Representative samples of the modern fauna (left three samples) and the Paleozoic fauna (right four samples). Credit: Sarah Leibovitz
A new Stanford-led study offers the clearest picture yet of how some ocean life survived our planet's biggest mass extinction while most animals did not. About 252 million years ago, 96% of marine species and 70% of land animals died off during the Permian–Triassic extinction event, known as the "Great Dying." Not all branches of the evolutionary tree were affected evenly, however.
A cow in its natural habitat. Terracette morphology. Terracettes are recognized as periodic landscape patterns that exhibit long, contour-following pathways along hillslopes. Each terracette step consists of a flat tread and a sloped riser, with adjacent steps often interconnected by shorter sloped ramps. (A) A diagram illustrating a hillside with major slope angle , featuring terraced steps made of treads and risers. (B) A particularly striking example of terracettes in Wiltshire, England [34].
Steep hillsides and mountainsides in many regions worldwide are often covered in characteristic step-like patterns, also known as terracettes. These repeating landforms have fascinated scientists for more than a century, yet the factors contributing to their formation had not been clearly confirmed until now.
Mount Etna has fascinated geologists for decades. The towering volcano on the Italian island of Sicily is the most active in Europe, erupting several times a year, yet scientists have never fully understood how it formed.
A physicist at the University of Birmingham has created a laboratory "mini universe" that brings scientists a step closer to answering one of the biggest questions in physics: What is time?
Algae oil is increasingly used as a sustainable source of important nutrients, including polyunsaturated fatty acids that support human health and development. One important example is arachidonic acid, or ARA, which is used in nutrition products such as infant formula and functional foods.
Artist's impression of a hot core—a warm cocoon of molecular gas surrounding a newborn star—discovered in a supernova remnant. Blue represents high-energy regions produced by the supernova explosion, while brown indicates the surrounding molecular clouds. Credit: Niigata Universitry
For the first time, astronomers have discovered stellar cocoons rich in complex organic molecules within a supernova remnant. A research team from Niigata University, Gifu University, RIKEN and Kyoto University in Japan used the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) to observe the remnant of a massive star that exploded about 1,600 years ago.
Particles in ships’ exhaust inadvertently cause cloud brightening, and a similar effect could be employed to engineer the climate
NASA's Earth Obervatory
Short-term geoengineering to brighten clouds over the eastern Pacific Ocean could limit the damage caused by El Niño and save the global economy trillions of dollars, although there could be winners and losers from the disruption of natural cycles.
RNA has emerged as one of the most promising molecules in modern medicine, enabling advances from mRNA vaccines and gene therapies to genome editing and synthetic biology. However, designing RNA molecules that reliably fold into a desired secondary structure remains a major challenge. Even for relatively short sequences, the number of possible nucleotide combinations grows exponentially, making it difficult to identify optimal candidates. As a result, conventional computational methods often require extensive candidate evaluations, creating a significant bottleneck when experimental validation is both time-consuming and costly.
New Michigan State University-led research suggests the difference between a hiring policy that harms recruiting and one that doesn't may come down to just a few words.
