Jeremy the snail became popular a few months ago when a team of British researchers were trying to play Cupid for him, and find him a pair to mate with. He was a special snail, since a genetic mutation had caused his shell to coil on the left side, instead of the right. Unfortunately, last week, Jeremy was found dead in a British laboratory.

Jeremy couldn’t find a partner

Given his unusual mutation, Jeremy had a hard time finding another snail with the same shell coils as him. This prevented him from mating, since the position of his genitals corresponds with the direction of the coils. Therefore, the coils on the left side made it impossible for the snail to mate with a regular snail, with its coils on the right side.

Jeremy was found by a scientist who used to work at the Natural History Museum, who also notified the evolutionary geneticist Angus Davidson. His main field of research is snails, so he was curious to find out if this specimen’s condition was inherited from his parents or merely the product of a mutation. Therefore, he needed to find him another snail to mate, and see what traits the offspring would display.

The left coils are likely genetically transmitted

After Jeremy became popular everywhere in the world, six other left-coiled snails offered to be his partner. The first two candidates appeared to like each other best, leaving our favorite snail trapped in a love triangle. After the two of them mated, researchers could examine their offspring and determine the origin of the coils.

Shortly before Jeremy’s death, one of these snails gave birth to some more babies, and scientists assumed Jeremy must have been the father. All of them were right-coiled, leading to a series of conclusions. This trait is likely inherited, but it takes more than one generation to be passed down to the descendants.
Image Source: Wikimedia Commons

The Milky Way galaxy has quite an unusual form, as it’s made up of dozens of swirls and branches which gather into a complex entangling of stars and planets. However, scientists have been having quite a hard time measuring all the loops and patterns of Milky Way, and haven’t managed to tell where it ends. However, this has changed, as researchers have finally managed to pinpoint an area across the center of the galaxy.

Milky Way is a complicated mix of twirls and patterns

It’s hard to keep track of all patterns present in the Milky Way. Scientists could tell we are located in the Orion Spur, a dash of stars expanding right over the center of the galaxy. At one end, there is the Perseus Arm, and the Scutum-Centaurus Arm is situated right between us and the center of Milky Way. However, telling what comes next is a little tougher.

Scientists were sure there must be some loops spawning beyond the center of the galaxy but, given the distance and the high amount of star dust present there, they could never see or measure what lies there. However, a recent study published in the journal Science presents the discovery of a point lying way beyond the heart of the galaxy.

Researchers found the star-producing region in the Milky Way

This point, called G007.47+00.05, is the place where stars come into being, and the area which sends signals easily captured by radio telescopes. With the help of the Very Long Baseline Array, researchers finally managed to get a clear image of this point, about an entire year of continuously looking at it and measuring its distance.

After a lot of attempts to calculate the distance of the bright point, astronomers finally came up with an answer. The area is located 66,000 light-years away from our planet. There’s still much to do until getting a complete map of the Milky Way, but this is the first step in building an image of the unknown regions of the galaxy.
Image Source: JPL – NASA

A team of scientists from Duke University managed to turn bacteria from malicious infecting organisms into useful creators of devices. By genetically altering some of their genes, they introduced a circuit in them disguised an artificial genetic sequence. This circuit then manages to turn the entire colony of bacteria into a functional device.

The synthetic circuit builds material over the bacteria

Although the additional circuit is synthetically generated, it can act as a biological component which makes the bacteria produce a certain type of protein. After this protein is produced uniformly across the entire colony, it can collect inorganic substances and use them in building a shield. In this case, researchers exposed the colony to some nanoparticles of gold.

When this happened, the bacteria equipped with the artificial circuit turned these nanoparticles into a shell which surrounded the entire colony. To change the shape or distribution of this shell, all the researchers had to do was to intervene genetically. The result was a bacterial colony turned into a functional device and, in this case, it was a pressure sensor.

