A new study reveals that a region in China’s Turpan-Hami Basin served as a refugium, or “Life oasis” for terrestrial plants during the end-Permian mass extinction, the most severe biological crisis since the Cambrian period.

The discovery of the dwarf galaxy Andromeda XXXV—located roughly 3 million light-years away and the smallest yet found in the Andromeda system—is forcing astronomers to rethink how galaxies evolve in different cosmic environments and survive different epochs of the universe.

Newly achieved precise control over light emitted from incredibly tiny sources, a few nanometers in size, embedded in two-dimensional materials could lead to remarkably high-resolution monitors and advances in ultra-fast quantum computing, according to an international team led by researchers at Penn State and Université Paris-Saclay. They published their findings in ACS Photonics. 

Scientists have discovered that whales move nutrients thousands of miles—in their urine—from as far as Alaska to Hawaii. These tons of nitrogen support the health of tropical ecosystems and fish, where nitrogen can be limited. They call this movement of nutrients a “conveyor belt” or “the great whale pee funnel.” In some places, like Hawaii, the input of nutrients from whales is bigger than from local sources. It’s critical to tropical ocean health, therefore, to protect and restore whales.