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Phys.org / A 500-million-year-old clawed predator rewrites the origin of spiders and horseshoe crabs
It had been a long day of teaching for Rudy Lerosey-Aubril. As a reward, he returned to cleaning an intriguing Cambrian arthropod fossil he had recently received for review. At first, the specimen showed all the expected ...
Phys.org / Fins, fingers and toes: A new take on repeating body parts and how they come to be
As biologists know, nature can take its sweet time explaining itself. Andrew Gillis, associate scientist at the Marine Biological Laboratory (MBL), has been investigating how the paired fins of fishes evolved for nearly 20 ...
Phys.org / Hidden features in X-rays could radically change how we measure and understand them
Hidden features uncovered in X-ray signals are set to overturn a key scientific theory and fundamentally change how X-rays are interpreted across fields of physics, chemistry, biology and materials science, new research reveals. ...
Phys.org / New index reveals global water resources' growing dependence on extreme rainfall
As global temperatures climb, rainfall patterns are shifting in ways that could put water resources and agriculture under increasing strain, a new study published in Water Resources Research suggests.
Phys.org / Lost mosaic reveals first image of female beast-fighter from the Roman era
When you think of a fight between an animal and a human in ancient Roman sports, the mental image is usually of a big man vs. an animal in a big arena filled with cheering spectators. In a new study, Alfonso Manas, a researcher ...
Phys.org / Chaos shapes how meandering rivers change over time, research shows
Rivers are rarely the calm, orderly streams we imagine on maps. Over time, their winding paths—called meanders—shift, bend, and occasionally snap off in sudden "cutoff" events that shorten loops and reshape the landscape. ...
Phys.org / Nature's photocopiers caught 'doodling'—scientists say it could revolutionize how DNA is written
New research has discovered that the molecular machines responsible for copying our DNA have a surprising hidden talent—an ability to create entirely new and highly sophisticated DNA sequences from scratch. The study, led ...
Phys.org / New model shows how behavioral flexibility affects animal evolution
When the environment changes dramatically, animals from mollusks to crows can make big changes in their behavior that enable them to survive. For example, marmots and ground squirrels in California are spending more time ...
Phys.org / Cosmic collision of galaxies mapped by Maunakea telescope
An astronomer at the University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo is using data from the Canada–France–Hawaiʻi Telescope (CFHT) on Maunakea to help reconstruct a slow-motion cosmic collision, one that has been unfolding for hundreds of ...
Phys.org / Astronomers determine the fate of a double white dwarf binary
Utilizing the stellar evolution code named Modules for Experiments in Stellar Astrophysics (MESA), Chinese astronomers have investigated the evolution of a recently discovered ultra-compact double white dwarf binary system ...
Phys.org / Stretching metals can tune catalysis: A new method predicts energy shifts
Heterogeneous catalysis—in which catalysts and reactants are of different phases, e.g., solid and gas—is important to many industrial processes and often involves solid metal as the catalyst. Ammonia synthesis, catalytic ...
Medical Xpress / Alzheimer's risk reduced after high-dose influenza vaccination vs. standard dose, study finds
The risk of Alzheimer's disease significantly decreases in older adults who receive a higher dose of the influenza vaccine compared to the standard dose, according to new research led by UTHealth Houston. The findings are ...