Exciting news for the cute shark lovers of the world! We finally have a recorded sighting of a baby great white shark, likely only a few hours old.
The question of where great white sharks give birth still remains a mystery to this day but this footage may suggest the coasts of California, where the footage was taken, are a site where these sharks give birth.
Good news! Not only have we discovered that tardigrades thwart destruction by turning themselves into glass, but we potentially have a future in which we can use their proteins to freeze-dry medications and vaccines to transport to disadvantaged communities!!
NOAA considers sanctuary in waters around Pacific Remote Islands
Today, NOAA announced it is starting the process to potentially designate a new national marine sanctuary in the Pacific Remote Islands area under the Biden-Harris Administration. The proposed area in the central Pacific Ocean includes marine areas within the existing Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument, as well as currently unprotected submerged lands and waters, an area totaling about 770,000 square miles.
A sanctuary designation would help conserve the atolls, shoals, seamounts, banks and reefs surrounding the Pacific Remote Islands. This area is home to some of the most diverse and remarkable tropical marine ecosystems on the planet, and provides a haven for a host of wildlife, including corals, sharks, fish, marine mammals, seabirds and invertebrates.
NOAA invites the public to comment on the proposed sanctuary designation through June 2, 2023.
Bile acids, simple molecules that live in our intestines, have long been relegated to the role of digestive workhorses, faithfully emulsifying fats for absorption. However, recent scientific revelations are rewriting the story, revealing a complex hidden world within these seemingly simple compounds. This new recognition stems from the discovery that bile acids make a remarkable difference in the hands of our gut microbes—a symphony of changes that infuses them with a surprising array of potential health benefits.
This blog dives into groundbreaking research that escapes in light of this underappreciated diversity of bile acids. With the help of this research, we can explore how our gut microbes orchestrate this complex chemical choreography and present a powerful tool scientists have developed to unlock the secrets of these modified bile acids.
Bile acids, synthesized in the liver from cholesterol, are essential for a healthy digestive system. They emulsify fats and help their breakdown and absorption. However, their impact extends far beyond the gut. These act as signaling molecules that interact with receptors throughout the body and influence functions such as metabolism, immune response, and even brain health.
This week, the scientific journal Frontiers in Cell and Developmental Biology published research featuring bogus imagery made with Midjourney, one of the most popular AI image generators.
The open-access paper explores the relationship between stem cells in mammalian testes and a signaling pathway responsible for mediating inflammation and cancer in cells. The paper’s written content does not appear to be bogus, but its most eye-popping aspects are not in the research itself. Rather, they are the inaccurate and grotesque depictions of rat testes, signaling pathways, and stem cells.
The AI-generated rat diagram depicts a rat (helpfully and correctly labeled) whose upper body is labeled as “senctolic stem cells.” What appears to be a very large rat penis is labeled “Dissilced,” with insets at right to highlight the “iollotte sserotgomar cell,” “dck,” and “Retat.” Hmm.
According to Frontiers’ editor guidelines, manuscripts are subject to “initial quality checks” by the research integrity team and the handling editor prior to the peer-review process. In other words, many eyes supposedly reviewed this work before the images were published.
Hey, so what if we had a more sustainable transparent material stronger than carbon nanofibers?
One of the most interesting articles I'll read this week, I suspect. Lots of details about the process, as well as more recent incremental improvements to producing this in a greener and more scalable way.
A new image of the galaxy cluster known as “El Gordo” is revealing distant and dusty objects never seen before, and providing a bounty of fresh science. The infrared image, taken by NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope, displays a variety of unusual, distorted background galaxies that were only hinted at in previous Hubble Space Telescope images.
El Gordo is a cluster of hundreds of galaxies that existed when the universe was 6.2 billion years old, making it a “cosmic teenager.” It’s the most massive cluster known to exist at that time. (“El Gordo” is Spanish for the “Fat One.”)
This woman, Beatiz Flamini, went to live in a cave for 500 days for science. She was in total isolation, although people were checking on here, and also she just really wanted to be in this cave.
Flamini said she'd lost track of time after about two months in the cave, and thought she had only been in there for some 160 or 170 days. She described the experience as "excellent, unbeatable," telling reporters that she never even considered hitting the panic button.
Fun science news! The Blue Whale may not only be the largest animal that has ever lived, it may also be the largest animal that's capable of surviving at all.
Turns out there's a balance between abundance of food, marine habitat, and heart size that limits how big an animal can be. It's some cool research!