The process of growth itself is independent from the researchers

This is not the first time when bacteria are turned into useful devices. However, there is a big difference between the previous processes and this one. During the old studies, researchers had complete control over the growth of materials from bacteria. Also, the growing took place only across two dimensions

This time, they only implanted the artificial circuit, and programmed it to use external substances to produce a material. Also, they offered these substances necessary for the growth, as bacteria couldn’t have accessed them otherwise. However, the process of developing the new material itself is entirely independent from the actions of the researchers. The bacteria have the freedom to grow the material wherever they feel like, everywhere across the three dimensions.

The study has been published in the journal Nature Biotechnology.
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NASA is getting ready to launch a new spacecraft to explore Mars, called the InSight lander. Apart from collecting new scientific data regarding the Red Planet, the ship will have another role as well. The space agency has invited everybody interested to send their names, and have them shipped on the spacecraft. Their name will not only reach Mars, but they will also receive a surprise.

Get your name on a microchip aboard the InSight lander

On October 2^nd, NASA opened the list for the people who wanted to get a chance to have their name sent to Mars. The applications are open until November 1^st so, if you are interested, you can still send your name to NASA and have it shipped on the InSight lander.

Each name will be put into a microchip made of silicon, which will travel with InSight, and reach Mars together with it. There are already 1.2 million people who have signed up, but there’s room for more. However, this is not only about a symbolic gesture of having your name sent into space.

Each participant will get a special boarding pass

In 2014, the Orion spacecraft was sent on its first flying test, and it was launched into space together with 1.38 million names enclosed in a chip. This is some sort of tradition at NASA for all ships which should come to transport people in space. Therefore, those who send their name for the InSight lander will receive a ‘boarding pass’ where they can collect info future missions.

Firstly, the pass will display the number of miles InSight flew in its mission. Also, it will give the owner the opportunity to be part of future NASA missions. Therefore, each time they sign up for a new one, the boarding pass will add more miles flown by more spacecrafts. Someday, maybe the pass will earn them a place on a special travel mission to the Red Planet.
Image Source: JPL – NASA

Durian is probably the smelliest fruit in the world, letting out a distinctive pungent smell which would make anyone gag. However, nobody was aware of what gave this fruit its unique aroma, so a team of researchers from Singapore decided to take a look at its genome and find out.

What is durian?

Durian is well-known throughout Southeast Asia as the king of fruits, mostly because of its intimidating appearance and smell. However, the origin of this pungent smell was unknown, so researchers decided to map the genome of the fruit, and find the gene that controlled it. A group of genes, volatile sulfur compounds, became activated with the ripening of the fruit, and they were found responsible for triggering the unpleasant smell.

The fruit baffles everyone with a sulfuric smell, resembling rotten onion and decaying ingredients. The aroma is persistent, mostly because the fruit contains more volatile sulfur compounds than usual. Other species usually benefit from two gene copies at most, but the durian has four, leading to the striking odor.

The smell helps with the spreading of the fruit

However, this smell might be an advantage for the durian in the wild. Although we find it repugnant, many animals might be appealed by it. If they eat the fruit, then they can easily spread its seeds everywhere, thus contributing to the distribution of the species.

The mapping of the durian genome also revealed some other information on the species. First of all, the fruit has an impressive number of genes, namely 46,000. Also, with the help of these genes, they saw how it evolved, and discovered it was related to the cacao tree. All the other discoveries have been published in the journal Nature Genetics.

Despite the striking smell, many people actually enjoy eating the fruit but, for the uninitiated, the taste might be hard to cope with. However, not all durian species are edible, and some of them are even endangered. Even so, the fruit is often imported, significantly contributing to the economy.
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Ornithologists have recently made an incredible discovery regarding a bird species in Africa. Previously, this species was regarded as elusive and extremely rare, but further research revealed it never actually existed. The discovery came after 30 years in which researchers have been trying to spot the bird without success.

