Washington DC (UPI) Jul 27, 2020 New research suggests trees aren’t immortal. Even the world’s most ancient trees will eventually die, according to a new study published Monday in the journal Trends in Plant Science. Surveys of some of the oldest trees on Earth, including ginkgoes, have failed to turn up evidence of senescence, or aging, in centuries-old trees. Just because signs of senescence are … Continue reading Trees don’t live forever, but finding one dying of old age is rare

Paris (AFP) July 28, 2020 Scientists have successfully revived microbes that had lain dormant at the bottom of the sea since the age of the dinosaurs, allowing the organisms to eat and even multiply after eons in the deep. Their research sheds light on the remarkable survival power of some of Earth’s most primitive species, which can exist for tens of millions of years with … Continue reading Scientists revive microbes from 100 million years ago

The pandemic era has seen a resurgence of interest in growing, tending, and harvesting fruits and vegetables from one’s own patch of land or city balcony. Home gardening offers a sense of security and independence. Even when the world has been upended, a home garden can provide a bit of food insurance. Many people are finding that gardening offers a way to take control of … Continue reading Victory Gardens 2.0: Gardening in the Pandemic Era

Boston MA (SPX) Jul 27, 2020 Most meteorites that have landed on Earth are fragments of planetesimals, the very earliest protoplanetary bodies in the solar system. Scientists have thought that these primordial bodies either completely melted early in their history or remained as piles of unmelted rubble. But a family of meteorites has befuddled researchers since its discovery in the 1960s. The diverse fragments, foundhttp://dlvr.it/RcWNq1 Continue reading An origin story for a family of oddball meteorites

La Paz (AFP) July 26, 2020 An international team of scientific institutions will join forces to preserve the future of the Lake Titicaca giant frog, an endangered species, Bolivia’s natural history museum said. “In a coordinated effort, a cross-border team has been formed for the conservation and study of the emblematic Titicaca water frog (Telmatobius culeus) with the vision for the species’ long-term future,” the … Continue reading International team of scientists to preserve Lake Titicaca giant frog

Washington DC (SPX) Jul 20, 2020 Deep in the ocean, where sunlight barely reaches, Smithsonian scientists and a team of collaborators have discovered one of the blackest materials known: the skin of certain fish. These ultra-black fish absorb light so efficiently that even in bright light they appear to be silhouettes with no discernible features. In the darkness of the ocean, even surrounded by bioluminescent … Continue reading Scientists discover how deep-sea, ultra-black fish disappear

Rochester NY (SPX) Jul 27, 2020 Lasers etch a simple way to address global water crisis Amid the coronavirus pandemic, people in developed countries are assured of ample supplies of clean water to wash their hands as often as needed to protect themselves from the disease. And yet, nearly a third of the world’s population is not even assured of clean water for drinking. University … Continue reading Lasers etch an efficient way to address global water crisis

Sydney, Australia (SPX) Jul 27, 2020 In a boost for both recreational fishing and the environment, new UNSW research shows that artificial reefs can increase fish abundance in estuaries with little natural reef. Researchers installed six manmade reefs per estuary studied and found overall fish abundance increased up to 20 times in each reef across a two-year period. The study, published in the Journal of … Continue reading Fish reef domes a boon for environment, recreational fishing

Cox’S Bazar, Bangladesh (AFP) July 24, 2020 Bangladesh has opened a complex of 20 housing blocks to house some of the growing numbers of people to have lost their homes to rising seas and ever-more-frequent storms. Climate change has already taken a serious toll on densely populated and impoverished Bangladesh, a country the United Nations has identified as among the most vulnerable to a warming … Continue reading ‘Climate refugee’ complex for 4,500 Bangladeshi families

Norwich UK (SPX) Jul 27, 2020 Vertical farms with their soil-free, computer-controlled environments may sound like sci-fi. But there is a growing environmental and economic case for them, according to new research laying out radical ways of putting food on our plates. The interdisciplinary study combining biology and engineering sets down steps towards accelerating the growth of this branch of precision agriculture, inhttp://dlvr.it/RcN5lh Continue reading Vertical farms ready for take-off