A fascinating study published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) reveals a groundbreaking discovery about the feeding behavior of sea spiders in methane-rich ecosystems off the coast of Southern California. Marine biologist Shana Goffredi and her team have uncovered a new survival strategy that enables these tiny, translucent arachnids, identified as Sericosura, to thrive in one of …
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Sea spiders discovered on the ocean floor that eat methane gas
A dull stretch of silty seafloor off Southern California hides a surprise that would fit on a pencil eraser. Here, three new sea spiders in the genus Sericosura have learned to live on the greenhouse gas methane, thanks to a cloak of bacteria that carpets their limbs. The work comes from marine biologist Shana Goffredi at Occidental College, whose team …
Read More »Skyscraper-size spikes of methane ice may surround Pluto’s equator
Skyscraper-size spires of mehtane ice may cover around 60% of Pluto‘s equatorial region — a larger area than scientists previously estimated, new research finds. The study, published July 5 in the Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets, was based on data collected by NASA‘s New Horizons spacecraft, which captured the first close-up images of the tiny world a decade ago, on …
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