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Overnight News Digest: September 13, 2025 [1]
['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.']
Date: 2025-09-13
Welcome to the Overnight News Digest with a crew consisting of founder Magnifico, regular editors side pocket, maggiejean, Chitown Kev, eeff, Magnifico, annetteboardman, Besame, jck, doomandgloom and FarWestGirl. Alumni editors include (but not limited to) Interceptor 7, Man Oh Man (RIP), wader, Neon Vincent, palantir, Patriot Daily News Clearinghouse (RIP), ek hornbeck (RIP), rfall, ScottyUrb, Doctor RJ, JeremyBloom, BentLiberal, Oke (RIP) and jlms qkw. OND is a regular community feature on Daily Kos since 2007, consisting of news stories from around the world, sometimes coupled with a daily theme, original research or commentary. Editors of OND impart their own presentation styles and content choices, typically publishing each day near 12:00 AM Eastern Time. Please feel free to share your articles and stories in the comments.
Yeah, had the kid-in-a-candy-store issue again tonight, so it may be more of a Science Weekend Smorgasbord to graze on in manageable chunks. ;-)
And I’ll leave some of the runners up links in a comment.
Space
Aurora alert! Butterfly-shaped 'hole' in sun's atmosphere could spark geomagnetic storm Sept. 13-14.
Space.com
A colossal butterfly-shaped coronal hole has opened in the sun's atmosphere and is currently spewing a fast-moving stream of solar wind toward Earth that could trigger a moderate geomagnetic storm and dazzling auroras this weekend. The high-speed solar wind from this striking feature, spanning some 310,000 miles (500,000 kilometers) across, is expected to reach Earth around Sept. 14. Space weather forecasters anticipate active to G1 (minor) geomagnetic storm conditions with a possibility of G2 (moderate) geomagnetic storm levels being reached between Sept. 13 and 14, according to the U.K. Met Office . NOAA's Space Weather Prediction Center has issued a slightly more cautious estimate , anticipating peaks of only G1 conditions. But the potential for stronger activity remains if the solar wind 's embedded magnetic field lines up favorably with Earth's.
Scientists track down fresh boulder falls on the moon.
Space.com
This article is republished from Eos. Read the original article. As a boulder rolls down a cliff slope on the moon, it kicks up lunar dust, leaving behind a telltale herringbone pattern of ejecta. In a recent study, for the first time, scientists geolocated and dated evidence of such boulder falls. They identified 245 fresh tracks created as boulders rolled, bounced, and slid down crater walls. "For a long time, there was this belief that the moon is geologically dead.…Our study shows that boulders with sizes ranging [from] tens to hundreds of meters and [with] weights in tons have moved from their places over time," said Sivaprahasam Vijayan, the study’s lead author and an associate professor at the Physical Research Laboratory in Ahmedabad, India. "It is equally important to know how recent these boulder fall events are to understand the time periods when the geological agents were active."
On the International Space Station Sept. 8-12, 2025, Astronaut preps purple kefir for a vitamin boost.
Space.com
As their research activities continued, the Expedition 73 crew had a busy week on the International Space Station with the departure of a cargo vehicle and preparations for the arrival of two more. Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) astronaut Kimiya Yui, an Expedition 73 flight engineer, hammed it up with kids from his home country this week aboard the International Space Station (ISS). "I was able to talk with the children of Takacho in Hyogo Prefecture via HAM! This is the first time talking with Japanese children during a mission!" said Yui in a social media post on Thursday (Sept. 11). …element removed... BioNutrients-3 — Fincke used a research incubator to test ways to use yeast, yogurt and samples of the fermented milk drink kefir to produce additional vitamins and nutrients to benefit future crews' health. The astronaut showed off a tray of purple kefir used in the experiment; you can see a photo of it above.
Sunrise over NASA's 'quiet' supersonic X-59 jet | Space photo of the day for Sept. 12, 2025.
