The implementation of clean energy suggests that China’s emissions could have reached their peak.

Posted on October 29, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

China has introduced solar power generation, and panels have been installed on North Barren Mountain in Zhangjiakou City.

Cost Photo/NurPhoto/Getty Images

With large-scale deployment of wind and solar power across China, the country's emissions could peak in 2023, potentially marking a historic turning point in the fight against climate change. be.

China's CO2 emissions hit a record high in 2023 as the Chinese economy recovers from the effects of the coronavirus pandemic. But since then, large amounts of wind and solar power have been added to the country's power grid, while emissions from the construction industry have declined.

China's carbon dioxide emissions remained flat from July to September 2024, after falling by 1% in the second quarter of this year, according to a new analysis. This means that overall emissions in 2024 could be flat or slightly down at 2023 levels.

This will be critical to tackling global climate change. Lauri Milivirta At the Center for Energy and Clean Air Research, a Finnish think tank. “For the past eight years, since the signing of the Paris Climate Agreement, China's emissions growth has been the main driver of global emissions,” he says.

In its climate change plan submitted to the United Nations, China pledged to peak greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 and achieve net-zero emissions by 2060. But experts warn. This plan is not very ambitious Given the large impact that China, the world's largest emitter, has on global climate change.

It's important for China to bring emissions to a peak as soon as possible, Millibilta said. “This would pave the way for the country to start reducing emissions much sooner than current commitments require,” he said. “This will have huge implications for global efforts to avoid catastrophic climate change.”

China is rushing to ramp up power supplies across the country to meet rapidly growing power demand. This demand increased by 7.2% year-on-year from July to September, due to rising living standards and increased demand for air conditioning due to the strong heat wave from August to September.

New renewable energy sources are being introduced at breakneck speed across China to fill the electricity demand gap. From July to September, compared to the same period in 2023, solar power generation increased by 44 percent and wind power generation increased by a whopping 24 percent. Based on the current trajectory, China's solar power growth this year will rival China's total annual electricity generation. Australia in 2023.

However, coal-fired power usage still increased by 2% and gas production increased by 13% from July to September in response to increased demand. This resulted in an overall 3% increase in CO2 emissions from China's power sector during this period. However, these were offset by a slowdown in the construction industry across China as real estate investment declined.

Oil demand also fell by 2% in the third quarter of this year, as electric vehicles continue to make up a larger share of China's car fleet. By 2030, almost one in three cars on China's roads will be expected to be electric.

Myllyvirta carried out an analysis of the website carbon briefs Uses official figures and commercial data. “If the rapid growth of clean energy is sustained, it will pave the way for sustainable emissions reductions,” he says.

However, he said that flat or declining emissions in 2024 were not guaranteed as government stimulus measures to boost the economy could cause emissions to rise in the last three months of the year. He warns that this does not mean that the Carbon emissions must fall by at least 2% in the last three months. He predicted that three months of this year will be below 2023 levels.

still Signals from the Chinese government It has signaled that the country's emissions are expected to continue rising until the end of the decade, which would use up the remaining global carbon budget by 1.5 degrees Celsius.

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Source: www.newscientist.com

UK uncovers ancient cockroach fossil from 180 million years ago

Posted on October 29, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

Paleontologists have described a new genus and species of Jurassic cockroach. alderblattina simsibased on an isolated wing discovered in Gloucestershire, England.

alderblattina simsi:(A) Dried specimen. (B) Specimen moistened with ethanol. Note the two subspherical spots (spots) on the wing tips and the prominent distal coloration. Scale bar – 1 mm. Image credit: Swaby others., doi: 10.1002/spp2.1598.

Open University palaeontologist Emily Swaby and colleagues from the Open University and National Museums of Scotland said: “Insects are the most diverse group of terrestrial organisms in the history of life, and have been fundamental to terrestrial ecosystems since the early Devonian period. It has become a major component.”

“Primarily detritivores (decomposers), cockroaches play an important role in nutrient cycling in ecosystems through the decomposition of organic matter and are an important food source for many predators, including birds, lizards, and other mammals. ”

“cockroach(Brat Dare) They are part of the superorder Diptera, beginning in the Bashkirian period (Carboniferous) and diversifying rapidly during the second half of the Moscow period and the penultimate Kasimov period of the Carboniferous period. ”

“Further diversification occurred during the Early and Middle Permian.”

“After the mass extinction at the end of the Permian period, cockroach numbers declined sharply, but they flourished again during the Triassic period.”

The newly described cockroach species lived during the Toarcian period of the Early Jurassic period, about 180 million years ago.

named alderblattina simsihad a relatively small size and distinct wing coloration.

“Color patterns in insects, including their wings, are interpreted to be primarily physiological adaptations, thought to be used to protect against predation and sexual signaling,” the paleontologists say. said.

