The mass loss of the wood block was positively associated with the degree of connection and was significantly smaller in the Cross than in the Circle arrangement. These findings suggest that fungal mycelium can “recognize” the difference in the spatial arrangement of wood blocks as part of their wood decay activity.

Like its predecessor, BriteStorm can scoop up hostile radar emissions and emulate returns to create large numbers of false and confusing ‘ghost’ tracks and can also execute more traditional jamming, with even more adaptive capabilities on the horizon.

Scientists have discovered that exposed ice on Mars could create conditions suitable for photosynthesis, suggesting the possibility that microbial life could thrive there despite the planet’s harsh environment and intense ultraviolet radiation.

The new findings reveal the potential for the existence of life on the Red Planet near its sub-latitudes, revealing that photosynthetic organisms may be uniquely suited for survival in certain icy exposed regions on the planet.

Given the numerous proposed forms of dark matter, scientists are investigating multiple approaches for their detection.

This study centers on understanding how ultralight dark matter behaves in relation to extreme mass ratio inspirals (EMRIs). These systems consist of a supermassive black hole (SMBH) in conjunction with a smaller astronomical body, which may be a star or another black hole.

The gravitational waves emitted by these systems as the smaller stellar object spirals into the SMBH could point to the behavior of ultralight dark matter in and around these systems.

The beetle superfamily Elateroidea comprises the most biodiverse bioluminescent insects among terrestrial light-producing animals. Recent exceptional fossils from the Mesozoic era and phylogenomic studies have provided valuable insights into the origin and evolution of bioluminescence in elateroids. 

The fossil possesses deeply impressed oval pits on the apices of antennomeres 3–11, representing specialized sensory organs likely involved in olfaction. 

The light organ near the abdominal apex of Flammarionella resembles that found in extant light-producing lucioline fireflies. The growing fossil record of lampyrids provides direct evidence that the stunning light displays of fireflies were already established by the late Mesozoic.

The search for exoplanets has grown immensely in recent decades thanks to next-generation observatories and instruments. The current census is 5,766 confirmed exoplanets in 4,310 systems, with thousands more awaiting confirmation. With so many planets available for study, exoplanet studies and astrobiology are transitioning from the discovery process to characterization. Essentially, this means that astronomers are reaching the point where they can directly image exoplanets and determine the chemical composition of their atmospheres.

As always, the ultimate goal is to find terrestrial (rocky) exoplanets that are “habitable,” meaning they could support life. However, our notions of habitability have been primarily focused on comparisons to modern-day Earth (i.e., “Earth-like“), which has come to be challenged in recent years. In a recent study, a team of astrobiologists considered how Earth has changed over time, giving rise to different biosignatures. Their findings could inform future exoplanet searches using next-generation telescopes like the Habitable Worlds Observatory (HWO), destined for space by the 2040s.

A species of tropical butterfly with unusually expanded brain structures displays a fascinating mosaic pattern of neural expansion linked to a cognitive innovation.

The study, published in Current Biology, investigates the neural foundations of behavioral innovation in Heliconius butterflies, the only genus known to feed on both nectar and pollen. As part of this behavior, they demonstrate a remarkable ability to learn and remember spatial information about their food sources—skills previously connected to the expansion of a brain structure called the mushroom bodies, responsible for learning and memory.

Highlights

• Heliconiini butterflies have conserved wiring logic in spheroid mushroom body lobes

• Kenyon cell populations expanded to differing degrees in Heliconius butterflies

• Increased numbers of feedback neurons and conservation in dopaminergic neurons

• Mosaic evolution to facilitate cognitive processes associated with pollen feeding

An ancient slab of seafloor that was around when Earth’s earliest known dinosaurs emerged, has been discovered beneath the Pacific Ocean, where it has seemingly hovered in a sort of mid-dive for more than 120 million years.

In addition to illuminating geological processes deep inside Earth, the cold, descending slab of dense rock, located some 410 to 660 kilometers below the planet’s surface, could explain a mysterious gap between two sections of a giant blob in the mantle layer.

Paranormal researcher Brian J. Cano has been investigating ghosts for 22 years now, visiting locations all across the globe.

