Genetics: Fungi that live on eucalyptus roots can control trees’ gene activity

Eucalyptus trees rely on root fungi to source nutrients and water – but the fungi actually control the genetic development of the tree roots by releasing tiny chunks of RNA Life 10 January 2022 By Michael Le Page Pisolithus microcarpus mycorrhizal root tips on Eucalyptus grandis Jonathan Plett A root fungus that helps eucalyptus trees … Read more

Covid-19 news: Ministers plan for UK to ‘live with covid’

By Michael Le Page, Clare Wilson, Jessica Hamzelou, Sam Wong, Graham Lawton, Adam Vaughan, Conrad Quilty-Harper, Jason Arunn Murugesu and Layal Liverpool Shoppers walk along Oxford Street on December 27, 2021 in London, England Hollie Adams/Getty Images Latest coronavirus news as of 12pm on 10 January UK Prime Minister expected to announce plans for ‘living … Read more

Lyme-carrying ticks live longer—and could spread farther—thanks to warmer winters | Science

PHOENIX—Fearing a case of potentially debilitating Lyme disease, countless hikers postpone their trips to the woods until winter, when the ticks that carry the disease have disappeared for the season. Or so many people had thought. Research reported here this week at the annual meeting of the Society of Integrative and Comparative Biology has revealed … Read more

SpaceX will launch 49 Starlink satellites on a Falcon 9 rocket today. Watch it live!

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — SpaceX is gearing up to launch its first rocket of 2022 on Thursday evening (Jan. 6) and you can watch the action live online.  The private spaceflight company will launch a stack of 49 Starlink satellites on one of its previously flown Falcon 9 rockets. (The company is expected to confirm … Read more

FYI, Rapid Antigen Tests May Give More False Negatives With Omciron

Rapid Covid home tests are more likely to give a false negative with the heavily-mutated Omicron variant compared to earlier strains, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said Tuesday.   The news comes as the country is facing a massive surge in cases that experts say is being under-captured as a result of a … Read more

The 3,000-Year-Old Mummy of a Famous Egyptian Pharaoh Has Been Digitally Unwrapped

The mummy of ancient Egyptian pharaoh Amenhotep I was so exquisitely wrapped – decorated with flower garlands and buried with a lifelike face mask – scientists have been hesitant to open up the remains. That is, until now.   Some 3,000 years after Amenhotep’s burial, a team of researchers used CT scans to digitally unwrap his body for the first … Read more

Trees Have the Potential to Live Indefinitely

Your Christmas tree is dead or dying. But some conifers and other trees theoretically could live forever, according to a recent essay that reviews accumulating evidence on extremely long-lived trees—and calls for more scientifically rigorous methods to determine their age and study their longevity. Across the board, trees do not die so much as they … Read more

Japan will launch a huge communications satellite on Wednesday. Here’s how to watch it live.

A highly advanced commercial communications satellite will lift off from Japan on Wednesday (Dec. 22) and you can watch the action live. The huge Inmarsat-6 F1 satellite is scheduled to launch atop a Mitsubishi Heavy Industries H-2A rocket Wednesday from Tanegashima Space Center in Japan during a two-hour window that opens at 9:33 a.m. EST … Read more

International Space Station: Live space tourist updates

Refresh 2021-12-19T14:26:21.267Z Landing day for Japanese space tourists Billionaire entrepreneur Yusaku Maezawa (left), cosmonaut Alexander Misurkin (center) and video producer Yozo Hirano (right) are scheduled to launch toward the International Space Station on Dec. 8, 2021. Hirano will participate in health-related research during and after the mission. (Image credit: CPK/Roscosmos) It’s landing day for Japanese … Read more

Watch live Sunday night: Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa, two crewmates return to Earth

A Japanese billionaire and two colleagues will return to Earth from the International Space Station on Sunday (Dec. 19), and you can watch the whole thing live. A Russian Soyuz spacecraft carrying Yusaku Maezawa, along with spaceflight participant (and video producer) Yozo Hirano and Roscosmos cosmonaut Alexander Misurkin, is scheduled to touch down on the … Read more