Antarctic flies protect fragile eggs with 'antifreeze'

Antarctic flies protect fragile eggs with 'antifreeze'

The good thing about the short Antarctic summer is it's a lot like a Midwest winter.

But for wingless flies, that's also the bad thing about Antarctic summers. The flies and their eggs must contend with an unpredictable pattern of alternating mild and bitterly cold days.

University of Cincinnati biologist Joshua Benoit traveled to this land of the Midnight Sun to learn how Antarctica's only true insect can survive constant freezing and thawing. He found that the midges have surprising adaptations for life wintry realm.

Benoit and his students presented their findings in January at the Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology conference in Tampa, Florida.

At some point in their evolution the little midge lost their wings -- possibly to cope with notorious Antarctic winds. Since they eat abundant algae and never travel far from where they're hatched the flies don't need to fly.

Dead Humpback Whale Found in Amazon Jungle!

Dead Humpback Whale Found in Amazon Jungle! Scientists are Figuring How it got there

Dead humpback whales washing ashore the beaches is not something novel but it is a definite mystery when a 36 feet whale was found in the middle of Amazon jungle. About 15 feet away from its natural habitat in the ocean, scientists too are shocked at how the dead mammal ended up in the jungle. What is even more mysterious is the massive creature also did not have any wounds. The massive mammal was discovered when vultures were seen flying above the jungle areas. A video then started circulating online which showed the dead humpback mammal in the middle of the Amazon. Dead Sperm Whale with 6 kg Plastic Waste Inside Stomach including cups, flip-flops and bottles found in Indonesia National Park.

The deep-sea marine animal was near the island of Marajo off the Araruna Beach, at the mouth of the Amazon River. Soon a group of 10 biologists from Brazil's Bic ho D'agua Institute headed there to study more and trace how did it come in the jungle in the first place. The only explanation that is given right now is that a high tide must have thrown the whale into the woods. 145 Whales found dead on Steward Island in New Zealand;What is Whale Stranding?

Great white shark genome decoded

Great white shark genome decoded

The great white shark is one  of the most recognized  marine creatures on Earth, generating widespread public fascination and media attention, including spawning one  of the most successful movies in Hollywood history. This shark possesses notable characteristics, including its massive size and diving to nearly 4,000 foot depths. Great whites are also a big conservation concern given their relatively low numbers in the world's oceans.

In a major scientific step to understand the biology of this iconic apex predator and sharks in general, the entire genome of the white shark has now been decoded in detail.

Hubble helps uncover origin of Neptune's smallest moon Hippo camp

Hubble helps uncover origin of Neptune's smallest moon Hippo camp

Astronomers using the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, along with order data from the Voyager 2 probe, have revealed more about the origin of Neptune's smallest moon. The moon, which was discovered in 2013 and has now received the official name Hippo camp, is believed to be a fragment of its larger neighbor Proteus.

A team of astronomers, led by Mark Show alter of the SETI Institute, have used the NASA/ESA Hubble space Telescope to study the origin of the smallest known moon orbiting the planet Neptune, discovered in 2013.

Ecosystem changes following loss of great white sharks

Ecosystem changes following loss of great white sharks

A new study has documented unexpected consequence following the decline of great white sharks from an area off South Africa. The study found that the disappearance of great whites has led to the emergence of seven sharks, a top predator from a different habitat. A living fossil, seven gill sharks closely resemble relatives from the Jurassic period, unique for having seven gills instead of the typical five in most other sharks.

These findings are part of a long-term collaborative study between shark researcher Neil Hammerstein from the University of Miami. Rosenstial School of Marine and Atmospheric Science and wildlife naturalist Chris Fallows from Apex Shark Expeditions.

Bali volcano eruption: Agung and Batur are connected

Bali volcano eruption: Agung and Batur are CONNECTED-scientists warn of huge eruption 

TWO volcano's in Bali are connected by the same 'plumbing' system, scientists have discovered, and there are fears it could cause a MAJOR eruption in the future.

Experts from the University of Bristol found that Bali's deadly Mt Agung is connected to the nearby volcano, Batur. They were analyzing Mt Agung after it erupted in 2017, forcing 100,000 people to leave their homes. Two months prior to this eruption, there was a sharp uptake in earthquake activity in the region. This was also the case when Agung previously erupted in 1963, killing almost 2,000 people.

