A new paper shows that recent rises in levels of methane in our atmosphere is being driven by biological sources, such as swamp gas, cow burps, or rice fields, rather than fossil fuel emissions.

Atmospheric methane is a major greenhouse gas that traps heat in our atmosphere, contributing to global warming. Its levels have been growing strongly since 2007, and in 2014 the growth rate of methane in the atmosphere was double that of previous years, largely driven by biological sources as opposed to fossil fuel emissions.

Conventional wisdom refuted

New fossils from the Late Triassic period (235 to 201 million years ago) are changing scientists' understanding of what drastically different forms can evolve in the tetrapod forelimb, including skeletal adaptations never before seen in land animals. 

51 members of the U.S. House of Representatives have signed a letter to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) urging the federal agency to halt an emergency push to ban the analgesic herb kratom by as early as tomorrow. 

The gusting westerly winds that dominate the climate in central Asia, setting the pattern of dryness and location of central Asian deserts, have blown mostly unchanged for 42 million years.
A University of Washington geologist led a team that has discovered a surprising resilience to one of the world's dominant weather systems. The finding could help long-term climate forecasts, since it suggests these winds are likely to persist through radical climate shifts.

Glioblastomas exert an influence on the microglia, immune cells of the brain, which causes them to stimulate cancer growth rather than attacking it. In a study published in the journal Nature Immunology, an international research team led from Sweden's Karolinska Institutet now explains the molecular mechanisms behind this action.

Glioblastomas are one of the most malignant forms of brain tumour and are difficult to surgically remove because the tumour cells invade the surrounding healthy brain tissue. Glioblastomas also affect the microglia - immune cells of the brain - in such a way that they stimulate the tumour cells instead of attacking them.

In a randomized crossover trial, 45 healthy adults, average age 50, were asked to swap their usual loaf for bread made from ancient and modern grains during three separate interventions each lasting 8 weeks. In the first phase, participants were randomly assigned to include organically (22 participants) or conventionally cultivated (23) bread made from the ancient grain Verna in their diet.