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How octopuses squeeze through too-small gaps

Octopuses are extraordinarily versatile. From walking across the seabed on their eight arms to jetting through the water, manipulating tools and squeezing through unimaginably tight spaces, the flexibility of octopuses almost defies belief. "Octopuses can change their body shape to squeeze through tiny holes, almost like water flowing through a gap, so their size doesn't always limit where they can go," says Wenci Xin from the National University of Singapore.

via Phys.org
Science

Avian influenza spread beyond a backyard coop on an Illinois farm, analysis finds

An outbreak of highly pathogenic avian influenza virus that nearly wiped out an Illinois farmer's backyard flock also spread to a domestic cat and wild rats on the farm, an analysis of the animals by the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory and the University of Missouri Veterinary Medical Diagnostic Laboratory found.

via Phys.org
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Newly identified protein mechanism helps explain how cells respond to physical forces

A newly published study is changing our understanding of how the protein talin functions at sites where cells attach to their surroundings. The findings uncover a previously unknown mechanism by which mechanical force regulates talin, a key protein controlling cell adhesion and mechanosensing. The paper is published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

via Phys.org
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Hubble learns galactic history from stars

This NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image provides a lesson in galactic history. The sparkling collection of stars is named Messier 30 (M30) after the French astronomer Charles Messier, who cataloged M30 and other diffuse objects that might be mistaken for comets in the early telescopes of Messier's time. M30 lies about 27,500 light-years away in the constellation Capricornus.

via Phys.org
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New microscopy method reveals tiny cell structures and their molecular surroundings

How do cells respond to drugs? A new microscopy technique could provide more precise answers to this question in the future. Researchers from Bielefeld University and the University of Vienna have developed a method as part of the European CHEM-SCAN project that makes the smallest cellular structures visible while also showing how their molecular environment changes.

via Phys.org
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Ancient Maya mercury use may have come at a severe environmental cost

Ancient Maya communities made extensive use of liquid mercury and a red, mercury-containing pigment called cinnabar to decorate buildings, pottery and burial sites. Unsurprisingly, as previous research has shown, this led to mercury contamination of soils and reservoirs at some Maya sites. And that pollution may have spread even farther into their territory and caused the collapse of two lake ecosystems, according to a study published in the journal Science Advances.

via Phys.org
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