Other Sciences News

Researchers Create Smallest Walking Robot Yet

A diffractive robot. Image credit: Smart et al., doi: 10.1126/science.adr2177.
Dec 4, 2024 by News Staff

A team of researchers at Cornell University has created a new class of magnetically controlled microscopic robots (microbots) that operate at the visible-light diffraction limit. Termed diffractive robots, these microbots can interact with waves of visible light and still move independently, so that they can maneuver to specific locations to take images and measure forces at the scale of some of the body’s smallest structures. A diffractive robot....

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Reconstruction of a Trypillia house. Image credit: Susanne Beyer, Kiel University.

Expanded Opportunities Attracted People to Trypillia Culture’s Mega-Settlements

Dec 2, 2024 by Sergio Prostak

Over its history, archaeology has seen a varied set of uses made of philosophy and philosophical concepts. A persistent critique has been that too often...

A Homo heidelbergensis, a Neanderthal and a Cro-Magnon. Image credit: SINC / José Antonio Peñas.

Increases in Brain Size Occurred within Human Lineages Comprising Single Species, New Study Reveals

Nov 29, 2024 by News Staff

New research by scientists from the University of Reading and the University of Durham shows that encephalization (i.e., relative brain size increase)...

In the systematic review of 18 randomized clinical trials, interventions of increased water intake (or decreased intake in one study) were associated with statistically significant greater weight loss and fewer nephrolithiasis events; single studies suggested benefits related to migraine prevention, urinary tract infection, diabetes control, and hypotension but did not reach statistical significance. Image credit: Günter.

Drinking Plenty of Water Can Provide Number of Health Benefits, New Review Says

Nov 28, 2024 by News Staff

Drinking enough water can help with weight loss and prevent kidney stones, as well as migraines, urinary tract infections and low blood pressure, according...

A 3D computerized model of the surface of the area near Lake Turkana in Kenya shows fossil footprints of Paranthropus boisei (vertical footprints) with separate footprints of Homo erectus forming a perpendicular path. Image credit: Kevin Hatala / Chatham University.

At Least Two Hominin Species Coexisted in Kenya 1.5 Million Years Ago

Nov 28, 2024 by News Staff

Paleoanthropologists have discovered 1.5-million-year-old footprints of two completely different species of hominins — Homo erectus and Paranthropus...

Britton et al. used a scanning electron microscope, scanning the mat with a focused beam of electrons and creating an image based on the pattern of electrons that are deflected or knocked-off; each individual strand is too narrow to be clearly captured by any form of visible light camera or microscope. Image credit: Beatrice Britton / Adam Clancy.

World’s Thinnest Spaghetti Created: Nanopasta

Nov 25, 2024 by News Staff

The world’s thinnest spaghetti is just 372 nm across — about 200 times thinner than a human hair. Britton et al. used a scanning electron microscope,...

Direct electrochemical reduction of carbon dioxide capture species, i.e., carbamate and (bi)carbonate, can be promising for carbon dioxide capture and conversion from point-source. Image credit: Neves-Garcia et al., doi: 10.1021/jacs.4c09744.

Researchers Find New Way to Convert Carbon Dioxide into Methane

Nov 22, 2024 by News Staff

A new class of atomically dispersed nickel catalysts directly converts captured carbon dioxide (CO2) to methane (CH4), according to Dr. Tomaz Neves-Garcia,...

3D analysis of the perforated pebbles and the perforations. Image credit: T. Yashuv & L. Grosman, doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0312007.

12,000-Year-Old Spindle Whorls Unearthed in Israel

Nov 15, 2024 by Enrico de Lazaro

Archaeologists have examined an exceptional assemblage of over a hundred perforated pebbles from the 12,000-year-old Natufian village of Nahal Ein-Gev...

Fermium isotopes studied by Warbinek et al. are highlighted in this chart. Image credit: S. Raeder.

Physicists Measure Nuclear Properties of Fermium

Nov 13, 2024 by News Staff

Physicists at the GSI/FAIR accelerator facility have gained insights into the structure of atomic nuclei of fermium, a synthetic chemical element of the...

Plaquette 341 from the Magdalenian site of Gönnersdorf, Germany. Image credit: Robitaille et al., doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0311302.

15,800-Year-Old Engraved Plaquettes Shed Light on Paleolithic Fishing Techniques

Nov 11, 2024 by Sergio Prostak

Scientists from the Leibniz Zentrum für Archäologie and Durham University have examined a collection of 406 engraved schist plaquettes found at the Magdalenian...

A portrait of a juvenile female Denisovan based on a skeletal profile reconstructed from ancient DNA methylation maps. Image credit: Maayan Harel.