Space.com
On July 18, 2025, NASA's experimental X-59 supersonic research aircraft basked in golden light on the ramp at Lockheed Martin's Skunk Works facility before being put through a series of ground tests. What is it? The X-59 Quesst (Quiet SuperSonic Technology) is an experimental aircraft developed by Lockheed Martin's Skunk Works for NASA, designed to achieve supersonic speeds with dramatically reduced noise, transforming the traditional sonic "boom" into a softer "thump." Despite schedule delays in the early 2020s, the X-59 was delivered to NASA for flight testing in January 2025. Ground tests, including low-speed taxiing, began in mid-July, with a maiden flight expected later this year.
Storms leave 120-mile scar in Alberta visible from space (images).
Space.com
Canada's "hailstorm alley" just produced a storm with a scar visible from space. Satellite imagery from NASA caught the aftermath of a hailstorm that ripped through a region southeast of Calgary, Alberta on Aug. 20. The scar, roughly 125 miles (200 km) in length, is especially visible because vegetation in the late summer "has matured and greened up," agency officials wrote on Aug. 28. Western University in southern Ontario, which studied the 9-mile (15-km) wide storm swath as part of its Northern Hail Project, stated the aftermath was "among the worst" the project had ever seen.
General
Cheese cave fungi reveal how genetic mutations drive rapid evolutionary change.
Phys.org
Many scientific discoveries are serendipitous—the result of chance. Seeing evolution in action in a cheese cave turned out to be exactly that for Benjamin Wolfe, associate professor of biology, and his colleagues. Back in 2016, Wolfe convinced his former post-doc advisor to drive with him to Jasper Hill Farm in Vermont to get samples of a special cheese called Bayley Hazen Blue, a ruse for her boyfriend to propose marriage at the spot where they first met. Wolfe ended up keeping that cheese in the freezer in his lab. "I'm notorious for not throwing samples away just in case we might need them," he says. But when graduate student Nicolas Louw picked up recent samples of Bayley Hazen Blue from the Jasper Hill caves—large, damp rooms built into the side of steep hills—he discovered the cheese, previously coated with a leafy green layer of fungus, was now chalk white on the outside. "This was really exciting because we thought it could be an example of evolution happening right before our eyes," said Wolfe. "Microbes evolve. We know that from antibiotic resistance evolution, we know that from pathogen evolution, but we don't usually see it happening at a specific place over time in a natural setting."
By working together, cells can extend their senses beyond their direct environment.
Phys.org
The story of the princess and the pea evokes an image of a highly sensitive young royal woman so refined, she can sense a pea under a stack of mattresses. When it comes to human biology, it also takes an abnormal individual to sense far beyond its surroundings, in this case, a cancer cell. Now, researchers also know that normal cells can pull a similar trick by working together. Research published in the journal PNAS by engineers at Washington University in St. Louis offers a clearer picture of how cells can sense beyond their direct environment. The research can help further the understanding of how cancer moves and point to potential targets to stop that migration. Amit Pathak, a professor of mechanical engineering and materials science at the McKelvey School of Engineering, explained that "depth mechano-sensing" is how cells sense beyond what they are attached to. In previous research, he and colleagues discovered that abnormal cells with a "high front-rear polarity" (indicative of migrating cells) can sense the farthest depth, up to 10 microns beyond their adhered environment. Part of that sensory ability has to do with how the cell deforms the surrounding fibrous collagen to reach out into extracellular matrix (ECM) and "feel" the next layer, whether that's a hard tumor, soft tissue or bone just around the bend. The single abnormal cell can "feel" the stiffness of the ECM and set its course based on that input.
Octopus arms reveal surprising range of motion in new behavioral catalog.
Phys.org
Octopus arms are one of the most flexible structures known in all of the biological world. Their agility is so extraordinary that robotics researchers want to learn the secrets behind their movements, hoping to apply some of the same principles. They envision soft, flexible robotic appendages that, like the highly tactile octopus arms, can search and carry out tasks through tight and narrow openings, such as delivering life-saving food and water to people trapped in the rubble of collapsed buildings. Now, researchers from the Marine Biological Laboratory (MBL) in Woods Hole and Florida Atlantic University (FAU) have published the most detailed study ever of the complex motions of octopus arms. They video recorded 25 octopuses in their natural habitats, in six different locations in the Atlantic, Caribbean, and in Spain, and developed a systematic catalog of their range of arm movements as related to behaviors, such as foraging and locomotion. The findings are reported in the journal Scientific Reports.
