ScienceDaily: Strange Science News

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• Cell 'quakes' may help cells respond to the outside world
• Scientists confirm decrease in Pluto’s atmospheric density
• Earliest evidence yet of huge hippos in Britain

Cell 'quakes' may help cells respond to the outside world Posted: 04 Oct 2021 12:37 PM PDT New computer simulations reveal that sudden restructuring of the cytoskeleton, or scaffolding, inside animal cells is caused by the slow buildup and rapid release of mechanical energy. Called cytoquakes, these disturbances may help the cell respond rapidly to signals from the outside environment, like chemicals produced by other cells or hormones in the bloodstream.

Scientists confirm decrease in Pluto’s atmospheric density Posted: 04 Oct 2021 11:02 AM PDT When Pluto passed in front of a star on the night of August 15, 2018, astronomers deployed telescopes at numerous sites in the U.S. and Mexico to observe Pluto's atmosphere as it was briefly backlit by the well-placed star. Scientists used this occultation event to measure the overall abundance of Pluto's tenuous atmosphere and found compelling evidence that it is beginning to disappear, refreezing back onto its surface as it moves farther away from the Sun.

Earliest evidence yet of huge hippos in Britain Posted: 04 Oct 2021 07:41 AM PDT Palaeobiologists have unearthed the earliest evidence yet of hippos in the UK. Excavations at Westbury Cave in Somerset have uncovered a million-year-old hippo tooth which shows the animal roamed Britain much earlier than previously thought.

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