ScienceDaily: Strange Science News

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• An origin story for a family of oddball meteorites
• In cell studies, seaweed extract outperforms remdesivir in blocking COVID-19 virus
• Lightning strikes more than 100 million times per year in the tropics
• Mitigation of greenhouse gases in dairy cattle through genetic selection
• Marine microorganisms: How to survive below the seafloor

An origin story for a family of oddball meteorites Posted: 24 Jul 2020 11:13 AM PDT Most meteorites that have landed on Earth are fragments of planetesimals, the very earliest protoplanetary bodies in the solar system. Scientists have thought that these primordial bodies either completely melted early in their history or remained as piles of unmelted rubble. But a family of meteorites has befuddled researchers since its discovery in the 1960s. The diverse fragments, found all over the world, seem to have broken off from the same primordial body, and yet the makeup of these meteorites indicates that their parent must have been a puzzling chimera that was both melted and unmelted. A new study suggests a family of rare meteorites likely came from an early planetesimal with a magnetic core.

In cell studies, seaweed extract outperforms remdesivir in blocking COVID-19 virus Posted: 24 Jul 2020 07:42 AM PDT In a test of antiviral effectiveness against the virus that causes COVID-19, an extract from edible seaweeds substantially outperformed remdesivir, the current standard antiviral used to combat the disease.

Lightning strikes more than 100 million times per year in the tropics Posted: 23 Jul 2020 06:27 AM PDT Tropical storms often begin with an impressive display of pyrotechnics, but researchers have largely overlooked the role of lightning strikes in tropical ecosystems.

Mitigation of greenhouse gases in dairy cattle through genetic selection Posted: 22 Jul 2020 11:27 AM PDT Researchers propose mitigating methane production by dairy cattle through breeding. Scientists are targeting reduction of enteric methane in the breeding objectives for dairy cattle to select for animals that use feed more efficiently and thus produce less methane. Because livestock farming contributes 13 percent of global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, selective breeding can reduce those emissions while increasing milk output.

Marine microorganisms: How to survive below the seafloor Posted: 20 Jul 2020 07:33 AM PDT Foraminifera, an ancient and ecologically highly successful group of marine organisms, are found on and below the seafloor. Geobiologists report that several species not only survive, but thrive, in these oxygen-free sediments.

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