Environment
How mowing less lets flowers bloom along Austria's 'Green Belt'.
Phys.org
On a meadow in southeastern Austria near the border with Slovenia, Josef Hadler is working his tractor to mow several acres of land in a bid to better preserve the plot's biodiversity. "Yesterday, a buzzard followed me at a distance of only five meters," the cattle farmer told AFP in the municipality of Sankt Anna am Aigen in the Styria province. Thanks to Hadler's efforts for the local nature conservation association, endemic species of flora and fauna that have disappeared elsewhere have been able to survive on the 15 hectares (37 acres) of protected land he manages. Located where the Iron Curtain once separated Austria from the former Yugoslavia, the fields near the Slovenian border are rich in biodiversity, precisely because the area used to be a no-go zone during the Cold War.
Ditches as waterways: Managing 'ditch-scapes' to strengthen communities and the environment.
Phys.org
Ditches are all around: along roads, through neighborhoods, across fields and marshes. These human-made waterways are so common that they can be easy to miss. A new literature review published in Communications Earth & Environment calls on the public to pay more attention to this often neglected resource, one that could advance sustainability goals and benefit local communities with modern ditch management strategies. In the English language, "ditch" has a bad rap. It evokes images of trash or something that ought to be discarded. That negative connotation and the everywhereness of ditches helps explain why they've been understudied and undervalued, according to the authors of the "Lines in the Landscape" article. This paper was produced by a collective of self-described "ditchologists," whose informal talks at conferences and over email eventually culminated in a series of Zoom meetups that led to a more organized research effort.
Well-preserved Amazon rainforest on Indigenous lands can protect people from diseases, study finds.
Phys.org
Every time humans cut into the Amazon rainforest or burn or destroy parts of it, they're making people sick. It's an idea Indigenous people have lived by for thousands of years. Now a new study in the journal Communications Earth & Environment adds to the scientific evidence supporting it, by finding that instances of several diseases were lowered in areas where forest was set aside for Indigenous peoples who maintained it well. With the United Nations climate summit set for Brazil in November, the study authors and outside experts said the work highlights the stakes for people around the world as negotiators try to address climate change. Belem, the city hosting the conference, is known as the gateway to the Amazon, and many who will be attending, from activists to delegates, think the role of Indigenous communities in climate action and conservation will be highlighted in a distinct way. "The 'forest man' or 'man forest,' according to the Indigenous perspective, has always been linked to the reciprocity between human health and the natural environment where one lives," said Francisco Hernández Cayetano, president of the Federation of Ticuna and Yagua Communities of the Lower Amazon, or FECOTYBA, in the Peruvian Amazon. "If each state does not guarantee the rights and territories of Indigenous peoples, we would inevitably be harming their health, their lives, and the ecosystem itself."
A pollution paradox: Wildfires in the western United States may improve air quality.
Phys.org
Climate change is driving more frequent and more intense wildfires around the world, including in the United States. These huge blazes cause a range of problems that affect health, the environment, property and the economy. However, a new study reveals a surprising paradox: the heat from wildfires in the western U.S. may actually improve air quality in the eastern part of the country. Smoke and fine particles (known as PM 2.5 ) from wildfires can travel hundreds or thousands of miles, posing severe health risks, such as respiratory and cardiovascular problems. Smoke from western U.S. fires is thought to contribute to hundreds of thousands of premature deaths in the eastern U.S. every year. However, in a paper published in the journal Science, researchers found that the intense heat they create can change weather patterns, which in turn reduces air pollution. According to the study, heat rising from wildfires in the western U.S. creates updrafts that excite waves in the jet stream, the narrow band of fast-flowing currents high up in the atmosphere. These waves weaken the normal flow of cool, moist air from the west, which pulls in winds from the east that bring moisture from the Atlantic Ocean. This causes more rainfall on the East Coast, which effectively washes away the pollution.
New metrics indicate habitat fragmentation has increased in over half the world's forests over the last 20 years.
