Other Sciences News

Ashkenazi Jews of 19th century Eastern Europe portrayed in Jews Praying in the Synagogue on Yom Kippur, by Maurycy Gottlieb, 1878 (from Jewish Art, p. 199).

Yiddish Language was Invented by Slavo-Iranian Jewish Merchants, Scientists Say

Apr 19, 2016 by News Staff

A new tool called the Geographic Population Structure (GPS), which converts DNA data into its ancestral coordinates, has pinpointed origin of Yiddish speakers,...

A pack of gray wolves visits a scent station in the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone. The photograph was taken by one of the remote camera stations and was triggered by the wolves’ movement. Image credit: Sarah Webster / Jim Beasley / National Geographic.

Camera Study Reveals Wildlife Abundance in Chernobyl Exclusion Zone

Apr 19, 2016 by News Staff

New research published in the journal Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment documents animal species prevalent in the human-free Chernobyl Exclusion...

System outline of a blood oxygen level monitor: red and green PLEDs are directed to shine into the finger; reflected light from inside the finger is caught by an ultraflexible organic photodetector; this reflected light provides a measure of blood oxygen and pulse rate; the output of the sensor can be shown on a PLED display. Image credit: Tomoyuki Yokota et al. / Someya Laboratory, University of Tokyo.

Japanese Researchers Develop Ultraflexible ‘E-Skin’

Apr 18, 2016 by News Staff

Professor Takao Someya’s research group at the University of Tokyo’s Graduate School of Engineering has developed an ultraflexible ‘e-skin’...

Ink inscriptions on clay (ostraca) from Arad. These documents are dated to the latest phase of the First Temple Period in Judah, around 600 BC. Image credit: Michael Cordonsky / Tel Aviv University / Israel Antiquities Authority.

Analysis of 2,600-Year-Old Ink Inscriptions Provides Clues for Dating of Old Testament Texts

Apr 12, 2016 by News Staff

Historians have long debated whether the first major phase of compilation of Biblical texts took place before or after the destruction of Jerusalem and...

Neanderthals consumed plants, too. Image credit: University of Utah via kued.org.

Neanderthals May Have Been Infected with Diseases Carried out of Africa by Homo sapiens

Apr 11, 2016 by News Staff

A new study published in the American Journal of Physical Anthropology suggests that the transfer of infectious pathogens between populations of Neanderthals...

Schematic representation of confined ultra-long acetylenic linear carbon chains inside different double-walled carbon nanotubes. Image credit: Lei Shi / University of Vienna.

Route to Carbyne: Scientists Create Ultra-Long 1D Carbon Chains

Apr 9, 2016 by News Staff

An international team of researchers, led by Dr. Thomas Pichler from the University of Vienna, has presented a novel method to grow stable, ultra-long...

Reconstruction of a Neanderthal. Image credit: Neanderthal Museum.

Genetic Scientists Complete First Analysis of Neanderthal Y Chromosome

Apr 8, 2016 by Natali Anderson

Neanderthal Y-chromosome genes disappeared from the genome of modern humans long ago, suggests a new study published this week in the American Journal...

Scientists inserted a small molecule named coralyne into the DNA and were able to create a single-molecule diode, which can be used as an active element in future nanoscale circuits. Image credit: University of Georgia / Ben-Gurion University of the Negev.

Researchers Create World’s Smallest Diode

Apr 5, 2016 by Enrico de Lazaro

A single-molecule diode, the world’s smallest, has been created by a team of researchers from Ben-Gurion University of the Negev and the University of...

This artist’s concept depicts a super-Earth. Image credit: NASA / Ames / JPL-Caltech.

Salt Levels of Oceans on Earth-Like Exoplanets Could Have Major Effect on Their Climates

Apr 4, 2016 by News Staff

A new study published today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences reveals that the circulation in fresh water or salty oceans on terrestrial...

A close-up look at the transparent wood created by Dr. Lars Berglund and co-authors. Image credit: KTH Royal Institute of Technology.

Swedish Scientists Develop Optically Transparent ‘Wood’

Mar 31, 2016 by News Staff

A team of scientists at KTH Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm, Sweden, has developed transparent wood that could be used in building materials...

This is a map of Indonesia, the green circle shows the island of Flores. The inset shows facial approximation of LB1, female Homo floresiensis (Susan Hayes / Australian Archaeological Association)

Homo floresiensis May Have Disappeared Earlier than Thought

Mar 30, 2016 by Enrico de Lazaro

According to a multinational team of scientists, Homo floresiensis — a primitive hominin species discovered in the Late Pleistocene sediments at...

Neanderthal. Image credit: Neanderthal Museum.

Scientists Produce Map of Neanderthal, Denisovan Ancestry in Present-Day Humans

Mar 29, 2016 by Enrico de Lazaro

Dr. David Reich from Harvard Medical School and his colleagues have produced a world map of Denisovan and Neanderthal ancestry in 120 diverse populations....

‘Not’ faces. Image credit: Ohio State University.

Scientists Say ‘Not Face’ is Universal Part of Language

Mar 28, 2016 by News Staff

A team of scientists, led by Ohio State University cognitive researcher Prof. Aleix Martinez, has identified a universal facial expression that is interpreted...

Forensic facial reconstruction of another Australopithecus species - A. afarensis. Image credit: Cicero Moraes / CC BY-SA 3.0.

New Fossils of Australopithecus afarensis Found in Kenya

Mar 24, 2016 by Sergio Prostak

Fieldwork at the Pliocene site of Kantis, Kenya, has yielded fossilized teeth and forearm bone attributable to Australopithecus afarensis, a hominid species...

Geckos can stick to walls and ceilings because of Van der Waals forces. Image credit: Skitterphoto.

Physical Chemists Demonstrate Wave-Like Nature of Van der Waals Forces

Mar 21, 2016 by News Staff

According to an international team of physical chemists, led by University of Luxembourg researcher Prof. Alexandre Tkatchenko, intermolecular attractions...

Denisovans were probably dark-skinned, unlike the pale Neandertals. The picture shows a Neanderthal man. Image credit: Mauro Cutrona.

Denisovan DNA Found in Modern-Day Melanesians

Mar 18, 2016 by News Staff

Residents of the Pacific islands of Melanesia share fragments of genetic code with two early human species: Denisovans, whose remains were found in Siberia,...

This image shows ‘11:00 a.m.’ in a natural speech recording. Image credit: Simeon Floyd.

Study Uncovers Unusual Method of Communicating Human Concept of Time

Mar 17, 2016 by News Staff

Speakers of the Nheengatú language talk about time of day by pointing at where the Sun would be in the sky at that particular time, according to a study...

Sima de los Huesos hominins lived in what is now Spain about 400,000 years ago. Image credit: © Kennis & Kennis / Madrid Scientific Films.

Sima de los Huesos Hominins Were Actually Early Neanderthals, Say Anthropologists

Mar 15, 2016 by Enrico de Lazaro

The first analysis of nuclear DNA from Sima de los Huesos hominins, conducted by Dr. Matthias Meyer of the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology...

Neanderthals Ate Rhinos, Woolly Mammoths, and Plants

Mar 15, 2016 by Enrico de Lazaro

Neanderthals lived mainly on mammoth and rhino meat, as well as some plant food, says a team of researchers led by Prof. Hervé Bocherens from the University...