/">empathy</a> - the capacity to share another’s feelings. As Winkler put it, “studies like ours can help to untangle the evolutionary building blocks of empathy, communication, and cooperation in humans.”



By revealing that a simple vocal cue can brighten outlooks in bonobos, the research suggests that the mechanisms linking social sound to positive mood were already in place in a common ancestor millions of years ago.



Cartmill added that the work answers a long-standing bias in emotion research. “Our emotions influence many aspects of cognition, including memory, attention, and decision-making, but research has historically focused on negative emotions with clear behavioral correlates, like <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/brain-pathway-discovered-that-suppresses-fear/">fear</a> and aggression.”



“We wanted to better understand the relationship between positive affect and cognition in our closest living relatives.”



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-kanzi-and-the-future-of-empathy">Kanzi and the future of empathy</h2>



The experiments involved four bonobos, including the celebrated language-using ape Kanzi, who recently passed away.



“I feel incredibly grateful to have had the opportunity to work with Kanzi while he was still alive,” Winkler said. 



“We hope this brings greater public awareness of the remarkable similarities between us and bonobos, who are an endangered species. We have so much to learn from these incredible animals.”



Future studies will test whether laughter exerts similar cognitive effects in chimpanzees and other primates. They will also explore how social context - for example, hearing laughs from friends versus strangers - modulates optimism.



For now, the discovery that bonobo giggles brighten expectations highlights a shared emotional heritage and hints that a simple laugh has been boosting group spirits since long before humans walked the Earth.



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-025-02594-8">Nature Scientific Reports</a>.



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Laughter lifts bonobo moods, offering clues to human emotion

When humans burst into laughter together, moods lift almost automatically....

Rodents don’t usually evolve overnight. Like most species, they change slowly through tiny shifts passed down over thousands or millions of years. But when the world changes fast, like it has in cities over the past century, some animals keep up. 



In fact, some animals even adapt to urbanization in real time. A team of researchers recently spotted signs of that kind of <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/invasive-species-are-driving-rapid-evolution/">rapid evolution</a>. The clues were found in hundreds of skills sitting quietly in drawers at the Field Museum in Chicago.



The skulls weren’t newly collected specimens - they spanned more than a century. And hidden in their measurements were subtle changes that told a bigger story.



By comparing the skulls of eastern chipmunks and eastern meadow voles collected over the past 125 years, scientists at the Field Museum uncovered signs of these animals adjusting to an increasingly <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/ants-can-effectively-adapt-to-urban-environments/">urban environment</a>.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-a-time-machine-in-a-museum">A time machine in a museum</h2>



“Museum collections allow you to time travel,” said Stephanie Smith, a mammalogist and XCT laboratory manager at the Field Museum. 



"Instead of being limited to studying specimens collected over the course of one project, or one person’s lifetime, natural history collections allow you to look at things over a more evolutionarily relevant time scale.”



The Field Museum’s mammal collection includes over 245,000 specimens from around the world, but its home city is especially well represented. These Chicago-area animals offer a rare chance to study changes across both time and space - right in the scientists’ backyard.



“We’ve got things that are over 100 years old, and they're in just as good of shape as things that were collected literally this year,” said Smith. “We thought, this is a great resource to exploit.”



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-comparing-rodents-in-the-city-of-chicago">Comparing rodents in the city of Chicago</h2>



The team focused on two rodent species that still call Chicago home. <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/small-mammals-play-a-vital-role-in-maintaining-forest-health/">Chipmunks</a>, which live above ground and eat a wide range of food, and <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/social-behavior-of-voles-linked-to-oxytocin-levels/">voles</a>, which live underground and mostly stick to plants. The contrast between them was part of the point.



“We chose these two species because they have different biology, and we thought they might be responding differently to the stresses of urbanization,” said Anderson Feijó, assistant curator of mammals at the Field Museum.



Two interns with the Field Museum Women in Science program - Alyssa Stringer and Luna Bian - played a central role in the work. 



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-rodent-skulls-and-city-adaptations">Rodent skulls and city adaptations</h2>



The researchers measured the skulls of 132 chipmunks and 193 voles. The skulls hold clues about diet, body size, and even sensory abilities.



“From the skulls, we can tell a little bit about how animals are changing in a lot of different, evolutionary relevant ways - how they're dealing with their environment and how they're taking in information,” said Smith.



Stringer and Bian measured basic features of each rodent skull, like overall length and the length of the tooth rows. 



The researchers also used 3D scanning to digitally map 82 chipmunk and 54 vole skulls. This allowed them to compare tiny differences in shape across specimens using a method called geometric morphometrics.



The results revealed small but telling shifts. Chipmunks showed an increase in skull size, but their tooth rows got shorter. 



Voles developed smaller bony structures in their skulls that are tied to hearing. The changes weren’t random - but they also weren’t clearly linked to temperature or climate.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-rodents-respond-to-a-louder-bigger-city">Rodents respond to a louder, bigger city</h2>



To dig deeper, the team used satellite data to track how the city grew over time. They looked at building coverage starting in the 1940s and matched those trends to the locations where specimens were collected. 



Older specimens came from areas known to be wild back then - or from downtown areas that were already developed.



“We tried very hard to come up with a way to quantify the spread of urbanization,” said Feijó. “We took advantage of satellite images showing the amount of area covered by buildings, dating back to 1940.”



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-changes-driven-by-urbanization">Changes driven by urbanization </h2>



<a href="https://www.earth.com/news/urbanization-is-a-threat-to-78-of-the-worlds-bird-species/">Urbanization</a>, not climate, seemed to drive the rodent skull changes. And the way each species adapted may reflect how it lives.



“Over the last century, chipmunks in Chicago have been getting bigger, but their teeth are getting smaller,” said Feijó. “We believe this is probably associated with the kind of food they're eating."



"They're probably eating more human-related food, which makes them bigger, but not necessarily healthier. Meanwhile, their teeth are smaller - we think it's because they're eating less hard food, like the nuts and seeds they would normally eat.”



As for the voles? The parts of their skulls that hold the inner ear - the auditory bullae - have shrunk. “We think this may relate to the city being loud - having these bones be smaller might help dampen excess environmental noise,” said Smith.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-a-warning-not-a-win">A warning, not a win</h2>



It might be tempting to see this as a success story - rodents adjusting to city life. But the scientists see it differently. 



The adaptations may help, but they’re not necessarily positive. Smaller teeth and smaller ear bones are symptoms of change, not signs of health.



“These findings clearly show that interfering with the environment has a detectable effect on wildlife,” said Feijó.



“Change is probably happening under your nose, and you don't see it happening unless you use resources like museum collections,” said Smith.



