Category: 7. Science

Rainforests thrive on delicate relationships. Plants, animals, and insects like ants constantly interact, creating a web of survival and competition. Amid this chaos, unexpected harmony sometimes blooms.

In the tropical rainforests of Fiji, scientists uncovered a fascinating story of peacekeeping. It is not a tale of advanced creatures or complex brains. Instead, it centers around a plant with an unusual design.

This plant has developed a surprisingly simple strategy to solve conflict among aggressive ants.

This discovery from Durham University reshapes our understanding of cooperation in nature. It shows how something as basic as plant architecture can manage aggression and encourage mutual support.

The study reveals that, sometimes, structure itself can shape behavior and nurture harmony among rivals.

Ants and plants team up

The plant at the center of this story belongs to the genus Squamellaria. It is part of the Rubiaceae family, also known as the coffee family. These plants grow on the branches and trunks of rainforest trees.

The plants form large, bulbous structures called domatia. These domatia are not just growths – they serve as homes for ants. In return for shelter, ants provide the plant with essential nutrients from their waste.

However, the ants that live in these plants are not naturally friendly neighbors. Many of them are highly aggressive and often engage in violent fights with other species.

This raises an important question: how can so many aggressive species coexist peacefully inside a single plant?

Walls keep rivals apart

The answer lies in the design of Squamellaria’s domatia. Professor Guillaume Chomicki of Durham University led an international team to investigate the mystery.

Using high-resolution 3D CT scans, the researchers explored the inner structure of the plant’s domatia. What they found was remarkable. The plant creates domatia with multiple chambers, each completely sealed off from the others inside.

Every chamber has its own entrance, but inside, walls separate them from their neighbors. This design prevents physical contact between ant species. It is as if the plant built a miniature apartment complex, with each species living in its own secure unit.

This clever separation prevents fights and keeps the peace within the plant. It is not a chemical trick or behavioral adaptation by the ants. The plant’s architecture itself enforces harmony.

One plant, many ants

To test the effectiveness of this system, the researchers conducted extensive fieldwork. They observed Squamellaria plants on three Fijian islands for over a decade.

The team’s observations revealed that a single Squamellaria plant could house as many as five different ant species simultaneously. Despite their natural tendency to fight, the ants coexisted peacefully.

The researchers also performed nutrient labeling experiments using nitrogen isotopes. These experiments confirmed that all of the ant species provided valuable nutrients to the plant.

Each ant colony contributed to the plant’s well-being, making the relationship mutually beneficial for all involved.

When peace breaks down

To truly understand the importance of separation, the researchers conducted a bold experiment. They surgically removed the internal walls between the chambers of the domatia.

The results were immediate and violent. Ant species that had previously lived peacefully erupted into fierce battles. These fights led to many ant deaths on both sides.

In contrast, plants with intact chambers saw no such conflict. Even outside the plant, ants shared food sources without issue. This highlights the importance of physical separation inside the plant.

“It is incredible how such an odd group of organisms, restricted to a couple of Fijian islands, can provide general insights into the stability of cooperation between species,” noted Professor Chomicki.

A plant that solves conflicts

The team also created mathematical models to further explore the plant’s strategy. The models confirmed that compartmentalization helps maintain long-term partnerships.

The system prevents fights during the early stages of colony establishment. This allows each chamber to develop into a stable, nutrient-contributing colony.

Even in situations where only a small fraction of arriving ants were aggressive, the models showed that compartmentalized domatia performed better than single-chambered ones.

This shows that separating rivals is not just a short-term solution. It has lasting benefits for both the plant and its ant residents. The architecture ensures that mutualism remains stable over time, providing security and resources for all involved.

Hidden harmony in nature

This discovery helps solve a long-standing mystery in ecology. Scientists have wondered how unrelated and sometimes hostile species manage to maintain cooperation.

The findings suggest that physical separation could be a widely used strategy in nature. Many organisms may rely on similar methods to prevent conflict and maintain beneficial relationships.

The study of Squamellaria shows that architecture alone can shape ecosystems. It highlights the hidden power of structural design in keeping peace among species that would otherwise be at odds.

