Other Sciences News

Ordovician sea life. Image credit: Fritz Geller-Grimm / National Museum of Natural History / CC BY-SA 2.5.

New Research Explores Cause of End-Ordovician Mass Extinction

Nov 2, 2021 by News Staff

The end-Ordovician mass extinction, the first of the ‘Big Five’ mass extinctions occurred 445 million years ago and was characterized by the disappearance...

Homo bodoensis had a pan-African distribution with the peripheral range extending into the eastern Mediterranean (Southeast Europe and the Levant) from which it could have contributed to the repopulation of European (and possibly Central and East Asian) demographic sinks after the glaciations. Image credit: Ettore Mazza.

Meet Homo bodoensis, New Species of Human Ancestor

Oct 29, 2021 by News Staff

Homo bodoensis lived in Africa during the early Middle Pleistocene, around 500,000 years ago, and was the direct ancestor of the Homo sapiens lineage;...

DeSilva et al. suggest that patterns of human brain evolution were influenced by collective intelligence, a convergent characteristic of diverse group-living animals. Image credit: Gerd Altmann.

Human Brains Decreased in Size 3,000 Years Ago, New Study Says

Oct 25, 2021 by News Staff

Human brain size nearly quadrupled in 6 million years since Homo last shared a common ancestor with chimpanzees, but human brains are thought to have decreased...

This artistic conception illustrates large asteroids penetrating Earth’s oxygen-poor atmosphere. Image credit: SwRI / Dan Durda / Simone Marchi.

Archean Asteroid Impacts Delayed Evolution of Earth’s Atmosphere, Study Suggests

Oct 21, 2021 by News Staff

A team of researchers from the United States and Austria has analyzed remnants of ancient asteroids and modeled the effects of their violent collisions...

An electrically conductive and durable yarn was sewn onto fabric and became a wearable heater (high temperatures indicated by yellows and reds) when a safe voltage was applied. Image credit: Pattanarat et al., doi: 10.1021/acsami.1c13329.

Researchers Develop Wearable Electric Heater

Oct 21, 2021 by News Staff

Scientists have created a textile-based wearable heater based on highly durable conductive yarns. An electrically conductive and durable yarn was sewn...

Ozkan-Aydin & Goldman showed through a series of experiments that a swarm of chainable legged robots is capable of locomoting on challenging environments and accomplishing complex tasks that are not achievable by individual robots. Image credit: University of Notre Dame.

Researchers Create Self-Reconfigurable Swarms of Multi-Legged Robots

Oct 19, 2021 by News Staff

A team of U.S. researchers has developed a reconfigurable swarm of identical low-cost four-legged robots — with directionally flexible legs and tail...

Liquid gallium converts carbon dioxide into oxygen and a high-value solid carbon product. Image credit: Tang et al., doi: 10.1002/adma.202105789.

Liquid Gallium Shown to Break Down Carbon Dioxide

Oct 13, 2021 by News Staff

A team of researchers led by the University of New South Wales has discovered that suspensions of gallium liquid metal — a soft, silvery-white metal...

CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing can cause hundreds of unintended mutations. Image credit: Lisichik.

Is Junk DNA What Makes Human Brain Unique?

Oct 11, 2021 by News Staff

In the genome of Homo sapiens, about 98% of DNA sequences are non-coding regions that were previously disregarded as ‘junk DNA.’ In fact, junk DNA...

Puhlmann et al. investigated the effect of regular contemplative mental training on endocrine and psychological indices of long-term stress.

Daily Mental Training Reduces Chronic Stress, New Study Shows

Oct 11, 2021 by Enrico de Lazaro

New research by scientists from Germany and the United Kingdom shows that daily mental training for 3 to 6 months can buffer the long-term systemic stress...

Kea parrots (Nestor notabilisa) don’t differentiate between the real and virtual worlds. Image credit: Amalia Bastos.

Kea Parrots Treat Physical and Virtual Worlds as Continuous and Equivalent, Study Shows

Sep 29, 2021 by News Staff

Using touchscreen laptops, a team of researchers from the University of Auckland has tested whether kea (Nestor notabilisa) — a large species of...