The full study was published in the journal <a href="https://academic.oup.com/icb/advance-article-abstract/doi/10.1093/icb/icaf081/8158706?redirectedFrom=fulltext">Integrative and Comparative Biology</a>.



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Chicago’s rodents are evolving with the city

Rodents don’t usually evolve overnight. Like most species, they change...

A single fertilized egg somehow manages to build skin, brain, and blood cells within a matter of days. But how do those first cells know which body parts to build? How do some cells know to create kidneys while other cells immediately start creating skin? 



Solving that puzzle has kept developmental biologists busy for more than a century, yet many lineage maps still look like unfinished sketches. 



Now an Australian team reports a tracking tool called LoxCode that labels every cell in a mouse embryo with a unique DNA tag and follows its descendants as tissues form. 



“This creates a trackable barcode, allowing us to peer inside this fundamental process with unprecedented detail,” said <a href="https://findaresearcher.wehi.edu.au/weber.ts" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Dr. Tom Weber</a> of the <a href="https://www.wehi.edu.au/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Walter and Eliza Hall Institute</a>.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-loxcode-tracks-each-cell-from-the-start">LoxCode tracks each cell from the start</h2>



LoxCode relies on the Cre recombinase enzyme to shuffle short DNA cassettes, generating more than 30 billion possible <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41576-023-00624-7" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">barcodes</a> in a single step. 



Each label is copied faithfully as the embryo grows, so scientists can reconstruct family trees later by simple sequencing.



In pilot tests, the team injected the barcode cassette on day 5.5 of pregnancy, when the <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/neuroscience/epiblast" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">epiblast</a> is still arranging its first germ layers. A week later they recovered fetuses and read the tags in bulk tissue and at single‑cell resolution.



“That tells us fate bias appears far earlier than textbooks suggest,” explained <a href="https://www.wehi.edu.au/researcher/shalin-naik/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Prof. Shalin Naik</a>, a laboratory head at WEHI. Some clones reached every corner of the embryo, while others stuck to ectoderm, blood, or limb buds.&nbsp;



By feeding the barcode data into an agent‑based model, the researchers predicted hidden asymmetries, like left‑versus‑right kidney precursors, and then confirmed them experimentally. 



Such computational cross‑checks strengthen confidence that the tags truly record biology, not sequencing noise.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-how-loxcode-writes-billions-of-labels">How LoxCode writes billions of labels</h2>



Earlier <a href="https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.aaf7907" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">lineage tracing</a> systems depended on viruses or CRISPR cuts, which can damage cells or miss subtle branches. One <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-022-04994-6" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">CRISPR</a> recorder captured only a few hundred unique edits across a whole zebrafish, limiting resolution.



LoxCode gets around previous limitations by using 13 short pieces of DNA, arranged so that an enzyme called <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/biochemistry-genetics-and-molecular-biology/cre-recombinase" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Cre recombinase</a> can shuffle them in many different ways. Once the pieces reach a smaller, stable size, the shuffling stops, locking the DNA tag in place for each cell.



Since each DNA piece is very short, these tags are easy to read using standard genetic sequencing tools. That makes the method affordable, even for labs without large budgets.



The team also created a special breed of mouse, called strain 037677, which is available from <a href="https://www.jax.org/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">The Jackson Laboratory</a>. Researchers can use it by pairing it with another mouse that activates the barcoding process in specific tissues.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-revealing-hidden-bias-in-the-embryo">Revealing hidden bias in the embryo</h2>



<a href="https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4699068/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Pluripotent cells</a> were long assumed to wait for external signals before picking a destiny. Yet the new data show many clones already lean toward one germ layer while the fetus is still the size of a poppy seed.



For instance, epiblast cells sitting near the forming early streak produced mostly blood and mesenchyme cells, matching earlier dye‑label <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/nbt.4103" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">studies</a> but adding single‑cell resolution.



Conversely, anterior clones favored neural tissues, hinting that position cues translate into lineage bias before gastrulation starts.



Unexpected asymmetries emerged too. The left limb bud often traced back to different founders than the right, suggesting randomness, not mirror symmetry, seeds the first skeletal blueprint.



Such insights could clarify why some <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/cellular-cleanup-helps-preserve-eggs-and-fertility/">congenital disorders</a> strike only one side of the body. LoxCode also gives stem‑cell engineers reference maps for guiding organoids toward balanced growth.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-from-brain-growth-to-stroke-repair">From brain growth to stroke repair</h2>



Because barcoding works in live mice, investigators are already adapting it to study immune development, gut regeneration, and tumor relapse. 



A neuroscientist at the <a href="https://www.uq.edu.au/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">University of Queensland</a> is tracing how newborn neurons integrate into adult circuits after a stroke, using LoxCode to mark progenitors at the injury edge.



Cancer biologists plan to follow how therapy‑resistant clones emerge over months of drug exposure. By back‑tracking each surviving cell to its earliest barcode, they hope to spot vulnerabilities before relapse.



Drug developers could one day screen compounds that push harmful lineages back toward healthy fates. That approach pairs naturally with <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/rna-breakthrough-sheds-light-on-the-beginning-of-life/">single‑cell RNA</a> profiles, revealing not just where a clone goes but how its gene programs shift along the journey.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-what-this-means-for-medicine">What this means for medicine</h2>



Developmental disorders often arise from mis‑timed cell decisions that happen weeks before clinical symptoms. 



With a cellular ancestry chart in hand, researchers can pinpoint the first wrong turn and design precise interventions.



<a href="https://www.earth.com/news/vitamin-c-promotes-skin-renewal-and-anti-aging-at-the-genetic-level-dna-demethylation/">Gene therapies</a> that swap faulty DNA in founder cells might correct an entire lineage instead of treating tissues piecemeal. 



Similarly, transplant doctors could verify that lab‑grown grafts contain the right mixture of cell types before surgery.



Ethical questions will follow, especially if human embryos are ever tagged at comparable depth. For now, the focus stays on mice, where LoxCode already promises to rewrite textbooks on early embryonic patterning.



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0092867425004611" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Cell</a>.



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How do your cells know which parts of your body to build? Brilliant new tech is helping us find out

A single fertilized egg somehow manages to build skin, brain,...

Bird feeding is a cherished pastime across many cultures. Whether it’s scattering breadcrumbs near a city pond or hanging feeders outside suburban windows, millions of people engage in acts of casual care for wild birds. 



Recent research from the <a href="https://www.uark.edu" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">University of Arkansas</a> reveals that what we feed birds can deeply affect how they handle disease.