How the brain enables us to rapidly focus attention

How the brain enables us to rapidly focus attention

University of Queensland researchers have discovered a key mechanism in the brain that may underlie our ability to rapidly focus attention.

Our brains are continuously bombarded with information from the senses, yet our level of vigilance to such input varies, allowing us to selectively focus on one conversation and not another. 

Professor Stephen Williams of the Queensland Brain Institute at explains, "If we want to give our full concentration, something happens in the brain to enable us to focus and filter out distractions."

Discovery of recent Antarctic ice sheet collapse raises fears of a new global flood

Discovery of recent Antarctic ice sheet 

Collapse raises fears of a new global flood

Some 125,000 years ago, during the last brief warm period between ice ages, Earth was a wash. Temperatures during this time, called the Eemain were barely higher than in today's greenhouse-warmed world. Yet proxy records show sea levels were 6 to 9 meters higher than they are today, drowning huge swaths of what is now dry land.

Scientists have now identified the source of all that water a collapse of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet.  Glaciologist worry about the present-day stability of this formidable ice mass. Its base lies below sea level, at risk of being undermined by warming ocean waters and glaciers fringing it are retreating fast. The discovery, teased out of a sediment core and reported last week at a meeting of the American Geophysical Union in Washington, D.C., validates those concerns,  providing evidence that the ice sheet disappeared in the recent geological past under climate conditions similar to today's. "We had an absence of evidence," says Andres Carlson, a glacial geologist at Oregon State University in Corvallis, who led the work. I think we have evidence of absence now.

We've Never Seen Something Like This Orbiting The Sun

"We've Never Seen Something Like This Orbiting The Sun": Ultima Thule Is Still Weird

The most distant object our species has ever visited, a space rock called 2014, is less snowman shaped than scientists previously thought.

NASA flew its New Horizons probe by the rock, which is nicknamed Ultima Thule and located 4 billion miles from Earth, on New Years Day. 

New Horizons flew within 2,200 miles, travelling at a speed of 32,200 mph. The fly by gave scientists the opportunity to collect photos and information about the rock that they hope will help solve some long standing mysteries about the solar system's 4.5 billion years of history. 

The north magnetic pole just changed

 The north magnetic pole just changed

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Magnetic north just changed. Here's what that means.The foundation of many navigation systems, the World Magnetic Model finally got a much-needed update with the end of the U.S. government shutdown.

  

Magnetic north has never sat still. In the last hundred years or so, the direction in which our compasses steadfastly point has lumbered ever northward, driven by Earth's churning liquid outer core some 1,800 miles beneath the surface. Yet in recent years, scientists noticed something unusual: Magnetic north's routine plod has shifted into high gear, sending it galloping across the Northern Hemisphere-and no one can entirely explain why.

The changes have been so large that scientists began working on an emergency update for the World

Magnetic Model, the mathematical system that lays the foundations for navigation, from cell phones and ships to commercial airlines. But then the U.S. government shut down, placing the model's official release on hold, as Nature News First Reported earlier this year.

Hubble Reveals Dynamic Atmospheres of Uranus, Neptune

Hubble Reveals Dynamic Atmospheres of Uranus, Neptune

During its routine yearly monitoring of the weather on our solar system's outer planets, NASA's Hubble Space Telescope has uncovered a new mysterious dark storm on Neptune and provided a fresh look at a long-lived storm circling around the north polar region on Uranus. 

Like Earth, Uranus and Neptune have seasons, which likely drive some of the features in their atmospheres. But their seasons are much longer than on Earth, spanning decades rather than months.

Distant volcano could turn latest lunar eclipse dark red

Distant volcano could turn latest lunar eclipse dark red

 

 

 

 

 

 

 On the evening of January 20 to 21, the entire Western Hemisphere will be treated to a more-than-hour-long sky show: a total eclipse of the moon. The eruption of a volcano half a world  away could make this particular event especially colorful-as a deep red.

Total lunar eclipses aren't rare. They happen somewhere across the globe once a year or so. But not everybody can see them. People have to be on the night side of  Earth to catch the dark shadow fall over  the moon face.