Category: 7. Science

  • Millipedes make ants dizzy — and might soon treat human pain

    Millipedes make ants dizzy — and might soon treat human pain

    Millipedes get a bad rap — their many legs put people off and could classify them as “creepy crawly.” But these anthropods’ secretions could hold the key to new drug discovery for the treatment of neurological diseases and pain.

    Chemist Emily Mevers and her team recently discovered a new set of complex structures in millipede secretions that can modulate specific neuroreceptors in ant brains.

    The newly discovered structures fall into a class of naturally occurring compounds called alkaloids. The Mevers team named them the andrognathanols and the andrognathines after the producing millipede, Andrognathus corticarius, found on Virginia Tech’s Blacksburg campus in Stadium Woods. These discoveries were recently published in the Journal of the American Chemical Society.

    A new compound discovery

    Mevers specializes in leveraging the chemistry of underexplored ecological niches, in this case the millipede, in the name of drug discovery.

    After collecting millipedes from under leaf litter and fallen branches in Stadium Woods, Mevers and team members used a variety of analytical tools to identify the compounds contained in the millipedes’ defensive glands. They also learned that the millipedes release these compounds to ward off predators while also sharing their location with their kin.

    Broader implications

    Despite their pervasiveness, much about millipedes remains mysterious — including their specific habitats, numbers, diets, behaviors, and chemistry. Mevers, in collaboration with millipede expert Paul Marek in the entomology department, is working to fill in some of these gaps and see if what they uncover could be useful for future medications.

    Previously, Mevers and Marek examined a millipede native to the Pacific Northwest, Ishcnocybe plicata, and discovered that related alkaloids potently and selectively interact with a single neuroreceptor called Sigma-1. The interaction suggested that this family of compounds may have useful pharmacology potential for the treatment of pain and other neurological disorders.

    The Mevers group discovered that the new alkaloids are actively secreted from the Hokie millipede when it is physically disturbed. The secretions cause disorientation in ants, a presumed natural predator. A subset of these compounds possesses similar interactions with the Sigma-1 neuroreceptor.

    Moving toward drug development

    With the newfound complex compounds in hand, the next step is finding people to actually make them in larger quantities and evaluate their biomedical applications.

    “These compounds are quite complex, so they’re going to take some time to synthesize in the lab,” said Mevers.

    Once larger quantities are available, Mevers will be able to better study their properties and potential in drug development.

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  • ‘You can zoom in to your country, your state, your city block’

    ‘You can zoom in to your country, your state, your city block’

    NASA’s new web portal reveals ground movements across North America with precision that captures tiny shifts smaller than an inch, reported NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

    This tool helps people monitor the Earth’s movements, whether caused by natural phenomena such as earthquakes and volcanic activity or human activities such as the extraction of underground resources.

    By converting complex satellite radar signals into user-friendly visual maps, NASA has made what was once specialist knowledge available to everyday users.

    The project comes from NASA’s Observational Products for End-Users from Remote Sensing Analysis team working with the Alaska Satellite Facility. They’ve created a program that handles satellite information collected since 2014, with plans to include new data from another space mission launching this year.

    “You can zoom in to your country, your state, your city block, and look at how the land there is moving over time,” said David Bekaert, OPERA project manager and radar scientist. “You can see that by a simple mouse click.”

    Right now, you can explore data for areas such as the American Southwest, parts of Mexico’s northern region, and greater New York. The portal displays information for millions of spots on the map. When you click anywhere, you’ll see a chart showing that location’s movement history back to 2016.

    Watch now: Giant snails invading New York City?

    Water experts have already started using this mapping tool. Take Arizona, where tracking the gradual sinking of land helps manage precious groundwater supplies.

    “It’s a great tool to say, ‘Let’s look at those areas more intensely with our own SAR processing,’” said Brian Conway, principal hydrogeologist at the Arizona Department of Water Resources.

    The technology works by bouncing radar signals off Earth’s surface from satellites. When these signals return, special computer programs analyze them to determine if the land is rising or sinking. What once took specialists many days to calculate now happens automatically within seconds.

    NASA plans to roll out coverage beyond its current regions. According to its timeline, people across North America will gain access as the map grows to include all U.S. states, neighboring areas in Canada, and countries throughout Central America before 2026 arrives.

