Come one, come all to the science gathering of the day. Science talk is here. New discoveries, new takes on old knowledge, and other bits of news are all available for the perusing in today's information world. Over the fold are selections from the past week from a few of the many excellent science news sites around the world. Today's tidbits include ancient crocodile competed with world's largest snake for food, small distant galaxies host supermassive black holes, Mars research helps find buried water on Earth, invasive amphibians and reptiles in Florida outnumber world, new threat closes in on Galapagos wildlife, and study underway in underwater laboratory may help manage seaweed-eating fish that protect coral. Pull up that comfy chair and bask in the sunshine. There is plenty of room for everyone. Get ready for another session of Dr. Possum's science education and entertainment.
Featured Stories
Researchers describe a new 20-foot species of ancient crocodile which competed with Titanoboa, the world’s largest snake, for food.
The 60-million-year-old freshwater relative to modern crocodiles is the first known land animal from the Paleocene New World tropics specialized for eating fish, meaning it competed with Titanoboa for food. But the giant snake could have consumed its competition, too...The new species is a dyrosaurid, commonly believed to be primarily ocean-dwelling, coastal reptiles. The new adult specimens challenge previous theories the animals only would have entered freshwater environments as babies before returning to sea.
The Hubble Space Telescope allows astronomers to probe the distant universe finding supermassive black holes growing in small galaxies.
All massive galaxies host a central supermassive black hole, which may shine brightly as an active galactic nucleus if the black hole is pulling in nearby gas clouds. In the local universe, however, active black holes are rarely seen in small "dwarf" galaxies. The galaxies studied by (astronomer) Trump and his coauthors are about 10 billion light-years away, giving astronomers a view of galaxies as they appeared when the universe was less than a quarter of its current age.
Radar sounding technology used for Mars exploration has been used to to create high-resolution maps of freshwater aquifers buried deep beneath an Earth desert.
The research may help scientists better locate and map Earth's desert aquifers, understand current and past hydrological conditions in Earth's deserts and assess how climate change is impacting them. Deserts cover roughly 20 percent of Earth's land surface, including highly populated regions in the Arabian Peninsula, North Africa, west and central Asia and the southwestern United States.
The pet trade in Florida has brought a number of invasive amphibians and reptiles to the state.
Floridians have experienced some of the damage these animals can cause, from iguanas that destroy cement walls to Burmese pythons released in the Everglades that eat protected species. While the impact of many of the introduced species has not been determined, the study provides new information about how, why and when they entered the state.
The first introduction in 1863 was of the greenhouse frog, native to the West Indies. One of the most easily recognized species is the brown anole, the first introduced lizard, which reached Florida from Cuba via cargo ships in 1887. Until about 1940, nearly all non-native species arrived through this accidental cargo pathway, but the boom in popularity of exotic terrarium animals in the 1970s and 1980s led to the pet trade being accountable for 84 percent of the introductions, (researcher) Krysko said.
Wildlife on the Galapagos Islands is being threatened by the presence of West Nile virus in the mosquito populations.
Recent studies on tourist boats and planes have shown that the mosquito species Culex quinquefasciatus (also known as the Southern house mosquito) is hitching a ride onto the Galápagos on airliners. Culex species are well-known vectors of WNV elsewhere in the world, so their presence on the Islands has caused concern amongst the scientific community.
The ability of mosquitoes to transmit particular disease agents effectively often varies between species, or between populations within species. Therefore to understand the risk posed by C. quinquefasciatus in Galápagos, the research team measured the ability of Galápagos C. quinquefasciatus to pick up and transmit WNV in the lab, under conditions that simulated those in the wild. They found that Galápagos C. quinquefasciatus were indeed effective vectors for the virus.
Preservation and restoration of coral reefs is part of ongoing studies around the world. One underwater laboratory may offer new insights.
Because certain fish species eat specific seaweed species, and certain seaweeds are more damaging to coral than others, differences in the diversity of seaweed-eating fish can have a dramatic indirect effect on corals – as well as on changes in the structure and function of the endangered reefs....The new study will assess the impact of different species of seaweed-eating fish and compare those to previous results evaluating different mixes of fish. The goal will be to determine which specific mixes of fish can control the most damaging of seaweeds and to evaluate the importance of herbivore diversity in suppressing seaweeds and protecting corals. This information could be used to help manage fishing practices to protect the reefs.
Other Worthy Stories of the Week
15 new species of frog discovered in India Photo journal.
Low power chip runs on solar
Asteroid closeups Photo gallery.
Star blasts planet with X-rays
Milky Way's spiral arms are the product of an interstellar collision course
Neutron star blows away models for thermonuclear explosions
Tree resin captures evolution of feathers on dinosaurs and birds
Carbon cycle reaches Earth's lowest mantle
New technology for recovering valuable minerals from waste rock
Arctic ground squirrels muscle up to hunker down
Hitchiking snails fly from ocean to ocean
New species of ancient predatory fish discovered
Tiny teeth indicate ancient shark nursery
Carbon nanoparticles break barriers and that may not be good
Rocky planets could have been born as gas giants
Old growth rainforests must be saved for tropical biodiversity
For even more science news:
General Science Collectors:
Alpha-Galileo
BBC News Science and Environment
Eureka Science News
LiveScience
New Scientist
PhysOrg.com
SciDev.net
Science/AAAS
Science Alert
Science Centric
Science Daily
Scientific American
Space Daily
Blogs:
A Few Things Ill Considered Techie and Science News
Cantauri Dreams space exploration
Coctail Party Physics Physics with a twist.
Deep Sea News marine biology
Laelaps more vertebrate paleontology
List of Geoscience Blogs
ScienceBlogs
Space Review
Techonology Review
Tetrapod Zoologyvertebrate paleontology
Science Insider
Scientific Blogging.
Space.com
Wired News
Science RSS Feed: Medworm
The Skeptics Guide to the Universe--a combination of hard science and debunking crap
At Daily Kos:
This Week in Science by DarkSyde
Overnight News Digest:Science Saturday by Neon Vincent. OND tech Thursday by rfall.
Pique the Geek by Translator Sunday evenings about 9 Eastern time
All diaries with the DK GreenRoots Tag.
All diaries with the eKos Tag
A More Ancient World by matching mole
Astro Kos
SciTech at Dkos.
Sunday Science Videos by palantir
NASA picture of the day. For more see the NASA image gallery or the Astronomy Picture of the Day Archive
Herschel mission finds galactic growth slow and steady, NASA, Public Domain