Planets could form around supermassive black holes, new study shows
digitaltrends.com – At the heart of our galaxy lies a supermassive black hole 4 million times the mass of our sun. It's believed most other galaxies have an enormous black hole at their center, too. But astronomers have discovered something unexpected about these monstrous black holes. It may be possible for planets to orbit around them.
Source: Keiichi Wada, Yusuke Tsukamoto, Eiichiro Kokubo. Planet Formation around Super Massive Black Holes in the Active Galactic Nuclei. arXiv, 2019.
Trees in forests all over the world are getting younger, shorter
upi.com – Trees in forests around the world are getting younger and shorter as a result of human-caused climate change.
Source: Nate G. McDowell, et al. Pervasive shifts in forest dynamics in a changing world. Science, 2020.
Weeds get a bad rap, but many are crucial to the ecosystem
cbc.ca – In this week's issue of our environment newsletter, we look at the benefits of weeds, the benefits of 'forest bathing' and whether the current drop in carbon emissions is likely to last.
Source: Yuli Shan, Qi Huang, Dabo Guan, Klaus Hubacek. China CO2 emission accounts 2016–2017. Scientific Data, 2020.
Why attempts to use antiviral drugs to fight COVID-19 are so different from the early days of HIV
cbc.ca – Doctors are exploring how to attack COVID-19 with antiviral treatments repurposed from HIV and Ebola.
Source: John H. Beigel, et al. Remdesivir for the Treatment of Covid-19 — Preliminary Report. New England Journal of Medicine, 2020.
Hurricane Season Will Be Above Average, NOAA Warns
npr.org – Federal forecasters expect 3 to 6 major hurricanes during the 2020 hurricane season, which runs from June 1 to November 1. Rising seas and a warmer climate make storms of all sizes more damaging.
Source: James P. Kossin, Kenneth R. Knapp, Timothy L. Olander, Christopher S. Velden. Global increase in major tropical cyclone exceedance probability over the past four decades. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2020.
Bumblebees speed up flowering
eurekalert.org – When pollen is in short supply, bumblebees damage plant leaves in a way that accelerates flower production, as an ETH research team headed up by Consuelo De Moraes and Mark Mescher has demonstrated.
Source: Foteini G. Pashalidou, Harriet Lambert, Thomas Peybernes, Mark C. Mescher, Consuelo M. De Moraes. Bumble bees damage plant leaves and accelerate flower production when pollen is scarce. Science, 2020.
Half the matter in the universe was missing. We found it hiding between galaxies.
popsci.com – The whole time it was in WHIM, the million-degree plasma that's permeated through the universe since the Big Bang.
Source: J.-P. Macquart, et al. A census of baryons in the Universe from localized fast radio bursts. Nature, 2020.
New data indicates the Mississippi Delta is on borrowed time
arstechnica.com – The tipping point has come and gone, according to new analysis.
Source: Torbjörn E. Törnqvist, Krista L. Jankowski, Yong-Xiang Li, Juan L. González. Tipping points of Mississippi Delta marshes due to accelerated sea-level rise. Science Advances, 2020.
Precise Measurements of Nearest Earth-Sized Exoplanet
nextbigfuture.com – Breakthrough measurements of exoplanet Proxima B were made with radial velocity measurements of unprecedented precision using ESPRESSO, the Swiss-manufactured spectrograph – the most accurate... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]
Source: A. Suárez Mascareño, et al. Revisiting Proxima with ESPRESSO. arXiv, 2020.
Climate change: 'Stunning' seafloor ridges record Antarctic retreat
bbc.com – Scientists are learning just how fast the ice margin of Antarctica can retreat in a warming world.
Source: J. A. Dowdeswell, et al. Delicate seafloor landforms reveal past Antarctic grounding-line retreat of kilometers per year. Science, 2020.
New study finds cannibalism in predatory dinosaurs
eurekalert.org – Big theropod dinosaurs such as Allosaurus and Ceratosaurus ate pretty much everything -- including each other, according to a new study.
Source: Stephanie K. Drumheller, et al. High frequencies of theropod bite marks provide evidence for feeding, scavenging, and possible cannibalism in a stressed Late Jurassic ecosystem. PLOS ONE, 2020.