Researchers find ancient Maya farms in Mexican wetlands

Archaeologists used the latest technology to find evidence suggesting ancient Maya people grew surplus crops to support an active trade with neighbors up and down the Yucatan Peninsula. The extensive croplands suggest the ancient Maya could grow surplus crops, especially the cotton responsible for the renowned textiles that were traded throughout Mesoamerica.

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Quantum optical cooling of nanoparticles

One important requirement to see quantum effects is to remove all thermal energy from the particle motion, i.e. to cool it as close as possible to absolute zero temperature. Researchers are now one step closer to reaching this goal by demonstrating a new method for cooling levitated nanoparticles.

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66-million-year-old deathbed linked to dinosaur-killing meteor

Paleontologists have found a fossil site in North Dakota that contains animals and plants killed and buried within an hour of the meteor impact that killed the dinosaurs 66 million years ago. This is the richest K-T boundary site ever found, incorporating insects, fish, mammals, dinosaurs and plants living at the end of the Cretaceous, mixed with tektites and rock created and scattered by the impact. The find shows that dinosaurs survived until the impact.

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Biophysicists use machine learning to understand, predict dynamics of worm behavior

Biophysicists have used an automated method to model a living system -- the dynamics of a worm perceiving and escaping pain. The model makes accurate predictions about the dynamics of the worm behavior, and these predictions are biologically interpretable and have been experimentally verified.

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Researchers discover the source of new neurons in brain's hippocampus

Researchers have shown, in mice, that one type of stem cell that makes adult neurons is the source of this lifetime stock of new cells in the hippocampus. These findings may help neuroscientists figure out how to maintain youthful conditions for learning and memory, and repair and regenerate parts of the brain after injury and aging.

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Seeds inherit memories from their mother

Seeds remain in a dormant state as long as environmental conditions are not ideal for germination. The depth of this sleep is inherited from their mother. Researchers reveal how this maternal imprint is transmitted through fragments of 'interfering' RNAs, which inactivate genes, and that a similar mechanism enables to transmit another imprint, that of the temperatures present during the development of the seed. This mechanism allows the seed to optimize the timing of its germination.

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Five new frog species from Madagascar

Scientists have named five new species of frogs found across the island of Madagascar. The largest could sit on your thumbnail, the smallest is hardly longer than a grain of rice.

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Saturn's rings coat tiny moons

New findings have emerged about five tiny moons nestled in and near Saturn's rings. The closest-ever flybys by NASA's Cassini spacecraft reveal that the surfaces of these unusual moons are covered with material from the planet's rings -- and from icy particles blasting out of Saturn's larger moon Enceladus. The work paints a picture of the competing processes shaping these mini-moons.

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Galápagos islands have nearly 10 times more alien marine species than once thought

Over 50 non-native species have found their way to the Galápagos Islands, almost 10 times more than scientists previously thought, reports a new study.

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The Serengeti-Mara squeeze -- One of the world's most iconic ecosystems under pressure

Increased human activity around one of Africa's most iconic ecosystems is 'squeezing the wildlife in its core', damaging habitation and disrupting the migration routes of wildebeest, zebra and gazelle, an international study has concluded.

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Deep groundwater may generate surface streams on Mars

New research suggests that deep groundwater could still be active on Mars and could originate surface streams in some near-equatorial areas on Mars.

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Designer organelles bring new functionalities into cells

For the first time, scientists have engineered the complex biological process of translation into a designer organelle in a living mammalian cell. Researchers used this technique to create a membraneless organelle that can build proteins from natural and synthetic amino acids carrying new functionality.

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Mass amphibian extinctions globally caused by fungal disease

An international study has found a fungal disease has caused dramatic population declines in more than 500 amphibian species, including 90 extinctions, over the past 50 years.

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