Phys.org
Deforestation is a well-known issue affecting biodiversity and carbon storage, but the fragmentation of forests is also a driving factor in the reduction of the world's biodiversity and carbon-storing abilities. Fragmentation occurs when larger forests are broken into smaller, isolated patches, thereby reducing habitat connectivity and size. Fragmentation is worsened when these patches shrink, split, become more complex in shape, or grow more distant from each other. However, scientists are still trying to figure out the best way to quantify habitat fragmentation and the rate at which it occurs. A new study, published in Science, suggests fragmentation is increasing in over half of the world's forests, particularly tropical forests, despite a 2023 study suggesting a decline in fragmentation over the last 20 years.
Replacing forests with solar a net positive, but neighbors bear an outsized burden, study finds.
Clearing forests to build large-scale solar farms can deliver climate benefits, but those gains often come at a cost to nearby homeowners and ecosystems, according to new research from the University of Massachusetts Amherst. The study, which will appear in the November edition of Land Use Policy, examined a proposed 9.35-megawatt solar project in Amherst, Massachusetts, to weigh the trade-offs of replacing more than 40 acres of forest with photovoltaic panels. Using a 20-year cost-benefit analysis, researchers found the project's net benefits ranged from $2.7 million to $12.7 million, depending on assumptions about carbon pricing. Though the project has since been withdrawn from consideration, the research establishes methods that can be used to assess similar proposals across the Northeast. The analysis calculated both benefits—primarily the reduction in carbon dioxide emissions by replacing fossil fuel power—and costs, which included reduced property values near the site, lost carbon storage and sequestration from trees, and diminished ecosystem services, such as air filtration and flood protection.
Tech
Mini microscope enables real-time 3D brain imaging in freely moving mice.
Phys.org
Researchers at the University of California, Davis, have created a miniaturized microscope for real-time, high-resolution, noninvasive imaging of brain activity in mice. The device is a significant step toward revolutionizing how neuroscientists study the brain. "What we are doing is creating technology to image brain activity in freely moving and behaving mice to open up the behavior paradigm," said Weijian Yang, professor of electrical and computer engineering. "The goal is to create a device capable of enabling research into brain activity and behavior in mice in real time—to see how brain activity drives behavior or perception." The microscope will advance insights into how the brain works, which is expected to benefit human health by empowering the development of new and improved therapeutic strategies for brain disorders. The first-of-its-kind imaging system, known as DeepInMiniscope, is described in a paper published Sept. 12 in Science Advances.
Ultra-flat optic pushes beyond what was previously thought possible.
Phys.org
Cameras are everywhere. For over two centuries, these devices have grown increasingly popular and proven to be so useful, they have become an indispensable part of modern life. Today, they are included in a vast range of applications—everything from smartphones and laptops to security and surveillance systems to cars, aircraft, and satellites imaging Earth from high above. And as an overarching trend toward miniaturizing mechanical, optical, and electronic products continues, scientists and engineers are looking for ways to create smaller, lighter, and more energy-efficient cameras for these technologies. Ultra-flat optics have been proposed as a solution for this engineering challenge, as they are an alternative to the relatively bulky lenses found in cameras today. Instead of using a curved lens made out of glass or plastic, many ultra-flat optics, such as metalenses, use a thin, flat plane of microscopic nanostructures to manipulate light, which makes them hundreds or even thousands of times smaller and lighter than conventional camera lenses.
Humans sense a collaborating robot as part of their 'extended' body.
Phys.org
Researchers from the Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia (IIT) in Genoa (Italy) and Brown University in Providence (U.S.) have discovered that people sense the hand of a humanoid robot as part of their body schema, particularly when it comes to carrying out a task together, like slicing a bar of soap. The study has been published in the journal iScience and can pave the way for a better design of robots that have to function in close contact with humans, such as those used in rehabilitation. The project, led by Alessandra Sciutti, IIT Principal Investigator of the CONTACT unit at IIT, in collaboration with Brown University professor Joo-Hyun Song, explored whether unconscious mechanisms that shape interactions between humans also emerge in interactions between a person and a humanoid robot. Researchers focused on a phenomenon known as the "near-hand effect," in which the presence of a hand near an object alters visual attention of a person, because the brain is preparing to use the object. Moreover, the study considers the human brain's ability to create its "body schema" to move more efficiently in the surrounding space, by integrating objects into it as well.