Brian started out as a skeptic but now he says he’s a skeptical believer, which means he thinks there’s something out there but is skeptical on how it’s reported. Saying not everything that happens during the night is paranormal activity.

One of those stories talks about Brian’s demonic experience with the circle of fire at the Grand Midway Hotel. Brian says, “When I say off the chart, I mean literally you go down the list: Chris was getting touched, I was hearing things audibly, Lisa Ann was communing directly with spirits… it was the most poignant encounter I ever had.”

On Earth, solar radiation can transmit down to multiple metres within ice, depending on its optical properties.

Organisms within ice can harness energy from photosynthetically active radiation while being protected from damaging ultraviolet radiation. On Mars, the lack of an effective ozone shield allows ~30% more damaging ultraviolet radiation to reach the surface in comparison with Earth.

However, our radiative transfer modelling shows that despite the intense surface ultraviolet radiation, there are radiatively habitable zones within exposed mid-latitude ice on Mars, at depths ranging from a few centimetres for ice with 0.01–0.1% dust, and up to a few metres within cleaner ice.

Numerical models predict that dense dusty snow in the martian mid-latitudes can melt below the surface at present.

Thus, if small amounts of liquid water are available at these depths, mid-latitude ice exposures could represent the most easily accessible locations to search for extant life on Mars.

RIKEN scientists looking for clues to the origins of life on Earth have discovered a new microbe that may shed light on how organisms first developed on Earth, the search for life elsewhere in the universe and how to improve microbial factories.

Their research, conducted in the rugged, deep-water-fed springs of northern California, uncovered a microorganism that converts carbon dioxide into other chemicals. This process not only generates energy, but employs a previously unknown metabolic pathway, suggesting novel methods of carbon fixation that may mimic the earliest forms of energy metabolism on our planet.

It is well known that dogs are capable of following human verbal instructions. However, very little is known about the equivalent ability in cats. In this study, we used a switched stimuli task to examine whether cats rapidly form picture-word association, which is a fundamental ability for word learning.

These results demonstrate that cats can rapidly form picture-word association.

Former UAP Task Force insider tells Ross Coulthart: We are not alone

Over the next few months, my colleagues and I started to explore what we could grow in the material. We found that tomatoes, peas and carrots all took to the soil and grew well. But could these plants realistically survive on Mars?

The planet does have water, but most of it is frozen at its poles or buried deep underground. So for plants to live, water would need to be pumped up to the surface. Mars has almost no atmosphere and no magnetic field, so plants would have to be housed in colonies, with greenhouse-like structures to protect them. In these, an internal ecosystem with a controlled atmosphere could help the plants to retrieve oxygen through hydrolysis.

Most stars shine in ultraviolet and infrared colours that are blocked by the Earth’s atmosphere, as well as the colours our eyes evolved to see.

Extra colours are useful. For example, we can weigh stars on the other side of our galaxy because massive stars are bright in infrared, while smaller ones are faint – and they stay that way throughout their lifetimes. However, we know where stars are being born because only young stars emit ultraviolet light.

In addition, independent measurements of the same thing are vital for rigorous science. Infrared telescopes, for example, can work together and have already made surprising discoveries. But it’s not great for diversity that the Webb, Euclid and Roman space telescopes all see infrared colours.

Alien Signal - Not if but When

Update from Simon Holland

A deceased man’s genitals have turned out to be a medical wonder. In a recent case report, doctors in the UK describe discovering that the man had three penises—an incredibly rare condition. Amazingly, the man may have never known about his unique anatomy, as the discovery was only made after his body was donated to science, and his external genitalia appeared perfectly normal.

Many of the ancient artefacts exposed by melting ice patches around the world relate to large-animal hunting. In summer, reindeer (caribou), bison, mountain sheep and other large animals would congregate on ice patches to avoid heat and biting insects, and autumn melt would support late-season grass growth, making the patches into high-elevation oases. Hunters followed the herds, as shown by lost and discarded hunting tools, along with everyday items, such as shoes, clothing and baskets, that accumulated and were preserved in the ice patches.