The study revealed that canaries on high-protein diets developed stronger immune profiles and milder symptoms when infected with Mycoplasma gallisepticum (MG), a pathogen common in wild <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/hundreds-of-bird-species-could-vanish-in-the-next-century/">songbirds</a>.



“Our results are exciting because of the importance of human supplemented food in wildlife disease systems, especially wild birds, which are commonly provided with supplemental food via bird feeders,” said Erin Sauer, lead author of the study.



This research is the first to link diet with molecular-level immune differences in wildlife. It focuses on how food type - not just quantity - shapes disease outcomes in birds.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-protein-fed-birds-recover-faster">Protein-fed birds recover faster</h2>



The researchers divided canaries into two groups. One group received a high-protein diet made mostly of egg whites, while the other received a high-fat diet with more yolk and oil. Birds were then exposed to the MG pathogen or given a harmless placebo.



Before infection, protein-fed <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/bird-evolution-timeline-pushed-back-20-million-years-by-baminornis-zhenghensis-discovery/">birds</a> already showed increased expression of immune-related genes. After infection, lipid-fed birds had to ramp up their immune systems, while protein-fed birds maintained steady, high-level expression. This shows their immune systems were already ready.



Protein-fed birds recovered faster. Their eye inflammation - a symptom of MG - was lower and cleared quicker. Lipid-fed birds took longer to recover, with more prolonged symptoms.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-immune-gene-activity-before-infection">Immune gene activity before infection</h2>



The team used RNA sequencing to analyze gene activity. Before infection, protein-fed <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/birds-are-struggling-to-keep-pace-with-a-warming-climate/">birds</a> had 267 genes upregulated related to immune defense. 



Lipid-fed birds had 248 different genes upregulated, many tied to basic cellular functions like ribosome activity, not immunity.



After infection, the contrast grew. Lipid-fed birds showed over 1,000 genes with significant changes. Protein-fed birds had only 66 such genes. 



This means lipid-fed birds had to drastically adjust their systems during infection. Protein-fed birds needed little change - they were already prepared.



Surprisingly, immune genes like JCHAIN (linked to antibody production) were seven times more active in protein-fed birds before infection. Lipid-fed birds only caught up after infection, suggesting delayed immune readiness.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-metabolic-clues-and-broader-implications">Metabolic clues and broader implications</h2>



Diet also influenced energy-related genes. Lipid-fed birds showed signs of stress in genes tied to mitochondrial function and insulin regulation. 



One gene, LEPR (leptin receptor), responded in opposite ways between the two groups. This points to broader metabolic differences that could influence disease tolerance.



These molecular effects mirror patterns seen in wild house finches that have evolved tolerance to MG. This suggests that simple dietary changes can mimic the effects of natural selection.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-what-backyard-bird-lovers-can-do">What backyard bird lovers can do</h2>



So what can people feeding backyard <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/birds-may-be-using-quantum-physics-for-migration/">birds</a> take from this study?



Sauer suggests giving birds high-protein and nutrient-dense options. These include suet with seeds, mealworms, peanuts, and sunflower seeds. These foods support birds’ immune systems and overall condition.



Avoid feeding mostly cracked corn, millet, or bread. These offer limited nutritional value. Still, birds may need more fat during winter or migration, so balance matters. Birds will often choose what they need most.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-protein-can-boost-birds-survival">Protein can boost birds' survival</h2>



This study shows that everyday actions, like feeding birds, can directly impact their survival and overall health. While feeding may seem harmless or routine, the type of food offered plays a critical role. 



Poor-quality food can weaken birds' immune systems, making them less able to fight infections and recover from illness.



As human activity continues to reshape natural landscapes and spread disease more widely, our role in supporting wildlife becomes even more important. 



The research reminds us that meaningful change often begins with small, consistent habits. Offering nutrient-rich, protein-balanced food helps birds stay strong, boost immunity, and recover faster when sick or stressed.



Even simple choices at backyard feeders, such as selecting better ingredients, can strengthen birds’ natural defenses. These actions become a powerful way to support bird populations. 



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/mec.17793" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Molecular Ecology</a>.



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Protein helps birds prepare to fight off infection

Bird feeding is a cherished pastime across many cultures. Whether...

Giant,Male,Cuttlefish,With,Stripe,Tentacles

When we imagine the ancient oceans, we often picture massive reptiles and shelled ammonites dominating the waters. For decades, paleontologists believed these creatures ruled the Mesozoic Era without much competition. 



However, a new study from Hokkaido University&nbsp;challenges that idea by revealing the unexpected dominance of <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/how-squid-power-their-amazing-camouflage-abilities/">ancient</a> squids.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-understanding-squids-the-basics">Understanding squids - the basics</h2>



Squids are remarkable marine invertebrates belonging to the class <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/octopus-and-squid-senses-linked-to-human-brain-evolution/">Cephalopoda</a>, which they share with octopuses and cuttlefish. Their biology showcases some of nature’s most fascinating adaptations. 



Squids possess a mantle cavity for jet propulsion, using rapid water expulsion to move with precision and speed. Their large, complex eyes rival those of vertebrates, providing excellent vision crucial for detecting predators and prey in the dimly lit depths. 



Internally, they have a beak-like jaw and a radula for processing food, typically fish and crustaceans. One of their most iconic features is their ability to release ink, a defense mechanism that creates a smokescreen, enabling a quick escape.



Behaviorally, squids exhibit <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/scientists-unlock-the-light-bending-secrets-of-squid-skin/">sophisticated camouflage</a> through chromatophores - pigment-filled cells controlled by the nervous system - that allow them to change color almost instantly. Some species also display bioluminescence via symbiotic bacteria or light-producing organs.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-studying-squids-with-fossil-rocks">Studying squids with fossil rocks</h2>



The research shows that squids were already dominant ocean predators 100 million years ago. This changes what scientists believed about life in ancient seas.



The team used a new technique to scan <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/living-baby-colossal-squid-captured-on-video-for-the-first-time-ever/">fossil</a> rocks. They fully digitized the rocks in 3D without breaking them open. This helped them find over 1,000 fossilized beaks of ancient cephalopods. 



Out of these, 263 were from squids. About 40 of those belonged to species that scientists had never seen before.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-squids-rarely-leave-fossils">Squids rarely leave fossils</h2>



Squids have soft bodies that decay quickly after death. Unlike animals with bones or shells, they leave behind very little for scientists to find. 



This makes it hard to trace their history through fossils. However, squids have tough beaks, which they use like jaws to catch and eat prey. These beaks are strong enough to survive over millions of years in rock.



