Wednesday, 22 May, 2013

Geologic dating shows that water has been trapped more than 2 kilometers underground since before the Cambrian explosion. This water contains chemicals that support bacteria in other places. Could the deep biosphere contain relics of the most primitive life? Could such life exist on Mars?

The explosion of data — in meteorology, genetics, spying and physics — requires new storage technology. DNA has been storing data for billions of years. Could life’s “hard disk” help tame today’s data explosion?

Some people blame strandings on a noisy ocean. A new study shows that the endangered North Atlantic right whale is shouting to be heard. Another whale tale: a giant killing whale was recently discovered in Peru, with about the biggest teeth in history…

Specialization may work in factories, but it does not make ant colonies more efficient. As the conventional wisdom about social insects goes topsy-turvy, what’s an ecologist to think?

New discovery shows how all animals store fat in cells, could lead to advances in fight against obesity or diabetes. Funny, maybe storing fat is a good thing.

Most music is built on the 12-tone “chromatic” scale. Does this reflect chance, or the basic structure of the human voice? New study finds tight link between pronunciation and musical scale.

New study shows how they stay aloft, turn on a dime. Freeze-frame pix of bats flying show unexpectedly complex flight patterns. Meet evolution’s second answer to the problem of vertebrate flight.

How’s a hungry fish supposed to make a living in the shallow water below tropical mangrove trees? Hint: Squirt, squirt!

Nobel Prize for Medicine or Physiology given to inventors of MRI machine — but were these guys really the inventors? Meet an unprecedented PR campaign to change the Nobel.

Giant crocodile relative raises question of why big animals go extinct faster. If an 11-meter croc can’t survive, what about a 2-meter Homo sapien?

Alien earthworms are killing trees in northern deciduous forests. Are fishing people to blame?