Humpback whale populations have recovered since whaling was banned, some from near extinction. (Credit: Tomas Kotouc/Shutterstock)
In the late 1950s, only 440 humpback whales — or 1.6 percent of their onetime numbers — were swimming around the western South Atlantic Ocean. Thanks to whaling restrictions, these school bus-sized aquatic mammals have started to come back.
Now, a new paper estimates that the Western South Atlantic whales have recovered even better than scientists ...read more
Gas "waterfalls" down onto a forming planet in this artist's illustration. (Credit: NRAO/AUI/NSF, S. Dagnello)
Stars and their planetary systems are born from clouds of gas and dust that collapse into swirling disks. Astronomers can’t directly see planets forming in these disks because they're hidden in all the debris. But in the past few years, new kinds of telescopes have started to reveal gaps in disks around young stars where planets might be forming.
Now, astronomers have ...read more
Two common proteins begin to spread through the brains of those with Alzheimer's. Despite decades of study, scientists still don't understand why they become so dangerous. (Credit: SpeedKingz/Shutterstock)
If you look at the brain of an Alzheimer's patient, you’ll
see clear and undeniable damage.
Clusters of dead nerve cells. Hard plaques cemented between
cells and thick tangles of proteins twisted up inside the cells themselves.
These are the hallmarks of Alzheimer's, and they ...read more
Nearly half a billion years ago, trilobites may have been capable of some kinds of collective behavior associated with modern animals. (Credit: Vannier et al 2019, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-019-51012-3)
Chains of trilobite fossils unearthed in Morocco suggest that these early arthropods were capable of a collective behavior seen in many of today's species — only these trilobites had the conga line down about 480 million years ago.
Modern vertebrates and invertebrates alike ...read more
Natural short sleepers seem to have won the genetic lottery, which allows them to thrive on very little sleep. (Credit: Shutterstock)
Your sleep needs are probably influenced by your genes.It’s a new way of thinking about sleep that's gaining steam, thanks to a rare group of people known as natural short sleepers, or those who can function normally on less than six hours of sleep a night.
And now, a team of researchers at the University of California, San Francisco — who identi ...read more
Author Vishay SinghPosted on Categories Discover Magazine