In Mongolia, plants preserved in a volcanic ash fall deposit as part of a so-called "vegetational Pompeii," may have resolved the mystery of the Noeggerathiales.

What are Noeggerathiales? Paleontologists have wanted to really know since they first learned of them.

Scientists know they were peat-forming plants that lived approximately 325-251 million years ago but their relationships with other plant groups was unknown. Were they an evolutionary dead end? Now it has been established that Noeggerathiales had the spore propagation mode of ferns and the vascular tissue of seed plants. They belonged to a sister group of seed plants, the former gymnosperm.

COVID-19 caused by SARS-CoV-2 variant, B.1.1.7 was first discovered in Kent last year and statistics suggest it is 30 and 100 percent more deadly than previous strains.

This is epidemiology, so an exploratory finding using correlation, that is why the range is so large. Scientists would have to confirm the validity of the statistical correlation before figuring out how to tackle it.

In lab tests, solar often seems to work great, yet in actual use its efficiency drops sharply. A phenomenon known as singlet fission can help but it is hindered by unexplained energy losses during the reaction.

Basic research is needed because solar energy could grow to be one of the most important fossil-free and eco-friendly sources of electricity. Unless it doesn't work as advertised for taxpayers who fund it.

We all have an age but we also know time is a relative abstract construct based on real dimensions in the physical world; a day is different on Mars than it is on Earth. We know our birthdays and how old we are but it does not tell us how long we might live.

Some people age faster than others and a new study hopes to be able to measure the transcriptome, gene expression, and create a true way to read biological clocks. This study was with the model organism Caenorhabditis elegans, and worms are not little people, but for the last four decades it has become vital for studying DNA and genomes. 

Outside extreme temperature environments, our body temperatures remain around 98.6 degrees Fahrenheit, no matter how hot or cold the. For most people, the sugar levels in our blood remain fairly constant even after drinking a glass of orange juice, which is essentially a vitamin-fortified sugar-filled soda. Most of us keep the right amount of calcium in our bones and out of the rest of our bodies.

Our bodies are good at that kind of self-regulation, known as homeostasis, and scientists have a good handle on the biological reasons why that regulation happens: Certain systems in our bodies have to remain constant in order to function and keep our bodies alive. 

Once upon a time, it was important that farmers - the first agricultural scientists - create seeds that were larger, more nutritious, and more resilient to environmental stress. Nature might bring rain, it might not, pests were going to eat their way through whole fields if they could. 

As agriculture improved, civilization followed. Seeds such as wheat, rice and corn directly provide about 70% of the calories eaten by people every day. What isn't directly eaten is still contributing, either by providing feed for livestock or by being grown into fruits and vegetables.