Melting glaciers redistributed enough water to cause the direction of polar wander to turn and accelerate eastward during the mid-1990s, according to a new study in Geophysical Research Letters, AGU’s journal for high-impact, short-format reports with immediate implications spanning all Earth and space sciences. ‘The faster ice melting under global warming was the most likely cause of the directional change of the polar drift in the 1990s,’ said Shanshan Deng, a researcher at the Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the University of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and an author of the new study.

Source: https://www.sciencedaily.com/

A new study sequencing the genome of four species of sifakas, a genus of lemurs found only in Madagascar’s forests, reveals that these animals’ taste for leaves runs all the way to their genes, which are also more diverse than expected for an endangered species. Sifakas are folivores, meaning that the bulk of their diet is composed of leaves. Leaves can be difficult to digest and full of toxic compounds meant to prevent them from being eaten. Because of that, leaf-eaters typically have all sorts of adaptations, such as a longer digestive tract with special pouches where bacteria help break down the food.

In a new study that appeared on April 23, 2021 in Science Advances, researchers sequenced genomes from Coquerel’s (Propithecus coquereli), Verreaux’s (P. verreauxi), golden-crowned (P. tattersalli), and diademed (P. diadema) sifakas. The individuals sequenced had been wild-born but were housed at the Duke Lemur Centre, with the exception of two Verreaux’s sifakas, one wild and one born in captivity.

Source: https://www.sciencedaily.com/