A love of the natural world drives many of our adventures. When we’re not out and about, we love to explore the places we live and travel. Here are some of the best natural history links we found this week.
Gender-switching fish
The rainbow fish that changes sex: The coral reef fish lives in the dark zone of the Maldives. Read also : Scientists in Ukraine have long fought for scientific freedom. Most of them are found between 40m and 70m, they are at a very shallow depth and are often explored by divers.
A group of divers wanted to know more about the aquifers in this area so they used special equipment to dive down to 100m. This allowed them to search for fairy-tale fur.
Scientists discovered the colorful fish for the first time in 2022. Like other wrasse species, they are born female and become male as they age. In the process of sexual transformation, they become colorful to attract female partners.
Pillars of Creation. Photo: NASA
Pillars of Creation caught on camera: Astronomers first saw the pillars of creation using the Hubble Space Telescope. The James Webb Space Telescope has now captured them in detail.
The plumes are column-shaped clouds of interstellar dust and gas in the constellation Serpens, 7,000 light-years away. The new images show hundreds of newborn stars in the cloud.
The James Webb Space Telescope can detect infrared light and has allowed astronomers to see the proto-stars of life coming.
Stepping together
Chimpanzees coordinate their steps: Humans subconsciously monitor their own steps when walking with others. On the same subject : Why do some distrust science and what can scientists do about it?. In everyday life, humans actively coordinate with each other when playing sports, dancing, or performing joint actions, such as two people carrying a heavy object.
Researchers have found that chimpanzees show the same behavior, even though they don’t use collective verbs as often as we do. When walking together, 79% of the chimpanzees put their lead foot together within 0.5 seconds.
Planet with marshmallow density: Planet TOI-3757b clearly has marshmallow density. The central body of the mush is about 580 light-years away from Earth in Auriga.
Although it is larger than Jupiter, its density of 0.27 grams per cubic centimeter makes it a quarter of the density of water. If placed in a large enough body of water, the planet would float!
Scientists think that this strange density is the result of its orbit around the red dwarf star. However, they are still trying to understand how the planet formed. Although red dwarfs are cooler than our Sun, they can still produce intense flares, making it difficult for planets to form on one side.
700-Year-Old Black Death Still Affects Your Health: Although the Black Death was widespread in Europe in the 1300s, it still affects our health today.
This disease, which killed 200 million people, affected human development. The researchers studied the teeth of 206 ancient skeletons. They found that the ERAP2 gene was central to survival during the disease.
If you had the correct ERAP2 mutation, you were 40% more likely to survive the epidemic. “It’s a big effect, it’s surprising to find something similar in the human genome,” Professor Luis Barreiro said.
Survivors passed these genes on to their children. Over three generations, a 10% change can be seen. “It’s the strongest human selection event to date,” says evolutionist Hendrik Poinar.
On the downside, this change that helped our ancestors survive the Black Death makes us more susceptible to certain autoimmune diseases today.
New species of whale hiding in plain sight
New species of whale found in US waters: Last year, scientists discovered a new species of whale in US waters. This may interest you : Build the most high-tech pond in the neighborhood. The right whale is common in the northeastern Gulf of Mexico.
At first, scientists identified the whales as Byrde’s whales, but when one washed up on the beach, a closer look revealed that the animal was structurally and genetically different. Now they are classified into different types.
Since its discovery, more than 100 scientists have signed an open letter to President Biden, begging him to protect the new species. The whales are critically endangered, with only 51 individuals left. Their environment is under constant threat from boat traffic and oil and gas exploration.