“Today, cockroach species display a wide variety of color patterns, and their functions include communication, protection from predation, sexual signaling, and hardening of the epidermis.”

“alderblattina simsi It is the second cockroach species to have a distinct Toarcian wing coloration pattern. ”

assigned author alderblattina simsi It belongs to the cockroach family Rhipidoblattinidae.

“Alderblattina Shimshi “The presence of two distinct spherical spots on the forewings and the coloration of the wing tips are very different from all other Jurassic cockroaches,” the researchers said.

of Alderblattina Shimshi The fossil was collected by geologists in January 1984 Mike J. Sims.

The specimen was taken from Alderton Hill. whitby mudstone formation.

“We hypothesize that extreme environmental conditions are associated with this problem. Toarcian ocean anoxic phenomenon “Competition for resources and evolutionary changes in predators were promoted, resulting in the development of apothematic coloration in two insect orders at this time,” the researchers said.

“Alderblattina Shimshi This is the seventh valid member of the European Toalchian cockroach family and adds to our knowledge of the European Toalkian cockroach fauna. ”

“This unique specimen adds significance to the record of Mesozoic cockroach wing color patterns and provides important evidence to further understand the evolution of terminal color patterns in the suborder Cockroaches. ”

a paper The survey results were published in a magazine paleontology papers.

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Emily J. Swaby others. 2024. A new species of cockroach (Rhipidoblattinidae) that lived in the Toarcian (Late Jurassic period) of Alderton Hill, Gloucestershire, England. It is likely that aposematic coloration was the earliest to occur in cockroaches. paleontology papers 10 (5): e1598;doi: 10.1002/spp2.1598

Source: www.sci.news

Fossils from Mid-Devonian coral reefs shed light on early photosymbiosis evidence

Posted on October 28, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

The symbiotic relationship between corals and their photosynthetic partners, algae (photosymbionts), dates back to at least the Devonian period (385 million years ago), according to a new study.

Dendroid Porites Coral Dendrostella trigeum tab-shaped coral fragments Romerolite Brevis Riphaeus. Image credit: Chong others., doi: 10.1038/s41586-024-08101-9.

All modern corals belong to a group called scleractinians, which evolved during the Triassic period.

These corals may provide habitat for symbionts (such as photosymbionts) that play a role in nutrient recycling, which is especially beneficial in nutrient-poor waters.

However, it is not clear whether earlier extinct forms of coral had photosymbionts.

“The Devonian period (419 to 359 million years ago) was a time when sea surface temperatures and atmospheric carbon dioxide were higher than they are today,” said Jonathan Jung, a researcher at the Max Planck Institute for Chemistry, stated in their paper.

“Unlike today, its carbonate chemistry is dominated by calcite precipitation, likely due to the low magnesium-to-calcium ratio in seawater.”

“The Middle Devonian was the period of greatest expansion of metazoan reefs in the Phanerozoic era, and well-preserved reefs from this period span what is now Europe, North America, North Africa, Australia, Siberia, and China.” explained the researchers.

“In the Devonian period, these reefs bordered the lake seas on the southern margin of Lorsia and the northern boundary of Gondwana.”

“Along the southern margin of Lorsia, these ancient reef communities reached their greatest extent and highest diversity during the Givetian period of the Devonian period (approximately 387 to 382 million years ago).”

“These thriving metazoan coral reefs became diachronically extinct during the course of the Kerwasser crisis in the Late Fraznian (372.2 million years ago).”

“Then, coral reefs were built primarily by cyanobacteria/algae, which were present in very small numbers until the end of the Famenian period (Devonian-Carboniferous boundary).”

“The ability to host photosymbionts was paramount to the ecological success of ancient coral reef communities during the Givetian period, and the subsequent collapse of coral reefs in the Late Devonian was associated with a gradual loss of photosymbiotic relationships. It is suggested that

“However, there is still no clear consensus as to whether photosymbiosis was prevalent in now-extinct coral groups during the Paleozoic era.”

In their study, Dr. Jung and his co-authors examined fossils of two extinct reef coral groups from the mid-Devonian period: the tabula corals and the shibo corals.

They measured nitrogen isotopes bound to corals (¹⁵no/¹⁴N), can be used to distinguish whether corals obtain energy from photosynthetic symbionts.

Their results suggest that symbionts were present in the tabular corals they studied, but not in most civet corals.

This discovery provides definitive geochemical evidence of the oldest known example of symbiosis in corals.

“Wide-spread oligotrophy during the Devonian may have promoted coral photosymbiosis, and its occurrence may explain why Devonian reefs were the most productive reef ecosystems of the Phanerozoic.” the researchers wrote in their paper.

