STATES CHRONICLE – According to a team of researchers, the 74 million years old skull of the so-called Bisti Beast dinosaur might help reveal new data about the evolution of predatory dinosaurs. The scientists used 3D imaging to scan and analyze the remains of this relative of the T-rex.

The Bisti Beast to Help Reveal Information About Both Itself and Other Species

The Bistahieversor sealeyi or the Bisti Beast was discovered some 20 years ago in northwestern New Mexico. It is believed to be some 74 million years old, around 10 million years older than the Tyrannosaurus Rex. Bisti shows differences in its bones, especially the skull, from these later dinosaurs, so researchers decided to take a closer look.

To do so, they took a high-energy CT scan of its skull. The high energy imaging was required because of the thickness of the bones. However, it reportedly helped offer “the highest resolution” scan yet of the skull structure’s brain cavities and sinus.

The 3.5-foot-long cranium revealed impacted teeth that had been hiding in its jaw. It also showed the pathways chosen by some blood vessels and nerves.

“The results add a new piece to the puzzle of how these bone-crushing top predators evolved over millions of years. The team’s study illuminates the Bisti Beast’s place in the evolutionary tree that culminated in Tyrannosaurus rex,” stated the research team.

The New Mexico Los Alamos National Laboratory researchers that conducted the study detailed some of their results in a newsletter.

More detailed results are expected to be presented at the annual Society of Vertebrate Paleontology meeting taking place in Canada this month.

The researchers stated that the Bisti Beast skull is helping reveal how the different species within the Tyrannosaurus Rex family evolved and are related to one another.

The team says that the Bisti represents the “most basal tyrannosaurus” to have small forelimbs, and also bone-crushing and big-headed adaptations.

Image Source: Wikimedia

STATES CHRONICLE – International astronomers led by researchers from the University of Hertfordshire discovered four planets orbiting a nearby Sun-like star, tau Ceti. Two of these are possibly habitable planets, according to reports. Radial velocity, a technique using spectroscopy to measure the wobble in a star’s motion due to planets orbiting it, produced these finding. This discovery is an exciting step in the search for habitable planets, especially ones close enough to Earth for future interstellar travel.

Locating Possibly Habitable Planets

Tau Ceti, located just 12 light years from our planet, is in the constellation Cetus. In galactic terms, this is considered a stellar nearby neighbor. Tau Ceti is similar to our solar system’s Sun in size and brightness. This seemingly increases the probability that an orbiting planet could be habitable. NASA defines habitable planets as ones where liquid water can exist and pool. The four planets identified have orbits of 20, 49, 160, and 642 days.

The 160-day orbit planet is similar to Mars, on the hot side of possibly habitable planets. In contrast, the 642-day orbit planet compares to Venus and is on the cold end of planets able to support life.

The study project was truly international. Data collection required advanced spectrographs at the European Southern Observatory, Chile and the W. M. Keck Observatory, Hawaii. Fabo Feng, a research fellow at the University of Hertfordshire, England was the lead author, and his co-author was Steven Vogt, a professor of astronomy at the University of California, Santa Cruz. Their article, “Color difference makes a difference: our planet candidates around tau Ceti,” has been accepted for publication in the Astronomical Journal.

NASA reports that in the past 20 years, more than 3000 planets orbiting distant suns have been identified. However, few of these are possibly habitable planets. Two of tau Ceti’s planets can potentially meet the requirement for sustaining liquid water. An issue is the amount of stellar nearby debris which could strike the planets. Still, some consider that even with these concerns, the tau Ceti system may be an initial target for interstellar colonization.

Image Source: Wikimedia

STATES CHRONICLE – It’s no mystery that honey bees are in danger, as their populations are slowly withering. Scientists have tried to come up with many ways to stop bees from disappearing and, now, a graduate student from Simon Fraser University in Canada seems to have found a possible solution. With the help of a tracking system, she will try to decode what bees are telling each other.

