A new study links fossilized flying reptile tracks to animals that made them. Fossilized footprints reveal a 160-million-year-old invasion as pterosaurs came down from the trees and onto the ground. Tracks of giant ground-stalkers, comb-jawed coastal waders, and specialized shell crushers, shed light on how pterosaurs lived, moved, and evolved.
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FAU Joins First Global Effort to Map Microplastics in Ocean Systems
Marine plastic pollution is a global crisis, with 9 to 14 million metric tons of plastic entering the ocean every year.
Extreme Rainfall – A Long-Standing Hypothesis on Temperature Dependence Finally Settled?
Flash floods resulting from extreme rainfall pose a major risk to people and infrastructure, especially in urban areas.
Keeping Tabs on Native Forests
Like farmland in Australia, native forests struggle with drought and flooding, so future management decisions need more sophisticated systems to monitor and manage their water needs.
Seasonal changes affect alcohol tolerance and your waistline
Researchers have found that drug effectiveness, alcohol tolerance, and carbohydrate metabolism change with the seasons. Their findings are based on a comprehensive seasonal gene expression map, which investigated over 54,000 genes in 80 tissues in monkeys across one year. The study has implications for drug prescription and precision medicine.
Zoo life boosts object exploration in orangutans
A new study comparing wild and zoo-housed Sumatran orangutans reveals that life in a zoo significantly alters how orangutans interact with their environment. Researchers analyzed over 12,000 instances of daily exploratory object manipulation (EOM) -- the active manipulation and visual inspection of objects associated with learning and problem-solving -- across...
Geobiology: Iron, sulfur, heat — and first life
The very first cells obtained their energy from geochemical reactions. Researchers have now managed to recreate this ancient metabolic process in their laboratory.
Landmark experiment sheds new light on the origins of consciousness
An experiment seven years in the making has uncovered new insights into the nature of consciousness and challenges two prominent, competing scientific theories: Integrated Information Theory (IIT) and Global Neuronal Workspace Theory (GNWT). The findings mark a pivotal moment in the goal to understand the elusive origins consciousness.
One of Earth’s ancient volcanic mysteries solved
A new study traces a 120-million-year-old 'super-eruption' to its source, offering new insights into Earth's complex geological history.
Restoring oil wells back to nature with moss
In what could represent a milestone in ecological restoration, researchers have implemented a method capable of restoring peatlands at tens of thousands of oil and gas exploration sites in Western Canada. The project involves lowering the surface of these decommissioned sites, known as well pads, and transplanting native moss onto...