The Mexican tetra lost its eyes - as well as a significant portion of its brain - to ensure survival in a subterranean environmentAt some point back in deep time, a group of fish were washed into a limestone cave somewhere in northeastern Mexico. With no way out and little more than bat droppings to eat, the fish began to adapt to their new troglodytic lifestyle. Unable to see other members of their group in the dark, they lost their colourful pigmentation. Then they lost their eyesight, their eyes gradually got smaller, and then disappeared altogether.This was accompanied by a dramatic reduction in the size of the brain’s visual system. Yet, the question of why the blind cave fish lost its eyes and a large part of its brain remains unresolved. Now, biologists in Sweden believe they have found the answer. In new research published today, they report that loss of the visual system saves the fish a substantial amount of energy, and was probably key to their stranded ancestors’ survival. Continue reading...

A recent scientific paper claiming that the children of Holocaust survivors showed evidence of inherited stress was deeply flawed - here’s whyRecently, the Guardian published a story based on a scientific paper that claimed the stress experienced by Holocaust survivors somehow was detectable in their children through a process known as epigenetics. The paper was riddled with flaws: the scientists studied blood, which is a mixture of cell types, meaning there are any number of causes for the changes reported. The scientists only looked at a tiny subset of genes. They had an absurdly small sample size of 32 people, a tiny eight-person control group, who didn’t really look like good controls, and produced a contorted argument for why their data supported their original hypothesis. The paper probably shouldn’t have made it through to the scientific literature, and it certainly shouldn’t have made it to your Saturday breakfast reading. I don’t believe it and I’ll outline some reasons why below.The scientific paper and newspaper story point to a rising interest in epigenetics. This is a seductive but rather slippery word that has come to mean a variety of things in relation to how molecular structures close to DNA work, in particular modification of DNA bases by methylation. It is certainly exciting, and has become a leading mechanism to explain how the environment communicates with our genes. But it’s also easy to oversimplify, and has been set up by some people as an inaccurate alternative to genetics.

New close-up images of dwarf planet Pluto have ‘scientists reeling’ because of the bewildering variety of surface features revealed.As celestial bodies go, Pluto is far more surprising than anyone could have expected.“Pluto is showing us a diversity of landforms and complexity of processes that rival anything we’ve seen in the solar system,” said New Horizons Principal Investigator Alan Stern, of the Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) in Boulder, Colorado, in the official Nasa announcement that also claimed scientists were ‘reeling’ from seeing the new pictures. Continue reading...

The discovery of whole new human species has prompted Professor Onthemoon to compare Homo sapiens, Homo naledi and Steve, a wallaby

Tomorrow, satellites of Europe’s Galileo navigational system are scheduled for launch into space atop a Russian-build Soyuz rocket, taking off from the spaceport in Guiana, South America.These are the 9th and 10th such satellites – launching at 3.08am BST on Friday 11 September – and two more in the constellation are planed for launch by the end of the year. By 2020 the full system will consist of 26 functioning satellites, and six spares in orbit. The first navigational services will be offered to customers next year. Continue reading...

Unexpected findings show oceans’ potential to absorb CO2 fluctuates more over time than previously thought, researchers sayThe Southern Ocean, which acts as one of the natural world’s most effective sponges for absorbing carbon dioxide, is showing signs of an unexpected revival in its ability to do so, according to scientists.The oceans absorb around a quarter of emissions caused by human activities, such as the burning of fossil fuels, reducing the speed of climate change. About 40% of this occurs in the Southern Ocean, which surrounds the Antarctic, making it the planet’s strongest ocean carbon sink.

Discovery by opal miners in 2005 finally identified by palaeontologists as seven-metre long predator equipped with giant talons that roamed 110m years agoAustralia’s largest carnivorous dinosaur, dubbed “lightning claw” due to its terrifyingly large talons, has been identified from fossilised bones found in opal in the New South Wales outback.The dinosaur would have been around 7m in length – larger than the Australovenator, a dinosaur found in Queensland that was previously thought to be Australia’s largest meat-eating ancient beast. Continue reading...

Concern that tiny pieces of harmful proteins could be spread via surgical instruments leads scientists to call for more research into possible transmissionFragments of sticky proteins found in the brains of people with Alzheimer’s disease could potentially be spread to others via contaminated surgical instruments and other medical procedures, scientists warn.

Queensland scientist Jeff Johnson, who identified species from photos, formally christens combative reef fish Plectorhinchus caeruleonothusThe “blue bastard”, an elusive and uniquely combative reef fish from northern Australia, long known only in fishing folklore, has been recognised officially by science.Queensland Museum scientist Jeff Johnson, who identified the species from photos taken last year by a Weipa fisherman, has formally christened it Plectorhinchus caeruleonothus – a direct Latin translation of the colloquial name anglers bestowed on a fish famously difficult to land. Continue reading...

Exclusive: report has implications for proposed Shenhua coalmine after researchers found changing water table levels can affect the ecosystem several kilometres beyond mine boundariesRelated: Uncertainty over Shenhua mine's effect on groundwater a 'huge risk'A new study has found open-cut mines that modify groundwater levels can affect trees and ecosystems several kilometres away from mine sites. Continue reading...