Researchers used sonar and underwater imaging systems to locate a mesophotic coral garden that scientists in the 1960s had assumed was dead. More than 50 meters beneath the waters off Benin, cameras revealed a coral community that scientists had once presumed dead. Fishing surveys conducted in the 1960s had identified what appeared to be a […]
Underwater Drones Find “Dead” Coral Reefs Teeming With Life
Researchers used sonar and underwater imaging systems to locate a mesophotic coral garden that scientists in the 1960s had assumed was dead. More than 50 meters beneath the waters off Benin, cameras revealed a coral community that scientists had once presumed dead. Fishing surveys conducted in the 1960s had identified what appeared to be a […]
Scientists Discover the Brain Is Not Always Ready To Make Memories
Your brain may have brief windows when it is primed to transform a passing moment into a lasting memory. Researchers at the University of Tübingen found that natural shifts in alertness can briefly change the hippocampus, making its memory circuits more receptive to new information. The findings suggest that memory formation depends not only on […]
Earth’s First Complex Organisms May Hold Clues to Life Beyond Our Planet
Earth’s oldest eukaryotic fossils may illuminate both the rise of complex life and the search for life elsewhere. Searching for life on Mars or the icy moons Europa and Enceladus may attract more attention than studying how life developed on Earth. Yet tracing the appearance of the first eukaryotes on our planet is just as […]
Earth’s First Complex Organisms May Hold Clues to Life Beyond Our Planet
Earth’s oldest eukaryotic fossils may illuminate both the rise of complex life and the search for life elsewhere. Searching for life on Mars or the icy moons Europa and Enceladus may attract more attention than studying how life developed on Earth. Yet tracing the appearance of the first eukaryotes on our planet is just as […]
Earth’s First Complex Organisms May Hold Clues to Life Beyond Our Planet
Earth’s oldest eukaryotic fossils may illuminate both the rise of complex life and the search for life elsewhere. Searching for life on Mars or the icy moons Europa and Enceladus may attract more attention than studying how life developed on Earth. Yet tracing the appearance of the first eukaryotes on our planet is just as […]
Dark Matter’s Secret Force Could Reshape Our Understanding of the Universe
Why giving dark matter an additional attractive force does not necessarily produce “clumpier matter.” Dark matter shapes galaxies and the large structure of the Universe through gravity, yet no one knows whether gravity is its only influence. Dark matter particles might also pull on one another through a hidden force that ordinary matter cannot feel. […]
Where on Earth Was This Fossil 200 Million Years Ago?
Researchers have created an open-access interface that turns present-day locations into ancient coordinates with near-desktop-level accuracy. A fossil’s modern coordinates reveal where it was found, but not where that location sat millions of years ago as tectonic plates shifted across the planet. Reconstructing that ancient position is a demanding task in paleontology and related fields, […]
Where on Earth Was This Fossil 200 Million Years Ago?
Researchers have created an open-access interface that turns present-day locations into ancient coordinates with near-desktop-level accuracy. A fossil’s modern coordinates reveal where it was found, but not where that location sat millions of years ago as tectonic plates shifted across the planet. Reconstructing that ancient position is a demanding task in paleontology and related fields, […]
Where on Earth Was This Fossil 200 Million Years Ago?
Researchers have created an open-access interface that turns present-day locations into ancient coordinates with near-desktop-level accuracy. A fossil’s modern coordinates reveal where it was found, but not where that location sat millions of years ago as tectonic plates shifted across the planet. Reconstructing that ancient position is a demanding task in paleontology and related fields, […]