Other Sciences News

36-Million-Year Geological Cycle Drives Marine Biodiversity, Scientists Say

Boulila et al. highlight a common, correlatable 36-million-year cycle in the diversity of marine genera as well as in tectonic, sea-level, and macrostratigraphic data over the past 250 million years of Earth history. Image credit: James St. John / CC BY 2.0.
Jul 11, 2023 by News Staff

The evolution of life on Earth has changed dramatically at tens of million-year time scales. However, the causal mechanisms of these changes remain unclear. In new research, scientists from Sorbonne Université, the University of Madison, the University of Sydney and the Université de Genève found evidence for 36-million-year cycles in marine animal fossil data over the last 250 million years. The authors also found similar, correlatable cycles...

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Western honeybees (Apis mellifera). Image credit: PollyDot.

New Research Reveals How Honeybees Make Fast, Accurate Decisions

Jul 10, 2023 by News Staff

A new study published in the journal eLife elucidates the honeybee’s behavioral strategy to associate sensory cues with rewards of different values....

Xing et al. report printable metallic gels (pendular suspensions) consisting of an aqueous suspension of copper particles connected by bridges of liquid eutectic gallium indium alloy (EGaIn). Pendular suspensions rely on capillary forces to form networks between solid particles with a composition-dependent rheology, but prior studies have focused on insulating suspensions. Here, the rheology of a conductive solid-liquid-liquid suspension is tuned for 3D printing by varying the composition and the pH; the latter promotes metallic wetting. The dry printed parts have metallic electrical conductivity without requiring a sintering step. Drying at elevated temperatures can accelerate the removal of water while creating stress that drives shape change (i.e., 4D printing). As a demonstration, the authors print a conductive spider that lifts and assembles its own body from an initially flat shape. Such conductive inks are promising for printing metallic structures under ambient conditions. Image credit: Xing et al., doi: 10.1016/j.matt.2023.06.015.

Scientists Develop Metallic Gel for Conductive 3D and 4D Printing

Jul 6, 2023 by News Staff

Materials scientists at the North Carolina State University have connected copper particles with gallium indium alloy bridges to form a conductive printing...

Thompson et al. investigated whether supplementing older adults with monthly doses of vitamin D alters the incidence of major cardiovascular events.

Monthly Vitamin D May Prevent Heart Attacks in Older People, Study Shows

Jun 30, 2023 by News Staff

New research indicates that vitamin D supplementation might reduce the incidence of major cardiovascular events, particularly myocardial infarction and...

Habitual coffee consumers justify their life choices by arguing that they become more alert and increase motor and cognitive performance and efficiency; however, these subjective impressions still do not have a neurobiological correlation. Using functional connectivity approaches to study resting-state fMRI data in a group of habitual coffee drinkers, Picó-Pérez et al. show that coffee consumption decreased connectivity of the posterior default mode network (DMN) and between the somatosensory/motor networks and the prefrontal cortex, while the connectivity in nodes of the higher visual and the right executive control network (RECN) is increased after drinking coffee; the data also show that caffeine intake only replicated the impact of coffee on the posterior DMN, thus disentangling the neurochemical effects of caffeine from the experience of having a coffee. Image credit: Sci.News.

Study: Boost from Morning Coffee Can’t Be Replicated with Plain Caffeine

Jun 29, 2023 by News Staff

Plain caffeine only partially reproduces the effects of drinking a cup of coffee, activating areas of the brain that make you feel more alert but not the...

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

New Research Shatters the Myth of Man the Hunter

Jun 29, 2023 by News Staff

The sexual division of labor among human foraging populations has typically been recognized as involving males as hunters and females as gatherers. Recent...

A group of Australopithecus afarensis. Image credit: Matheus Vieeira.

Hominins Butchered One Another 1.45 Million Years Ago: Study

Jun 27, 2023 by News Staff

Paleoanthropologists have found multiple cut marks on a 1.45-million-year-old (Early Pleistocene) hominin fossil found in the Koobi Fora Formation in the...

This image taken by Webb’s Near-Infrared Camera shows a part of the Orion Nebula known as the Orion Bar. It is a region where energetic ultraviolet light from the Trapezium Cluster -- located off the upper-left corner -- interacts with dense molecular clouds. The energy of the stellar radiation is slowly eroding the Orion Bar, and this has a profound effect on the molecules and chemistry in the protoplanetary disks that have formed around newborn stars here. Image credit: NASA / ESA / CSA / Webb / M. Zamani / PDRs4All ERS Team.

Webb Detects Crucial Carbon Molecule in Protoplanetary Disk

Jun 26, 2023 by News Staff

The vital role of a carbon molecule called methyl cation (CH3+) in interstellar carbon chemistry was predicted in the 1970s, but the unique capabilities...

