(Press-News.org) The muskrat, a stocky brown rodent the size of a Chihuahua - with a tail like a mouse, teeth like a beaver and an exceptional ability to bounce back from rapid die-offs - has lived for thousands of years in one of Earth's largest freshwater deltas, in northeastern Alberta, Canada.
Today, this delta lies within one of the largest swaths of protected land in North America: a national park five times the size of Yellowstone that's home to the planet's biggest herd of free-roaming bison and the last natural nesting ground for the endangered whooping crane. It's also central to the culture and livelihoods of Indigenous peoples, including the Mikisew Cree First Nation, Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation and Métis Local 125.
New research focused on muskrat population dynamics in the Peace-Athabasca Delta, published June 24 in END
Stanford research shows muskrats are a bellwether for a drying delta
2021-07-02
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Guadalupe fur seals continue to recover as new colony discovered
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Guadalupe fur seals (Arctocephalus townsendi) have established a large resting colony in the Gulf of California--bringing the total number of sites where this endangered species now occurs to just four. This new haul-out was discovered on El Farallón de San Ignacio Island, along the mainland coast of Mexico, according to researchers from Mexico and the University of British Columbia.
Guadalupe fur seals were hunted for their furs and declared extinct in the late 1800's. However, 14 individuals were discovered on Guadalupe Island in 1950--and the population has grown since then. While still designated as vulnerable to extinction, according to IUCN, the population is believed to total 41,000 individuals and is growing ...
New solution for sleep apnoea
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In an Australian world-first, researchers have successfully repurposed two existing medications to reduce the severity of sleep apnoea in people by at least 30 per cent.
Affecting millions around the world, sleep apnoea is a condition where the upper airway from the back of the nose to the throat closes repetitively during sleep, restricting oxygen intake and causing people to wake as often as 100 times or more per hour.
Those with untreated sleep apnoea are more likely to develop cardiovascular disease, dementia and depression, and are two to four times more likely to crash a car than the general population.
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Professor Danny Eckert, Principal ...
Uncovering the genetic mechanism behind Rett syndrome
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Fukuoka, Japan--Medical researchers led by Kyushu University have revealed a possible underlying genetic pathway behind the neurological dysfunction of Rett syndrome. The team found that deficiencies in key genes involved in the pathology triggers neural stem cells to generate less neurons by producing more astrocytes--the brain's maintenance cells.
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Observation, simulation, and AI join forces to reveal a clear universe
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Japanese astronomers have developed a new artificial intelligence (AI) technique to remove noise in astronomical data due to random variations in galaxy shapes. After extensive training and testing on large mock data created by supercomputer simulations, they then applied this new tool to actual data from Japan's Subaru Telescope and found that the mass distribution derived from using this method is consistent with the currently accepted models of the Universe. This is a powerful new tool for analyzing big data from current and planned astronomy surveys.
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Novel strategy for natural product biosynthesis
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Previously unknown enzyme type
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Methylglyoxal detoxification deficits causes schizophrenia-like behavioral abnormalities
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How ethane-consuming archaea pick up their favorite dish
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This insight is the result of the close collaboration of several research groups at the Max Planck Institute for Marine Microbiology. A team around Cedric Hahn and Gunter Wegener recently discovered ethane-degrading microbes at hydrothermal vents of the Guaymas Basin at a water depth of 2,000 meters in the Gulf of California. They named it Ethanoperedens thermophilum, which means "heat-loving ethane-eater". Cedric Hahn a PhD student from the research group Molecular Ecology cultured the ethane-degrading microbes in the laboratory. Hahn, Wegener and colleagues of the research group Microbial Metabolism, Tristan Wagner and Olivier Lemaire took a closer look at these microorganisms. This collaborative work unraveled the secrets behind ...
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When does it become too hot for humans?
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The missing ocean plastic sink: Gone with the rivers
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Three-in-one approach boosts the silencing power of CRISPR
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