Researchers thought the greenbul species was extremely rare

There is a family of birds colored in bright shades which live all over Asia and Africa. These songbirds, which measure a medium size, are usually called greenbuls and bulbuls, and make up about 130 species. However, one particular species, was extremely hard to spot.

One of these species, the icterine greenbul, was quite common in western Africa. However, during the 1980s, a German scientist called Wulf Gatter stumbled upon a bird which closely resembled an icterine greenbul, but had some particularities which haven’t been found before, such as different colors and some peculiar spots on the wings.

In 1984, after seeing the bird nine times, he got the chance to catch one specimen and study it. He found the specimen unique, and called it the Liberian greenbul, named after the country where it was found. Then, this bird disappeared from the face of Earth, and nobody saw it again.

The DNA analysis revealed it never actually existed

Another team of ornithologists started a new research mission, and went to search for the bird. Since they found nothing, they resorted to DNA analysis of the captured specimen. They compared its samples with genetic data from two other greenbul species, and discovered the mysterious bird was extremely similar to the icterine greenbul.

They cannot confirm that the two birds are one and the same species, but other explanations are highly implausible. Therefore, the bird which appeared to be a Liberian greenbul might have suffered some deficiencies which affected the appearance of its feathers. However, researchers will continue their search either for a bigger population of this mysterious birds, or for some clear evidence that they don’t exist.

The analysis has been published in the Journal of Ornithology.
Image Source: Wikimedia Commons

We have great news for the environment, as a species long regarded as extinct has come back from the dead. The species in question is the Lord Howe Island stick insect, whose traces have been found again in a surprising place. Researchers thought rats ate them off, but the insect made them a pleasant surprise and returned.

The Lord Howe Island stick insect was thought to be extinct

Hundreds of years ago, cargo ships brought all kinds of rodents on the Lord Howe Island, the home of the vulnerable stick insect. There, the rodents stumbled upon these insects, which made a great food source, and ate so many that scientists were convinced they disappeared off the face of Earth.

This creepy stick insect used to be found only in the New South Wales region in Australia. The animal is as big as a human’s hand, has six legs, and lives in trees, attracting the nickname of tree lobster. In its infancy, it’s colored in green but, as it gets older, it turns brown.

The insect returned from the dead

Around 1920, scientists declared the insect extinct. About 80 years later, as a team of scientists was exploring a volcanic rock in the Pacific called Ball’s Pyramid, they stumbled upon a few specimens which weirdly resembled the stick insect. Then, researchers assumed they might have ran away from rats, and found shelter on this remote region.

Therefore, they changed the status of the insect to critically endangered, and caught a few specimens to start breeding programs with. However, the newly resulted animals didn’t look identical to the original Lord Howe Island stick insects.

This is why they developed a study, published in the journal Current Biology, where they compared DNA samples from the new specimens with those of the old insects preserved in museums. The verdict was positive, the two species are one and the same. Now, conservationists and environmental researchers hope they will be able to reintroduce the species on its native island.
Image Source: Wikimedia Commons

A recent research revealed an unsettling truth about Australian cats. Even if they are wild or live in someone’s household, these tiny but adorable predators kill over one million birds per day. Also, this explains the sudden decline of certain species on the continent.

Australian cats are ferocious killers

The study wanted to find the relation between bird populations in Australia and the daily number of specimens attacked and killed by cats. This is how scientists reached an unusually high number, and concluded that cats must be responsible for the sudden decrease in number of certain species.

According to the results, feral cats kill about 316 million birds per day. Domestic cats are still vicious killers, as they make around 61 victims every day. It’s not unusual to hear that felines prefer hunting birds. However, nobody was aware they were such vicious predators.

Researchers quickly made a connection between such high predation rates and the sudden decline in some bird populations. They consulted a number of 100 studies which documented cat populations, and then 100 others which looked at their daily diets. This is how they discovered bird predation patterns differed from one region to another, and it turns out cats kill more birds in arid areas, such as 330 kills per square kilometer.