A well-preserved thylacine head was a gruesome sight – but it also contained RNA molecules crucial to reconstructing the extinct animal’s genome

Breakthroughs sometimes turn up in unexpected places. The researchers working on the international push to bring back the thylacine say they found theirs in a long-ignored bucket in the back of a cupboard at a Melbourne museum.

It contained an astonishingly well-preserved head of the extinct marsupial, also known as the Tasmanian tiger.

Work on the Great Wall began more than 2,500 years ago, its origins dating back to China’s Spring and Autumn Period of around 770 BCE to 476 BCE. Various sections were added in subsequent eras as competing dynasties and factions sought to exert their control.

Work eventually stopped in the 17th century.

Though not a single, unbroken structure, the wall spans over 21,000 kilometers, winding through 15 provinces, 97 prefectures and 404 counties.

Highlights

• One of the oldest dinosauromorphs is described.

• It is the earliest “silesaurid” with a sacrum composed of three vertebrae.

• The oldest episode of sympatry among “silesaurids” in South America is reported.

Conclusions

Gondwanax paraisensis was a bird-line archosaur that shared affinities with typical “silesaurids”. It comes from the oldest dinosauromorph-bearing beds of South America (i.e., Ladinian-Carnian boundary), comprising one of the oldest “silesaurids” worldwide (Fig. 7). The material preserves elements that are scarce among “silesaurids”, such as the sacrum. This structure is particularly interesting for Gondwanax paraisensis, which is composed of three vertebrae.

In  a shocking claim, a retired senior Pentagon official said that a UFO "mother ships" had been "releasing swarms of smaller craft" which has added more mystery to the intrusions over multiple US military bases.

As per the report, last December, multiple noisy and small UFOs were spotted at dusk for nearly 17 nights "moving at rapid speeds" and displaying "flashing red, green, and white lights" which penetrated the highly restricted airspace which was above Langley Air Force Base in Virginia.

Fossil Human Ancestor ‘Lucy’ Remains Pivotal 50 Years after Discovery

Fifty years ago one of us (Johanson) made just such a discovery on an expedition to the Afar region of Ethiopia. On November 24, 1974, Johanson was out prospecting for fossils of human ancestors with his graduate student Tom Gray, eyes trained on the ground, when he spotted a piece of elbow with humanlike anatomy.

Glancing upslope, he saw additional fragments of bone glinting in the noonday sun.

In the weeks, months and years that followed, as the expedition team worked to recover and analyze all the ancient bones eroding out of that hillside, it became clear that Johanson had found a remarkable partial skeleton of a human ancestor who had lived some 3.2 million years ago.

She was assigned to a new species, Australopithecus afarensis, and given the reference number A.L.288-1, which stands for “Afar locality 288,” the spot where she, the first hominin fossil, was found.

But to most people, she is known simply by her nickname, Lucy.

Vessel strikes and entanglement are some of the leading causes of injury and death to marine animals such as whales. Increasingly urbanized waterways, warming oceans, changes in prey distribution—and in some cases, increasing species populations—make for a crowded and dynamic ocean environment.

Recognizing the need for additional technology to advance an existing suite of protections, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) researchers have developed a marine mammal detection system for large commercial vehicles. This technology uses thermal imaging to detect a whale's body or spout and provides real-time information on their distance and bearing from a vessel. The goal is to provide ship captains with enough time for vessels to be able to change course or slow down.

This human-in-the-loop verification ensures that the captains never receive false alerts, thus avoiding alert fatigue and building trust and confidence in the whale detection technology. Unlike human observation from planes and boats, the systems don't require ambient light, so the cameras can spot whales at all hours, further improving collision avoidance.

Prior research has shown that the Milky Way started its life as a single entity. Over time, it has drawn in multiple other galaxies, making it much bigger—remnants of such galaxies have been found throughout the Milky Way. Such additions have made it difficult for astronomers to determine the original structure of the Milky Way.

In this new effort, the research team claims that by dating a large number of stars in different parts of the galaxy, they were able to narrow their focus to a particular group that they believe represents the original galaxy disk. The team named the disk PanGu.

Source:

The formation and survival of the Milky Way’s oldest stellar disk

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41550-024-02382-w