SciGlow | All Science News In One Place
SciGlow is a newsletter of science stories from the major research labs. Headlines link to in-depth articles and editorials. SciGlow keeps scientists and others up-to-date on current research.
Scientists at The University of Queensland have upended biologists’ century-old understanding of the evolutionary history of animals. Using new technology to investigate how multi-celled animals developed, their findings revealed a surprising truth. Professor Bernie Degnan said the results contradicted years of tradition. “We’ve found that the first multicellular animals probably weren’t like the modern-day sponge … Read more
The Galápagos Islands finches named after Charles Darwin are starting to sing a different tune because of an introduced pest on the once pristine environment. International bird ecology experts, including Professor Sonia Kleindorfer and Dr Katharina Peters from Flinders University in South Australia, have found the beaks of Darwin’s finches have changed to cope with … Read more
People living in countries that have experienced armed conflict are five times more likely to develop anxiety or depression, a University of Queensland research collaboration has found. UQ School of Public Health researcher Dr Fiona J. Charlson said the study, conducted with the World Health Organisation (WHO) and University of Washington, highlighted the serious effects … Read more
Previous research has shown that falcons intercept prey using the same guidance law as homing missiles, called proportional navigation. This guidance law is optimal against smoothly-manoeuvring aerial targets, but is prone to being thrown off by the zigzagging manoeuvres of terrestrial prey like hares or jackrabbits, and will not necessarily lead to a feasible flight path … Read more
A new paper in The Condor: Ornithological Applications, published by Oxford University Press, finds that some songbird species benefit from the spread of fracking infrastructure while others decrease in population. The shale gas industry has grown rapidly in recent years and its resulting infrastructure can have negative consequences for native wildlife communities. While other studies have … Read more
Frogs aren’t meant to be able to store a mental map in their brains. 20 years ago, Lainy Day from the University of Mississippi, USA, tested the place memory of amphibians and lizards, but none appeared capable of forming complex spatial memories. Frogs’ brains were just too simple to carry a map it seemed. However, Sabrina Burmeister from … Read more
Mastering a new skill – whether a sport, an instrument, or a craft – takes time and training. While it is understood that a healthy brain is capable of learning these new skills, how the brain changes in order to develop new behaviors is a relative mystery. More precise knowledge of this underlying neural circuitry … Read more
Corruption affects all of us. It impedes equitable development, destabilizes societies, and undermines the institutions and values of democracy. It is viewed by many as one of the world’s greatest problems. According to the Gallup Poll, a majority of people even place its negative impacts ahead of global problems like climate change, poverty, and terrorism. … Read more
Analysis of the first fully-sequenced genome of the Siberian hamster shows how these small, seasonal breeders adapt their bodies and energy usage to survive the winter. The research, published this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, also includes transcriptome analysis of gene expression in the brain during both summer and winter conditions, … Read more
Humankind has entered uncharted territory: atmospheric CO2 levels soared to record-breaking 415ppm for the first time in human history. The need to find a sustainable alternative to CO2-producing fuels is in dire need. One of the most promising environmentally-friendly energetic sources is hydrogen generated via water splitting – the reaction in which water is broken down into … Read more