Along with soulful eyes, endearingly long necks and and warm fuzzy coats, llamas have a far less appreciated feature: They make an array of immune system antibodies so tiny they can fit into crevices on the surface of an invading virus. That feat could … Discuss
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Scientists have identified the corpse of a galaxy that fell into the Milky Way about 10 billion years ago in what was likely the last major overhaul to our home galaxy during its development. That’s the conclusion of new research based on 2 billion … Discuss
Source: The Free Dictionary
The rainbow of hues seen in modern bird eggs probably evolved in birds’ dinosaur ancestors, which had eggs with colorful and speckled shells. That’s according to a new study of fossil eggs in the journal Nature. Researchers found that birds’ close … Discuss
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A mission to sequence the genome of every known animal, plant, fungus and protozoan – a group of single-celled organisms – is underway. The Earth BioGenome Project (EBP) has been described as a “moonshot for biology”. A key aim is to use the information in … Discuss
Source: The Free Dictionary
In the waters off the coast of California, marine scientists are finding a whole world of cephalopod wonders: in the latest installment, it’s a vast number of octopuses huddling over their eggs in the crevices of an extinct underwater volcano. With an estimated … Discuss
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Islands breed strange animals. Isolated from the rest of the world, these ecosystems often produce creatures uniquely adapted to their idiosyncratic environments. Nations like Madagascar and New Zealand can thus support strikingly similar life despite … Discuss
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Meet the 5-year-old boy who has to avoid scary movies and trick or treaters due to a rare brain disease which means he could literally be scared to death. Reed Havlik is one of only 200 people worldwide who have Vanishing White Matter (VWM) disease – a … Discuss
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If you want to take the most pristine, unpolluted images of the Universe, your best bet is to leave the Earth behind. Here on our planet, there are all sorts of effects which interfere with our imaging capabilities. Light pollution limits how deep we can see; the … Discuss
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For nearly 85 years, crocodile experts knew of just three species in Africa —the dwarf, Nile and slender-snouted. Researchers, including Matthew Shirley from Florida International University’s Tropical Conservation Institute and George Amato of the American … Discuss
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Scottish actor Gerard Butler stopped by the Pentagon earlier this week to promote his upcoming movie “Hunter Killer” by speaking to the press about how he worked with the Navy to research his role as an submarine captain. Among the details he revealed about … Discuss
Source: The Free Dictionary