“These early signals of photosymbiosis in mid-Devonian corals indicate that it supported coral productivity under warm climate conditions.”

“The Late Triassic and Early Miocene (the subsequent period when coral photosymbiosis was reconstructed using nitrogen isotopes) were also warmer than today.”

“In contrast, under modern global warming caused by anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions, coral bleaching and associated mass mortality events are likely the greatest threat to the future of coral reefs, with the disruption of coral symbiosis due to warming.” It shows that there is.”

“The strength of coral photosymbiosis in past warm climates suggests that the failure of coral symbiosis under ongoing global warming will not be due to an increase in ocean surface temperatures reached, but rather an increase in ocean surface temperatures.” This shows that the rate of increase is greater than the adaptive capacity of the symbiotic relationship.

team's paper appear in the diary nature.

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J. Jung others. Coral photosymbiosis on mid-Devonian coral reefs. naturepublished online October 23, 2024. doi: 10.1038/s41586-024-08101-9

Source: www.sci.news

Webb’s discovery of brown dwarf candidates hints at first wealthy population outside of the Milky Way

Posted on October 28, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

Astronomers using the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope detected a population of 64 brown dwarf candidates with masses ranging from 50 to 84 Jupiter masses in the star cluster NGC 602.

This image of NGC 602 includes data from Webb's NIRCam (near-infrared camera) and MIRI (mid-infrared instrument) instruments. Image credits: NASA / ESA / CSA / Webb / P. Zeidler / E. Sabbi / A. Nota / M. Zamani, ESA & Webb.

NGC602 is a very young star cluster, about 200,000 light-years away in the constellation Hydra, about 2 to 3 million years old.

Also known as ESO 29-43, this star resides in the wings of the Small Magellanic Cloud.

NGC 602's local environment closely resembles that of the early Universe, with very low abundances of elements heavier than hydrogen and helium.

The presence of dark clouds of dense dust and the fact that the cluster is rich in ionized gas also suggests the presence of an ongoing star formation process.

Together with the associated HII region N90, which contains clouds of ionized atomic hydrogen, this cluster provides a rare opportunity to examine star formation scenarios under conditions dramatically different from those in the solar neighborhood.

Using Webb, Dr. Peter Zeidler and his colleagues at AURA and ESA were able to detect 64 brown dwarf candidates in NGC 602. This is the first rich population of brown dwarfs to exist outside the Milky Way.

“It is possible to detect objects at such great distances only with incredible sensitivity and spatial resolution in the right wavelength range,” Dr. Zeidler said.

“This has never been possible and will remain impossible from the ground for the foreseeable future.”

“So far, about 3,000 brown dwarfs are known, and they all live in our galaxy,” said Dr. Elena Mangiavakas, also from AURA and ESA.

“This discovery highlights the ability to use both Hubble and Webb to study young star clusters,” said Dr. Antonella Nota, executive director of the International Space Science Institute.

“Hubble showed that NGC 602 hosts very young, low-mass stars, but only Webb can conclusively confirm the extent and significance of substellar mass formation in this cluster. Hubble and Webb are an amazingly powerful telescope duo!”

“Our results are very consistent with the theory that the mass distribution of objects below the hydrogen burning limit is simply a continuation of the stellar distribution,” Dr. Zeidler said.

“They seem to form the same way, they just haven't accumulated enough mass to become full stars.”

NSF astronomer Dr. Elena Sabbi said, “Studying the newly discovered metal-poor young brown dwarfs in NGC 602 will shed light on how stars and planets formed under the harsh conditions in the early universe. We are getting closer to uncovering the secrets of this.” NOIRLab, University of Arizona, Space Telescope Science Institute.

“These are the first substellar objects outside the Milky Way,” Manjavakas said.

“We need to be prepared for new breakthrough discoveries in these new objects.”

of result will appear in astrophysical journal.

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peter zeidler others. 2024. A candidate for a subsolar metallic brown dwarf is discovered in the Small Magellanic Cloud. APJ 975, 18; doi: 10.3847/1538-4357/ad779e

Source: www.sci.news

How do microorganisms get ready for winter?

Posted on October 28, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

As the Earth continues its journey around the sun, plants and animals in the northern hemisphere prepare for the onset of autumn in September and the coming winter. Humans rely on calendars to tell us the seasons, but other creatures use changes in the weather and amount of sunlight to signal that winter is approaching. For example, long-lived trees often retain their leaves until the days get shorter, even if an early snowstorm signals the arrival of winter.

Plants and animals have complex proteins and sophisticated memories that allow them to decide when to prepare for cold weather. Bacteria and other microorganisms are also vulnerable to winter cold, so we need to prepare for harsher weather. However, because microorganisms have simple ecology and short lifespans, it is difficult to detect seasonal changes.

