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Coral Microbiome (Bacteria, Fungi and Viruses) Is Key to Surviving Climate Change

Lead Image: The study site in Puerto Morelos, Mexico (Caribbean Sea), where the researchers collected Siderastrea radians. Credit: Sergio Guendulain-García Researchers tease apart contributions of symbiotic bacteria and algae to corals’ heat tolerance and identify genes involved in stress response. The microbiomes of corals — which comprise bacteria, fungi and viruses — play an important role in the ability of corals to tolerate rising ocean temperatures, according to new research led by Penn State. The team also identified several genes within certain corals and the symbiotic photosynthetic algae that live inside their tissues that may play a role in their…

NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope to Explore Forming Planetary Systems

Lead image: NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope. Credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center Conceptual Image Lab Researchers will observe more than a dozen protoplanetary systems to gather data about their inner disks – where Earth-like planets may be forming What was our Solar System like as it was forming billions of years ago? Over time, particles bumped into one another, building ever-larger rocks. Eventually, these rocks got big enough to form planets. We have some basic understanding of planet formation, but we don’t know the details – especially details about the solar system’s early chemical composition, and how it may…

Beyond Small Talk: Study Finds People Enjoy Deep Conversations With Strangers

People overestimate awkwardness, underestimate enjoyment of deep, meaningful conversations, study finds. People benefit from deep and meaningful conversations that help us forge connections with one another, but we often stick to small talk with strangers because we underestimate how much others are interested in our lives and wrongly believe that deeper conversations will be more awkward and less enjoyable than they actually are, according to research published by the American Psychological Association. “Connecting with others in meaningful ways tends to make people happier, and yet people also seem reluctant to engage in deeper and more meaningful conversation,” said Nicholas Epley, PhD,…

“No One Has Ever Seen This Before” – Hubble Shows Winds in Jupiter’s Great Red Spot Are Accelerating

Lead image: By analyzing images taken by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope between 2009 and 2020, researchers found that the average wind speed just within the boundaries of the Great Red Spot, set off by the outer green circle, have increased by up to 8 percent and exceed 640 kilometers per hour. In contrast, the winds near the storm’s innermost region, set off by a smaller green ring, are moving significantly more slowly. Both move counterclockwise. Credit: NASA, ESA, Michael H. Wong (UC Berkeley) The Winds at the Outer Edge Are ‘Winning the Race’ in This Enormous Storm System Listen…

What Does a Mac SD Card Do and Why is it so Important?

Do you have a Mac computer? They are some of the best computers on the market at the moment. But perhaps you need to upload some files from a camera or another device. You might want to consider using a Mac SD card. Sometimes you need to delete an SD card after you have used it with another device to get rid of data you don’t want. You can wipe the SD card before you use a Mac, but you need to decide what format and what security settings you want. Here’s everything you need to know about using a…