ScienceDesk

ScienceDesk, 5 days ago to ocean

In the Clarion-Clipperton Zone of the Pacific Ocean between Mexico and Hawaii, marine scientists have discovered animals humanity has never seen before: creatures who live very different lives, in the permanent darkness of the abyssopelagic.
https://www.sciencealert.com/alien-looking-species-seen-for-first-time-ever-in-oceans-darkest-depths, Science Alert reports:

#Ocean #Newspecies #Sealife #Biology

ScienceDesk, 6 days ago to science

This is a wild headline from NPR: "A fungus is turning cicadas into horny zombies — but don’t panic."

"[The fungus] Massospora cicadina has been observed in cicadas in more than half a dozen states — both those belonging to Brood XIII, which emerges every 17 years and is concentrated in Illinois, and of Brood XIX, a 13-year group that is distributed across much of the southeast."

https://flip.it/-By0qt

#Cicadas #Insects #Bugs #Entomology #Science

ScienceDesk, 6 days ago to ocean

D-Day shipwrecks were a WWII time capsule. Now they are home to rich ocean-floor life.

BBC reports on the 80-year-old sunken wrecks that line the coasts of Britain and France: https://flip.it/uAQ6F6

#Ocean #DDay #WWII #MarineBiology #Science

ScienceDesk, 5 days ago to science

Why fireflies are only spotted in summer and where lightning bugs live the rest of the year.

CBS News reports: "Their time aboveground before dying is brief, with fireflies actually spending the bulk of their lives living underground."

https://flip.it/dzsny4

#Firefly #Insects #Entomology #Science

ScienceDesk, 5 days ago to Anthropology

DNA from prehistoric and modern-day people suggests that humans interbred with Neanderthals 47,000 years ago for a period lasting 6,800 years, Live Science reports:
https://www.livescience.com/archaeology/neanderthals-and-humans-interbred-47000-years-ago-for-nearly-7000-years-research-suggests

#DNA #Anthropology #Prehistoric #Neanderthals

ScienceDesk, 4 days ago to science

William Anders, a NASA astronaut who was part of the 1968 Apollo 8 crew that was the first to orbit the moon, died Friday in a plane crash in Washington state, his son Gregory Anders confirmed. He was 90 years old. Anders took the famous "Earthrise" photo that showed our world with the lunar horizon in the foreground. NBC News has more on the crash and Anders’ life. https://flip.it/0sR1e7
#Science #NASA #Space #SpaceExploration

ScienceDesk, 3 days ago to science

Cell biologist and biochemist Leonard Rome’s lab discovered an odd, abundant component of cells in the 1980s — and he’s still trying to figure out what it does. Could solving the cell’s biggest mystery help cancer patients someday? Science.org has more. https://flip.it/Y41lCe
#Science #Health #Cancer #Cells #Biology

ScienceDesk, 3 days ago to science

The Hubble Telescope launched into orbit 34 years ago and is planned continue its journey around the planet until the mid-2030s. Then what? In 2022, billionaire Jared Isaacman announced a proposal to save the program, but NASA turned it down. Space.com tells us why: https://flip.it/ncqMk5
#Science #Space #HubbleTelescope #SpaceExploration #NASA