Artificial intelligence enables exoskeletons to assist users more efficiently.
Phys.org
Exoskeletons typically work by implementing motions programmed in advance and having the user call for them, making it difficult to use them for a wide range of motions in real-life environments. Now, in a notable example of wearable robotics, published in npj Robotics, researchers from the RIKEN Guardian Robot Project in Japan have used artificial intelligence to better assist users, by designing an exoskeleton that functions based on inputs regarding the user's status as well as a view of the environment based on the user's perspective. Exoskeletons—robots that users wear to assist motions that are difficult due to weakness, for example—have attracted significant attention in our aging societies. To enable these robots to move according to the user's intent, control approaches based on motion intention estimation are being studied and are expected to be applied to a wide range of motions in real-life scenarios. Up until now, this has mainly been done by using techniques such as EMG—electromyography, which involves placing sensors on muscles that detect when the user is attempting to make a movement. Placing the sensors and calibrating them requires time and effort, however, making it difficult to apply in the field.
Regulations
The GIST, Microsoft avoids EU antitrust fine with Teams commitments.
Phys.org
The EU said Friday it had accepted Microsoft's commitment to more clearly separate the Teams communications app from its Office products—sparing the US tech giant a hefty antitrust fine. The European Commission said the redress proposed by Microsoft answered the concerns at the heart of an antitrust probe launched in 2023, ending practices that prevented rivals from competing "effectively." "Today's decision therefore opens up competition in this crucial market, and ensures that businesses can freely choose the communication and collaboration product that best suits their needs," said EU competition chief Teresa Ribera. The decision follows preliminary findings in a probe triggered by a 2020 complaint from Slack, a Teams competitor.
OpenAI reaches new agreement with Microsoft to change its corporate structure.
Phys.org
OpenAI has reached a new tentative agreement with Microsoft and said its nonprofit, which technically controls its business, will now be given a $100 billion equity stake in its for-profit corporation. The maker of ChatGPT said it had reached a new nonbinding agreement with Microsoft, its longtime partner, "for the next phase of our partnership." The announcements on Thursday include a few details about these new arrangements. OpenAI's proposed changes to its corporate structure have drawn the scrutiny of regulators, competitors and advocates concerned about the impacts of artificial intelligence. OpenAI was founded as a nonprofit in 2015 and its nonprofit board has continued to control the for-profit subsidiary that now develops and sells its AI products. It's not clear whether the $100 billion equity stake the nonprofit will get as part of this announcement represents a controlling stake in the business.
FDA sends 100 cease-and-desist letters in crackdown on DTC drug advertisements.
Phys.org
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is taking new steps to regulate direct-to-consumer drug advertisements and eliminate misleading advertisements out of concern that patients are not receiving a "fair balance" of information on pharmaceutical products. "For far too long, the FDA has permitted misleading drug advertisements, distorting the doctor-patient relationship and creating increased demand for medications regardless of clinical appropriateness," FDA Commissioner Marty Makary, M.D., M.P.H., said in a statement. This week, the agency announced it sent out thousands of letters to pharmaceutical companies warning them to remove misleading ads. About 100 cease-and-desist letters were also sent to companies that the FDA determined have "deceptive" ads.
Intimate partner violence services fall short for women with disabilities, says researcher.
Phys.org
Women with disabilities who are exposed to intimate partner violence are doubly affected—both by abuse and by the inadequacy of society's support system. This is shown in a new thesis at Umeå University with recommendations for structural changes. "Even if there is support, in practice it is not available to everyone. Coordination, inclusion and humanity are needed to build a 'bridge' from violence to safety, justice and dignity," says Cartrine Anyango. In her doctoral thesis in public health, Anyango interviewed 11 women with disabilities who have suffered from violence in close relationships, interviewed 18 professionals in support institutions, police, social services, health care and women's shelters and conducted a survey with 1,151 professionals in those institutions.