In the rainforests of Fiji, a simple plant demonstrates that sometimes, the best way to manage conflict is to keep your neighbors at a safe distance.

The study is published in the journal Science.

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GOLDEN, Colorado — There are those who envision big bucks pouring in from the heavens by cashing in on resource-rich asteroids.

In increasing number, probes are being dispatched by multiple countries that can plumb the depths of deliverables from space rocks.

The July Full Moon is over, but there are several more cosmic events awaiting stargazers. You can catch three meteor showers this month, whether you are in the Northern or Southern Hemisphere. Alpha Capricornids, Perseids meteor shower and Southern Delta Aquariids will be visible in the night sky at different times in July. The meteor showers will peak on a few dates, which will range between July and August. Some of these originate from well-known comets. Here is when to watch the meteor showers.

The Alpha Capricornids, a modest meteor shower, will begin on July 12. It originates in the constellation Capricorn. The frequency of the falling meteors is less, although the shower itself is quite bright. This meteor shower will peak on the nights of July 29 to 30. The Alpha Capricornids are remnants of the short-period comet 169/NEAT. Not a lot of meteors are visible even at their peak, but still, for stargazers, this is an opportunity to catch a cosmic spectacle that dates back millions of years. Each hour, only about five meteors can be seen at the peak of the shower. However, the brightness of the meteor will surprise you. Ideally, to see a meteor shower, one needs to be in a place with minimal light pollution. However, the Alpha Capricornids are very bright and can be seen in places with light pollution. The Moon’s waxing crescent phase during its peak will create the best conditions to see the meteor shower. The best time to see the Alpha Capricornids is after 10 pm. Also Read: Unusually large orange full moon greets Earthlings. Why was the moon orange?

The Perseids Meteor Shower is a very well-known meteor shower and the star of the summer season. The meteors will start becoming visible in mid-July and will continue well into August. The Perseids meteor shower will peak from August 12 to 13. The shower originates from Comet Swift-Tuttle, which takes a whopping 133 years to complete one orbit of the Sun. It generates a high number of meteors per hour that can be easily seen at its peak. Perseids produce 5-75 meteors every hour. However, it is best viewed under dark conditions and in places with minimal light pollution. The meteor shower will continue throughout August. This year, its peak will coincide with a waxing gibbous Moon, making the conditions to view them unsuitable. The best time to watch the Perseids will be after midnight.

The Southern Delta Aquariids will also grace the night sky in the second half of July. The first appearance will be around July 18. The Southern Delta Aquariids are remnants of the short-period comet 96P/Macholz. The meteor shower will reach its peak on July 29 and 30. The Southern Delta Aquariids originate in the constellation Aquarius. The number of meteors produced per hour isn’t a lot, with only 25-30 visible. But, it produced a lot many meteors in 1977 and 2003. So, it can surprise you once again. These meteors are different from others because they leave a trail behind, making them a fascinating cosmic wonder. The viewing conditions would be ideal because of the waxing crescent Moon that will set early.

A new microchip invented by Scripps Research scientists can reveal how a person’s antibodies interact with viruses-using just a drop of blood. The technology offers researchers faster, clearer insights that could help accelerate vaccine development and antibody discovery.

“This lets us take a quick snapshot of antibodies as they are evolving after a vaccine or pathogen exposure,” says Andrew Ward, professor in the Department of Integrative Structural and Computational Biology at Scripps Research and senior author of the new paper published in Nature Biomedical Engineering on June 3, 2025. “We’ve never been able to do that on this timescale or with such tiny amounts of blood before.”

When someone is infected with a virus, or receives a vaccine, their immune system creates new antibodies to recognize the foreign invader. Some antibodies work well against the pathogen, while others attach to it only weakly. Figuring out exactly which parts of the virus the best antibodies stick to is key information for scientists trying to optimize vaccines, since they want to design vaccines that elicit strong, reliable immune responses.

If we know which particular antibodies are leading to the most protective response against a virus, then we can go and engineer new vaccines that elicit those antibodies.”

Leigh Sewall, graduate student at Scripps Research and first author of the new paper

In 2018, Ward’s lab unveiled a technique known as electron microscopy-based polyclonal epitope mapping (EMPEM). This method allowed scientists to visualize how antibodies in blood samples attach to a virus. Although groundbreaking, it had downsides: it took a full week to complete and required relatively large amounts of blood.

