https://padlet.com/18lisc/xuorrod3watb APES 2017-2018 en-us 2017-10-23 14:29:43 UTC 2018-05-09 21:26:12 UTC hello@padlet.com 18lisc https://padlet.com/18lisc/xuorrod3watb/wish/199824884 Some plants actually are benefiting from being eaten or cut down. These "overcompensators" grow back stronger and more defensive than before and disprove the standing theory that a plant must choose regrowth or defense. These plants, especially the Scarlet Gilia, have shown that a plant can grow back immediately stronger and more defensive. Scientists believe that this extreme survival instincts are happening at a molecular level. It may soon be a generalization for most plants.]]> 2017-10-24 01:27:31 UTC https://padlet.com/18lisc/xuorrod3watb/wish/199824884 18lisc https://padlet.com/18lisc/xuorrod3watb/wish/203486814 The bears in Yellowstone National Park have become more adventurous and are moving outside of the boundaries. The closest park to them is the Glacier National Park and the bears there are also stepping out of the not-so-distinct boundaries. Scientists are saying that these two groups of grizzlies are projected to combine in five to ten years. This could mean amazing things the bears' genetic survival. Many other isolated animals may eventually return to social standards, increasing their genetic advantages.]]> 2017-11-03 22:27:23 UTC https://padlet.com/18lisc/xuorrod3watb/wish/203486814 18lisc https://padlet.com/18lisc/xuorrod3watb/wish/203540377 A recent study done on the modern liverwort has helped us discover the ancestry of all land plants. From moss to tress, land plants evolved from an ancestral algal species about 500 million years ago. The reason why liverwort was chosen for the study was because liverwort diverged from other plants at the earliest stage of evolution, meaning it still has some of its ancestral DNA. The liverwort is a key to molecular and genetic studies. Individual genes can now start to be tested and more questions can be answered.]]> 2017-11-04 14:57:54 UTC https://padlet.com/18lisc/xuorrod3watb/wish/203540377 18lisc https://padlet.com/18lisc/xuorrod3watb/wish/203542806 A new study has shown that the dingoes in Australia likely migrated in two separate waves. This means two things. One, both groups crossed the former land bridge of Papua New Guinea, just at different times. Two, the two groups of dingoes are genetically different, but just by a little bit. Environmentalists are urging people to keep the groups separated and even more than that, to make sure the dingoes of either group do not mate with dogs. Group cross breeding and dog cross breeding dilutes the dingo genetic code and can greatly effect the evolution of dingoes in the long run. ]]> 2017-11-04 15:23:41 UTC https://padlet.com/18lisc/xuorrod3watb/wish/203542806 18lisc https://padlet.com/18lisc/xuorrod3watb/wish/203546537 Urbanization has affected almost every organism alive. Unseen consequences of urbanization on evolution are now being discovered. Bedbugs were scarce two decades ago, but have since evolved to resist most pesticides. Some scientists are saying that urbanization is becoming a dominant force pushing evolution. Animals and insects are starting to evolve around cities. For example, a type of mosquito in London is adapting to hibernate in sewers in the winter. That means that the cold is no longer killing them and it allows for more and more disease to fester. Scientists say that we have to start thinking about the way building our cities is going to affect the evolution of other organisms.]]> 2017-11-04 15:59:32 UTC https://padlet.com/18lisc/xuorrod3watb/wish/203546537 18lisc https://padlet.com/18lisc/xuorrod3watb/wish/204136796 The Armillaria ostoyae has evolved and grown to survive any type of forest. One of the reasons is because it is the largest terrestrial organism on the planet. Armillaria fungi have expanded their genome by copying certain chunks of it. They can also hide from bacteria that can kill them by reabsorbing substances in the soil and it can hide from trees. When a competitor shows up, the Armillaria can create a hostile environment for them. This is why the Armillaria ostoyae has survived for 21 million years and why it will continue to survive no matter what.  ]]> 2017-11-06 21:36:26 UTC https://padlet.com/18lisc/xuorrod3watb/wish/204136796 18lisc https://padlet.com/18lisc/xuorrod3watb/wish/223099252 In 2015, the Betpak-Dala saiga population had a major die-off event. Almost 220,000 saiga dropped dead in an area the size of Britain. There have been two other outbreaks like this, in 1981 and 1988. Scientists have now found a correlation between the high humidity of the season and these outbreaks. The cause of death was a bacteria that lives harmlessly in the saiga's tonsils, but scientists are now believing that during warmer seasons, the bacteria spreads to the stomach and destroys the organs. These particular saiga have specific genetic variations for their climate so they are more susceptible to change.]]