Viscosity is a fundamental property that determines how easily a material flows, affecting systems from industrial materials to the Earth's deep interior. Yet, scientists have rarely considered whether viscosity has an upper limit because high-viscosity materials are usually rock-forming minerals outside fluid dynamics studies. Now, a Japanese researcher has combined Earth observations, laboratory experiments, and numerical simulations to estimate a physically meaningful upper viscosity bound of 10^30±2 Pa s, with implications for geophysics and materials.

Scientists from HSE University, MSU, and Tallinn University of Technology have studied a fossil species of ancient brachiopods that lived in a warm sea in what is now northern Estonia more than 445 million years ago. These ancient brachiopods developed a cup-shaped shell with a protective 'cap' that shielded them from overgrowth by other marine organisms. The study has been published in Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology.

Through new research, experts at the University of Plymouth aimed to provide the first assessment of the extent and diversity of the brachyuran land crab trade on a global level. They believe knowing the extent to which various species are traded will allow conservationists and policymakers to make informed decisions regarding legislation that monitors global imports and exports, and the wild catch of such species.