Solar-powered slug steals chloroplasts and stores them for emergencies

‘Solar-powered’ sea slugs (Elysia crispata) steal photosynthetic equipment from algae and stockpile it to use as an energy source on a rainy day. The slugs store these stolen tools, called chloroplasts, in specialised depots in their cells — dubbed ‘kleptosomes’. Day-to-day, the chloroplasts let the slugs make nutrients using energy from sunlight. But when the going gets tough the energy-makers become food: the slug breaks them down and absorbs the resulting nutrients. Using this trick, researchers found that Elysia can survive for up to four months without another food source.

AlphaGenome AI tackles the ‘dark matter’ in our DNA

An artificial-intelligence (AI) model developed by Google DeepMind could help scientists to make sense of ‘dark matter’ in the human genome — areas of genetic code that do not code for proteins. The model, called AlphaGenome, takes long stretches of DNA and predicts various properties, such as the expression levels of the genes they contain and how those levels could be affected by mutations. Such predictions could help scientists determine how ‘dark’ areas of DNA contribute to diseases such as cancer and influence the inner workings of cells.

The James Webb Space Telescope has discovered its 1st exoplanet

The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) has discovered its first exoplanet, marked in this image as CC#1. The planet, named TWA 7b, is the lightest exoplanet ever detected at around a third of the mass of Jupiter. JWST picked up infrared radiation while taking a look at the star CE Antliae (the central black splodge), which astronomers deemed was coming from a young planet.

The first invertebrate to be observed using celestial navigation for long-distance journeys

Bogong moths (Agrotis infusa) use the stars to navigate — an ability previously identified only in humans, birds, and possibly seals. After emerging from their cocoons, the moths fly hundreds of kilometres across Australia to caves in the Australian Alps — caves they have never visited. Researchers tested the insects in a moth ‘flight simulator’ and found that they have two internal compasses: one using visual cues from the stars and another that relies on Earth’s magnetic field. The two skills act as fail-safes — the moths have an electromagnetic compass for cloudy nights, and a celestial one to use during events such as magnetic storms.

First ever skull from ‘Denisovan’ reveals what ancient people looked like

Ancient proteins and mitochondrial DNA extracted from the ‘Dragon Man’ fossil — a cranium found in northeastern China that is at least 146,000 years old — have confirmed that it belonged to a Denisovan, an archaic human group. The fossil is the first skull to be definitively linked to the group, which sheds light on what the ancient people looked like, putting an end to decade-long speculation.

A grassland bird eavesdrops on prairie dog calls to keep itself safe from predators

Long-billed curlews (Numenius americanus), a North American bird species, eavesdrop on the barks of prairie dogs (Cynomys ludovicianus) for intel on the approach of predators. Prairie dogs have specific calls that alert their neighbours if a predator is closing in by land or by air. When nesting curlews hear these barks, they press their bodies to the ground, which makes them “essentially invisible on the Plains”. Without the cues, researchers were able to get a remote-controlled ‘predator’ within 16 metres of the birds before they sensed danger.

Mysterious link between Earth’s magnetism and oxygen baffles scientists

The abundance of oxygen in Earth’s atmosphere seems to be linked with the strength of the planet’s magnetic field. Over the past 540 million years, the two appear to have risen and fallen in tandem, though it is unclear whether they directly influence one another, or are both controlled by a third factor. Explaining the link could help to reveal fundamental trends in the evolution of life on Earth — and could show astronomers the most promising places to look for signs of complex life on other planets.

World first: brain implant lets man speak with expression — and sing

A brain-computer interface (BCI) has allowed a man with a severe speech disability to speak expressively — and even sing. The device uses artificial intelligence to decode the man’s electrical brain activity as he attempts to talk, and speaks his words aloud in a synthetic voice within 10 milliseconds of such activity. The voice, designed to mimic the man’s own, conveys changes of tone when he asks questions, emphasizes the words of his choice and allows him to hum a string of notes in three pitches.

A Spiral Structure in the Inner Oort Cloud

Astronomers discovered a spiral structure in the Oort cloud by chance after data were visualised as part of a planetarium show. Movie-makers at the American Museum of Natural History sourced real-world data for the upcoming ‘Encounters in the Milky Way’, narrated by actor Pedro Pascal. “It’s kind of a freak accident that it actually happened,” said David Nesvorny.

Early Neanderthal Art Discovered

A close examination of the red ochre dot on this stone, unearthed from the San Lázaro rock-shelter in Spain, revealed that the mark was made by a human finger. This raises the tantalising prospect that a Neanderthal maybe, just maybe, meant the dot to represent a nose (the rock, say researchers, does indeed look like a face in person). “It could represent one of the earliest human facial symbolisations in Prehistory,” write the team that made the discovery.