The ancestors of modern waterfowl weren’t all that odd. Diving for fish and other prey in the waters of Antarctica, they looked like today’s birds, but were they truly modern?A new paper published today in Nature tells us all about these ancestors of modern-day ducks. Assessing a newly found fossil of Vegavis iaai from the Late Cretaceous around 69 million years ago, the paper confirms the classification of the species as a truly modern bird, not wholly unlike the ducks and geese of today.†...read more
A medley of elements make life on Earth possible, yet the ways in which our planet has gained them — and lost some in the process — have been on scientists’ minds for years. The major building blocks of life, like water, carbon, and nitrogen, often take center stage, but scientists have recently made sense of another foundational component in Earth’s framework — moderately volatile elements (MVEs). MVEs, containing such elements as zinc and copper, work in tandem with life-essential e ...read more
The conventional wisdom on why some antibiotics don’t work rests on the concept of persistence. A small subset of bacteria sometimes hides out and escapes the effects of the drugs meant to kill them. These persisters can then come back with a vengeance and may no longer respond to the same antibiotic, the theory goes.For example, antibiotics are only partially effective against infections caused by the Salmonella bacteria. The persistence of that infection can lead to other conditions, such as ...read more
The Grand Canyon on Earth versus the ones on the Moon are a study in contrasts. The terrestrial version was slowly carved over millions of years by wind and water. The lunar equivalents appear to have been ripped open within minutes, by the geological version of two massive fingernails, according to a study in Nature Communications.Although the Moon’s canyons are well hidden on the dark side of the satellite, they are as impressive as the one in Arizona. They measure about 16 miles wide, over ...read more
The human-canine bond began more than 30,000 years ago, leading to the extensive domestication of dogs to serve human needs in hunting, protection, and herding. Over time, intentional breeding practices have created hundreds of dog breeds with a wide variety of appearances and behaviors. The prevailing belief has been that selective breeding enhances a dog’s ability to perform specific tasks, but new research challenges this assumption, at least when it comes to skills associated with the shap ...read more
Author Vishay SinghPosted on Categories Discover Magazine