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New research led by Curtin University has pinpointed the home of the oldest and most famous Martian meteorite for the first time, offering important geological clues to Mars’ early origins. Using a multidisciplinary approach involving machine learning algorithms, new research – published today in Nature Communication – identified a specific crater on Mars that ejected the so-called ‘Black Beauty’ meteorite, weighing 320 grams, and paired rock, which was first reported to have been found in northern Africa in 2011. Researchers have named a particular Martian crater after the town of Karratha in the Pilbara, located more than 1500km north of Perth in Western Australia, which is home to one of the oldest terrestrial rocks. Lead author Dr Anthony Lagain, from Curtin’s Space Science and Technology Center in the School of Earth and Planetary Sciences, said the exciting discovery offered previously unknown details about the Mars meteorite NWA 7034, known as ‘Black Beauty’, which is widely st

Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain Insectivorous plants have fascinated biologists for more than a century, but how plants developed the ability to capture and consume live prey remains largely a mystery. Now, Salk scientists, along with collaborators from the University of Washington at St. Louis, has investigated the molecular basis of plant carnivores and found evidence that it evolved from mechanisms that plants use to defend themselves. Research published on July 11, 2022, in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences ( PNAS ), detailing how calcium molecules move dynamically within cells in the leaves of carnivorous plants in response to touch from live prey. Fluctuations in calcium cause leaf movement to capture prey, possibly through increased production of defense hormones. The findings broaden scientists’ understanding of how plants interact with their environment. “If we can learn more about how plants such as these and others