Cephalopods, the group that includes squids, <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/octopuses-could-dominate-earth-if-humans-vanish/">octopuses</a>, and <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/cuttlefish-have-passed-marshmallow-test-designed-for-kids-proving-cephalopods-intelligence/">cuttlefish</a>, have existed for about 500 million years. But it’s been difficult for scientists to figure out exactly when squids first appeared and how they changed over time.



Because full squid <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/new-species-of-deep-sea-squid-discovered-that-broods-giant-eggs/">fossils</a> are rare, researchers have had limited evidence to work with. This study changes that. 



By finding hundreds of ancient squid beaks in 100-million-year-old rocks, scientists now have solid proof that squids were already present and had formed many different species. It fills in a major gap in our understanding of their ancient history.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-ancient-squids-dominated-the-ocean">Ancient squids dominated the ocean</h2>



The researchers found more squid fossils than those of ammonites and bony fish. That came as a surprise. Ammonites had shells and were thought to be the most successful swimmers of the Mesozoic era.



“In both number and size, these <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/squid-mating-tactics-are-determined-by-birth-date/">ancient</a> squids clearly prevailed the seas,” said Dr. Shin Ikegami of the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences at Hokkaido University, the study’s first author. 



<figure class="wp-block-image aligncenter size-full"><a href="https://www.earth.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/squids_dominated-oceans_100-million-years-ago_grinding-tomography_Ikegami_1m.jpg"><img src="https://www.earth.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/squids_dominated-oceans_100-million-years-ago_grinding-tomography_Ikegami_1s.webp" alt="The digital fossil-mining method utilizes grinding tomography to create digitized rocks and reveal hidden fossils within them. Credit: Ikegami et al., Science" class="wp-image-1975747"/></a><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">The digital fossil-mining method utilizes grinding tomography to create digitized rocks and reveal hidden fossils within them. Click image to enlarge. Credit: Ikegami et al., Science</figcaption></figure>



“Their body sizes were as large as fish and even bigger than the ammonites we found alongside them. This shows us that squids were thriving as the most abundant swimmers in the ancient ocean.”



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-modern-squids-in-ancient-oceans">Modern squids in ancient oceans</h2>



The study found that <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myopsida" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Myopsida</a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oegopsida" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Oegopsida</a> squids existed 100 million years ago. These two groups are still present today. Myopsida live near the shore. Oegopsida live in the open ocean.



Earlier theories suggested ancient squids evolved rapidly after the extinction of the <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/where-did-dinosaurs-come-from-missing-fossils-hold-the-secret/">dinosaurs</a>. That extinction happened 65 million years ago. But this study shows squids had already diversified long before that event.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-early-apex-hunters">Early apex hunters</h2>



Associate Professor Yasuhiro Iba of the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences at <a href="https://www.global.hokudai.ac.jp" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Hokkaido University</a> led the study.



“These findings change everything we thought we knew about marine ecosystems in the past,” said Iba. “Squids were probably the pioneers of fast and intelligent swimmers that dominate the modern ocean.”



The new fossil data shows that squids had already taken important roles in the ocean. They were not just survivors. 



They were already key predators in their ecosystems. Their numbers, size, and early diversity support that conclusion.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-rethinking-ocean-evolution">Rethinking ocean evolution</h2>



Squids are among the most active, adaptable, and intelligent invertebrates living in today’s oceans. They use complex behaviors, advanced movement, and sharp sensory skills to survive in both coastal and deep-sea environments. 



Because of their importance in modern <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/fishing-removes-key-nutrients-from-marine-ecosystems/">marine ecosystems</a>, understanding their origins can help scientists piece together the long history of ocean life.



By studying when ancient squids first appeared and how they spread into different habitats, researchers can trace the development of major evolutionary traits. These include fast swimming, hunting techniques, and even early signs of intelligence. 



Such insights also offer a clearer picture of how ancient marine ecosystems functioned and how they changed over time.



This new study provides strong evidence that many squid species were already established and thriving 100 million years ago - long before the mass extinction that ended the age of dinosaurs. 



Their presence was not small or recent. Instead, they played a major role in shaping ocean life far earlier than we previously believed.



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adu6248" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Science</a>.



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Squids dominated ancient oceans 100 million years ago

When we imagine the ancient oceans, we often picture massive...

Off the eastern tip of Java, dredging barges dragged up more than sand. They pulled a piece of the past: a submerged river valley under the Madura Strait packed with fossils that had slept under fifty feet of water since long before the last Ice Age melted away.



Among the finds were two skull fragments of Homo erectus, a <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/fossil-discovery-anadoluvius-turkae-suggests-humans-originated-in-europe-not-africa/">human ancestor</a> that roamed Asia until roughly 117,000 years ago, as well as more than 6,000 animal fossils that paint a vivid portrait of a lost ecosystem. <a href="https://www.universiteitleiden.nl/en/staffmembers/harry-berghuis" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Harold Berghuis</a> of <a href="https://www.universiteitleiden.nl/en" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Leiden University</a> leads the team studying the haul.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-sundaland-rises-then-sinks">Sundaland rises then sinks</h2>



During colder glacial times, much of Southeast Asia’s continental shelf formed a single low‑lying continent known as <a href="https://www.cepf.net/our-work/biodiversity-hotspots/sundaland#:~:text=The%20Sundaland%20Biodiversity%20Hotspot%20covers,islands%20of%20Borneo%20and%20Sumatra." target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Sundaland</a>. 



Sea level then sat about 400 feet lower than it does today, exposing wide plains crisscrossed by rivers and grasslands.



When global ice melted between <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s42003-023-04510-0" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">22,000 and 6,000 years ago</a>, the ocean climbed roughly 443 feet, drowning half of that landmass. 



The rapid pulses of rise carved islands out of peninsulas and pushed coastlines hundreds of miles inland, isolating plants, animals, and the people who depended on them.



Geologists can still follow the drowned river channels with high‑resolution sonar. Each channel marks a corridor that once connected Borneo, Sumatra, and Java to the Asian mainland, providing migration routes for both megafauna and hominins.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-river-fossils-under-the-madura-strait">River fossils under the Madura Strait</h2>



The valley now mapped under the Madura Strait was carved by the ancient Solo River. 



Optically Stimulated Luminescence dating (<a href="https://www.antarcticglaciers.org/glacial-geology/dating-glacial-sediments-2/optically-stimulated-luminescence/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">OSL</a>) shows its sandy fill settled between 162,000 and 119,000 years ago, anchoring the new fossils to the late <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S295023652500012X" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Pleistocene</a>.



OSL works because quartz grains store energy from cosmic rays like tiny batteries. When technicians shine a laser on a grain in the lab, it releases that stored charge as light, revealing the moment the grain last basked in sunlight.