Health
Study supports acupuncture as a safe and effective treatment for chronic low back pain in older adults.
Phys.org
According to a recent study, older Americans with chronic low back pain who received acupuncture had greater improvement in physical function and reduced pain than those who received usual medical care only, generally prescribed medications or physical therapy. A paper on the findings appears in JAMA Network Open. Chronic low back pain is the leading cause of disability worldwide and affects over one-third of older adults in the United States. Treatment options range from pain-relieving drugs to complementary therapies, including acupuncture. There is an urgent need for safe, effective, and nonaddictive pain management approaches. "Of the different treatments we have for chronic low back pain, most have a somewhat modest effect. They often reduce pain by about one-third at best and can help people function better," said lead author Lynn L. DeBar, Ph.D., Kaiser Permanente distinguished investigator. "Our clinical results suggest that acupuncture is working as well as many things that are more familiar to people. We found that the size of this effect, while modest, was positive and sustained."
A pathological partnership between Salmonella and yeast in the gut.
Phys.org
University of Illinois Chicago-led researchers have found that a common gut yeast, Candida albicans, can help Salmonella Typhimurium take hold in the intestine and spread through the body. When interacting, a Salmonella protein called SopB prompts the yeast to release arginine, which turns on Salmonella's invasion machinery and quiets the body's inflammation signals. Gut microbes shape human health across colonization resistance, immune training, digestion, and signaling that reaches distant organs. Bacteria dominate both abundance and research attention, while roles for viruses and fungi remain less defined. Altered mycobiome composition appears in multiple gastrointestinal diseases, and integration of fungi into gut ecology and into interactions with commensal and pathogenic bacteria remains largely unknown.
Study shows smoking increases the risk of type 2 diabetes, regardless of its characteristics.
Phys.org
The characteristics of type 2 diabetes vary from patient to patient and it has been proposed that the condition is made up of four subtypes. Now, new research presented at the annual meeting of the European Association for the Study of Diabetes (EASD) in Vienna, Austria (15–19 September) shows that smoking increases the risk of the condition, regardless of subtype. The researchers in Sweden, Norway and Finland also found that people with a genetic susceptibility to develop diabetes seem more vulnerable to the adverse effects of smoking. It has previously been suggested that type 2 diabetes (T2D) can be divided into the following subtypes: SIRD (severe insulin-resistant diabetes), characterized by insulin resistance (where the body's cells don't respond properly to insulin and can't easily take up glucose from the blood); SIDD (severe insulin-deficient diabetes), characterized by a lack of insulin; MOD (mild obesity-related diabetes), associated with obesity and younger age of onset; and MARD (mild age-related diabetes) which develops later in life.
2010 to 2019 saw global decline in noncommunicable disease mortality.
Phys.org
Noncommunicable disease (NCD) mortality decreased in most countries around the world from 2010 to 2019, according to a study published online Sept. 10 in The Lancet. James E. Bennett, Ph.D., from Imperial College London, and colleagues quantified how NCD mortality changed from 2010 to 2019 using data on NCD mortality and underlying cause of death from 185 countries and territories. The researchers found that the probability of dying from an NCD between birth and age 80 years decreased in 82% of the 185 countries for females and in 79% of the countries for males between 2010 and 2019; it increased for females and males in the remaining 18% and 21% of countries, respectively. The countries where NCD mortality declined for females and males accounted for 72% and 73% of the world female and male populations, respectively, in 2019. In all high-income Western countries, NCD mortality declined, with the largest decline seen for both sexes in Denmark and the smallest decline in the United States. In most countries, circulatory diseases were the greatest contributors to declines in NCD mortality from 2010 to 2019, while neuropsychiatric conditions and pancreatic and liver cancers contributed toward higher NCD mortality. For both sexes in most high-income Western countries, most countries in Latin America and the Caribbean, and in East and Southeast Asia, and for females in South Asia, the change from 2010 to 2019 saw a deterioration in direction or size compared with the preceding decade.
And for dessert...
Paleontology
Digging into the origin of lizards: Ancient fossil shows only one of three predicted ancestral traits.
