Life sciences
10 Feb 2022
Injuries to Zambian lions and leopards caused by shotguns and wires snares greatly underestimated, finds new study in Frontiers in Conservation Science
Life sciences
28 Jan 2022
By K.E.D. Coan, science writer Fieldwork at Laguna Caliente, Poás volcano, Costa Rica. Credit: Justin Wang Only a few microbes inhabit Earth’s most extreme environments, but they have varied adaptations to do so, reports a new study. Hydrothermal hot springs such as at the Poás volcano in Costa Rica provide an opportunity not only to explore life on Earth, but also to understand how life might have evolved on Mars. A few specialist microbes survive conditions analogous to those of Mars’ early history, reports a new publication in Frontiers in Astronomy and Space Sciences — and this may be thanks to a broad range of adaptations. One of the most hostile habitats on Earth The hydrothermal crater lake Laguna Caliente of the Poás volcano in Costa Rica is one of the most hostile habitats on the planet. The water is ultra-acidic, full of toxic metals and the temperatures range from comfortable to boiling. In addition, recurrent ‘phreatic eruptions’ cause sudden explosions of steam, ash and rock. Despite such deadly eruptions, hydrothermal environments may be where the earliest forms of life began on Earth — and potentially also on Mars, if there ever was life. Beyond discovering how life can survive […]
Life sciences
19 Jan 2022
By Jessica Wimmer and William Martin A deep-sea hydrothermal vent. According to one theory, the first life on Earth arose at vents like these. Credit: NOAA Office of Ocean Exploration (CC BY-SA 2.0) Life on Earth arose roughly four billion years ago. How it arose, and from what energy source, is of interest to everyone, because we humans like to know where we come from. The team of Prof William Martin at the University Düsseldorf’s Institute of Molecular Evolution investigates early evolution. In a recent paper in Frontiers in Microbiology, they argue that the source of energy required at life’s origin has been hiding in plain sight: under the environmental conditions at deep sea hydrothermal vents, hypothesized to have been the sites where life on Earth originated, the central biosynthetic reactions of life do not require an external energy source. Rather, these core metabolic reactions release energy all by themselves as long as H2 and CO2 are in supply. The scientists thus link life’s biochemical beginnings to naturally occurring geochemical reactions. Here, corresponding author Ms Jessica Wimmer and Prof Martin explain their findings for a wider audience. There are many competing theories for how and where life arose. Although the […]
Life sciences
28 Dec 2021
By Mischa Dijkstra, Frontiers science writer For the first time since the 11th century BCE, scientists have unwrapped – virtually, using CT scans – the mummy of pharaoh Amenhotep I (r. 1525 to 1504 BCE), the only royal mummy to remain unopened in modern times. They show that the pharaoh was around 35 years old, 169cm tall, circumcized, and in good physical health when he died, apparently from natural causes All the royal mummies found in the 19th and 20th centuries have long since been opened for study. With one exception: egyptologists have never been bold enough to open the mummy of pharaoh Amenhotep I. Not because of any mythical curse, but because it is perfectly wrapped, decorated with beautiful flower garlands, and with face and neck covered by an exquisite lifelike mask inset with colorful stones. But now for the first time, scientists from Egypt have used three-dimensional CT (computed tomography) scanning to ‘digitally unwrap’ this royal mummy and study its contents. They report their findings in Frontiers in Medicine. This was the first time in three millennia that Amenhotep’s mummy has been ‘opened’. The previous time was in the 11th century BCE, more than four centuries after his […]
Life sciences
16 Dec 2021
By Mischa Dijkstra, Frontiers science writer The ship’s ram as it was found on the seabed off Sicily at a depth of nearly 90m. Image credit: K. Egorov / Società per la Documentazione dei Siti Sommersi – Global Underwater Explorers (SDSS-GUE) Italian researchers found amazing community of 114 species of invertebrates on priceless archeological artifact, including ecological ‘constructors’, ‘binders’, and ‘dwellers’ On March 10, 241 BCE, a sea battle took place near the Aegadian Islands off northwestern Sicily. A fleet equipped by the Roman Republic destroyed a fleet from Carthage, ending the First Punic War in Rome’s favor. But scientists have now shown that this destruction and carnage utimately made a a rich flowering of marine life possible. In a recent study in Frontiers in Marine Science, they reported finding no fewer than 114 species of animals, coexisting in a complex community, on a ship’s ram from a Carthaginian ship sunk in the battle. This is the first study of marine life on a very ancient wreck. The ram is not only a priceless archeological find, but also a unique window into the processes by which marine animals colonize empty sites and gradually form mature, stable, diverse communities. “Shipwrecks are […]
