Careful genetic analysis revealed the new baobab species. This discovery could have implications for conservation efforts for the endangered trees.

Certain friendly viruses called phages can be weaponized to fight even the most difficult bacterial infections. But to make phage therapy more effective against the antibiotic resistance crisis, first we need to better understand how bacteria fight phage invasion, and how phages fight back. In a new study, researchers identify a counter defense used by a group of phages common in the human gut that helps them stay one step ahead of their bacterial hosts.

Before tropical cyclones can significantly strengthen, they generally must first become vertically aligned, with their rotating centers stacked through the atmosphere. New research using nearly three decades of NOAA Hurricane Hunter observations identifies four features that can help a tilted storm become aligned and more capable of intensifying.

Discovery was hidden in the Hubble Space Telescope’s archival data. Astronomers used stream as a tool for mapping dark matter in a low-mass galaxy. Team expects future telescopes will find many more stellar streams, expanding the ability to probe dark matter across the universe.

Most tropical tree species can adjust water-use strategies across rainfall conditions, offering hope in a warmer, drier world.

African grasslands rapidly expanded and became widespread at about 15 million years, over five million years earlier than previously known. The earlier emergence extends the length of time where faunal evolution (including our hominin ancestors) was shaped by these landscape.  This and other studies point to a more varied environment where early human ancestors may have evolved.