Some microorganisms can sense sunlight hours. A group of these microorganisms known as cyanobacteria can predict the beginning and end of your day. Cyanobacteria use three Kai proteins called KaiA, KaiB, and KaiC to track time by sensing the light and dark times of the day. photoperiod. A team of researchers at Vanderbilt University wanted to test whether cyanobacteria’s ability to sense photoperiods could also allow them to sense seasonal changes.

The scientists grew cyanobacterial cells on a nutrient-filled dish for eight days under varying photoperiods. Some cells grow in summer-like days with 16 hours of daylight, others grow in winter-like days with 8 hours of daylight, and some cells grow in winter-like days with 12 hours of mid-day light. The scientists took cells from each photoperiod condition and placed half of them in a bucket of ice at 32°F (0°C). The halves are placed in a closed, temperature-controlled chamber. incubator at 86°F (30°C) for 2 hours. Cells were then returned to the dish at 86°F (30°C) and left to grow for 5 days.

The scientists calculated the survival rate in each photoperiod condition by comparing the number of cells that could grow from an ice bucket and an incubator. They reasoned that if cells could recognize that shorter days meant winter was coming, they might become more tolerant of the cold and fewer would die in ice buckets. Scientists found that cyanobacterial cells grown under short photoperiods were two to three times better at surviving at freezing temperatures than cells grown under longer photoperiods.

The researchers also wanted to investigate whether the cold tolerance of cells grown in short photoperiods was due to a sense of photoperiod. So they removed the Kai protein from the cells and repeated the experiment. These cells had the same survival rate of approximately 35% regardless of the length of the photoperiod in which they were grown. By comparison, cells containing the Kai protein had a 75% survival rate when grown under winter photoperiods and 25% survival when grown under summer photoperiod conditions. The scientists concluded that these cyanobacteria sense the days getting shorter and respond by preparing for the colder weather.

Next, the scientists wanted to understand how cells prepare for cold weather. They knew that some cells can change the composition of fat in their cell walls to maintain their physical structure when the temperature drops. By chemically extracting the fats present inside the cells using chloroform, methanol, and water, the researchers investigated whether the same changes in cell wall fats occur in cyanobacteria grown under winter photoperiods. was tested. They measured the amount of different fats in the cells using a device called a mass spectrometer. Through this analysis, the scientists demonstrated that cyanobacteria grown under shorter photoperiods also increased the amount of fat in their cell walls that made them more cold resistant.

The researchers concluded that because cyanobacteria can sense seasonal changes, this ability probably evolved long ago and may be active in other microorganisms as well. The research team hopes that by studying cyanobacteria and their ability to sense photoperiods, scientists can learn more about how ancient organisms felt the seasons. Researchers say that because algae sense photoperiods and can threaten aquatic habitat during algal blooms, researchers are trying to understand the relationship between photoperiods and how algae adapt to the seasons. By understanding this, he suggested, it may be possible to control algal blooms and protect aquatic habitats.

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Source: sciworthy.com

Wellman from Norse Mythology identified as skeleton found in castle by scientists

Posted on October 28, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

For 800 years, he was the stuff of Norse legend.

Scientists have now revealed that skeletal remains discovered in a well at Norway’s Sverresborg Castle belong to a mysterious figure from medieval stories.

New findings using advanced DNA analysis and Published in iScience magazine On Friday, they will connect the body’s identity to a passage from a centuries-old Norse document called the Sveris Saga. It compiles various sources describing internal political struggles, or civil wars, in medieval Norway from 1130 to 1217.

Named after King Sverre Sigurdsson of Norway, the tale depicts the political conflict between the king and his arch-enemy, Eystein Erlensson, Archbishop of Nidaros.

According to this story, during a military attack in 1197 aimed at poisoning the local population’s main water source, the dead bodies, later known as the “Well Man,” were tossed into the well.

Little else is mentioned about the well man or his identity in the story.

Research project leader Mike Martin, a professor at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology, told NBC News that historians are often skeptical of the historical accuracy of events described in such stories.

“This story is a blend of historical fact, narrative, political propaganda, and Old Norse religion,” he stated in an email Monday.

However, Stephen Brink, from the Department of Anglo-Saxon, Nordic, and Celtic Studies at the University of Cambridge, noted that the Sveris Saga is considered one of the most reliable historical sources because it was written during and immediately after a period of political unrest. This led to better understanding in England. He was not part of the study.

Human bones belonging to ‘Wellman’ have been sorted and cataloged.
via iScience

Human bones were initially found in the castle’s well during renovation work in 1938, but due to the outbreak of World War II at the time, researchers could only carry out visual examinations.