> 2018-01-21 14:00:48 UTC https://padlet.com/18lisc/xuorrod3watb/wish/223099252 18lisc https://padlet.com/18lisc/xuorrod3watb/wish/223143575 The Winter and Summer Solstices are more than just events on the calendar; they allow us to live here. Earth's axial tilt is 23.5 degrees, which allows for the planet to have livable seasons. Many other planets, including Venus, Uranus, and Pluto have such extreme axial tilts that humans as of today would not be able to survive. Uranus's tilt is 98 degrees, which on Earth would mean that all of North America, Europe, Asia, and half of Africa would spend winters in permanent darkness and summers in constant sunlight. Earth's current seasons and axial tilt are one of the main reasons why Earth can support the life it does.]]> 2018-01-21 19:57:50 UTC https://padlet.com/18lisc/xuorrod3watb/wish/223143575 18lisc https://padlet.com/18lisc/xuorrod3watb/wish/223150942 Squids mate and then they die. When they die, most species of squid float to the top of the ocean to be eaten by birds. Recently, researchers found that some species sink to the bottom, which would play a part in the ocean's storage of carbon. Researchers found some squids nearly 10,000 feet below the surface. In some places, there are no squids on the bottom of the ocean, but in other places, the ocean floor is littered with them. Scientists believe that in parts of the Gulf of California, dead squid may add up to twelve milligrams of carbon per square meter per day to the ocean floor, where a lot of the Earth's carbon is stored.]]> 2018-01-21 21:05:19 UTC https://padlet.com/18lisc/xuorrod3watb/wish/223150942 18lisc https://padlet.com/18lisc/xuorrod3watb/wish/223152604 In the early history of the Earth, oxygen existed only in the atmosphere and the oceans. Then, a photosynthesizing bacteria created oxygen as a by product. The earliest known oxygen that was made this way was 2.5 billion years ago, until now. Scientists have found layers in the Pongola Basin in South Africa that date back 2.97 billion years ago. The Great Oxygenation Event that occurred 2.5 billion years ago caused many bacteria to die because the oxygen was poisoning them. Eventually, the bacteria that survived continued adapting. The results at Pongola Basin mean that the oxygenation process started millions and millions of years before originally believed.]]> 2018-01-21 21:21:04 UTC https://padlet.com/18lisc/xuorrod3watb/wish/223152604 18lisc https://padlet.com/18lisc/xuorrod3watb/wish/223154251 Cells have developed a way to protect themselves, which help us live longer. One way cells do that is by autophagy which is when a cell will remove the components that are damaged. Many diseases, including dementia, happen when cells are damaged. A protein, p62, is being used to induce autophagy, helping cells live longer. Scientists believe that p62 is one of the main reasons why humans are evolving to live longer. Fruit flies with "humanised" p62 lived longer under stress. Although, not all mutations in p62 are good. Some can cause a neurodegenerative disease that actually makes cells unable to induce autophagy, which progresses aging related diseases.]]> 2018-01-21 21:35:22 UTC https://padlet.com/18lisc/xuorrod3watb/wish/223154251 18lisc https://padlet.com/18lisc/xuorrod3watb/wish/223165849 The Arctic's remoteness and complex web connections makes it hard for researchers to fully understand what the increasing warmth means for the ecosystem. A new study has been done on the largest land animal in the Arctic, the muskoxen. It was found that the warmth is stressing mothers and young calves. This has been causing underdeveloped skeletal growth in juvenile muskoxen. The warmer temperatures cause more rain, which eventually freezes, but later in the season. This means that pregnant mothers cannot get the nutrient that they need. Muskoxen have been around since the time of the woolly mammoths, but they are not on the world stage, so their problems go unnoticed. ]]> 2018-01-21 23:57:17 UTC https://padlet.com/18lisc/xuorrod3watb/wish/223165849 18lisc https://padlet.com/18lisc/xuorrod3watb/wish/249083189 New studies show that the morphology of the inner ear is a good indicator of human population history. Scientists took inner ear measurements from different populations around the world and found that there is greater variation within populations than between populations. That means that all humans are closely related. It was also found that genetic differences correlates with geographical differences, in reference from distance from Africa. This new perspective of the labyrinth is important because up until now, the differences in the labyrinth were thought to be because of function. This means that while function of balancing and hearing is very important, nature allows for a wide variation of different structures.]]