Phys.org
A new fossil from Devon reveals what the oldest members of the lizard group looked like, and there are some surprises, according to a research team from the University of Bristol. The study is published today in Nature. Today, lizards and their relatives such as snakes, together with the unique tuatara from New Zealand, are the most successful group of land vertebrates, with over 12,000 species—more than birds and more than mammals. But what is it about lizards, snakes and the tuatara, called collectively the Lepidosauria, that has made them so successful? It was always expected that the first lepidosaurs would have had some of the lizard characters, such as a partially hinged skull, an open lower temporal bar, and abundant teeth on the roof of the mouth (palate). These are all features of modern lizards and snakes that enable them to manipulate large prey by opening their mouths super-wide (skull hinge) and using teeth on the palate to grasp wriggling small prey.
Yet more weird ancient marsupials rewrite the history books.
Phys.org
A team of UNSW scientists has found fossil remains of three carnivorous marsupials that lived millions of years ago and were previously unknown to science. Marsupials have called Australia home ever since they wandered over from South America via Antarctica about 55 million years ago. That was back before the supercontinent Gondwana had fully broken up and the map of the world looked a bit different. Antarctica wasn't where it is now and sported a lush, temperate rainforest rather than the frozen wasteland we know today. Once the Antarctic land bridge disappeared, it stranded the ancestors of modern Australian marsupials here. And they've thrived.
Leaf miners identified as oldest insect plague in the history of Earth.
Phys.org
Paleontologists, including researchers from the Museum für Naturkunde Berlin (MfN), have described the oldest insect larval feeding tunnels inside leaves, also known as leaf mines, along with associated egg deposits, based on plant fossils. The frequency of leaf mine infestations in fossil plants is spectacular and can be described as the oldest insect infestation in the history of Earth. The findings, which are housed in the collection of the MfN, among others, show that this highly specialized behavior of insect larvae already existed 295 million years ago, around 40 million years earlier than previously assumed. This once again underlines the relevance of natural history collections. Whether you are a farmer, gardener or walker, you have probably noticed the intricate feeding tunnels made by insect larvae inside leaves, also known as leaf mines. Living inside plant tissue has many advantages, such as protection from predators, dehydration, and harmful environmental influences. In addition, the larvae have an almost inexhaustible supply of food at their disposal, like a pig in clover.
Ancient DNA reveals deeply complex Mastodon family and repeated migrations driven by climate change.
Phys.org
An ancient DNA analysis of the remains of several mastodons, including those which roamed along the Pacific and Atlantic coasts of North America, has revealed the Ice Age giants migrated vast distances in response to shifting climates and were far more genetically diverse than previously known. In the study published in the journal Science Advances, researchers from McMaster University and Harvard provide new evidence which significantly revises and reshapes our understanding of the species' deeply complex evolutionary history. Well-preserved fossilized specimens of teeth, tusks and bone—dating back hundreds of thousands of years—coupled with new scientific techniques, have allowed researchers to reconstruct genomes from ancient, tiny, degraded DNA fragment
Who wouldn’t?
Want to hear dinosaurs 'sing'? These instruments bring prehistory back to life.
Phys.org
The roar of a T. rex, made iconic by Jurassic Park, has become the soundtrack of prehistory. In reality, no one—not even paleontologists—can say for certain what dinosaurs sounded like, though there have been plenty of guesses. The mystery has fueled decades of research, and, for Courtney Brown, an associate professor at Southern Methodist University, it has inspired her to seek answers through an unexpected medium: music. For more than a decade, Brown has been building musical instruments modeled on skulls of hadrosaurs, or duck-billed dinosaurs that roamed the planet some 70 million years ago. Trained as a sound artist and computer engineer, Brown hopes her fusion of paleontology and music will feel like an immersive act—not just an artistic experiment, but a way of bridging the past and present. Coaxing music from fossils Brown calls her instruments Dinosaur Choir, a name reflecting her intention for them to be played together. The seed for the project was planted on a cross-country road trip in 2011. During a pit stop at a museum in New Mexico, Brown heard what was believed to be the call of a Parasaurolophus, a leaf-eating hadrosaur with a long, distinctive head crest.
Hope everyone has a great weekend. :-)
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