Science Daily

• Superheated magma may power towering lava fountains

  Scientists studying magma from the 2021 Tajogaite eruption on La Palma have discovered that extreme heat can dramatically change how an eruption unfolds. When magma becomes superheated, it can dissolve the tiny crystal seeds that normally trigger crystallization, allowing the molten rock to remain fluid far longer as it rises.

• Scientists found two mysterious ‘ghost’ ancestors hiding in our DNA

  Modern humans carry DNA from two mysterious extinct lineages in addition to Neanderthals and Denisovans. Their hidden genetic legacy shows that our evolutionary past was shaped by repeated mixing among many different human groups.

• Scientists found evolution repeating itself in the Galápagos Islands

  More than 150 years after Darwin’s finches helped reshape biology, Galápagos plants are exposing another evolutionary surprise. Giant daisies repeatedly developed similar heat-tolerant leaf shapes, but each lineage used a different combination of genes. Researchers also found major genetic differences among isolated populations, suggesting new species may be forming right now.

• New process turns plastic waste into hydrogen fuel while trapping the carbon

  A new chemical process can transform three of the most common plastics into high-purity hydrogen without sorting them first. The technique operates at much lower temperatures than traditional gasification and captures most of the plastic’s carbon in solid or liquid forms instead of releasing it as carbon dioxide.

• Ant brains reveal how evolution turned hunger into parenting

  Ant parenting may have evolved from the same brain systems that once controlled hunger. Researchers found that two chemical signals push clonal raider ants toward either caring for larvae or leaving to forage, with the balance changing as the ants grow older. Similar signals are involved in mammalian caregiving, suggesting that evolution may have followed the same basic blueprint across very different animals.