A salt-loving microorganism from Earth did more than endure a months-long experiment designed around possible conditions beneath Mars. It grew in concentrated brine under low pressure, using nitrate or perchlorate in place of oxygen during respiration. The result extends research on the resilience of Earth microbes. It also raises a question for Mars exploration: Which combinations of harsh conditions can still permit biological activity?

link to open access paper https://journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/aem.01749-26

Conclusion: We have shown that H. volcanii can actively grow under environmental and chemical conditions relevant to the present-day shallow Martian subsurface. However, this study was not designed to replicate the full thermal variability of the Martian surface or shallow subsurface, including diurnal and seasonal freeze–thaw cycles, or the complete suite of chemical conditions presently understood to exist on Mars. Rather, the objective was to determine whether active metabolism is physically possible under Mars-relevant combinations of low atmospheric pressure, high salinity, and oxidizing chemistry, provided that liquid water is available in the form of brines. Moreover, the media used in many previous low-pressure Mars simulation studies, including those employed herein, are supplemented with carbon sources and nutrients that are not representative of the current understanding of biologically available organic compounds on Mars (83).

Our future studies will investigate the capacity of halophilic and psychrophilic microorganisms to grow under conditions that more closely approximate the Amazonian/present-day Martian environment by incorporating freeze–thaw cycles, defined Mars media (94) containing Mars-relevant organic compounds (e.g., acetate) (95), and Mars regolith simulants. Moreover, future experiments would benefit from incorporating additional analytical approaches, including direct cell counts and quantitative biomass measurements, to better characterize population growth and cell-division dynamics under low-pressure conditions. Integrating transcriptomic and proteomic analyses would further enable identification of the molecular pathways involved in hypobaric tolerance, anaerobic metabolism, and adaptation to combined Mars-relevant environmental stressors.

As experimental systems increasingly approximate present-day conditions on Mars, the combined effects of low pressure, low temperature, high salinity, anoxia, radiation, and oxidizing compounds will likely reduce growth yields and metabolic rates. Sensitive, complementary, and agnostic approaches will therefore become increasingly important for detecting and distinguishing subtle biological responses under these more harmful conditions.

The results presented here do not imply that microbial life exists on Mars today. However, they add to a growing body of evidence suggesting that the shallow subsurface of Mars may retain environmental conditions capable of supporting active metabolism and extant life (83, 96–98).

Paleontologists regularly discover fossilized dinosaur bones, but they sometimes locate footprints and prehistoric shells. On rare occasions, researchers have even identified the ancient indentations of a dinosaur’s skin or feathers. But fossilized cells? Researchers have long assumed such microscopic levels of preservation were impossible. But, once again, nature has proven otherwise.

In a study published today in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), an international team of paleontologists confirmed the presence of intact biomolecules and mineralized red blood cells inside fossils of a 115-million-year-old dinosaur. Although previous work has suggested similar possibilities, the team’s research is the first to chemically identify oxygen-carrying blood compounds known as heme.

“This really is a landmark discovery,” Kliti Grice, a study co-author and chemist at Curtin University in Australia, said in a statement. “These findings challenge longstanding assumptions that certain biomolecules such as hemoglobin cannot survive deep time.”

The evidence exists inside the fossilized limb bones of a juvenile Aratasaurus museunacionali. Discovered in 2008, A. museunacionali was an Early Cretaceous theropod that lived in present-day northeastern Brazil. The fossils suggest a dinosaur measuring over 10 feet long and weighing about 75 pounds, but given its young age, A. museunacionali likely grew even larger.

After carefully examining thin slices of the fossils, paleontologists located the mineralized red blood cell molecular components, along with a complex manganese oxide called hausmannite. This material helped maintain the cellular structures of heme, a ring-shaped molecule that contains iron and binds many proteins, especially hemoglobin. The hausmannite also helped preserve additional biomolecules found in the blood, such as the amino acids in collagen. The study’s authors theorize this level of preservation could only occur following a rapid burial in an environment that was rich in microbes, but low in oxygen at the same time.

Early Sunday morning, volunteer comet hunter Jiangao Ruan filed a candidate report at 9:04 a.m. UTC flagging a new Kreutz-group sungrazer in data captured by CCOR-1, the solar coronagraph aboard NOAA's GOES-19 weather satellite. Fellow citizen scientist Zesheng Yang co-signed the submission the same morning. The candidate now awaits confirmation from staff at the Naval Research Laboratory — the latest in a sequence that has quietly made a weather-monitoring coronagraph into the world's most productive sungrazing-comet finder, staffed almost entirely by people who do this for free.

link to open access paper https://journals.aps.org/prx/abstract/10.1103/589s-s1yy

"I proved you get jet-lagged too! Ha! Think you are still superior now stupid bird? Well you aren't your clock is off buddy!" - I yell at the seabird flying by.

Banner image: A pair of nudibranchs on coral in Manta Ray Bay, Yap in Micronesia. Image by Betty Wills via Wikimedia (CC BY-SA 4.0).

New conservation effort launched to protect coral reefs in Yap

Conservation groups have launched a new initiative to safeguard coral reefs in Yap, a state in the Federated States of Micronesia, through both scientific innovation and traditional stewardship.

The Yap Resilience Hub, a partnership between The Nature Conservancy (TNC) and the Great Barrier Reef Foundation (GBRF), is a three-year project that seeks to support local conservation efforts through 2028.

“Coral reefs are central to life in Yap and across island communities because they provide food, support livelihoods, and sustain cultural practices,” Berna Gorong, capacity building manager at TNC Micronesia & Polynesia, told Mongabay by email.

