News about PaperPanda, Open Access, and Research
Surveys of Easter Island show that ancient settlements and the sites of the island’s famous giant statues are situated close to freshwater springs that are only accessible at low tide Environment 4 March 2022 By Michael Le Page The moai statues of Ahu Tongariki, Rapa Nui (Easter Island) Shutterstock/Alberto Loyo Undersea springs may have been … Read more
It’s been nearly 80 years since two nuclear bombs were detonated over the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, killing at least 129,000 people, and causing devastating, long-term health effects. To date, those are the only instances of nuclear weapons being used for warfare, but the reality is there are roughly 12,700 warheads remaining in … Read more
A version of this story appeared in Science, Vol 375, Issue 6583. After passing through a security gate, the van descends into a tunnel that burrows under the forests of Olkiluoto, an island off Finland’s west coast. The wheels crunch on crushed stone as a gray, wet October day gives way to darkness. “Welcome to … Read more
When it comes to longevity and surviving extended amounts of time without food, the Argas brumpti species of African tick is hard to beat, newly published research shows. Observed close-up in the lab over the course of 45 years by entomologist Julian Shepherd from Binghamton University in New York, some of these ticks have survived as … Read more
It can be hard to find food in the central Arctic Ocean. The water is frigid and the surface is blanketed in ice, making it nearly impossible for the tiny organisms that power many marine food chains to photosynthesize. Now, researchers have unraveled how a gigantic, newly discovered sponge garden gets around the lack of … Read more
The bottom of the Arctic Ocean, below the permanent sea ice, is not a friendly place for life. Down there in the cold dark, nutrients and vegetation are sparse; it’s expected that any life that does manage to eke out an existence under these conditions would be likewise thin on the ground. Scientists were … Read more
The search for life on Mars is not an easy one. Not only is the red planet difficult to get to, it’s deeply inhospitable to life as we know it. However, there are places on Earth that could show us how life may have been able to survive on Mars – if not now, then … Read more
Microorganisms have adapted to one of the harshest environments on Earth, a sulphurous and acidic lake that is considered an analogue to ancient lakes on Mars Space 28 January 2022 By Chen Ly A volcanic crater in Costa Rica with an extremely harsh lake known as Laguna Caliente Justin Wang Bacteria have adapted to survive … Read more
It was thought that microbes in sediments beneath the seafloor died above 80°C, but scientists have found some that can survive up to 120°C and possibly higher temperatures Life 25 January 2022 By Michael Le Page Bubbles coming out of a cave in the Pacific seabed near Japan 7maru/Getty Images Living microbes have been found … Read more
About a million years ago a small mutation might have unlocked a big advantage for ancient humans. A recent study in Science Advances suggests that a variant of a critical stretch of DNA called the growth hormone receptor gene protected against starvation—in part by limiting individuals’ body size during periods of resource scarcity. The variant … Read more