Several Denisovan Populations Introgressed into Modern Humans Multiple Times: Study

Nov 8, 2024 by News Staff

The identification of a new hominin group called Denisovans was one of the most exciting discoveries in human evolution in the last decade. Unlike Neanderthal...

Selected hand specimens of samples from sources included in the study: Ngwenya high grade (A-C), Ngwenya low grade (D-F), Kubuta (G), Bulembu (H-J), Lupholo Dam (K, L), Mnyongane (M, N), Maloma (O). Scale bar - 1 cm. Image credit: MacDonald et al., doi: 10.1038/s41467-024-53050-6.

Lion Cavern in Eswatini is World’s Oldest Ochre Mine, Archaeologists Say

Nov 6, 2024 by News Staff

Archaeologists say they have discovered the oldest known evidence for intensive ochre mining worldwide, at least 48,000 years ago, in Lion Cavern at Ngwenya...

The versatility of somatosensation arises from heterogeneous dorsal root ganglion (DRG) neurons. However, soma transcriptomes of individual human (h)DRG neurons -- critical information to decipher their functions -- are lacking due to technical difficulties. In their new study, Yu et al. isolated somata from individual hDRG neurons and conducted deep RNA sequencing (RNA-seq) to detect, on average, over 9,000 unique genes per neuron, and they identified 16 neuronal types.

Neuroscientists Identify 16 Neuronal Types Involved in Human Sense of Touch

Nov 6, 2024 by News Staff

New research led by scientists from the University of Pennsylvania, Karolinska Institute and Linköping University provides a landscape view of the human...

Cylinder seal and sealing impression: the king-priest and his acolyte feeding the sacred herd. Uruk period, ca. 3200 BCE. Image credit: Marie-Lan Nguyen.

Study: Cylinder Seals and Sealing Practices Stimulated Invention of Writing in Ancient South-West Asia

Nov 5, 2024 by News Staff

Administrative innovations in south-west Asia during the 4th millennium BCE, including the cylinder seals that were rolled on the earliest clay tablets,...

3D virtual reconstruction of the Bronze Age town of al-Natah. Image credit: Charloux et al., doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0309963 / AFALULA-RCU-CNRS.

Bronze Age Town of Al-Natah Represents ‘Slow Urbanism,’ Archaeologists Say

Oct 30, 2024 by News Staff

Northwestern Arabia — the region between Mecca and Aqaba — during the Bronze Age was dotted with interconnected monumental walled oases centered...

Outcrop area of CAMP rocks in Pangea showing paleolatitudes at CAMP time (201 million years ago) of key localities with the terrestrial end-Triassic extinction including the Newark Basin (NB) in northeastern North America, the Fundy Basin (FB) of Atlantic Canada, and the Central High Atlas (CHA) Basin of Morocco. Image credit: Kent et al., doi: 10.1073/pnas.2415486121.

New Research Casts More Light on Mechanisms of End-Triassic Mass Extinction

Oct 29, 2024 by News Staff

The end-Triassic extinction along with the end-Permian and end-Cretaceous events are the most severe mass extinctions in the past 270 million years. The...

Pistachios are the only nut that provides a measurable source of lutein, a powerful antioxidant that helps protect the eyes. Image credit: Erika Varga.

Daily Consumption of Pistachios Could Be Effective Dietary Strategy for Preserving Eye Health

Oct 25, 2024 by News Staff

Dietary interventions with pistachios — a bioavailable source of the xanthophyll lutein — are efficacious in increasing macular pigment optical...

The El Niño-Southern Oscillation, originating in the central and eastern equatorial Pacific, is a defining mode of interannual climate variability with profound impact on global climate and ecosystems. Image credit: Li et al., doi: 10.1073/pnas.2404758121.

El Nino-Southern Oscillation is At Least 250 Million Years Old, New Study Suggests

Oct 24, 2024 by News Staff

The El Niño-Southern Oscillation, which is characterized by irregular alternations between anomalously warm (El Niño) and cold (La Niña) conditions,...

An artist’s impression of a Palaeoloxodon sp. Image credit: Chen Yu.

Scientists Find Evidence for Hominin Exploitation of Extinct Straight-Tusked Elephants in India

Oct 24, 2024 by News Staff

In 2000, archaeologists discovered the 300,000 to 400,000-year-old remains of three ancient elephants along with 87 stone tools at the Pampore in the Kashmir...

Ancient humans. Image credit: sjs.org / CC BY-SA 3.0.

Early Humans Were Infected by Two Distinct Types of Helicobacter Bacteria, New Study Reveals

Oct 21, 2024 by News Staff

Two ecospecies of Helicobacter pylori — named ‘Hardy’ and ‘Ubiquitous’ — co-existed in the stomachs of modern humans since before they...

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