The remains stayed in the well for another 80 years until excavations began in 2014, led by Anna Petersen of the Norwegian Institute for Cultural Heritage in Oslo.

By 2016, a complete skeleton was retrieved from the Sverresborg well in Trondheim, central Norway.

Recent scientific advancements have provided various advanced techniques to analyze human remains in more detail, including genetic sequencing and radiocarbon dating.

The human genome is about 99.6% similar. According to the National Institutes of Health (NIH), genetic variation accounts for only 0.4%.

The research team determined the genomic variation by extracting DNA from Wellman’s teeth, mandible, and maxilla.

“We had access to teeth during the COVID-19 pandemic, and research really picked up speed,” Professor Martin remarked. It took approximately six years in total to complete.

Experts suggest that this genetic research could offer insights into the remains discovered in previous archaeological excavations.

“This project demonstrates the significance of scientific archaeology, and the collaboration between archaeology and history, in today’s research, often resulting in remarkable findings like this one,” Brink remarked.

Excavation work at the site where 800-year-old ruins were discovered.
via iScience

Advancements in technology have allowed human bones to be linked to characters from Norse mythology, blurring the line between legendary myth and historical reality.

This is not the first instance where the skeletal remains of a character from a story have been uncovered.

Elizabeth Lowe, a professor of Scandinavian history at the University of Cambridge in the UK, highlights that Research published by Jesse L. Byock in 1995 presents a compelling argument for identifying the remains of the 10th-century Icelandic poet Egil Skallagrimsson, whose tale is recounted in the 13th-century Egil Saga.

Source: www.nbcnews.com

Eating pistachios every day could help safeguard your vision

Posted on October 26, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

Dietary treatments with pistachios, a bioavailable source of xanthophyll lutein, are effective in increasing macular pigment optical density (MPOD) in healthy adults, according to a new study from Tufts University and Tufts Medical Center. has been announced.

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

Lutein and zeaxanthin are dietary xanthophylls, a type of carotenoid most commonly found in vegetables and fruits, with green and yellow vegetables being particularly rich sources.

These compounds cross the blood-brain barrier and accumulate exclusively in the macular region of the human retina, where they are called macular pigments.

Pistachios are the only nut that contains large amounts of lutein and zeaxanthin, but unlike eggs, they only contain lutein.

However, like eggs, pistachios provide a source of fat, primarily as monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats, and therefore may be a highly bioavailable source of lutein.

“Our research shows that pistachios are not only a nutritious snack, but may also have significant eye health benefits,” said Dr. Tammy Scott, a research and clinical neuropsychologist at Tufts University. The results are showing.”

“This is especially important as people age and the risk of visual impairment increases.”

In a randomized controlled trial, eating 2 ounces (57 grams) of pistachios per day as part of a regular diet for 12 weeks significantly reduced otherwise healthy middle-aged people compared to eating just their regular diet. MPOD was shown to increase significantly in the elderly. .

They also found that pistachio consumption almost doubled the participants' daily lutein intake and significantly increased plasma levels.

“Incorporating a handful of pistachios into your diet can improve your intake of lutein, which is important for eye protection,” says Dr. Scott.

“Pistachios provide a source of healthy fat, and lutein from pistachios may be more readily absorbed into the body.”

“Pistachios provided approximately 1.6 mg of lutein, which is enough to double the average daily intake of U.S. adults for lutein, a type of plant pigment known as xanthophylls.”

Lutein, found in pistachios, not only supports eye health but may also benefit brain function.

“Because lutein crosses the blood-brain barrier, it may help reduce oxidative stress and inflammation,” said Tufts University researcher Elizabeth Johnson, Ph.D.

“Similar to the eyes, lutein selectively accumulates in the brain and may play a role in attenuating cognitive decline.”

“Research suggests that higher levels of lutein improve cognitive abilities such as memory and processing speed, making pistachios an invaluable addition to diets aimed at supporting healthy aging overall. It is a great addition.”

of study On October 17, 2024, nutrition journal.

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Tammy M. Scott others. Pistachio consumption increases macular pigment optical density in healthy adults: a randomized controlled trial. nutrition journalpublished online October 17, 2024. doi: 10.1016/j.tjnut.2024.10.022

Source: www.sci.news

DNA analysis confirms the identity of ‘Wellman’ skeleton with an 800-year-old Norwegian tale

Posted on October 26, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

Complete skeletal remains of “Wellman”

Eiji Hojem, NTNU University Museum

Researchers now believe they have identified the remains of a Norwegian story written more than 800 years ago that depicts a dead man being thrown into a castle well.

The Sverris Saga is a 182-section Old Norse document that records the exploits of King Sverre Sigurdsson, who came to power in the late 12th century. In one section, it is said that rival clans who attacked Sveresborg Castle near Trondheim, Norway, “took the dead, threw them into a well, and buried them with stones.”

