The number of icebergs in the Arctic has increased sharply since the 2000s. This is due to the destabilisation of large glaciers in north-east Greenland and parts of the Russian Arctic as well as the increasing mobility of sea ice. The result: Stones rain down from the melting icebergs, forming new hard-substrate habitats for marine life on the soft seafloor. This gradually alters the existing communities in the deep sea. At the same time, the increasing presence of icebergs also poses greater risks to shipping and fisheries. These findings were reported by a research team led by the Alfred Wegener Institute and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in the journal Nature.

The deep sea is a unique ‘evolutionary engine’ with one of the richest and most unexplored sources of genetic diversity on Earth, according to a major new study that has assessed its potential to transform biotechnology and DNA sequencing technologies.

To the point:

Fruit first, fancy footwork later: A new study finds the courtship dances of the manakins – one of the most charismatic groups of birds on Earth – trace back to changes deep in their ancestry and may be linked to their fruit-rich diet.

Same answer, different routes: Manakins re-evolved a sense of sweet taste, as hummingbirds, songbirds and woodpeckers each did separately, by repurposing the receptor for savory taste.

Genome-enabled discovery: Manakins are one of the most intensively-studied groups of birds: this first set of genomes provides resources to the community to explore the genomic changes underlying their unique behaviors and physiologies.

A research paper by scientists from Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center represented the largest prospective validation to date of AI-based treatment planning for NPC, demonstrating real-time feasibility, robust generalizability, and consistent clinical quality.

The new research paper, published on May. 18 in the journal Cyborg and Bionic Systems, developed and clinically validated a deep‑learning‑based automated planning system that generates high‑quality treatment plans in real time – within an integrated CT‑linear accelerator (CT‑linac) “all‑in‑one” (AIO) workflow.