Cassowaries use their casque much in the same way as some other birds use their beaks for heat exchange. Image credit: Lolame.

Prehistoric New Guineans May Have Collected Cassowary Eggs to Hatch and Rear Chicks

Sep 28, 2021 by News Staff

As early as 18,000 years ago, early foragers in the montane rainforests of New Guinea preferentially collected eggs of cassowaries (Casuarius sp.) in late...

The supercontinent Nuna about 1.59 billion years ago. Image credit: Alexandre DeZotti.

Mantle beneath Earth’s Continents Experienced Large-Scale Heating Two Billion Years Ago

Sep 24, 2021 by News Staff

New research from the University of Adelaide sheds light on why cold eclogites — high-pressure, metamorphic rocks that consist primarily of garnet...

The ancient human footprints found at White Sands National Park in New Mexico, the United States. Image credit: Bennett et al., doi: 10.1126/science.abg7586.

23,000-Year-Old Human Footprints Discovered in New Mexico

Sep 24, 2021 by News Staff

In a study of exposed outcrops of Lake Otero in New Mexico, the United States, archaeologists have discovered numerous human footprints dating to about...

Japanese samurai in armor, print by Kusakabe Kimbei, 1870s. Image credit: Getty’s Open Content Program.

Ancient DNA Reveals Tripartite Origins of Japanese People

Sep 21, 2021 by News Staff

The Japanese archipelago, which has been occupied by humans for at least 38,000 years, underwent rapid transformations in the past 3,000 years, first from...

The reconstructed face of Krijn. Image credit: Servaas Neijens, Rijksmuseum van Oudheden / Adrie and Alfons Kennis, Kennis & Kennis Reconstructions.

Dutch Neanderthal’s Face Revealed

Sep 20, 2021 by Enrico de Lazaro

Adrie and Alfons Kennis, two paleo-artists from the Kennis & Kennis Reconstructions, have used facial approximation techniques and the latest findings...

An image of a typical non-equilibrium state comprising active filaments, random filament networks and ordered 2D fluidic lattices, and active and self-propulsive electrohydrodynamically sculpted droplets and active emulsions. Image credit: Raju et al., doi: 10.1126/sciadv.abh1642.

Researchers Use Electric Field to Create Polygonal and Toroidal Droplets, Liquid Lattices

Sep 15, 2021 by News Staff

When two substances are brought together, they will eventually settle into a steady state called the thermodynamic equilibrium. In new research, a team...

Parietal art panel at Quesang, Tibet. Image credit: Zhang et al., doi: 10.1016/j.scib.2021.09.001.

Middle-Pleistocene Hominin Hand and Foot Impressions Found in Tibet

Sep 15, 2021 by News Staff

A series of previously unreported hand and foot impressions from the Tibetan Plateau dates to between 169,000 and 226,000 years ago (middle Pleistocene...

Several lines of study suggest that peripheral metabolism of amyloid beta (Aß) is associated with risk for Alzheimer’s disease. In blood, greater than 90% of Aß is complexed as an apolipoprotein, raising the possibility of a lipoprotein-mediated axis for Alzheimer’s disease risk. Lam et al. report that genetic modification of C57BL/6J mice engineered to synthesize human Aß only in liver has marked neurodegeneration concomitant with capillary dysfunction, parenchymal extravasation of lipoprotein-Aß, and neurovascular inflammation. Image credit: National Institute on Aging / National Institutes of Health.

Protein from Liver May Cause Alzheimer’s Disease, Groundbreaking Study Says

Sep 15, 2021 by News Staff

According to a new study in mice, a probable cause of Alzheimer’s disease is the leakage from blood into the brain of fat-carrying particles transporting...

Casiraghi et al. show that on nights before a full moon, people sleep less and go to bed later on average. Image credit: Florian Kurz.

Lunar Cycle’s Effects on Sleep are More Pronounced among Men: Study

Sep 14, 2021 by Enrico de Lazaro

A new community-dwelling study from Sweden suggests that the lunar cycle affects sleep in humans, with more pronounced sleep alterations in men than women. Sleep...