The well was located within the castle walls and was the only permanent source of water for the area. It has been speculated that the man thrown into the well in this story may have been suffering from a disease, and that throwing him into the well may have been an early act of biological warfare.

In 1938, part of a medieval well in the ruins of Sveresborg Castle was drained, and a skeleton was discovered beneath the rubble and rocks at the bottom. The skeleton, known as “Wellman,” was widely believed to be the remains of the person mentioned in the story, but it was impossible to confirm that at the time.

now, Anna Petersen Researchers at the Norwegian Institute for Cultural Heritage in Oslo used radiocarbon dating and DNA analysis of the remains' teeth to show that the range of dates in which the man was alive is consistent with the castle raid. . Although it's not conclusive proof that the man is the person mentioned in the story, “circumstantial evidence is consistent with this conclusion,” Pellersen said.

The Well Man's skeleton was discovered in 1938

Riksantikvaren (Norwegian Directorate General for Cultural Heritage)

Additionally, the team was able to further enrich the story. “The investigation we conducted uncovered many details about both the incident and the person that were not mentioned in the story episode,” Petersen said.

For example, DNA suggests he likely had blue eyes and blonde or light brown hair. Researchers also believe, based on comparisons with modern and ancient Norwegian DNA,
that his ancestors came from Vest Agder County, in what is now the southernmost tip of Norway.

What they couldn't find was any evidence that the men were thrown into the well because they were sick or to make drinking water unavailable, but no evidence to the contrary. can't be found, and the question remains unanswered.

michael martin The researchers at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology in Trondheim say their approach of matching historical documents with DNA evidence will help them build family trees of long-deceased royal families and “physically reveal life stories such as movements.” He states that it may also be applicable to “describing and drawing schematically.” Anonymous people whose remains were recovered from archaeological excavations across geographic regions. ”

Researchers collected DNA from one of the skeleton's teeth

Norwegian Institute of Cultural Heritage (NIKU)

“To my knowledge, this is the earliest instance in which genomic information has been recovered from a specific person, or even a specific person, described in an ancient text,” Martin said.

He says generating genomic information from ancient skeletons can provide new details about a person. “These details are not included in the original text, so genetic data enriches the story and provides a way to separate fact from fiction,” Martin says.

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Source: www.newscientist.com

Fossil of a large Metatherian mammal discovered in Colorado

Posted on October 25, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

Paleontologists have recovered a fossilized jaw fragment and three isolated bones from a relatively large (by Late Cretaceous standards) new species of Metatheria in the Williams Fork Formation of northwestern Colorado, USA. Found a tooth.

artist’s depiction Heleochora piceanus In a Late Cretaceous wetland. Image credit: Brian Engh / LivingRelicProductions.com / Utah Natural History Field House.

” Metatheria “[Marsupials and their closest fossil relatives]consist of about 330 extant species in seven orders, most of which live in the Southern Hemisphere,” said Jaylin Eberle, a professor at the University of Colorado Boulder. said.

“However, this clade appears to have originated in the Northern Hemisphere during the Early Cretaceous.”

“By the end of the Cretaceous period, Metatheria had dispersed across Europe, Asia, and North America, and were more diverse and numerous than their contemporaneous eutherians.”

“Most of the Late Cretaceous Metatheria species are represented almost exclusively by isolated teeth and jaws recovered from fossil localities in the interior western United States.”

The fossilized remains of a new species of Metatherian have been discovered. williams fork formation It is located in Douglas Creek Arch between the Uintah and Piance Creek basins in northwestern Colorado.

named Heleochora piceanusThis animal lived approximately 70 to 75 million years ago (late Cretaceous period), a time when a vast inland sea covered much of the American West.

Weighing about 1 kg (2 lb), it was larger than most Late Cretaceous mammals.

Based on the tooth, Heleochora piceanus They probably ate plants mixed with insects and other small animals.

It coexisted with creatures such as turtles, duck-billed dinosaurs, and giant crocodiles.

“This area could have been similar to Louisiana,” says Dr. Rebecca Hunt-Foster, a paleontologist at Dinosaur National Monument.

“We see a lot of animals like sharks, rays and guitarfish that are very happy in the water.”

“Colorado is a great place to find fossils, but mammals from this era tend to be quite rare,” Eberle says.

“So it’s really amazing to see this piece of time preserved in Colorado.”

“Compared to much larger dinosaurs that lived at the time, such as Tyrannosaurus and its horned ancestors, triceratopsColorado’s newest fossil addition may seem small and insignificant. However, it was surprisingly large for a mammal of its time. ”

This finding is reported in the following article: paper in a diary PLoS ONE.