<figure class="wp-block-image aligncenter size-full"><a href="https://www.earth.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/madura-strait_sunda-shelf_homo-erectus-remains_map_credit-ScienceDirect_1m.jpg"><img src="https://www.earth.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/madura-strait_sunda-shelf_homo-erectus-remains_map_credit-ScienceDirect_1s.webp" alt="The Sunda Shelf of Southeast Asia, with the Indonesian archipelago. Box indicates the position of map B. B: Eastern Java, the Madura Strait, the Solo River, Ngandong, Sambungmacan, and other hominin sites. Box indicates the position of map C. C: The Madura Strait north of Surabaya, with the sand extraction area and the location of the BMS land-reclamation. Map data: GEBCO and ALOS" class="wp-image-1976530"/></a><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">The Sunda Shelf of Southeast Asia, with the Indonesian archipelago. Box indicates the position of map B. B: Eastern Java, the Madura Strait fossils location, the Solo River, Ngandong, Sambungmacan, and other hominin sites. Box indicates the position of map C. C: The Madura Strait north of Surabaya, with the sand extraction area and the location of the BMS land-reclamation. Click image to enlarge. Map data: GEBCO and ALOS</figcaption></figure>



The method is ideal for underwater sites where radiocarbon fails, yet it is rarely applied because retrieving uncontaminated samples from the seafloor is difficult. 



The Madura team’s success shows how pipeline spoil, often discarded as waste, can become forensic evidence on continental‑scale change.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-madura-strait-reveals-fossil-menagerie">Madura Strait reveals fossil menagerie</h2>



The tally of species rivals a natural‑history museum catalog. There were buffalo, several kinds of deer, and <a href="https://nationalzoo.si.edu/animals/komodo-dragon" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Komodo dragons</a> longer than a canoe.



The biggest draw, though, is <a href="https://eartharchives.org/articles/stegodon-the-elephant-with-sideways-trunk/index.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Stegodon trigonocephalus</a>, an elephant‑like giant that could stand almost 13 feet at the shoulder. 



Its presence suggests tall grass and open water holes, conditions that match pollen studies from upland Java.



Fossil monitors link today’s dragon‑patrolled islands to their mainland roots; remains of <a href="https://ielc.libguides.com/sdzg/factsheets/komododragon" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Varanus komodoensis</a> have turned up on nearby <a href="https://www.theextinctions.com/articles-1/lesser-sunda-islands-part-1-flores-and-sumba" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Flores and Sumba</a>, confirming that the apex lizard once ranged far beyond its present refuges. 



<figure class="wp-block-image aligncenter size-full"><a href="https://www.earth.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/maduro-strait_indonesia_homo-erectus_ancient-remains_credit-ScienceDirect_1m.jpg"><img src="https://www.earth.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/maduro-strait_indonesia_homo-erectus_ancient-remains_credit-ScienceDirect_1s.webp" alt="Madura Strait 1 (MS1): Homo erectus frontal fragment with dextral supraorbital torus. A: Photographs. B: CT-based 3D surface rendered images. Note that the exact orientation of the fragment is unknown. For the anterior view, a slightly diagonal orientation has been assumed. C: CT-based 3D surface rendered image of MS1 in a more horizontal orientation, with anatomical indications. D: CT-slice. Credit: ScienceDirect" class="wp-image-1976532"/></a><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Madura Strait 1 (MS1) fossils: Homo erectus frontal fragment with dextral supraorbital torus. A: Photographs. B: CT-based 3D surface rendered images. Note that the exact orientation of the fragment is unknown. For the anterior view, a slightly diagonal orientation has been assumed. C: CT-based 3D surface rendered image of MS1 in a more horizontal orientation, with anatomical indications. D: CT-slice. Click image to enlarge. Credit: ScienceDirect</figcaption></figure>



Carnivore teeth in the assemblage are scarce, hinting that reptiles, not big cats, topped the food chain.



Antelope‑like bovids and open‑country rodents round out the scene, pointing to savanna rather than rainforest. Together the bones sketch a community more East African than Indonesian.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-humans-with-tools-and-strategy">Humans with tools and strategy</h2>



Researchers counted more than 300 bones marked by stone blades or flakes. Some show percussion scars where marrow was pounded out.



“The Sunda Shelf played an important role in the dispersal and evolution of hominin populations,” wrote Berghuis and colleagues in their 2025 report. Others bear parallel slices typical of tendon removal.&nbsp;



“Thus far, hominin <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/archaeopteryx-fossil-soft-tissue-flight-evolution-proves-darwin-right/">fossils</a> from submerged Sundaland were not available.” The Madura Strait fragments break that drought. Underscoring the novelty of the find.&nbsp;



Tool cut geometry matches <a href="https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4920301/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Acheulean‑derived technologies</a> already known from Java’s terrestrial sites. That continuity supports the idea that people followed rivers seasonally, carrying simple gear that was easy to replace when tools were lost in mud or water.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-what-the-skulls-add-to-the-story">What the skulls add to the story</h2>



Although each piece is only a few inches across, the brow ridge profile and bone thickness match late <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/18479734/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Homo erectus skulls</a> dug from Ngandong and Sambungmacan farther up the Solo. 



That link pushes the species’ confirmed range hundreds of miles east, showing it followed river corridors onto the shelf when sea level was low.



One fragment comes from an adolescent, the other from a lightly built adult. Their presence alongside butchered game hints that family groups, not lone hunters, roamed the valley.



<figure class="wp-block-image aligncenter size-full"><a href="https://www.earth.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/maduro-strait_indonesia_homo-erectus_skull_credit-ScienceDirect_1.jpg"><img src="https://www.earth.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/maduro-strait_indonesia_homo-erectus_skull_credit-ScienceDirect_1s.webp" alt="3D surface images of MS1 and Sambungmacan 3 (anterior view). This comparative skull has the closest metric and morphological match with MS1. Credit: ScienceDirect" class="wp-image-1976534"/></a><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">3D surface images of Madura Strait (MS1) and Sambungmacan 3 (anterior view) fossils. This comparative skull has the closest metric and morphological match with MS1. Click image to enlarge. Credit: ScienceDirect</figcaption></figure>



Because no fire traces were found, the visitors probably camped on higher terraces that are now long submerged. 