> 2018-04-06 00:41:53 UTC https://padlet.com/18lisc/xuorrod3watb/wish/249083189 18lisc https://padlet.com/18lisc/xuorrod3watb/wish/249083255 Mike Boyd and Dean Lomax discovered the remains of a female Ichthyosaurs that was pregnant with six to eight embryos. The Ichthyosaurs were aquatic reptiles that were around during the Early Jurassic era. They gave birth to live young and did not need to return to land. They are commonly found in the UK. This particular specimen is special because there have never been an Ichthyosaurs with so many embryos and this is the youngest one found, living around 180 million years ago. Some wondered if the embryos were just stomach contents, but scientists say that there is no erosion from stomach acid and it is very unlikely that an Ichthyosaurs would eat six to eight of its own species' embryos.]]> 2018-04-06 00:42:22 UTC https://padlet.com/18lisc/xuorrod3watb/wish/249083255 18lisc https://padlet.com/18lisc/xuorrod3watb/wish/249083323 The population of the African Wild dogs has dramatically decreased because of canine disease and habitat destruction. Population management has started, but is very difficult. There needs to be a lot of genetic diversity in the species, but that is hard to do without a lot of translocation. African Wild dogs have a complex hierarchy system which does not allow for many new dogs to be introduced into the pack. Scientists have found a way to freeze the sperm of the male dogs. The goal is to be able to artificially inseminate female dogs so there is almost no pack distribution. There are still many unanswered questions and unknown consequences of continuing this plan. ]]> 2018-04-06 00:43:01 UTC https://padlet.com/18lisc/xuorrod3watb/wish/249083323 18lisc https://padlet.com/18lisc/xuorrod3watb/wish/249318378 DONE https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/02/science/mummy-head-fbi-dna.html?rref=collection%2Fsectioncollection%2Fscience&action=click&contentCollection=science&region=rank&module=package&version=highlights&contentPlacement=5&pgtype=sectionfront
The FBI has unraveled a century's old mystery. In 1915, archaeologists found a severed mummified head in the tomb of Governor Djehutynakht and his wife. It is believed that the Djehutynakhts are over 4,000 years old. It was believed that DNA could not be extracted from remains that were that old and the extreme desert climate destroys a lot of DNA. A molar was taken from the head via the neck and then the molar was drilled into and the powder was run through a machine. The tests results came back that the head was the Governor Djehutynakht, not his wife. It was also found that the DNA matches closely with Europeans and this has been confirmed through multiple studies.]]> 2018-04-06 17:43:24 UTC https://padlet.com/18lisc/xuorrod3watb/wish/249318378 18lisc https://padlet.com/18lisc/xuorrod3watb/wish/249321804 https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/05/science/drones-infrared-cameras-animals.html?rref=collection%2Fsectioncollection%2Fscience
Two neighbors, one an ecologist and the other an astronomer, discovered ways their fields can inter lap. Documenting endangered animals is very difficult and costly. Day time cameras do not catch everything and do not work at night. Then, scientists started using the infrared cameras that astronomers use for the stars. Both stars and animals give off heat and every animal species has a specific heat signature. These drones need to be flown at a certain height and improvements have been made to make the cameras more accurate. These cameras are also being used to locate people in dense fogs and intense floods. The cameras still need refining and are estimated to cost around $15,000. ]]> 2018-04-06 17:53:30 UTC https://padlet.com/18lisc/xuorrod3watb/wish/249321804 18lisc https://padlet.com/18lisc/xuorrod3watb/wish/249329887 https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/28/science/arctic-foxes-inbreeding.html?rref=collection%2Fcolumn%2Ftrilobites
Arctic foxes are endangered in Sweden, Norway, and Finland. Severe population limitations and inbreeding have caused even more trouble for the arctic foxes. Scientists have started finding "blue" arctic foxes. This allows for scientists to see what happens when new genetic material is introduced into a small, threatened population. The study has found that with just three new males, there are intensely healthier pups and drastically less inbreeding. Over the next five years, the study showed that the population nearly doubled. This gives support to the controversial tactic of introducing new genetic material into a sub- population. This study has shown that introducing new genetic material does produce results.]]> 2018-04-06 18:16:36 UTC https://padlet.com/18lisc/xuorrod3watb/wish/249329887