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J. Hebert others. 2024. A new Late Cretaceous Metatherian discovered from the Williams Fork Formation in Colorado. PLoS ONE 19 (10): e0310948;doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0310948

Source: www.sci.news

Silk hydrogel battery could power pacemakers in mice

Posted on October 25, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

A small soft lithium-ion battery made from water droplets

oxford university

SEI 2269283401 — A small soft lithium-ion battery made from water droplets

oxford university

The smallest soft lithium-ion battery ever made consists of just three tiny droplets formed from a silk-based hydrogel. Droplet batteries can provide pacemaker-style control and deliver defibrillator shocks to beating mouse hearts, but could eventually be used in biomedical implants and wearable electronics for humans. It may supply electricity.

“Potentially, our small battery could be used as an implantable microrobotic battery, which could be moved to a target location by a magnetic field and release its energy for treatment.” . Yuka Zhang at Oxford University.

Zhang and colleagues designed the small battery as three connected droplets that can self-assemble in solution after injecting various components into the liquid with a microsyringe. One droplet contains lithium manganese oxide particles and serves as the battery's negative electrode. The second droplet contains lithium titanate particles and serves as the positive electrode. A central droplet filled with lithium chloride separates these electrodes. UV light energizes the battery by breaking down the layers that separate each droplet, allowing lithium ions to flow freely between the droplets.

Droplet batteries are one-tenth the length of traditional soft lithium-ion batteries. At just 600 micrometers, it is about six times as wide as a human hair. The battery is also 1000 times smaller in volume than similar flexible lithium-ion batteries. The central droplet can also incorporate magnetic nickel particles, allowing the battery to be controlled remotely via an external magnetic field.

Such a small battery also provides an unprecedented amount of energy considering its small size. Wei Gao at the California Institute of Technology. “This energy density is significantly higher than what has been achieved with other similarly sized batteries,” he says.

The droplet battery was tested on a mouse heart removed from the animal's body. These successfully functioned as defibrillators to restore normal heartbeats and as pacemakers to regulate heartbeats. Additional testing showed that the battery retained 77% of its original capacity after 10 charge/discharge cycles.

The simplicity and scalability of such droplet batteries could be a potential advantage over traditional battery manufacturing in the future, Gao said. He suggested that such batteries could power minimally invasive biomedical implants and biodegradable medical devices.

“What impressed me most is how this soft battery mirrors the aqueous environment of human tissue by being hydrogel-based,” Gao says. “However, we still need to consider the safety and biocompatibility of the materials used in this battery, especially as we move towards commercialization and further research applications.”

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Source: www.newscientist.com

Uncover Your True Biological Age with This Straightforward Balance Test

Posted on October 25, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

When it comes to balancing on one foot, it may seem like a simple task, but it could actually indicate more than you think. Recent research suggests that struggles with balance could be a sign of accelerated aging in the body.

Scientists at the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota have discovered that the ability to balance on one leg can reveal the rate of aging in the neuromuscular sensory system, particularly in older individuals.

This sensory system, comprised of nerves connecting muscles to the brain and spinal cord, plays a crucial role in facilitating movement. Its decline with age can lead to slower reflexes and movements.

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“Balancing on one leg involves various physiological components like leg strength, postural stability muscles, neuromuscular coordination, and sensory information, all of which tend to decrease with age,” explained Professor David Proctor, an aging and exercise expert at Pennsylvania State University in the US. This information was reported by BBC Science Focus.

Preventing or slowing down the decline in strength and balance as we age can significantly impact one’s ability to stay functionally independent in the long term.

The study involved 40 participants aged between 50 and 80, who were assessed on their ability to balance on one leg. Despite similar height, weight, and activity levels, age was the only differing factor among the participants.

Each participant performed four 30-second balances with eyes closed and eyes open for both legs. The researchers recorded the duration of balance maintained within each 30-second interval to evaluate the impact of age on balance.

The results indicated a direct correlation between age and trembling, with a 6.3% increase in tremors with eyes open and a 10.5% increase with eyes closed for every decade of age. Additionally, the time spent balancing decreased by 2.2 seconds per decade on the non-dominant leg and 1.7 seconds on the dominant leg.

This suggests that balance duration is a valid marker of aging and a potential indicator of fall risk in older adults.

Although balancing for 30 seconds may not require significant muscle strength, it heavily relies on good neuromuscular control, which diminishes with age, leading to increased sway and reduced balancing time.

Fortunately, research highlights the benefits of balance and aerobic exercises like swimming, running, and cycling in preventing age-related decline in balance and muscle control.

About our experts

Dr. David Proctor, a professor at Pennsylvania State University, USA, specializes in kinesiology, physiology, and medicine. His research has been featured in various scientific journals.

read more:

Source: www.sciencefocus.com

The latest record-breaking prime number takes 237 days to read.