The bones they left behind washed into lower channels during seasonal floods and were sealed beneath overbank sand.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-looking-for-cousins-beneath-the-waves">Looking for cousins beneath the waves</h2>



The Solo River was only one of many channels draining Sundaland. As survey vessels map more buried valleys, archaeologists expect to meet a wider cast: <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/mysterious-denisovan-species-humans-lived-undisturbed-tibetan-plateau-160000-years/">Denisovans</a>, perhaps, or even the diminutive <a href="https://australian.museum/learn/science/human-evolution/homo-floresiensis/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Homo floresiensis</a>.



Every bucket of dredged sand now promises not just minerals for construction but clues to human origins. 



Underwater archaeology once focused on shipwrecks; now it is turning to paleolandscapes that could double the search area for early humans in Southeast Asia.



The Indonesian government is drafting guidelines that will require sand‑mining companies to report <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/scientists-find-a-47-million-year-old-cicada-fossil-with-preserved-wing-details/">fossil</a> finds within 48 hours. 



Those rules could transform commercial dredges into accidental research partners, expanding the data set at a fraction of normal field costs.



For now the Madura Strait cache stands alone, yet it already stretches the timeline of underwater archaeology in Asia. 



Skulls, riverbeds, and giant beast bones, all locked together in a drowned landscape, remind us that today’s ocean floor was yesterday’s hunting ground.



The study is published in <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S295023652500012X?via%3Dihub" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Quaternary Environments and Humans</a>.



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Archaeologists find 140,000-year-old human and animal remains at the bottom of the ocean

Off the eastern tip of Java, dredging barges dragged up...

The sea spider, those spindly marine oddities that seem composed almost entirely of legs and claws, just given up their genetic secrets.



An international effort led by the <a href="https://www.univie.ac.at/en/">University of Vienna</a> and the <a href="https://www.wisc.edu/">University of Wisconsin–Madison</a> has delivered the first chromosome-level genome for Pycnogonum litorale, a species common in North Atlantic tide pools.



Stretching across 57 pseudo-chromosomes and paired with extensive developmental transcriptomes, the assembly offers an unprecedented look at how an arthropod can evolve such an extreme body plan. This includes a nearly vanishing abdomen and internal organs that spill far into its limbs.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-mapping-the-sea-spider-genome">Mapping the sea spider genome</h2>



To achieve a genome this contiguous, the team combined long-read sequencing with Hi-C proximity data. Long reads captured tens of thousands of DNA bases at a stretch. This helped bridge the repetitive regions that routinely break short-read assemblies.



Hi-C, which measures how DNA folds inside the nucleus, then provided a “scaffolding” map that placed those long contigs into chromosomal order.



“The genomes of many non-canonical laboratory organisms are challenging to assemble, and Pycnogonum is no exception," said first author Nikolaos Papadopoulos, a zoologist at the University of Vienna. 



"Only the combination of modern high-throughput data sources made a high-quality genome possible. This can now serve as a stepping stone for further research.”



Because <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/surprising-breeding-behaviors-of-giant-sea-spiders-revealed/">sea spiders</a> are not standard lab animals, researchers collected specimens by hand, often prying them from kelp during low tide. They then rushed them back to the lab for nucleic acid extraction.



The payoff is a reference genome that joins spider, <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/fossil-reveals-the-first-ancestors-of-scorpions-and-spiders/">scorpion</a>, mite, and horseshoe crab assemblies on public databases. Yet it lacks the duplications that mark other arachnid genomes, making it a vital baseline for evolutionary comparisons.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-vanished-gene-vanished-abdomen">Vanished gene, vanished abdomen</h2>



The analysis focused on Hox genes, key developmental regulators shared by animals from fruit flies to humans. One gene turned up missing: abdominal-A (abd-A).



In most arthropods, abd-A helps establish the rear-body segments that carry guts and reproductive organs. Sea spiders, with their virtually absent abdomens, appear to have dispensed with both the physical structure and its genetic architect.



“In arthropods, Hox genes play a central role in the correct specification of the different body segments, explained co-author Andreas Wanninger, who co-led the Vienna team. "In many other animal groups they are essential ‘master controllers’ during body plan development.” 



The disappearance of abd-A mirrors patterns seen in <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/how-mites-survived-without-sex-for-millions-of-years/">mites</a> and barnacles, two other arthropod groups that have independently shrunk or lost their hind segments.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-sea-spiders-skipped-genome-doubling">Sea spiders skipped genome doubling</h2>



Spiders and scorpions carry extra copies of almost every gene, relics of an ancient whole-genome duplication that likely fueled innovations such as silk glands and complex venom cocktails.



P. litorale shows no sign of that event. Because sea spiders sit at the very base of the chelicerate lineage, the simplest explanation is that the duplication occurred later. It likely arose within the spider-scorpion branch, rather than in the common ancestor of all chelicerates.



That finding reshapes timelines for when gene families expanded and may help researchers pinpoint which duplications underlie spider-specific traits.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-tools-for-growth-and-repair">Tools for growth and repair</h2>



Beyond raw sequence, the consortium generated RNA profiles from embryos and juveniles, capturing when each gene flicks on and off as new body segments form.



Those developmental datasets make the sea spider a promising model for studies of ancestral arthropod development, limb regeneration, and physiological resilience in cold, nutrient-poor seas.



Georg Brenneis, an expert in arthropod development at the University of Vienna, is a senior author of the study.



“From an evolutionary developmental perspective, sea spiders are very interesting: their mode of development may be ancestral for arthropods, but at the same time they boast multiple body plan innovations unique to themselves. Beyond this, they also possess remarkable regenerative abilities.” 



“Now that we have the genome and comprehensive datasets on gene activities during development, we can systematically study all of these aspects on the molecular level,” he said.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-editing-limbs-and-trunk">Editing limbs and trunk</h2>



With <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/crispr-used-to-remove-extra-chromosomes-in-down-syndrome-and-restore-cell-function/">CRISPR</a> editing becoming feasible in marine invertebrates, investigators can now ask how the remaining sea spider Hox genes choreograph eight elongated walking legs and a tubular trunk. They can also explore how the animals quickly regrow lost appendages.



Comparative physiologists might search the genome for stress-response genes that let sea spiders thrive in icy fjords, while ecological genomics teams could examine how gene flow operates across their wide geographic ranges.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-tracing-ancient-sea-spider-cousins">Tracing ancient sea spider cousins</h2>



Without the duplication, shared sea spider genes likely existed as single copies in the last common chelicerate ancestor.



Aligning those sequences will clarify where new venom toxins arose, when silk machinery evolved, and how immune genes diversified.



The genome also lets scientists investigate regulatory DNA - enhancers, promoters, and non-coding RNAs. These elements rewired a conventional arthropod blueprint into the minimalist sea spider form.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-expanding-the-genomic-catalog">Expanding the genomic catalog</h2>



The authors envision expanding the catalog to additional sea spider species to test whether abd-A loss is universal. They also aim to map gains and losses of other developmental genes across the group’s 1,300 known species.