    Join our free newsletter for good news and useful tips, and don’t miss this cool list of easy ways to help yourself while helping the planet.

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  • NASA Just Snapped A Rare Solar Eclipse From Space — See The Photos

    NASA Just Snapped A Rare Solar Eclipse From Space — See The Photos

    Topline

    NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory has captured the moon eclipsing the sun in an event only observable from its position in space. At the height of the event on Friday, July 25, around 62% of the sun was covered by the moon. The SDO, which is solar-powered, coped with the drop in sunlight by having its batteries fully charged before the eclipse occurred.

    Key Facts

    The SDO sees several eclipses — or lunar transits — each year. This one was a deep partial eclipse, which lasted about 35 minutes. The SDO studies the sun’s atmosphere in various wavelengths of light.

    The spacecraft is in a geosynchronous orbit around Earth, matching Earth’s rotation, and positioned 22,238 miles (35,789 kilometers) above a ground station in White Sands, New Mexico.

    SDO has an almost constant but slightly different view of the sun than we do from Earth’s surface, but there are times when its orbit passes behind the Earth, causing an eclipse from its point of view. On July 25, SDO passed passed behind both the moon and the Earth on the same day, accotSDO.

    The next solar eclipse visible from Earth will be a partial solar eclipse on Sept. 21, when up to 80% of the sun will be blocked by the moon as seen from New Zealand, Tasmania in Australia, the Indian Ocean, and Antarctica. Observers will need to wear solar eclipse glasses at all times, and all cameras and telescopes will need solar filters.

    The next total solar eclipse visible from Earth will occur on Aug. 12, 2026, for parts of Greenland, western Iceland, and northern Spain. The maximum totality will be 2 minutes and 18 seconds off Iceland.

    Europe’s ‘fake’ Total Solar Eclipses In Space

    The European Space Agency’s Proba-3 mission — the world’s first precision formation flying mission — last month captured the first images of an artificial total solar eclipse from space. Proba-3 is a pair of satellites that fly in formation with millimeter precision, with one blocking the sun with an occulter disk and casting a shadow on a telescope on the satellite behind it. That allows it to image the sun’s corona — the sun’s outer, hotter but more tenuous atmosphere — which is only visible during a total solar eclipse. Although SDO can also see the corona, Proba-3 can see much farther into it, revealing what’s going on close to the Sun’s photosphere. That’s important because it’s there that the solar wind, solar flares and coronal mass ejections are produced. Proba-3 can produce a total solar eclipse lasting six hours once every 19.6-hour orbit.

    Apollo 11’s Solar Eclipse In Space

    Exactly 56 years ago this week, the crew of NASA’s Apollo 11 mission — the first to put astronauts on the moon — saw a total solar eclipse. On Jul. 19, 1969, Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins photographed a total solar eclipse on their way to the moon. Aldrin had seen a total solar eclipse from space before, on Nov. 11, 1966, during the Gemini 12 mission with Jim Lovell. The crew of Apollo 12 — Pete Conrad, Alan Bean and Dick Gordon — also saw a total solar eclipse from space on Nov. 24, 1969.

    When Is The Next Total Solar Eclipse In North America?

    The next total solar eclipse in the contiguous U.S. will occur on Aug. 22, 2044. The path of totality will begin in Greenland, travel through Canada’s Northwest Territories (with maximum totality close to Great Bear Lake, at 2 minutes and 4 seconds) and finish with an eclipsed sunset from Montana, South Dakota and North Dakota. Another total solar eclipse will occur across the U.S. a lunar year later, on Aug 10, 2045.

    Further Reading

    ForbesIn Photos: First Ever ‘Fake’ Total Solar Eclipse Created In SpaceBy Jamie CarterForbesNASA Spacecraft ‘Touches Sun’ For Final Time In Defining Moment For HumankindBy Jamie CarterForbesNASA Urges Public To Leave The City As Milky Way Appears — 15 Places To GoBy Jamie Carter

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  • Moon, Mars, and meteors: Why July 28 is the best night for skywatching all summer

    Moon, Mars, and meteors: Why July 28 is the best night for skywatching all summer

    A beautiful crescent moon will appear close to Mars after dark on Monday, July 28. The dancing duo will make their debut about 45 minutes after sunset and will be visible from across the world — just as several meteor showers approach their peaks.

