The ecology is a dynamic, complex system so even small changes, or small experiments, can have big responses.   Some of these responses, including insect outbreaks, wildfire, and forest dieback, may adversely affect people as well as ecosystems and their plants and animals. 

Writing in the Journal of Biological Chemistry, a group of researchers found that nutrient deprivation of neurons produced sex-dependent effects. Male neurons more readily withered up and died, while female neurons did their best to conserve energy and stay alive.

That's right, nature has declared female brains should survive with a lot less than males.   Take that, glass ceiling!

The idea that the sexes respond differently to nutrient deprivation is not new and revolves around the male preferences to conserve protein and female preferences to conserve fat. However, these metabolic differences have really only been examined in nutrient-rich tissues like muscles, fat deposits, and the liver. 

Scientists have achieved the first definitive detection of methane in the atmosphere of Mars, which would seem to indicate our reddish neighbor is biologically active.   Or geologically active.   Or both.

Wait, how can a bunch of smart people from NASA not know which?   

It's because methane, four atoms of hydrogen bound to a carbon atom, is the main component of natural gas on Earth and is released by organisms as they (and we) digest nutrients  but is also created in purely geological processes, like oxidation of iron. 

The unique planetary nebula NGC 2818 is nested inside the open star cluster NGC 2818A. Both the cluster and the nebula reside 10,400 light-years (3.2 kiloparsecs) away, in the southern constellation Pyxis, also called the Compass.

NGC 2818 is one of very few planetary nebulae in our galaxy located within an open cluster. Open clusters, in general, are loosely bound and they disperse over hundreds of millions of years. Stars that form planetary nebulae typically live for billions of years. Hence, it is rare that an open cluster survives long enough for one of its members to form a planetary nebula. This open cluster is particularly ancient, estimated to be nearly one billion years old.

Massive stars, those up to 120 times the mass of our sun, should blow away the clouds of gas and dust that instead feed their growth.   Despite outward-flowing radiation pressure that exceeds the gravitational force pulling material inward, these huge stars get bigger, which hasn't made a lot of sense.  Until now.

Using 3-D radiation hydrodynamics simulations, a group of researchers from Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, University of California, Santa Cruz and UC Berkeley, discovered that these massive stars also tend to occur in binary or multiple star systems.

Rats whose mothers were fed alcohol during pregnancy are more attracted to the smell of liquor during puberty, say researchers writing in Behavioral and Brain Functions.  They say rats exposed during gestation find the smell of alcohol on another rat’s breath during adolescence more attractive than animals with no prior fetal exposure.