Nature Published June 6, 2019 | 13:00 EDT (News releases from Nature Research Press and Max Planck Institute) Analyses of the genomes of ancient and modern individuals from Siberia and North America, reveal insights about major migration events and the population history of these regions. Genomes of 48 ancient individuals from the Canadian, Siberian, and U.S. Arctic, as well as of […]
Biodiversity today may not lead to greater diversity over geological timescales 
Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences Published June 5, 2019 | 17:01 EDT (Brief from the Royal Society) Using the fossil record, researchers tested whether greater subsequent biodiversity would result from choosing random species in the past, a broad range of species in the past, or by choosing those species that were actively evolving […]
El Niño enhances CO2 uptake by North American vegetation
Science Advances Published June 5, 2019 | 14:00 EDT Long-term atmospheric CO2 observations over North America document persistent responses to the El Niño–Southern Oscillation, ocean climate influences. Increased water availability, warmer springs and cooler summers enhances carbon uptake over North America near and during El Niño. The increased uptake from North America partially offsets El […]
Humans unknowingly consume a lot of microplastics
Environmental Science & Technology Published June 5, 2019 | 08:00 EDT (News release from American Chemical Society) Humans unknowingly consume tens of thousands of tiny plastic particles per year – with unknown potential health impacts. Researchers estimate that a person’s average microplastic consumption is between 70,000 and 121,000 particles per year, with rates rising to 100,000 […]
June 4, 2019 | SMCC Heads Up
Our plastic diet | Ancient northern histories | Predator intro | June 4, 2019 | SMCC Heads Up – Embargoed and recently published research with a Canadian focus, curated by SMCC for science journalists. Read more>
Hummingbirds learn songs and visual displays from peers
Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences Published May 29, 2019 | 17:01 EDT (Brief from the Royal Society) Hummingbird social groups share common signatures in both song parameters and visual display features. The signatures include sequence syntax, proportions of song and display elements, and fine-scale parameters of elements, and are not associated with genetic […]
Coral degradation masks predators’ smells, imperiling prey
Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences Published May 29, 2019 | 17:01 EDT (Brief from the Royal Society) Coral reef degradation is progressing at an unprecedented rate. With the death of corals, substantive changes occur in the odour landscape for remaining reef fish. Researchers showed that changing the background odour of a habitat dramatically […]
Super-efficient blood oxygen enables epic salmon migrations
Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences Published May 29, 2019 | 17:01 EDT (Brief from the Royal Society) By actively regulating the pH of red blood cells, bony fishes can control how oxygen binds to haemoglobin. They also use an enzyme to promote oxygen unloading in their tissues. This mechanism means the hearts of […]
Water research and education benefit wealthy, not developing countries
UN University Institute for Water, Environment and Health Published May 29, 2019 | 11:00 EDT (News release from UN University) Post-secondary education and research aimed at tackling the global water crisis is concentrated in wealthy countries rather than the poorer, developing places where it is most needed. Two reports call for reducing this imbalance between resources and […]
May 28, 2019 | SMCC Heads Up
Cardio-powered salmon | Scent of a (fish) predator | Hummingbird peer learning | May 28, 2019 | SMCC Heads Up – Embargoed and recently published research with a Canadian focus, curated by SMCC for science journalists. Read more>
Tiny fish make outsized contributions to coral reefs
Science Published May 24, 2019 | 14:00 EDT (News release from AAAS) The smallest of marine vertebrates – seldom-seen, historically overlooked reef fishes – contribute 40 per cent of reef-fish biodiversity and account for nearly two-thirds of near-reef larval fish pools. They also provide nearly 57 per cent of the total fish flesh consumed by larger reef […]
30 new species of disease-causing bacteria identified
PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases Published May 23, 2019 | 14:00 EDT (News release from PLOS) Researchers identified 30 new species of Leptospira, an emerging zoonotic disease that affects more than one million people around the world each year. The data provide new insights into how virulence develops in the pathogenic species. Lead author: Antony Vincent, INRS-Institut […]
Trading gizzard mass for flight muscles: Remodelling migratory bird bodies
Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences Published May 22, 2019 | 17:01 EDT (Brief from the Royal Society) Many long-distance migratory birds undergo seasonal flight-muscle build up to power long-distance flights and digestive-machinery break down to reduce body mass. Captive experiments with the red knot shorebird reveal that these body-remodelling patterns can be […]
Bunting hunting speeds tasty songbird’s decline
Science Advances Published May 22, 2019 | 14:00 EDT (News release from AAAS) Up to 30,000 ortolan buntings are killed illegally for food each year in southwest France, where hunters say the migrating songbirds come from large, stable populations elsewhere in Europe. Genetic testing, tiny electronic bird-backpack trackers, and feather-isotope analysis confirm the birds come from small, […]
Insight into how ice forms on other planets and in space
Nature Published May 22, 2019 | 13:00 EDT (News release from Oak Ridge National Laboratory) In an experiment designed to create a super-cold state of water, scientists unexpectedly discovered how dense, crystalline phases of ice thought to exist beyond Earth’s limits might form. Observation of the crystalline ice phases challenges accepted theories about water and […]
First fungus among us: Billion-year-old fungi found in Arctic
Nature Published May 22, 2019 | 13:00 EDT (News release from Nature Research Press) Researchers identified fossil fungi dating from 900 to 1,000 million years ago in Arctic Canada. The findings provide evidence that fungi evolved 500 to 600 million years earlier than previously thought, pushing back the origins of the group of animals that […]