    The conjunction between the 19%-illuminated waxing crescent moon and the Red Planet will take place above due west, making it visible to most people, although a park or open field will provide a better view. The gap between the moon and Mars will be about 1 degree — roughly the width of your little finger held at arm’s length.

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  • The Southern Ocean Shift: A Warning Sign in Global Climate Circulation

    The Southern Ocean Shift: A Warning Sign in Global Climate Circulation

    A new scientific study sent a quiet but serious signal through the climate science community last week: researchers have detected a shift in the Southern Ocean’s circulation patterns. While the mainstream media barely registered the news, this finding could have significant implications for global climate dynamics and the resilience of Earth’s systems. The study, powered by satellite innovations, challenges longstanding climate model predictions and offers a fresh lens into one of the most remote yet critical regions on the planet.

    Why does this matter? The ocean plays a key role in regulating global climate by distributing heat and storing carbon. Any change in the way its currents move or how its waters mix can ripple out to affect weather patterns, ice melt, and greenhouse gas release. In this post, we’ll unpack what this shift means, explore the risks, look at how ocean currents shape global climate, and highlight why ecosystem resilience may be our best ally in an era of accelerating change.

    The risks of shifting waters

    The core finding of the study is the detection of increased salinity at the surface of the Southern Ocean. This contradicts previous expectations that melting ice would make surface waters fresher. Saltier water is denser, and this density shift allows deep, warmer water to rise toward the surface — a process known as upwelling. That upwelling can, in turn, accelerate the melting of sea ice, releasing stored heat and CO2 (both dissolved in deeper waters and locked in the continental ice) into the atmosphere, which may intensify global warming.

    These changes don’t operate in isolation. The Southern Ocean plays a crucial role in absorbing excess heat and carbon from the atmosphere. A disruption in its circulation could weaken this function, creating a feedback loop where warming leads to more warming. If these upwelling events become more frequent, they could destabilize not just regional systems but also larger-scale patterns like rainfall distribution and storm intensity across the Southern Hemisphere, and eventually, the rest of the planet.

    The large-scale nature of climate

    Earth’s climate is a vast, interconnected system shaped by interactions between the atmosphere, oceans, land, ice, and ecosystems. Solar radiation is distributed unevenly across the planet, warming the equator more than the poles. This temperature imbalance sets air and water in motion, creating the engine behind weather and climate. The ocean and atmosphere are tightly coupled: winds drive surface currents, while the ocean stores and redistributes heat, shaping pressure systems and wind patterns in return.

    One of the most critical components of this system is the global ocean circulation, often called the Ocean Conveyor Belt<. Near the equator, warm, less dense water rises and fuels the atmosphere with moisture. At the poles, colder, denser water sinks, making space for warm water to flow in. This movement creates a planetary-scale conveyor that transports heat, nutrients, and carbon around the world. A shift in any part of this system, such as shifts in the Antarctic Ocean, could have far-reaching consequences for global climate stability.

    The overturning circulation of the global ocean. Throughout the Atlantic Ocean, the circulation carries warm waters (red arrows) northward near the surface and cold deep waters (blue arrows) southward. Image credit: NASA, via Wikimedia Commons https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Overturning_circulation_of_the_global_ocean.jpg. File is in the Public Domain.

    Reading the signs

    Although the detection of increased salinity and upwelling in the Southern Ocean is concerning, it doesn’t yet signal a full-scale breakdown of global circulation. Climate and ocean systems operate on seasonal, decadal, and even multidecadal cycles. The observed changes may be part of natural variability rather than a permanent shift. What matters now is monitoring how often these events occur, and whether their frequency is increasing compared to the past.

    This is where ecosystem resilience becomes essential. Healthy marine ecosystems can absorb some of the shocks from climate variability, helping to stabilize key processes even as conditions shift. But their ability to do so depends on the pressures we place on them. As warming accelerates and ocean circulation patterns change, safeguarding ecosystem resilience becomes a critical line of defense. Investing in science, policy, and conservation isn’t just prudent, it’s urgent. For now, the study serves as a powerful reminder: the Earth is speaking. It’s up to us to listen and respond.

    Teaser image credit: Antarctica Melts Under Its Hottest Days on Record. Credit NASA, Public Domain.

