Number 407
== yjc
Seaweeds are not plants, and six other surprising facts about aquatic flora
Hidden beneath the water’s surface is a botanical world that is among nature’s most innovative and ecologically important. An extraordinary range of adaptations have evolved in aquatic plants for life beneath the water’s surface. Some flower underwater; others capture animals in ingenious traps.
Spider venoms could stop deadly varroa mites killing honey bees
Alternative treatments are urgently needed as the mites become increasingly resistant to existing chemical pesticides, leading to widespread destruction of bee colonies in Australia and across much of the Northern Hemisphere.
“Canada has an affordable housing crisis—we have half the rate of affordable housing of other developed countries. About 10% of households in Canada can’t afford their housing—they can’t afford to live in this country.”
Sun-powered sponges may generate 11% of tropical coral reef productivity
In marine environments, sponges tend to eat other organisms to get their nutrients. But a study demonstrates how sponges may also use photosynthesis, just like plants. This phenomenon can help with productivity—the amount of energy and food produced—in tropical coral reefs, and perhaps in other ecosystems where sponges are also common.
== didn’t find anything particularly surprising or new in the article, but…
Quiet outings linked to more frequent dangerous wildlife encounters
The more people expand into previously natural areas, the more wildlife and humans step on each other’s toes, leading to more interactions that may result in conflict. This includes national parks, where people flock to recuperate and enjoy the outdoors.
Hidden for decades, hospital superbug built resistance in waves, peaking in the mid-2000s
Decades-old hospital samples have helped researchers uncover how a deadly antibiotic-resistant “superbug” quietly tightened its grip across the globe. It lurked in hospital corridors for decades, largely unnoticed by the wider public.
The study found that in mice, the conventional model still applies: EBIs form around a macrophage (a kind of specialized white blood cell) marked by the protein C1q, which sits at the center of clusters of developing red blood cells and helps clean up cellular debris.
Ancient grain shows early lab promise against a key Alzheimer’s protein
Imagine a simple, everyday foodstuff with a surprising but powerful defense against one of the most serious threats to public health today. What if there’s a basic item you keep at home that could represent a brand-new field of brain defense?
Sitting for more than 30 minutes at a time linked to higher risk of cancer death
There were limitations to the research, including the fact that the researchers performed a statistical analysis of an observational study, so could not prove causation.
== yjc
AI Agent Executes ‘First’ End-To-End Ransomware Attack
ysdig threat hunters documented what they say is the first-ever documented agentic ransomware infection with an LLM - not a human - driving the entire extortion operation, from gaining initial access to compromising a production database server and destroying data.
Moisture-driven tech can power green batteries—and destroy spy gear
Researchers have created a nontoxic, stretchable battery that operates by extracting moisture from the ambient environment—even in climates as dry as the desert. The batteries could be useful in Internet of Things (IoT) applications ranging from wearables to advanced surveillance monitors with built-in kill switches.
A new CRASH clock measures the chance of satellite collisions, and it’s ticking down fast
Imagine a piece of space debris the size of a hockey puck slams into a Starlink satellite at about 10 kilometers per second. The kinetic energy is equivalent to 2 kilograms of TNT, or a fully loaded semitruck traveling at 100 kilometers an hour.
TESS just found a planet in a new way—and more may be hiding in its eight years of data
For the first time, NASA’s TESS (Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite) mission has identified a planet orbiting a distant star thanks to its warping of space-time. Unlike the star-hugging transiting planets TESS regularly reveals, the newfound microlensing world is a super-Jupiter orbiting far from its host star.
Scientists Made a Cell From Scratch For First Time
While many of the mysteries of life remain unsolved, every biologist can describe the basic processes performed by a living organism, which include energy use, reproduction, growth and development. While these characteristics can be replicated in isolation in a lab, the idea of a completely synthetic biological organism has long been relegated to science fiction.
‘PROMISE’ me the moon? NASA wants to send spare nuclear-powered Mars rover to the lunar surface
NASA provided an Artemis update today (June 30), announcing new lunar landing contracts for its Moon Base initiative and a surprise new possible rover mission that could be headed to the moon’s south pole.
Algae may have launched coral reefs by hijacking coral cells, genetic experiments suggest
The reefs scattered throughout the tropics arose only after algae took up full-time residence in coral cells, supplying corals with abundant food and enabling them to build extensive shallow-water communities. But with warming oceans, algae are often abandoning coral—causing what’s known as bleaching—and turning reefs that were once teeming with life into ghost towns.
Farmers fear drought as Italy’s longest river runs dry
The Po River has never fallen this low so early in the year, raising fears of a devastating drought in July in this corner of northern Italy.