“During the COVID-19 pandemic, we began really wanting a way to do this faster,” says Alba Torrents de la Peña, a Scripps Research staff scientist who helped lead the work. “We decided to design something from scratch.”

With the new system, known as microfluidic EM-based polyclonal epitope mapping (mEM), researchers start with four microliters of blood extracted from a human or animal–about one hundred times less than what’s required in original EMPEM. The blood is injected in a tiny, reusable chip where viral proteins are stuck to a special surface. As the blood flow through the chip, antibodies recognize and bind to those. Then, the viral proteins-with any antibodies attached-are gently released from the chip and prepared for imaging using standard electron microscopy. The entire process only takes about 90 minutes.

To test the value and effectiveness of mEM, the research team used the system to map antibodies in humans and mice that had either received a vaccination against or been infected with a virus, including influenza, SARS-CoV-2 and HIV. The new technique was not only fast at mapping out the interactions between antibodies and those viruses, but more sensitive than EMPEM; it revealed new antibody binding sites on both influenza and coronavirus proteins that had not been picked up by EMPEM.

To track how antibodies evolved over time in individual mice after they received a vaccination against one of the pathogens, the team took small blood samples from a mouse at different time points.

“That was something that wouldn’t have been possible in the past, because of the amount of blood needed for EMPEM,” says Sewall. “So to be able to look at an individual over time was really exciting.”

The researchers are now working to automate and multiplex the system, which could eventually allow dozens of samples to be processed in parallel. Ultimately, they envision mEM becoming a widely adopted tool to monitor and guide vaccine development in pathogens ranging from coronaviruses to malaria.

“This technology is useful in any situation where you have really limited sample volume, or need initial results quickly,” says Torrents de la Peña. “We hope this becomes accessible to more researchers as it is simplified and streamlined.”

Scientists are warning that glaciers melting due to global warming could trigger explosive — and potentially deadly — volcanic eruptions around the world.

As detailed in a new study presented at the Goldschmidt international geochemistry conference this week and due to be peer-reviewed later this year, researchers from the University of Wisconsin-Madison analyzed six volcanoes in southern Chile to study how retreating ice sheets may have influenced past volcanic behavior.

Using advanced argon dating and crystal analysis methods, they found that around the peak of the last ice age, around 20,000 years ago, a thick ice cover subdued volcanic activity, allowing a huge reservoir of magma to accumulate six to nine miles below the surface.

However, the end of the ice age led the ice sheets to retreat rapidly. The sudden loss of ice weight allowed gases in the magma to expand, setting the stage for explosive eruptions from newly formed volcanoes.

Now, scientists are warning that a similar scenario could unfold thanks to global warming.

“Glaciers tend to suppress the volume of eruptions from the volcanoes beneath them,” said University of Wisconsin-Madison graduate student and lead author Pablo Moreno-Yaeger in a statement. “But as glaciers retreat due to climate change, our findings suggest these volcanoes go on to erupt more frequently and more explosively.”

Scientists previously found that melting glaciers could increase volcanic activity by observing the phenomenon in Iceland. However, other places in the world could also be at risk.

“Our study suggests this phenomenon isn’t limited to Iceland, where increased volcanicity has been observed, but could also occur in Antarctica,” Moreno-Yaeger explained. “The key requirement for increased explosivity is initially having a very thick glacial coverage over a magma chamber, and the trigger point is when these glaciers start to retreat, releasing pressure — which is currently happening in places like Antarctica.”

“Other continental regions, like parts of North America, New Zealand and Russia, also now warrant closer scientific attention,” he added.

Worse, in the long term eruptions themselves could contribute to “long-term global warming because of a buildup of greenhouse gases,” as Moreno-Yaeger explained.

“This creates a positive feedback loop, where melting glaciers trigger eruptions, and the eruptions in turn could contribute to further warming and melting,” he said.

More on volcanoes: Scientists Say Something Is Corking the Yellowstone Supervolcano

Ghost plume under Oman moved India to where it is today

Salma Plateau in Oman and its link to India

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