Such work could uncover genetic shortcuts to extreme morphological change - insights that extend far beyond any single marine arthropod.



For now, the P. litorale genome stands as a milestone: the first high-quality reference for the world’s most enigmatic chelicerates. It’s also a reminder that even life’s strangest branches follow molecular rules that genomics can finally reveal.



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://bmcbiol.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12915-025-02276-x">BMC Biology</a>.



Image Credit: Richard Lord/ <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/legalcode.en">CC BY-NC-SA 4.0</a>



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All legs, no guts: Sea spider genome stuns scientists

The sea spider, those spindly marine oddities that seem composed...

High in northern Peru, three frogs no bigger than a thumbprint have stepped out of anonymity and into the scientific spotlight. Their world is a maze of wet cliffs, dripping bromeliads, and wind‑scoured ridges where moss carpets the rocks.



“They’re <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/world-frog-day-2025-protecting-natures-tiny-guardians/">small</a> and unassuming, but these frogs are powerful reminders of how much we still don’t know about the Andes,” said Germán Chávez of the Center for Ornithology and Biodiversity (<a href="https://corbidi.org/">CORBIDI</a>). 



Chávez and his colleagues trekked those ridges between 2021 and 2024, often in freezing rain, to reach calling sites above 9,000 feet.&nbsp;



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-mountains-support-unique-frog-species">Mountains support unique frog species</h2>



The <a href="https://blog.pensoft.net/2025/06/27/hidden-gems-in-the-mist-three-new-frog-species-uncovered-in-northern-peru/cordillera-de-huancabamba-1/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Cordillera de Huancabamba</a> forms a natural break in the Andes, splitting watersheds and isolating species. 



Ecologists classify the region as a <a href="https://www.cepf.net/sites/default/files/tropicalandes_techsummary.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">biodiversity hotspot</a>, one of only thirty‑five on Earth where extraordinary endemism collides with severe habitat loss.



"The Cordillera de Huancabamba is not just a remote range - it's a living archive of biodiversity and cultural legacy," said Wilmar Aznaran. "And we've barely scratched the surface."



Isolation breeds novelty, and novelty fills the genus Pristimantis. With 619 described species, Pristimantis is now the most diverse <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/whistling-forest-frogs-recently-discovered-may-be-wiped-out-before-we-learn-about-them/">amphibian</a> genus on the planet.



The new frogs, Pristimantis chinguelas, P. nunezcortezi, and P. yonke, occupy different niches along the same ridge. One clings to cliff faces, one prowls leaf litter beside clear streams, and the smallest tucks itself deep inside tank bromeliads.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-confirming-the-new-species">Confirming the new species</h2>



Night surveys began after dusk, when temperatures hovered near 50 °F and fog erased headlamp beams. Team members listened for faint “peep” notes that barely rose above dripping leaves. 



Finding a caller did not end the chase. Each frog had to be photographed, swabbed for DNA, measured, and released without harming delicate skin.



Back in Lima, the researchers compared mitochondrial 16S sequences. Genetic distances exceeded the three‑percent threshold herpetologists often use to flag separate <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/missing-frog-species-alsodes-vittatus-resurfaces-after-130-years/">species</a>, clinching the case for formal description.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-many-amphibians-are-poorly-studied">Many amphibians are poorly studied </h2>



All three newcomers enter the IUCN books as <a href="https://www.thebhs.org/publications/the-herpetological-bulletin/issue-number-169-autumn-2024/4079-03-how-many-data-deficient-amphibians-are-threatened-iucn-red-list-assessments-for-amphibian-species-previously-classed-as-data-deficient" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Data Deficient</a>, meaning scientists lack enough information to judge extinction risk. 



The label sounds neutral, yet recent reassessments show that roughly half of amphibians that start as Data Deficient later prove threatened.



Formal names unlock funding and legal tools that nameless creatures rarely receive. Conservation plans, environmental‑impact statements, and protected‑area budgets almost always hinge on a taxon’s standing in recognized databases.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-indicators-of-climate-shifts">Indicators of climate shifts</h2>



The Cordillera de Huancabamba isn't just a biological goldmine, it’s wrapped in layers of folklore. In nearby villages, frogs are often seen as signs of rain or omens tied to agriculture and spiritual beliefs.



This cultural lens makes local communities key allies for conservation. When researchers name <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/frogs-lead-the-way-in-developing-new-antibiotics/">species</a> after regional icons or traditions, like P. yonke, they honor local identity and encourage stewardship.



Unlike most frogs, species in the <a href="https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/64811-Pristimantis" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Pristimantis genus</a> bypass the tadpole stage entirely. They hatch from eggs as fully formed froglets, ready to climb, hop, and call without ever entering water.



This reproductive shortcut allows them to thrive in places where standing water is rare or seasonal. It also makes them sensitive indicators of climate shifts and microhabitat changes in mountain ecosystems.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-frog-species-in-fire-prone-habitats">Frog species in fire-prone habitats</h2>



Each frog occupies an area smaller than four square miles, hemmed in by crop fields and fire scars. Peru recorded about 10,400 wildfires in 2024, more than double its previous record, burning grasslands and cloud‑forest edges alike.



P. chinguelas calls from a road‑cut cliff where charred bamboo still smells of smoke. P. nunezcortezi shares a single stream corridor that now borders new potato plots.



P. yonke lives higher, inside bromeliads at roughly 9,800 feet, in what locals call the <a href="https://lacgeo.com/northern-andean-paramo" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">páramo</a>, a chilly grassland‑wetland mosaic perched above the treeline. 



Páramo vegetation stores water like a sponge, so every lost bromeliad weakens both the frogs and the human communities farther down‑slope.



“Exploring this area is more than fieldwork - it’s an immersion into wilderness, culture, and resilience,” said Karen Victoriano‑Cigüeñas.&nbsp;



"Many of these mountain&nbsp;ridges&nbsp;are isolated, with no roads and extreme terrain," noted Ivan Wong. "The weather shifts within minutes, and the steep cliffs make every step a challenge. It's no wonder so few scientists have worked here before. But that's exactly why there's still so much to find."



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-protecting-the-new-frog-species">Protecting the new frog species </h2>



No one has recorded the breeding calls of P. nunezcortezi or P. yonke, so females remain unverified. Diet, predators, and lifespan also remain mysteries for all three species.



Future expeditions will test whether the frogs persist on neighboring ridges or whether each ridge hosts its own micro‑endemic. 



