Tag Archives: scientists

Scientists Discover Antarctica’s First Active Methane Seep A team of marine ecologists from Oregon State University has described the formation and development of a new methane seep — a location where methane escapes from an underground reservoir and into the ocean — in the Ross Sea, the High Antarctic. The …

  An international team of herpetologists from Germany and Madagascar has discovered and described three new species of chameleons from the Calumma nasutum species group. Calumma emelinae. Image credit: Prötzel et al, doi: 10.26049/VZ70-1-2020-3. “Madagascar is a paradise for nature lovers, since most of the land vertebrate species are only …

Scientists Might Have Found the Moon’s Missing Metal Scientists studying the moon have long puzzled over the low metal content of Earth’s satellite. After all, if the moon formed from fragments of Earth, shouldn’t it have similar metal content? NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) might finally have found an explanation …

Scientists Find Anthropogenic Mercury in Earth’s Deepest Oceanic Trenches Two teams of marine biologists have found methylmercury, a potent toxin that bioaccumulates in marine food webs, in sediments and endemic fauna from Mariana, Yap and Kermadec trenches in the Pacific Ocean. A snailfish (bottom left) and small amphipods (center) at …

Scientists Find a ‘Mirror Image’ of Our Solar System While scanning the skies, humanity has identified thousands of exoplanets orbiting distant stars. However, very few of them are at all similar to Earth. Now, the Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research in Göttingen reports a newly discovered exoplanet could …

Bearing Human Skin from Pluripotent Stem Cells A team of researchers from several U.S. institutions has created an organoid culture system that generates complex skin from human pluripotent stem cells. A hair-bearing skin organoid. Image credit: Indiana University School of Medicine. “This is the first study to show that human …

In two separate studies, researchers have demonstrated that both the structure of the brain and several memory functions are linked to immune-related genes. The thickness of the cerebral cortex is correlated with the epigenetic profile of immune-related genes. Image credit: University of Basel. The body’s immune system has a number …

Genetic scientists from the University of California, Riverside, and the W.M. Keck Science Department of Claremont McKenna, Pitzer and Scripps Colleges, have managed to create a strain of red-eyed mutant wasps. Red-eyed Nasonia vitripennis. Image credit: Li et al, doi: 10.1038/s41598-017-00990-3. The red-eyed wasps were created to prove that CRISPR …

If you’re looking for an Earth-like planet with an atmosphere, you need only go outside. Alternatively, you could travel some 39 light-years toward the constellation Vela. That’s where astronomers have discovered an exoplanet called GJ 1132b, which appears to have an atmosphere. While it might not be particularly hospitable to …

Everybody likes getting a thoughtful, warmly intended gift, but some people are really tough to buy for. Quirky academics and hardcore sci-tech people are sometimes the worst, because they’re picky — and does anybody really need another shelf object taking up space? But have no fear: ExtremeTech is here, with …