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Stromatolites – fossils of earliest life on Earth – may owe existence to viruses
As the Mars Rover sets out to look for evidence of life on another planet, scientists back on Earth suggest viruses played a key role in creating stromatolites, our planet’s earliest lifeforms.
Stromatolites at Shark Bay, Western Australia. Photo: UNSW Sydney/Brendan Burns
It may pain us to hear this during a deadly viral pandemic, but life as we know it on this planet may never have occurred if it weren’t for viruses, scientists studying billion-year-old ‘living rocks’ say.
In a paper published in the March issue of Trends in Microbiology, a team of scientists from UNSW Sydney and the US looked at evidence of the world’s oldest lifeforms in fossils known as stromatolites, layered limestone rocks often found in shallow waters around the globe. They wanted to understand the mechanism that led colonies of single-celled organisms known as microbial mats to create these intriguin
Asocian los virus con la formación de 'rocas vivientes' | elPeriódico de Guatemala elperiodico.com.gt - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from elperiodico.com.gt Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
University of New South Wales
Projections of rising sea levels this century are on the money when tested against satellite and tide-gauge observations, scientists find.
Climate model projections of sea-level rises in the early 21st century are in good agreement with sea level data recorded in the corresponding period, a recent analysis has found.
And the scientists who crunched the numbers say the finding does not bode well for sea level impacts over coming decades if greenhouse gas emissions are not reined in.
In an article published recently in Nature Communications, the scientists from Chinese and Australian institutions including UNSW Sydney examined the global and regional sea level projections of two reports by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change: the Fifth Assessment Report (AR5) and Special Report on the Ocean and Cryosphere in a Changing Climate (SROCC).
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New online tool to help navigate IVF
The Morrison Government is strengthening support for couples trying to become pregnant through the launch of the YourIVFSuccess website.
In Vitro Fertilisation – IVF – and other assisted reproductive technologies have helped hundreds of thousands of Australians experience the joy of becoming parents. Until now, there has not been an easy way for consumers to find and compare fertility clinics or to estimate their individual chance of success.
Minister for Health and Aged Care, Greg Hunt, said that one in six Australian couples face difficulty trying to start a family.
“For a range of reasons, sometimes starting a family is not straightforward and this can be a confusing and distressing time,” Minister Hunt said.