Monitoring honey bees to see if their behavior changes

Oldooz Pooyanfar developed a monitoring mechanism which makes use of IoT technology to discover how honey bees communicate and to track what they might be saying to each other. This should help us discover what the health condition of the insects is, as well as find out how to better protect them.

Over the last ten years, the honey bee population in North America has decreased by 30 percent. This affects the pollination process, leading to terrible consequences for the environment. Also, these falling numbers prevent scientists from better studying honey bees.

Any abnormality will tell experts if they have to intervene

This is why Pooyanfar came up with this innovative idea. She developed a monitoring platform, which was then installed in the walls of several bee hives from Cloverdale Field, situated south of Vancouver. Then, she also equipped the hives with tiny sensors with microphones and accelerometers incorporated.

These sensors capture any sounds and vibrations made by the honey bees, as well as the temperature and humidity levels inside the hives. This should allow scientists and beekeepers identify abnormal behavior among honey bees, and allow them to intervene.

Pooyanfar hopes her system will help scientists find out more about the bees’ daily activity, and tell them how to influence their environment for the best. If the experiment is successful, this monitoring platform might be widely embraced by scientists, as it provides more information than the current monitoring methods.
Image Source: Max Pixel

STATES CHRONICLE – The Hubble Space Telescope helped astronomers made an interesting discovery regarding an exoplanet situated 900 light-years away from Earth. This planet, dubbed WASP-121b or “Hot Jupiter”, might have a stratosphere. This is relevant, since it’s the first time when researchers observe faraway exoplanets exhibiting traits typical of planets closer to Earth.

Hot Jupiter

NASA calls this exoplanet Hot Jupiter since it’s similar to our own Jupiter, but a little puffier. However, it’s much hotter. The exoplanet is situated so close to its sun that temperatures can get so high that metals could boil there.

Astronomers suspected that other exoplanets had stratospheres, but nothing was confirmed until they observed how hot water molecules were present on Hot Jupiter. These vapors have different behaviors at different temperatures, so they took the advanced equipment of Hubble Space Telescope and started studying the planet.

They analyzed how these water vapors interacted with different wavelengths of light. If the vapors are cool, they block certain wavelength of lights from being emitted into space. If they are warm, light gets emitted into space. When looking at Hot Jupiter, they observed how its water vapors emitted infrared light.

The hot water vapors signaled the existence of a stratosphere

The stratosphere is one layer of the atmosphere where temperatures increase with height. Since these water vapor had a high temperature, they signaled to the astronomers that Hot Jupiter had a stratosphere.

They also managed to find out how temperatures increase by 1,000 degrees in the stratosphere. However, they cannot tell what other chemicals are present near the water vapors which cause them to get so hot. Even so, Hot Jupiter makes a great subject for observation.

As astronomers will soon start using the James Webb Space Telescope, they will have the chance to deepen their study of this interesting exoplanet, and develop an atmospheric model of it from which we can learn more.
Image Source: NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory

STATES CHRONICLE – Climate change and global warming put us at great risks, including animal extinction, strong heat waves, or economic collapse. However, they might also have other dangerous consequences we have failed to consider so far. Our food might become less nutritious. The increase of levels of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere make crops lose proteins.

Researchers from Harvard University developed a study where they assessed carbon dioxide levels and what they might lead to. Their models showed how these levels are extremely likely to continue rising. If this happens, 18 countries and their crops will be affected.

Higher concentrations of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere will cause a decrease of at least 5 percent of dietary proteins from crops like wheat or rice from all these countries. This is likely to happen by 2050, if we don’t do something to limit greenhouse gas emissions as quickly as possible. Also, around 150 million people will be affected by this protein deficiency.

More carbon dioxide in the atmosphere means less protein in crops

At the moment, more than half of the population of the globe gets its daily intake of protein from plants. To see how they will be affected if protein levels from the crops drastically fell, they exposed several of these plants to high levels of carbon dioxide and looked at how they reacted.