Decline in plankton across Northeast Atlantic sends stark warning for ocean health
Microscopic plankton are among the most important organisms on Earth. Phytoplankton produce around half of the oxygen we breathe, while plankton as a whole underpin marine food webs, support fisheries, help regulate carbon and sustain life across the ocean.
Emerging mRNA vaccine strategies target cancer and pathogenic viruses in potent new ways
The technology that gave the world mRNA COVID vaccines is being tested in a variety of new ways, and emerging research reveals that a crucial T-cell population can be reprogrammed in animal models by reimagining the science that was introduced to the public at the height of the pandemic.
Shining blue light on gold-graphene nanodots achieves wound healing trifecta
Closing wounds, burns and deep cuts isn’t enough to kick-start healing. A wound needs a clean environment, free of bacterial infection and interruption. That calls for three components working together—one to kill bacteria, one to clean the wound and one to support recovery.
Swiss glaciers have exhausted their snow reserves
It has not been a good start to the year for Switzerland’s glaciers, and things are getting even worse. In April, their snow cover was at record lows in some places or, at best, average for a few individual glaciers. In March, Saharan dust blew into Switzerland, and the country is currently sweltering under a heat wave.
Ocean warming above 1.5°C triggered year-round marine disruption across globe, study shows
Healthy marine ecosystems support biodiversity, fisheries, tourism and economic development around the world, yet scientists have lacked a global picture of how marine life responds when challenged with rising sea temperatures during periods when global warming exceeds 1.5°C.
European heatwave’s unlikely accomplice: An ocean ‘cold blob’
The heat wave battering Europe may have an unlikely partner in crime: a patch of cold ocean water south of Iceland and Greenland that can influence weather patterns over the continent.
Sea anemones reveal antiviral defense that reverses human immune playbook
Viruses are among the most persistent threats faced by living organisms. In humans and other vertebrates, antiviral defenses rely on a protein called MAVS, which activates immune responses when viral invaders are detected. Scientists have long sought to understand how deeply rooted this system is in animal evolution.
An iron-driven chain reaction may trigger mass death of harmful algae blooms
Over recent decades, harmful algal blooms have become increasingly common. These blooms often consist of bacteria called “cyanobacteria” in freshwater ecosystems. They can produce debilitating toxins, suffocate marine life by depleting oxygen in the water, and make water unsafe for drinking.
Coal pollution reaches one of Earth’s most remote mountain regions
The Himalayas are often seen as one of Earth’s great natural barriers, separating the heavily populated and industrialized regions of South Asia from the remote Tibetan Plateau.
A single origin story for the Milky Way’s most mysterious stars
Lurking at the heart of the Milky Way, Sagittarius A* (Sgr A*) is a supermassive black hole four million times the mass of the sun, surrounded by a puzzling collection of young, massive stars whose orbits have long defied explanation.
Scientists Think Neptune and Uranus May Not Be the Ice Giants We Imagined
The so-called ice giants might not be as ice-rich as many astronomers believe.
Trump-Shuttered Climate Change Site Now Back Online In Nonprofit Hands
Climate.gov, which now redirects to a NOAA page about climate but which hosts none of the data the shuttered site used to contain, was taken offline in July 2025 following a Trump executive order prioritizing “gold standard science….” arguing that prior climate science models relied on worst-case scenarios, which somehow meant the public availability of 15 years of climate data and reporting ought to change.
== don’t know if they are present in Canada, but…
Flock cameras track more than your license plate, and they’re spreading fast
Thanks to the rise of AI, a new kind of surveillance camera has rapidly proliferated across the United States. Typically referred to as automated license plate readers, or ALPRs, they’re most often mounted along roadways, where they log the movements of cars which pass through their field of vision.
A glacial lake in B.C. is at risk of bursting — again. How climate change has raised this risk
The threat of a glacial lake overflowing and potentially sending a torrent of meltwater and debris rushing toward homes has become an annual fear for people living near British Columbia’s Place Glacier.
== seen article(s) on this before
Scroll Burned in 79 AD Volcanic Eruption Finally Deciphered Using AI
The Herculaneum scrolls are among the most iconic and inaccessible of the world’s vast collection of damaged manuscripts.
NASA tests an in-orbit refueling device for deep space missions
Future deep space missions may need to refuel in orbit before they can head to their final destinations. NASA has been working on in-orbit refueling solutions for years, and one of its latest efforts is testing a “cryocoupler”.
Not all tech survives solar storms, here’s what’s most at risk
The northern lights could mean lights out for the infrastructure we rely on.
“I can resist everything except temptation.”
- Oscar Wilde