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  • How To See Monday’s Rare Moon-Mars Conjunction — Then ‘Shooting Stars’

    How To See Monday’s Rare Moon-Mars Conjunction — Then ‘Shooting Stars’

    Topline

    Skywatchers across the globe can witness a stunning conjunction of the moon and Mars shortly after sunset on Monday, July 28. Visible low in the west, the striking pair will be visible during twilight in the western sky before setting a few hours later. That evening, shooting stars are expected as both the Southern delta Aquariids and the alpha Capricornids meteor showers peak.

    Key Facts

    The conjunction of the moon and Mars will be best seen about 45 minutes after sunset and be visible for around an hour before setting in the west.

    A clear view of the western horizon is recommended. Although it will be easily visible to the naked eye as twilight takes hold, binoculars will make it easier to scan the sky. The moon will be below and slightly to the left of Mars.

    The waxing crescent moon will be 19%-illuminated, with its night side bathed in Earthshine — sunlight reflected from Earth’s ice caps, clouds and oceans onto the lunar surface,

    Mars won’t be at its peak brightness — that happened last January — but its distinct reddish hue will be obvious as it gets darker.

    If Clouds Block Your View

    Although the conjunction will only be visible for one night, if it’s cloudy, it’s worth looking again the next night. On Tuesday, July 29, the waxing crescent moon will be 27%-illuminated and still be displaying Earthshine. Instead of being beneath Mars, it will be alongside it. The moon will be on the left and Mars on the right above due west.

    Observing Mars In 2025

    Mars reached opposition on Jan. 16, when it made its closest approach to Earth since 2022. It’s been prominent for most of the year and will continue to be visible shortly after sunset for a few months, eventually becoming lost in the sun’s glare in late November. Mars will next come to opposition on Feb. 19, 2027.

    Three Meteor Showers Peak

    Just hours after observing the moon-Mars conjunction, two meteor showers will peak — the Southern delta Aquariids and the alpha Capricornids. Expect up to 25 shooting stars per hour from the Southern delta Aquariid meteor shower. Although the Alpha Capricornids contribute just five shooting stars per hour at their peak, they tend to include bright and colorful fireballs, according to the American Meteor Society. The Piscis Austrinid meteor shower will peak the previous night, in the early hours of July 28, with about five meteors per hour possible, according to In-The-Sky.org. With the crescent moon and Mars setting a few hours after sunset, July 28-29 will be an excellent night for stargazing and looking for shooting stars if the skies are clear.

    Further Reading

    ForbesWhen To See June’s ‘Strawberry Moon,’ The Lowest Full Moon Since 2006By Jamie CarterForbesNASA Urges Public To Leave The City As Milky Way Appears — 15 Places To GoBy Jamie CarterForbesGet Ready For The Shortest Day Since Records Began As Earth Spins FasterBy Jamie Carter

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  • Tiny, pea-sized dinosaur bone discovered in Mongolia’s Gobi Desert has scientists gobsmacked at what it means

    Tiny, pea-sized dinosaur bone discovered in Mongolia’s Gobi Desert has scientists gobsmacked at what it means

    The wrists of birds are incredibly complex and functionally crucial in both flight and the folding of wings at rest, says Will Newton. 

    To stabilise their wings during flight, birds rely on a tiny bone known as the pisiform. This bone was long thought to have been lost in the early ancestors of birds, only returning as they started to take to the skies and evolve into the birds we know today.

    However, CT scans of two small, flightless theropod dinosaurs – an unnamed troodontid and an oviraptor known as Citipati from the Late Cretaceous (75 to 71 million years ago) – have revealed the presence of pisiforms in their wrists. These dinosaurs were discovered in Mongolia’s Gobi Desert and recently prepared for close examination.

    “Wrist bones are small and even when they are preserved, they are not in the positions they would occupy in life, having shifted during decay and preservation,” said Alex Ruebenstahl,  a co-author of the new study, in an associated press release. “Seeing this little bone in the right position cracked it wide open and helped us interpret the wrists of fossils we had on hand and other fossils described in the past.”

    Prior to this study,  pisiforms were only identified in the earliest theropod dinosaurs – a group of meat-eating dinosaurs that includes famous species such as T.rex and Velociraptor.

    The discovery of pisiforms in the wrists of the aforementioned theropod dinosaurs suggests the bone ‘re-appeared’ a lot earlier than first thought. It also established its presence in Oviraptorosauria and Troodontidae, in addition to later birds.