Life sciences
22 Oct 2021
When and why did human brains decrease in size 3,000 years ago? New study in Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution may have found clues within ants
Life sciences
12 Oct 2021
By Mischa Dijkstra, Frontiers science writer ‘Blob’ of Lumbriculus variegatus blackworms. The half-circle to the right is the edge of a petri dish. Image credit: Harry Tuazon Lumbriculus variegatus blackworms can aggregate into ‘blobs’ capable of collective movement. Researchers observed blackworms to model the behavior of individual worms, as well as the formation and movement of blobs. They showed that effective collective movement can only emerge when there is a balance between ‘clinginess’ and independent movement. These results may serve as a model to study other systems with emergent properties, such as nets of biopolymers. Blackworms (Lumbriculus variegatus) are distant relatives of rainworms, measuring up to 10 cm long. They live in shallow marshes, ponds, and swamps in Europe and North America, where they feed on microorganisms and debris. To protect themselves from drought, blackworms can aggregate as entangled, shape-shifting ‘blobs’ composed of a few to hundreds of individuals. Just like swarms of bees, rafts of fire ants, or flocks of starlings, blackworm blobs can show ‘intelligent’ collective movement. Now, scientists show that effective collective movement can only emerge in blackworm blobs when conditions are just right – in particular, when there is a balance between the activity and ‘clinginess’ […]
Life sciences
21 Sep 2021
By Peter Rejcek, science writer Image credit: Ricardo Canino / Shutterstock More than 80 cultures still use whistled language to communicate over long distances by simplifying words, syllable by syllable, into whistled melodies. Researchers trying to decode how bottlenose dolphins, highly social mammals with the second largest brain relative to their body size after humans, communicate are leveraging insights from studies looking at how human whistled speech is structured and organized. This model may provide new algorithms for helping understand how dolphins’ whistles encode information. Whistling while you work isn’t just a distraction for some people. More than 80 cultures employ a whistled form of their native language to communicate over long distances. A multidisciplinary team of scientists believe that some of these whistled languages can serve as a model for elucidating how information may be encoded in dolphin whistle communication. They made their case in a new paper published in the journal Frontiers in Psychology. Whistled human speech mostly evolved in places where people live in rugged terrain, such as mountains or dense forest, because the sounds carry much farther than ordinary speech or even shouting. While these whistled languages vary by region and culture, the basic principle is […]
Life sciences
16 Sep 2021
By Mischa Dijkstra, Frontiers science writer Image credit: Gorodenkoff / Shutterstock.com From fossil evidence and through scientific role-play, researchers reconstruct that Neanderthals probably used fire and tools to dazzle, corral, and catch choughs, communally roosting birds, inside caves at night. The choughs would not only have contributed welcome calories and micronutrients to the Neanderthals’ diet, but may also have yielded elements for their personal decoration. Neanderthals, our closest relatives, became extinct between 40,000 to 35,000 years ago. Since the discovery of the first Neanderthal fossil 165 years ago, scientists have learned more about Neanderthals – including their culture, sociality, ecology, diet, control of fire, production and use of tools, physiology, and even their genomic code – than about any other non-human hominin. Here, Spanish researchers use a highly original approach – scientific “role play” – to reconstruct a likely novel element of Neanderthal behavior: cooperating with group members while using fire and tools to catch choughs, birds from the crow family, from their night roosts inside caves. Their findings are published in Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution. Neanderthals are known to have eaten plants, fungi, shellfish, roasted pinecones, and flesh from stranded dolphins. At the same time, they were important […]
