New "Devil Worm" Is Deepest-Living Animal. The new nematode species—called partly for Mephistopheles, the demon of Faustian legend—suggests there's a rich new biosphere beneath our feet. Before the discovery of the signs of the newfound worm at depths of 2.2. miles (3.6 kilometers), nematodes were not known to live beyond dozens of feet (tens of meters) deep. Only microbes were known to occupy those depths—organisms that, it turns out, are the food of the 0.5-millimeter-long worm. "That sounds small, but to me it’s like finding a whale in Lake Ontario. These creatures are millions of times bigger than the bacteria they feed on," said study co-author Tullis Onstott , a geomicrobiologist at Princeton University in New Jersey. (See "Deepest-Ever Fish Caught Alive on Camera. " ) Onstott and nematologist Gaetan Borgonie of Belgium's University of Ghent first discovered in the depths of a South African gold mine.
(See "World's Deepest Mines Highlight Risks of New Gold Rush. " ) ( Read "Searching for New Earths" in magazine .) Nature. Lost City Revealed Under Centuries of Jungle Growth. Though it's long been known to locals that something—something big—is buried in this patch of Guatemalan rain forest, it's only now that archaeologists are able to begin teasing out what exactly Head of Stone was. Using GPS and electronic distance-measurement technology last year, the researchers plotted the locations and elevations of a seven-story-tall pyramid, an astronomical observatory, a ritual ball court, several stone residences, and other structures. (See pictures of excavated Maya cities .) Some of the stone houses, said study leader Brigitte Kovacevich , may have doubled as burial chambers for the city's early kings.
"Oftentimes archaeologists are looking at the biggest pyramids or temples to find the tombs of early kings, but during this Late-Middle Preclassic period"—roughly 600 B.C. to 300 B.C. —"the king is not the center of the universe yet, so he's probably still being buried in the household," said Kovacevich, an archaeologist at Southern Methodist University in Dallas. Space Poison Helped Start Life on Earth?
Formaldehyde (CH2O) is a colorless gas that's often dissolved in water to make a liquid called formalin, used in various industrial products such as building materials, disinfectants, and embalming fluid. (Related: "Lost 'Sleeping Beauty' Mummy Formula Found. " ) The molecule doesn't exist for long in its natural state on Earth without human intervention. That's fortunate for us, because formaldehyde easily reacts with other chemicals. "Formaldehyde is poisonous because it interferes with so many metabolic reactions" and can block critical protein functions in the body, said study co-author George Cody , a chemist at the Carnegie Institution for Science in Washington, D.C.
According to the U.S. But while naturally rare on Earth, formaldehyde is a common molecule in space. "It's not as common as, say, hydrogen or water, but it's ubiquitous in the galaxy," Cody said. (Related: "Comet Swarm Delivered Earth's Oceans? " Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences . A South Pacific Island, Under the Microscope. Portions of the once vibrant reef ringing the South Pacific island of Mo‘orea are now an apocalyptic landscape of gray rubble. Under the rich turquoise-colored surface, dead coral towers lie in pieces, blanketed with a fine layer of decay. What has caused such trouble in paradise? A nasty invasion of armored starfish. The crown of thorns ( or in Tahitian) with menacing poisonous spikes and a voracious appetite, literally sucks the life out of reef communities. The starfish feast on coral polyps, leaving an empty white skeleton and ransacked home for other marine species before moving on to the next meal. ( See before and after photos of the reef. ) But thanks to unique research on this island just 12 miles (20 kilometers) northwest of Tahiti, scientists may be able to predict outbreaks like the crown-of-thorn siege.
“The goal is to build a catalogue of digital signatures,” explains Chris Meyer , a zoologist and curator at the Smithsonian Institution. Photos: "Zombie" Ants Found With New Mind-Control Fungi. "Zombie" Roaches Lose Free Will Due to Wasp Venom. December 6, 2007 The parasitic jewel wasp uses a venom injected directly into a cockroach's brain to inhibit its victim's free will, scientists have discovered.
The venom blocks a chemical substance called octopamine in the cockroach's brain that controls its motivation to walk, the study found. Unable to fight back, the "zombie" cockroach can be pulled into the wasp's underground lair, where an egg is laid in its abdomen. The larva later hatches and eats the still living but incapacitated cockroach from the inside out. "The whole thing takes about seven to eight days, during which the meat has to be fresh," said study co-author and neurobiologist Frederic Libersat of Ben-Gurion University of the Negev in Be'ér Sheva, Israel. "If you kill a cockroach, it rots within a day.
" The mature wasp emerges from the bug victim's body after about a month. The study recently appeared in the Journal of Experimental Biology. Zombie Science.