Other Sciences News

Vasas et al. show 3 male orange sulphurs (Colias eurytheme). These butterflies display strong angle-dependent UV iridescence on the dorsal side of their wings. The UV-iridescent portions appear more orange to the human observer than the otherwise yellow wings (see human-visible inset). The avian false color depiction (main image) is based on the coordinates of the receptor noise-limited (RNL) opponent space. Coordinates in this space represent differences in an animal’s photoreceptor responses, and the distances between the coordinates approximate the perceptual distances between the colors. The inset color key illustrates human-visible colors around the perimeter of a circle colored according to RNL coordinates, where UV colors start at the epicenter and mix with other colors. In this depiction, the UV-iridescent portions appear purple, because they most strongly reflect in the ultraviolet and the red part of the spectrum. The ventral part of the wings, visible when the animals are in their resting position, are depicted as gray-brown, just like the leaves, as they are close to the achromatic point. Image credit: Vasas et al., doi: 10.1371/journal.pbio.3002444.

Novel Camera System and Software Records Natural Animal-View Videos with Over 90% Accuracy

Jan 24, 2024 by News Staff

A new camera system and associated software package allows scientists to produce videos that accurately replicate the colors that different animals see...

Litman et al. show that ions and water molecules at the surface of most salt-water solutions, known as electrolyte solutions, are organized in a completely different way than traditionally understood. Image credit: Litman et al., doi: 10.1038/s41557-023-01416-6.

Water Molecules at Salt Water’s Surface Organized Differently than Previously Thought: Study

Jan 17, 2024 by News Staff

The distribution of ions at the air/water interface plays a decisive role in many natural processes. Several studies have reported that larger ions tend...

The portrait of Homo longi. Image credit: Cicero Moraes, doi: 10.6084/m9.figshare.24648591.

Face of Homo longi Reconstructed

Jan 15, 2024 by Sergio Prostak

A Brazilian anthropologist has reconstructed the face of the archaic human species Homo longi from a well-preserved skull discovered in northeastern China...

Xenon nanoclusters between two graphene layers, with sizes between two and ten atoms. Image credit: Manuel Längle.

Physicists Capture Direct Images of Noble Gas Nanoclusters at Room Temperature

Jan 11, 2024 by News Staff

Physicists have, for the first time, directly imaged small clusters of noble gas atoms at room temperature. This achievement opens up exciting possibilities...

An artist’s impression of a group of Gigantopithecus blacki within a forest in southern China. Image credit: Garcia / Joannes-Boyau, Southern Cross University.

Gigantopithecus Went Extinct between 295,000 and 215,000 Years Ago, New Study Says

Jan 10, 2024 by Sergio Prostak

Gigantopithecus blacki, the largest ever primate and one of the largest species of the southeast Asian megafauna, persisted in China from about 2 million...

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.

Scientists Identify Mechanism that Governs Interaction between Perceptual and Memory Neural Systems

Jan 2, 2024 by News Staff

The classic understanding of brain organization is that perceptual regions of the brain represent the world ‘as it is,’ with the brain’s visual cortex...

The colored plots illustrate neural activity recorded in mouse visual cortex (V1); each row of tick marks represents the spikes of a different neuron; researchers can predict the target side from the neural activity with near perfect accuracy, animal subjects get many masked trials wrong due to how brain regions downstream of V1 process this information. Image credit: Gale et al.

New Animal Study Sheds Light on ‘Visual Masking’ Phenomenon

Dec 28, 2023 by News Staff

A strange phenomenon called visual masking can reveal the timescale of perception, but the underlying mechanisms are not well understood. The colored plots...

The study sheds new light on the link between sleep deprivation and obesity. Image credit: Sweet Briar College.

Inadequate Sleep Impacts Our Daytime Emotional Lives, New Review Says

Dec 27, 2023 by News Staff

In a largely sleep-deprived society, quantifying the effects of sleep loss on emotion is critical for promoting psychological health. In a new systematic...

Map of Sahul showing the extent of the now-submerged continental shelf (dark gray), with the area of the Northwest Shelf demarcated by a dashed black box, and the present-day distribution of the Köppen climate groups (seasonal precipitation and temperature) showing the extent of modern-day Australia and New Guinea. The tropical distribution of Late Pleistocene sites containing early axe technology are shown as black circles, sites without early axe technology as gray circles, and sites demonstrating Late Pleistocene occupation of the now submerged continental shelves as white circles. Image credit: Peter Hiscock / Norman et al., doi: 10.1016/j.quascirev.2023.108418.

Up To Half Million People Once Lived on Now-Submerged Northwest Shelf of Sahul

Dec 20, 2023 by News Staff

The new-submerged Northwest Shelf of Sahul — the combined landmass of Australia and New Guinea at times of lower sea level — was a vast area...