Felines have caused a serious decline in the bird population of the continent

This is the first study to assess the influence of felines on Australian birds. Previous studies and reports had already linked a sudden decline among mammal species because of cat hunting, but there was nothing on birds. Although researchers made efforts to sterilize feral cats, they still couldn’t reduce the number of kills they made.

There are 338 bird species these felines enjoy hunting, and 71 of them are already endangered. It is important to know the predation habits on the continent, as it’s easier to get the necessary conservation efforts, and prevent as many species as possible from going extinct. The analysis of cat hunting habits has been published in the journal Biological Conversation.
Image Source: Public Domain Pictures

This year’s Nobel Prize in Medicine has been awarded to three American scientists who discovered which biological mechanisms are responsible with keeping our circadian rhythm well and functioning. With the help of the fruit fly (Drosophila melanogaster), they managed to find out which are the proteins that control one’s biological clock.

Finding the molecular mechanism behind the circadian rhythm

Scientists Michael Rosbash, Jeffrey C. Hall, and Michael W. Young were those who managed to put together each tiny molecular mechanism which controlled the well-functioning of the circadian rhythm. While working with the fruit fly’s genome, they discovered that altering one specific gene sequence could disturb the entire biological clock of the insect.

After modifying the gene, they changed the sound of the fly’s mating call, as well as its normal trajectories of flight. Afterwards, they could restore this gene and regain the previous balance of the circadian rhythm. However, the greatest achievement was to isolate the gene, and discover what it contains.

The discovery earned the scientists a Nobel Prize

DNA needs RNA to actually create proteins which are responsible with different genetic tasks, so the researchers had to look at the RNA present in the genetic sequence. This is how they found out the quantity of RNA varied depending on how much light the flies received during the day. Therefore, certain proteins also appeared in varying amounts in the genes.

However, this protein couldn’t function so chaotically, so it needed something to regulate it. Researchers kept searching, and found a different chemical which worked individually, regardless of the light and time of the day. This could control the flux of the daylight protein, and regulate its flow whenever the circadian rhythm seemed to get out of hand.

The circadian rhythm is probably the most complex mechanism which keeps our organism going. Many scientists have been struggling to understand it, so this landmark discovery of the three researchers earned them a Nobel Prize.
Image Source: Flickr

A team of scientists decided to explore the eighth continent which lies hidden underwater, and find out its history and secrets. They spent two months studying Zealandia, the strip of land which contains New Zealand, and discovered some of its mysteries. Also, they established why this piece of sunken land should be regarded as a continent.

Zealandia is a worthy candidate for the eighth continent title

Zealandia lies east of Australia, and the only part of it which lies above sea level is New Zealand. It’s not such a broad mass of land, as it is about the size of India. Most of it is situated underwater, around 3,280 feet below sea level. When it was first discovered, scientists assumed it might be regarded as an eighth continent, and these new discoveries can explain why.

Millions of years ago, Zealandia was part of the supercontinent Gondwana. When it broke up and formed today’s continents, it caused a thinning of the tectonic plates in the area. This geological shock caused 94 percent of this mass of land to submerge. However, it is still quite far away from Australia, so it’s definitely not a part of it. Also, it benefits from enough to be regarded as an individual continent.

Scientists made interesting discoveries regarding the long-lost continent

A team of 32 scientists started the Zealandia expedition, where they collected some sediment sample from the land. This way, they could find out how it evolved over time from a geological point of view. They found out the piece of land split from Australia and Antarctica 80 million years ago, but it kept evolving until it reached today’s form.

However, Zealandia hasn’t always existed at such depths. The sediment samples showed it hosted life typical for shallow waters, so it submerged gradually over time until it reached its current location. Also, the formation of the volcanoes in the Ring of Fire ‘chained’ it to the bottom of the sea.
Image Source: Wikimedia Commons