They observed how the levels of protein from potatoes, rice, wheat, and barley decreased between 6.4 and 14.1 percent. One of the main things that happens to them is losing the ability to absorb nitrate, which they could later convert into protein. This phenomenon puts around 354 million children and 1.05 billion women at risk.

There’s no doubt that humans have a great influence on these rising levels of carbon dioxide. These are also related to higher temperatures, which have already started affecting agriculture. What researchers want to warn us about is the fact that we need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, so that temperatures won’t continue soaring.
Image Source: Pixabay

STATES CHRONICLE – Researchers from the University of Washington made a worrying discovery regarding climate change. They say global temperatures will be rising by over two degrees Celsius this century. This will lead to the surpassing of a critical point which climate change advocates are currently trying to avoid.

Small chances to achieve a temperature increase smaller than two degrees Celsius

In a recent study published in the journal Nature Climate Change, researchers discovered a 90 percent chance that temperatures all over the world would reach an increase going from two degrees Celsius up to 4.9 degrees Celsius.

At the climate deal set by officials in Paris in 2015, they decided to limit the greenhouse gas emissions as much as possible, and prevent further warming of the planet. Also, they set a goal, namely that global warming shouldn’t exceed two degrees Celsius. However, there’s only a 5 percent chance that temperatures should stay within this limit.

Such a big increase can have huge consequences

If we don’t manage to respect this goal and reduce temperature increase in the upcoming century, we will have to suffer terrible consequences. Among the events which threaten to occur, there is the increase of the sea level or extended periods of droughts.

To determine how temperatures are going to rise, scientists took into account the world population, the GDP, and how much carbon gets emitted per each dollar earned in the economy. They discovered how the two degrees Celsius increased is the best thing that could happen. However, this is attainable only with great sustained efforts for the next eight decades.

The UN Environment Program states greenhouse gas emissions have reached 54 billion tons per year. To reach the two degrees goal, we need to drop them down to at least 42 billion tons by year 2030. There is quite a lot of work to do, but there are some methods which can help us achieve the long-desired goal.
Image Source: Pixabay

STATES CHRONICLE – A team of researchers came up with a clever idea to close wounds, which no longer requires surgical staples or sutures. They developed a surgical glue, after taking inspiration from slugs and the mucus they secrete.

How does slug mucus function?

This is not the first time when researchers think of glue as an alternative for closing wounds, as many similar tools already exist. However, they are not that strong and pretty non-flexible, and the wound might open any time. Also, they don’t work really well with humid conditions.

This is why a group of researchers from Harvard University thought they must find a better alternative to these non-effective surgical glues. In their attempt, they looked at slugs. You probably already know they produce a slime which helps them glide. In addition, they also secrete a mucus with strong adhesive properties.

This mucus is not only incredibly sticky, being capable of creating strong bonds on any kind of surface. It works by using a complex mechanism, which spreads energy all over the mucus from its adhesion point. This means it is highly flexible.

The surgical glue might be a good replacement for sutures

To create the surgical glue, researchers used the same principle. In a study published in the journal Science, they showed how they managed to apply it to tissue, cartilage, organs, and pig skin. Also, the cells in the glue were not toxic for the human body.

For instance, they used it on a wound on a pig heart still covered in blood. The surgical glue managed to keep the wound closed even after it was constantly inflated and deflated, for several thousands of times. Researchers hope it might soon come to replace sutures or staples.

They manufactured the surgical glue in thin sheets, which can be cut in different sizes, depending on the wounds they have to deal with. Also, they created an injectable version as well, which can be used on deep wounds.
Image Source: Max Pixel

STATES CHRONICLE – Scientists have managed to take a peek at one of the most explosive events which can take place in the universe, and even managed to record it. We are talking, of course, about gamma ray bursts. They occur as huge stars explode, and might lead to catastrophic consequences.

What are gamma ray bursts?

Stars explode, marking the birth of a black hole. Such events are often accompanied by additional bursts of energy, namely gamma ray bursts. These phenomena consist of ionized matter which spew at incredible speeds, almost reaching the speed of light. They are also followed by short-lived flashes of light.