Life sciences
10 Sep 2021
By Colm Gorey, Frontiers science writer Image: BGStock72/Shutterstock.com The findings of a study published with Frontiers suggests that those who engage in regular exercise may lower their risk of developing anxiety by almost 60%. Using data on almost 400,000 people spanning more than two decades, the authors from Lund University in Sweden were also able to identify a noticeable difference in exercise performance level and the risk of developing anxiety between males and females. A quick online search for ways to improve our mental health will often come up with a myriad of different results. However, one of the most common suggestions put forward as a step to achieving wellness – and preventing future issues – is doing some physical exercise, whether it be a walk or playing a team sport. Anxiety disorders – which typically develop early in a person’s life – are estimated to affect approximately 10% of the world’s population and has been found to be twice as common in women compared to men. And while exercise is put forward as a promising strategy for the treatment of anxiety, little is known about the impact of exercise dose, intensity or physical fitness level on the risk of […]
Life sciences
17 Aug 2021
By Tania Fitzgeorge-Balfour, science writer Example of marine dinoflagellates (Dinophysis sp., not the species studied in the paper). Image credit: Rattiya Thongdumhyu/Shutterstock.com Plastic pollution is not just a problem for larger marine animals. Dinoflagellates, which are single-celled marine predators, can also ingest microplastic which in turn limits their growth and consequently their overall abundance. This has implications for the larger animals that feed on these microscopic predators, in terms of available food and the transfer of energy up the food chain. Microscopic marine predators can ingest microplastic, which in turn lowers their growth and overall abundance, finds a recent study published in Frontiers in Marine Science. This has implications for the larger marine animals that feed on these tiny predators, both in terms of available food and the transfer of energy up the food chain. “The plastic pollution of our oceans isn’t just affecting whales and sea turtles, it also impacts the small, microscopic animals towards the bottom of the food chain,” says Susanne Menden-Deuer, coauthor of this research and a professor at the Graduate School of Oceanography, University of Rhode Island, US. “Our study shows that some single-celled marine predators called dinoflagellates ingest microplastic particles, and when they do, […]
Life sciences
02 Aug 2021
Baby marine turtles’ stomachs are full of harmful plastic debris, suggests new study in Frontiers in Marine Science
Life sciences
20 Jul 2021
Tomato fruits send electrical warnings to the rest of the plant when attacked by insects, finds new study in Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems
Life sciences
15 Jul 2021
By Daegan Miller / University of Massachusetts Amherst Office of News and Media Relations Section of a piling attacked by shipworms in Belfast, Maine. Image credit: Barry Goodell / University of Massachusetts Amherst Humans have known for over two thousand years that shipworms, a worm-like mollusk, are responsible for damage to wooden boats, docks, dikes and piers. Yet new research from the University of Massachusetts Amherst published in Frontiers in Microbiology reveals that we still don’t know the most basic thing about them: how they eat. “It’s unbelievable,” says Reuben Shipway, adjunct assistant professor in microbiology at UMass Amherst, research fellow at the Centre for Enzyme Innovation at the University of Portsmouth, UK, and one of the paper’s authors. “The ancient Greeks wrote about them, Christopher Columbus lost his fleet due to what he called ‘the havoc which the worm had wrought,’ and, today, shipworms cause billions of dollars of damage a year.” Read original article. Download original article (pdf) Shipworms also play a key role in mangrove forest ecosystems, found throughout the world’s tropical regions, and are responsible for cycling a huge amount of carbon through the web of life. “Yet,” says Shipway, “we still don’t know how they do what […]
Life sciences
15 Jul 2021
First observations of coral cells and free-living algae physically interacting: Frontiers in Marine Science
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