Science Daily

• Scientists detect a surprising shift in human blood as CO2 rises

  Rising carbon dioxide in the atmosphere may be leaving a measurable imprint inside the human body. Researchers analyzing more than two decades of U.S. health data found that blood bicarbonate levels have climbed about 7% since 1999, while calcium and phosphorus have declined—changes that closely track increasing atmospheric CO2.

• The Atlantic Ocean can handle more warming than expected — with one big catch

  Scientists have found that the AMOC may be far more vulnerable to rapid warming than to temperature alone. When warming happens slowly, the ocean can adapt, but at faster rates similar to today’s, the massive Atlantic circulation could reach a tipping point at much lower temperatures.

• A 30-year-old fossil was hiding bones from a mysterious ancient sea monster

  Fossils collected in Osaka more than 30 years ago have revealed a surprise hiding in plain sight: four previously unrecognized bones from a giant Cretaceous mosasaur. Among them is the first confirmed premaxilla—the frontmost bone of the upper jaw—ever identified in a Japanese mosasaur fossil. Even more intriguing, parts of the skull show unusual anatomical features that don’t match known mosasaurs, raising the possibility that the remains belong to an entirely new species.

• A 60-year-old theory about ants, bees and wasps may be wrong

  Scientists have long thought an unusual genetic system helped ants, bees, and wasps evolve their extraordinary social colonies. A massive new analysis suggests that genetics alone can’t explain it—and the real secret may lie in other traits unique to these insects.

• A 236-million-year-old fossil could rewrite the story of mammalian birth

  Scientists may have uncovered evidence that a mammal ancestor was giving birth to live young 236 million years ago. A fossilized cynodont showed a neonatal growth line and an unusually large birth size that closely match patterns seen in modern mammals. The discovery could push the evolution of live birth back by up to 95 million years. It also raises the possibility that many supposedly “modern” mammalian traits evolved surprisingly early.