Although brief, these pulsations could have led to the mass extinction which took place on Earth billions of years ago. If another gamma ray burst would be directed towards our planet, another such event might become the harsh reality.

As mentioned before, gamma ray bursts last for an incredibly small amount of time, about several milliseconds. This is why they are so difficult to study and to capture. However, they can emit a tremendous amount of energy, about the same amount of radiation produced by a star the size of the sun in its entire lifetime. And everything is over in a matter of seconds.

Scientists managed to record such an event and analyze it

Even so, scientists managed to put up quite a detailed description of gamma ray bursts, published in the journal Nature. This happened thanks to the monitoring of an instance, dubbed GBR160625B. It was picked up last year in June, by the Fermi Gamma-Ray Space Telescope. With the help of this recording, NASA scientists could analyze the phenomenon and acquire a better understanding of it.

They discovered the gamma ray burst was produced during a black hole formation. The spew was produced by both matter and its magnetic field, and challenged the previous theory that only one of them can cause the sudden jet emission.
Image Source: Wikimedia Commons

STATES CHRONICLE – A research team made up of Japanese and Australian scientists managed to discover a new species of sunfish. This species remained unknown for around 300 years, and was the first discovery of a fish belonging to this species in the past 130 years. This is different from other sunfish both genetically and physically.

What are sunfish?

Sunfish are among the heaviest fish with bones, and can weigh over 2000 kg. Also, they can reach 3 meters in length or even more. The fact that this specimen remained unknown until now is explained by its preference to live in solitary places, deep in the sea.

This new sunfish was found in the waters near New Zealand. Initially, the research team took 150 samples from different specimens, and identified four distinct species. Only three of them have been seen earlier, and they were already fit in a category. The fourth one, however, made its first documented appearance ever.

The newly discovered fish is different from all the other related specimens

Researchers had to come up with a name for this creature, so they decided to name it Mola tecta. This is derived from tectus, which is Latin for “disguised” or “hidden”. It also needed a non-scientific name, so researchers nicknamed it the hoodwinker sunfish.

About four years after they discovered this species, a fishery from New Zealand called the scientists and told them they discovered a peculiar fish. Indeed, this specimen looked similar to the hoodwinker breed, and the DNA analysis confirmed it belonged to the same species.

Now, they want to use satellite tagging to identify the areas populated by these hoodwinker sunfish. Afterwards, they will keep these areas under observation and find out more about their feeding habits and their distribution.

Image Source: Wikimedia Commons

STATES CHRONICLE – Warm weather is a joy for most people, but it comes with its own disadvantages. It’s a season of intense work from environmental officers, as they have to closely monitor algae blooms in lakes and other bodies of water. This is risky for the environment, as these waters experience growth of their cyanobacteria levels over a short period of time.

How do algae blooms occur?

You can easily identify a lake with algae blooms from the colors of its water. The algae accumulation makes it turn blue, green, or red, but why does this happen? Cyanobacteria occur naturally, but there are certain factors which cause its overgrowth.

If it’s hot outside and the water gets warm enough, and if there are high concentrations of phosphorus and nitrogen, cyanobacteria start growing in much higher numbers than usual. This is why most lakes are covered in such algae blooms during warm seasons, such as summer or early fall.

The vivid variation of colors in which these algae blooms are given by the different reactions of organisms to them. There are many species of phytoplankton in the waters, and each one of them interacts differently with cyanobacteria, producing pigments of different shades and colors.

They might look beautiful, but are incredibly toxic

However, seeing a lake covered in such colors looks unnatural, and is indeed dangerous for both animals and humans. Algae blooms ease the development of cyanotoxins, which have effects ranging from the irritation of the skin to neurological issues.

Hopefully, there are some ways to prevent the apparition of massive algae blooms. Nutrient pollution is one of the main factors which lead to these growths, when nitrogen and phosphorus end up in lakes from farming and industrial waste. The blooms might be treated, but these methods are not really effective. Therefore, one method would be to reduce pollution with wastewater.

Image Source: Flickr