Acoustic monitors and <a href="https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rspb.2019.2353" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">eDNA traps</a> could reveal silent populations hiding in moss tunnels or bromeliad tanks beyond the reach of hikers.



For now, the frogs depend on local goodwill. Community fire patrols, low‑impact grazing, and small protected micro‑reserves can buy time while researchers gather the missing data.



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://evolsyst.pensoft.net/article/148522/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Evolutionary Systematics</a>.



Image Credit: Germán Chávez et. al



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Three new frog species found in Peru face an uncertain future

High in northern Peru, three frogs no bigger than a...

Sexual behavior and preference - whether in humans or animals - isn’t random. It’s shaped early on, during fetal development, by how the brain responds to hormones like androgens (male sex hormones). 



This early exposure is known to affect many important adult traits. But there's been one big obstacle: how do you measure that influence without invasive methods?



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-rat-fingers-hint-at-sexual-behavior">Rat fingers hint at sexual behavior </h2>



Researchers from <a href="https://www.okayama-u.ac.jp/index_e.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Okayama University</a> in Japan may have found an answer - by looking at rats’ fingers.



In a recent study, a team led by Professor <a href="https://loop.frontiersin.org/people/32931/overview" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Hirotaka Sakamoto</a> and Dr. Himeka Hayashi found that a simple finger measurement - the ratio of the second digit to the fourth digit, known as 2D:4D - can predict sexual behavior and preference in rats.



This digit ratio has been studied in humans for years. On average, men tend to have a lower 2D:4D ratio than women, meaning their index fingers are shorter relative to their ring fingers. 



But surprisingly, there hasn’t been much research testing whether this holds true in other animals, nor has sexual proclivity been measured against 2D:4D ratio in humans or other animals. That’s what drew the researchers to rats.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-understanding-the-2d-4d-ratio">Understanding the 2D:4D ratio</h2>



As stated, the 2D:4D ratio compares the lengths of your index finger (2D) and your ring finger (4D). 



To find it, just look at your right hand: if your ring finger is longer than your index finger, your 2D:4D ratio is considered low; if your index finger is about the same length or longer, your ratio is higher. 



Scientists have found that this ratio is set before you're born, influenced by the amount of <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/men-with-low-testosterone-have-a-higher-risk-of-mortality/">testosterone</a> and <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/study-suggests-menopause-can-be-delayed-or-even-eliminated/">estrogen</a> you were exposed to in the womb. 



In general, people with lower ratios were exposed to more testosterone, while higher ratios suggest more estrogen exposure.



This tiny finger difference has caught scientists’ attention because it seems to connect to traits like athletic ability, aggression, risk-taking, and even career interests. 



For example, some studies have found that people with lower 2D:4D ratios tend to do better in competitive sports or lean toward science and engineering fields. 



It’s also been tied to traits like <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/practicing-yoga-nidra-improves-sleep-memory-and-cognition/">cognition</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/personality-traits-are-not-strongly-inherited-from-parents/">personality</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/lack-of-sexual-satisfaction-linked-to-rapid-memory-decline/">sex drive</a>, and even <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/same-sex-sexual-behavior-linked-to-evolutionary-advantages-in-monkeys/">sexual orientation</a>.



But it’s not a rule - it’s just a pattern seen in large groups, not a way to predict someone’s future.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-shorter-fingers-stronger-sex-drive">Shorter fingers, stronger sex drive</h2>



“We found that the 2D:4D ratio serves as a reliable biological marker for predicting sexual activity in rats,” said Sakamoto. 



“Rats with shorter second digits were not only more sexually active but also showed a clear preference for female scent.”



Building on their initial measurements, the team then ran mating trials to observe <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/science-behind-predicting-and-changing-human-behavior/">behavior</a>.



The results were clear. Male rats that ejaculated during their first encounter had shorter second digits compared to those that didn’t. 



These males also showed signs of higher sexual drive: they ejaculated more often, did so more quickly, and had stronger erectile function.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-the-scent-of-sexual-behavior">The scent of sexual behavior </h2>



To go beyond behavior and look at preference, the researchers ran a simple but telling test. They placed male rats in a cage with two kinds of bedding: one scented by females, and the other by males.



All the male rats initially explored the male-scented bedding. But only those with shorter second digits stayed interested in the female-scented bedding. They sniffed, explored, and spent more time with it - indicating a clear sexual preference.



“While most studies have only linked the digit ratio to morphological sex differences, we noticed a surprising lack of research connecting digit ratio to the biological basis of sex itself - especially sexual activity and preference,” notes Hayashi. “This curiosity marked the start of our study.”



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-fingers-mirror-brain-wiring">Fingers mirror brain wiring</h2>



Beyond offering insight into rat behavior, the study points to a deeper question: how early hormone exposure shapes the brain in lasting ways.



Before birth, hormone exposure might wire our brains in ways that the 2D:4D ratio later reflects - potentially shaping complex behaviors like sexual orientation or emotional attachment.



“Our results suggest a profound link between the body and mind, with significant scientific and clinical implications,” said Sakamoto. “Simply examining our fingers could one day help identify aspects of our behavioral tendencies.”



The findings also offer a practical model for exploring biological questions that are difficult - or impossible - to study directly in humans. 



Because 2D:4D is also connected to cognitive traits and mental health conditions, this research could help explain sex-based differences in disorders like <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/toddler-screen-time-linked-to-atypical-sensory-behaviors/">autism</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/how-gut-bacteria-morganella-morganii-could-cause-depression-not-a-brain-disorder/">depression</a>, or attachment issues.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-biology-is-not-the-whole-story">Biology is not the whole story</h2>



While the findings are compelling, they also raise important questions. For one, it’s still unclear how well results from rats translate to humans. 



Rats provide a useful model for controlled experiments, but human sexuality is influenced by many layers - cultural, social, psychological - that go far beyond biology.



The researchers also focused only on male rats. Future studies will need to explore whether similar patterns hold true for females, and how other factors like environment or stress interact with digit ratios to shape behavior.



Another key question is causation. Rats with shorter 2D:4D finger ratios tend to show more sexual activity and stronger preferences, but scientists aren’t yet sure whether the digit ratio drives this behavior - or if both stem from shared prenatal influences.



None of this takes away from the value of the study. But it highlights the importance of treating biological markers like 2D:4D as part of a much larger picture. 



The full study was published in the journal <a href="https://www.jstage.jst.go.jp/article/expanim/advpub/0/advpub_24-0159/_article" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Experimental Animals</a>.



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Does your finger length predict sexual behavior? A new study says yes

Sexual behavior and preference - whether in humans or animals...

species in Harpidae

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