The 57,000-year-old Neanderthal engravings discovered in La Roche-Cotard cave, France: the ‘circular panel’ (left) and the ‘wavy panel’ (right). Image credit: Jean-Claude Marquet / CC-BY 4.0.

57,000-Year-Old Neanderthal Engravings Discovered in France

Jun 21, 2023 by Enrico de Lazaro

Non-figurative markings on the walls of La Roche-Cotard cave in France are the oldest known engravings made by our sister species. The 57,000-year-old...

Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai volcanic eruption captured at December 30, 2021. Image credit: Tonga Geological Services.

Giant Eruption Plume from Tonga’s Volcano Produced Most Intense Lightning Rates Ever Detected

Jun 21, 2023 by Natali Anderson

On January 15, 2022, Hunga Volcano in Tonga produced the most violent eruption in the modern satellite era, sending a water-rich plume at least 58 km (36...

This image, taken with the Advanced Baseline Imager (ABI) instrument onboard NOAA’s GOES-18 weather satellite, shows the western hemisphere of Earth. Image credit: NOAA.

Drift of Earth’s Pole Confirms Groundwater Withdrawal as Contributor to Sea Level Rise

Jun 15, 2023 by News Staff

Earth’s rotational pole has drifted toward 64.16°E at a speed of 4.36 cm per year during 1993-2010 due to groundwater depletion and resulting sea level...

Polyacrylamide hydrogel disks. Image credit: Gustav Graeber / Carlos D. Díaz-Marín.

Salty Hygroscopic Hydrogel Could Absorb Water from Desert Air

Jun 15, 2023 by Enrico de Lazaro

Hygroscopic hydrogels are emerging as scalable and low-cost sorbents for atmospheric water harvesting, dehumidification, passive cooling, and thermal energy...

An artistic conception of the early Earth. Image credit: Simone Marchi / NASA.

Study: Plate Tectonics is not a Requirement for Life to Originate on Earth-Like Planet

Jun 15, 2023 by News Staff

Plate tectonics is a fundamental factor in the sustained habitability of Earth, but its time of onset is unknown, with ages ranging from the Hadean to...

A group of Australopithecus afarensis. Image credit: Matheus Vieeira.

Paleoanthropologist Reconstructs Missing Soft Tissues of 3.2 Million-Year-Old ‘Lucy’

Jun 14, 2023 by News Staff

Soft tissues rarely preserve in the fossil record, rather scientists are mostly left with just the skeletal material. Yet, muscles animate the body. They...

Neanderthal. Image credit: Neanderthal Museum.

Study: Viking Disease is Partly of Neanderthal Origin

Jun 14, 2023 by News Staff

Also known as Dupuytren’s disease, ‘Viking disease’ hand disorder — a condition in which one or more fingers become permanently bent in a flexed...

Prunus mume. Image credit: Manseok Kim.

Japanese Plum Juice Concentrate Improves Cardiovascular Health

Jun 14, 2023 by Natali Anderson

Fruit from the Japanese plum tree (Prunus mume) is a traditional food in Japan. Traditionally referred to as ‘Ume,’ the raw fruit contains toxins,...

An artist’s impression of Nombe nombe (right) and other prehistoric animals from Nombe Rockshelter, Papua New Guinea. Image credit: Peter Shouten.

Ancient Kangaroos Didn’t Hop, Paleontologists Say

Jun 13, 2023 by News Staff

In a new study, paleontologists from the United Kingdom and Sweden reviewed the fossil evidence of locomotion of kangaroos and their relatives (wallabies,...

Dopamine release following intragastric glucose and lipid infusions in lean participants and participants with obesity before and after weight loss. Image credit: van Galen et al., doi: 10.1038/s42255-023-00816-9.

Brain Responses to Nutrients are Severely Impaired in Humans with Obesity, Study Shows

Jun 13, 2023 by News Staff

Importantly, the impaired neuronal responses are not restored after diet-induced weight loss, according to a new study led by Amsterdam University Medical...

Strong evidence suggesting that frying in space is possible. Image credit: Lioumbas et al., doi: 10.1016/j.foodres.2022.112249.

Is Frying Possible in Space?

Jun 12, 2023 by Natali Anderson

French fries are a very popular food commodity across many cultural backgrounds on Earth and as such they may be appreciated by long-term space travelers....

The 19-core optical fiber. Image credit: Rademacher et al., doi: 10.1364/OFC.2023.Th4A.4.

Newly-Developed Optical Fiber Can Carry More Than 10 Million Fast Home Internet Connections

Jun 2, 2023 by News Staff

Researchers have set a new speed record for an industry standard optical fiber, achieving 1.7 Petabits over a 67 km length of fiber. The fiber, which contains...

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