    Based on their discovery, Ruebenstahl, lead author James Napoli, and co-authors Matteo Fabbri, Jingmai O’Connor, Bhart-Anjan Bhullar, and Mark Norell examined fossils from a wide range of theropod species, including Microraptor,Ambopteryx, and Caudipteryx. Knowing what to look for, the team found pisiforms in all three of these dinosaurs and more.

    A key change in the transformation of forelimbs to wings was the replacement of another wrist bone – the ulnare – with the pisiform. “The pisiform, in living birds, is an unusual wrist bone in that it initially forms within a muscle tendon, as do bones like your kneecap – but it comes to occupy the position of a ‘normal’ wrist bone called the ulnare,” said co-author Bhullar.

    The results of this new study indicate the pisiform replaced the ulnare before the origin of the clade Pennaraptora – a group of raptor-like dinosaurs who can trace their roots all the way back to the Late Jurassic, roughly 160 million years ago.

    This pushes back one of the key mechanisms in the origin of bird flight by tens of millions of years. It also quashes the previous assumption that flight-stabilising pisiform bones were a novelty restricted to just birds; they were also present in near-bird dinosaurs who were just starting to experiment with the power of flight.

    This study is published in the journal Nature and is a collaboration by palaeontologists from Stony Brook University, Yale University, the American Museum of Natural History, and the Mongolian Academy of Sciences.

    Main image: A life reconstruction of the specimen of Citipati, a dinosaur closely related to birds, analyzed with an x-ray cutaway of the specimen’s wrist. The small and rounded pisiform is highlighted in blue.

    Credit: A life reconstruction of the specimen of Citipati, a dinosaur closely related to birds, analyzed with an x-ray cutaway of the specimen’s wrist. The small and rounded pisiform is highlighted in blue. © Henry S. Sharpe/University of Alberta

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  • Identification and profiling of novel metagenome assembled uncultivated virus genomes from human gut | Virology Journal

    Identification and profiling of novel metagenome assembled uncultivated virus genomes from human gut | Virology Journal

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  • NASA’s Hubble Spots Blinding Explosion in a Distant Spiral Galaxy – SciTechDaily

    1. NASA’s Hubble Spots Blinding Explosion in a Distant Spiral Galaxy  SciTechDaily
    2. 7 Most Beautiful Pictures Of Milky Way Clicked By NASA Hubble Space Telescope  Times Now
    3. Hubble Space Telescope Gazes at Swirling Spiral Galaxy  Sci.News
    4. 8 Beautiful Milky Way Pictures Captured By NASA Hubble Space Telescope  Times Now

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  • Targeted starfish control boosts coral recovery on Australia’s Great Barrier Reef: study-Xinhua

    SYDNEY, July 25 (Xinhua) — New research shows that controlling crown-of-thorns starfish (COTS) is boosting coral growth on Australia’s Great Barrier Reef despite increasing environmental pressures.

    Targeted removal of coral-eating starfish significantly increased coral cover on most monitored reefs, according to a statement released Friday by Australia’s University of Queensland (UQ), which led the study.

    “Our simulations showed that COTS control led to increased coral cover in about 85 percent of cases, with roughly one-third of reefs experiencing more than 10 percent growth,” said Tina Skinner, researcher at UQ’s School of the Environment, the study’s first author.

    The benefits of starfish control persisted and sometimes increased over time, despite intensifying climate pressures like rising ocean temperatures, Skinner said.

    She noted that benefits from COTS control extended beyond treated reefs to neighbors, due to less COTS larvae movement and more healthy coral larvae aiding regional recovery.

    “The reefs that haven’t seen direct COTS control work or any nearby fared worse,” Skinner added.

    The study used a detailed ecosystem model of all 3,806 reefs along the 2,300km Great Barrier Reef, incorporating real data on starfish outbreaks, control efforts, and environmental conditions projected to 2040.

    Although COTS management covers less than 10 percent of the Great Barrier Reef, the study’s co-author, UQ Professor Peter Mumby said the study highlights key areas where interventions are most effective, guiding future efforts.

    The research, published in the Journal of Environmental Management in London, highlighted that controlling COTS is only part of reef protection, stressing the need to reduce emissions to prevent climate-driven damage and preserve coral gains beyond 2040. ■

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