This ancient brick from the Slemani Museum dates to the reign of Nebuchadnezzar II (ca. 604 to 562 BCE) based on the interpretation of the inscription; this object was looted from its original context before being acquired by the Slemani Museum and stored in that museum with agreement from the central government. Image credit: Howland et al., doi: 10.1073/pnas.2313361120.

Cuneiform-Inscribed Bricks Unveil Strength of Ancient Geomagnetic Field in Mesopotamia

Dec 19, 2023 by News Staff

Reconstructing the behavior of Earth’s magnetic field during archaeological periods is crucial for both achieving a better understanding of the field...

Transcriptomic cell-type taxonomy of the whole mouse brain. Image credit: Yao et al., doi: 10.1038/s41586-023-06812-z.

Researchers Create Comprehensive Map of Mouse Brain

Dec 18, 2023 by News Staff

The mouse is the most commonly used vertebrate experimental model in neuroscience research, and the new atlas paves the way for a greater understanding...

Sketch of a Rydberg molecule (a): the coordinates of the Rydberg electron (blue) and ground state atom (green) relative to the Rydberg core (red) are denoted with black arrows; the relevant spins are that of the Rydberg electron s1, the electron of the ground state atom s2 and the nuclear spin of the ground state atom I. Sketch of a trilobite molecule (b): the Rydberg core and the ground state atom are shown (with exaggerated size) as red and green spheres respectively; the electronic probability density projected to 2D is indicated by the density of blue dots. Image credit: Althön et al., doi: 10.1038/s41467-023-43818-7.

Physicists Observe Trilobite Rydberg Molecules

Dec 18, 2023 by News Staff

A team of physicists at the Rheinland-Pfälzische Technische Universität Kaiserslautern-Landau has produced pure trilobite molecules in rubidium over...

Velazquez-Arcelay et al. found that genetic material from Neanderthal ancestors may have contributed to the propensity of some people today to be early risers, the sort of people who are more comfortable getting up and going to bed earlier. Image credit: Holger Neumann / Neanderthal Museum.

Neanderthals Were Early Risers, New Research Suggests

Dec 14, 2023 by News Staff

When the ancestors of modern Eurasians migrated out of Africa and interbred with Eurasian archaic hominins, namely Neanderthals and Denisovans, DNA of...

Hoekstra et al. analyzed the instantaneous flight response of birds across habitats and distances to the synchronized discharging of fireworks throughout the Netherlands on New Year’s Eve. Image credit: Nick.

Fireworks on New Year’s Eve Trigger Strong Flight Responses in Bird Communities, Study Says

Dec 12, 2023 by News Staff

Fireworks are important elements of celebrations globally, but little is known about their effects on wildlife. In new research, scientists at the University...

Winter in Finland. Image credit: Andreas.

New Seismic Phenomenon Discovered: Frostquakes

Dec 12, 2023 by Enrico de Lazaro

Frostquakes are seismic events with frequencies of about 10-20 Hz and waveforms like those of tectonic events. They potentially can damage infrastructures...

The merger of two neutron stars is among the leading candidate sites for synthesizing the heavier elements on the periodic table through the r-process. Image credit: Matthew Mumpower, Los Alamos National Laboratory.

Ancient Stars were Capable of Producing Elements with Atomic Masses Greater than 260, Scientists Say

Dec 11, 2023 by News Staff

The rapid neutron capture process, or the so-called r-process, occurs in neutron-rich environments such as neutron star mergers or certain types of supernovae....

Reconstructed life appearance of the straight-tusked elephant Palaeoloxodon antiquus in (top) side and (bottom) frontal view, based on remains uncovered from the Neumark-Nord 1 site in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. Image credit: Hsu Shu-yu.

Straight-Tusked Elephant Exploitation Was Widespread among Neanderthals, Archaeologists Say

Dec 7, 2023 by News Staff

Archaeologists from MONREPOS, the Johannes Gutenberg University of Mainz and Leiden University have recently learned that around 125,000 years ago, hunting...

Harper et al. demonstrate that the addition of external water simultaneously suppresses surface charging and clumping of ground coffee and results in notably different flow dynamics in espresso formats, likely yielding markedly different taste profiles and more concentrated extracts. Image credit: Harper et al., doi: 10.1016/j.matt.2023.11.005.

Grinding Coffee with Addition of Water Reduces Static Electricity, Researchers Say

Dec 6, 2023 by News Staff

Coffee grinding produces large quantities of static charge due to both fracturing and rubbing. Charge causes particle aggregation and discharge, a familiar...

Global distribution of MSIs across 9,179 language varieties from the ASJP database. Color of dots represents the MSI of the language, with redder dots indicating higher and bluer dots indicating lower indices. The fill color of land areas represents the mean annual temperature. Image credit: Wang et al., doi: 10.1093/pnasnexus/pgad384.

Climate Plays Role in Shaping Evolution of Human Languages, New Study Reveals

Dec 5, 2023 by Enrico de Lazaro

Sounds of human languages can be affected by various factors of the natural environment. One such factor is the mean annual temperature. In new research,...