The reefs are traditional fishing grounds managed under community and clan tenure and “closely tied to identity, stewardship, and daily life,” Gorong said.

The Yap Resilience Hub plans to rely on a steering committee of government, traditional leaders and community representatives to help identify candidate reef areas for protection. The reefs will be selected based on five criteria, Gorong said, including their ecological condition and potential for recovery, connectivity to other reef systems, and community and governance readiness.

Once priority reefs are identified, she said the project will support local action plans, ensuring that community priorities and local leadership remain at the forefront of the conservation strategy. “Capacity building and capacity-needs assessments will be central so local partners can sustain the work beyond the project period,” Gorong said.

“By pairing community priorities with science, planning, and capacity building, [the project] aims to strengthen reef resilience and support the long-term well-being of Yap’s people and coastal communities,” she added.

While many Micronesian reefs remain relatively healthy compared to other global regions, they face increasing pressure from rising seas and climate change.

Dawnette Olsudong, a researcher at the Palau International Coral Reef Center who has conducted assessments on coral restoration in Yap and isn’t involved in the project, said proactive measures are important.

“I am hopeful that the launch of this project will strengthen our understanding of reef conditions and improve our ability to make informed conservation and restoration decisions,” Olsudong told Mongabay. She noted her research has helped identify sites that communities perceived as degraded and in need of restoration.

The Yap Resilience Hub project is part of the Resilient Reefs Pasifika initiative, funded by the GBRF.

Climate refuges may be key to restoring imperiled amphibians

Panamanian golden frogs (Atelopus zeteki) suffered significant declines due to chytrid. The species has not been seen in the wild since 2009. Credit: Roshan Patel, Smithsonian's National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute.

As a deadly fungal disease ravages wild frog populations around the globe, scientists have identified potential locations in Panama where amphibians might persist despite the disease, according to new research from the Smithsonian's National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute (NZCBI) and Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (STRI) published in the Journal for Nature Conservation.

The amphibian chytrid disease, also known as chytridiomycosis or simply chytrid, is caused by the fungus Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis. It has spread like wildfire through Central and South America since the 1970s and is now ubiquitous. It is believed to have driven numerous species of neotropical frogs to the brink of extinction, including many in the genus Atelopus, commonly known as harlequin toads.

Now, as conservationists attempt to reintroduce captive-bred species to the wild, they hope to give the animals a leg up by identifying climatic refugia—places that are environmentally unsuitable for chytrid but well-suited to frogs.

Mapping seasonal disease risk

The chytrid fungus is present across almost all of the historic range of Atelopus species, but just as human influenza cases change with the seasons, the severity of chytrid disease fluctuates with temperature and humidity.

Using previously developed models that identified where the disease was present and when it was most severe, the authors built new chytrid suitability maps to identify places where reintroduced frogs might thrive without the threat of chytrid.

"We have tried releasing captive-bred harlequin toads back into the wild and experienced high losses due to the amphibian chytrid fungus that persists in the environment," said Brian Gratwicke, conservation biologist at NZCBI and senior author of the article.

"By mapping climatic refuges, we finally have a tool to rank potential release sites, allowing us to select places where the released animals have the best chance of survival."

Variable harlequin frogs (Atelopus varius) were the only species found surviving in chytrid-suitable sites, which scientists say is consistent with evidence that the species may have evolved resistance to the disease. Credit: Brian Gratwicke, Smithsonian's National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute

Surviving toads reveal potential refuges

Researchers found that most harlequin toad species in Panama persist only at sites where more than 80% of the seasons were unsuitable for medium- and high-intensity infections. Only one species, the variable harlequin toad (A. varius), was found at sites suitable for the disease, which scientists say is consistent with evidence that the species may have evolved resistance to chytrid.

The models not only identify potential reintroduction sites but also point to places where wild Atelopus populations might remain.

"Our ability to identify climate refugia is critical if we hope to locate populations that might have disappeared from most places in their former range," said Carrie Lewis, a doctoral candidate at George Mason University and lead author of the publication. "These persisting populations could provide a source of genes to bolster populations under human care and provide opportunities to augment wild populations."

Like other Atelopus species, the critically endangered Pirri harlequin frog (A. glyphus) has experienced significant declines due to the amphibian chytrid disease. Credit: Brian Gratwicke, Smithsonian's National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute.

A prior reintroduction trial conducted with Limosa harlequin frogs (Atelopus limosus) resulted in the deaths of numerous frogs due to chytrid. By choosing reintroduction sites considered unsuitable for chytrid, researchers hope to reduce losses in future reintroduction trials. Credit: Roshan Patel, Smithsonian's National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute.

Researchers established captive assurance colonies for numerous species, including the critically endangered Toad Mountain harlequin frog (Atelopus certus), at the Panama Amphibian Rescue and Conservation Project in Gamboa, Panama. Credit: Roshan Patel, Smithsonian's National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute.

Although there are currently a limited number of potential refuges, additional opportunities have been identified. The models also forecast areas that, while currently suitable for the disease, might become unsuitable in the coming years because of climate change. Researchers note that the shifting climate could also have negative effects on frogs adapted to cooler mountainous habitats.

"Guided by these climate refugia and Atelopus habitat-suitability maps, we have already begun surveying potential sites for habitat suitability and potential release trials," said Roberto Ibáñez, a STRI staff scientist and co-author of the study. "These tools will allow us to experimentally test the climate refugia hypothesis through future release trials."

Cross posted from https://sh.itjust.works/post/68926708