Posted on October 25, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

Excitement in the world of mathematics has been sparked by a significant discovery. The previous record for the largest prime number has been surpassed.

A prime number is only divisible by 1 and itself. For example, 23 is a prime number. Dividing by 1 results in 23, dividing by 23 gives 1, but dividing by any other number does not give an integer.

The new prime number is 2^136,279,841-1 (known as M136279841). This prime number has a length of 41,024,320 digits, which is 16 million digits more than the previous record holder. It would take 237 days to fully read M136279841 if you read two digits per second.

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Additionally, this new prime number is a Mersenne prime, which is a special type of prime number of the form 2^P-1. M136279841 is the 52nd Mersenne prime number discovered so far.

The discovery of M136279841 was the most challenging Mersenne Prime to date. It was found using free software from the Great Internet Mersenne Prime Search (GIMPS) by 2-year-old Luke Durant, a 36-year-old volunteer, using a graphics processing unit (GPU) supercomputer.

This achievement earned Durant a $3,000 prize, which he will donate to the Alabama School of Mathematics and Science.

While the discovery of prime numbers may seem like a recreational pursuit, Mersenne primes, in particular, are of significant interest to mathematicians like Sophie MacLean, a PhD student in analytical number theory at King’s College London. MacLean is fascinated by the rarity and complexity of Mersenne primes and is eager to explore more about them.

About our experts

Sophie MacLean is a PhD student in analytical number theory and additive combinatorics at King’s College London. She has lectured at the Royal Institution and Cheltenham Science Festival and published videos on the Numberphile YouTube channel.

read more

Source: www.sciencefocus.com

New research indicates that El Niño Southern Oscillation has been around for at least 250 million years

Posted on October 25, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

The El Niño Southern Oscillation, characterized by irregular shifts between unusually warm (El Niño) and cold (La Niña) conditions, has existed for at least 250 million years and is often of increasing magnitude, according to a new report. It is said that it has grown bigger. Studying modeling.

The El Niño Southern Oscillation, which occurs in the central and eastern equatorial Pacific Ocean, is a characteristic mode of interannual climate change and has significant impacts on the Earth's climate and ecosystems. Image credit: Li others., doi: 10.1073/pnas.2404758121.

Climate scientists are studying the El Niño phenomenon. That's because El Niño, a huge patch of unusually warm water on either side of the equator in the eastern Pacific Ocean, alters the jet stream and can dry out the northwest United States and soak the southwest with extreme rain.

The corresponding cold mass, La Niña, could push the jet stream northward, drying out the southwestern United States while also causing drought in East Africa and making South Asia's monsoon season more intense.

“Each experiment confirms an active El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO), most of which are stronger than the current one, some of which are somewhat stronger, and some of which are slightly stronger,” said Dr. Shinen Hu of Duke University.

Hu and his colleagues used the same climate modeling tools used by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) to project climate change into the future, except they looked back in time.

This simulation is so computationally intensive that researchers were unable to model it continuously every year for 250 million years. Instead, they made 10 million year “slices” – 26 of them.

“The model experiments were affected by various boundary conditions, including differences in land-sea distribution (on different continents), differences in solar radiation, and differences in carbon dioxide,” Dr. Hu said.

Each simulation was run over thousands of model years for robust results and took several months to complete.

“At times in the past, the amount of solar radiation reaching Earth was about 2% lower than it is today, but global warming carbon dioxide was much more abundant, and the atmosphere and oceans were much more dense than they are today. It was very warm,” Dr. Hu said.

During the Mesozoic Era, 250 million years ago, South America was located in the middle of the supercontinent Pangea, and an oscillation occurred in the Panthalas Ocean to its west.

Current research shows that historically the two most important variables in ENSO magnitude appear to be the ocean's thermal structure and the “atmospheric noise” of ocean surface winds.

“Previous studies have mainly focused on ocean temperatures, but this study has paid less attention to surface winds, which appear to be very important,” Dr. Hu said.

“So part of the point of our research is that in addition to the thermal structure of the ocean, we also need to pay attention to atmospheric noise and understand how those winds change. .”

“Atmospheric noise, or wind, can act to give this pendulum a random kick.”

“We find that both factors are important in understanding why El Niño was much stronger than it is now.”

“If we want to make more reliable predictions of the future, we first need to understand the past climate.”

of study Published in this week's Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

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Shan Li others. 2024. El Niño Southern Oscillation has been active continuously since the Mesozoic era. PNAS 121 (45): e2404758121;doi: 10.1073/pnas.2404758121

Source: www.sci.news

Astrophysicists discover that black hole-hosting binary star V404 Cygnus is part of a triple system

Posted on October 25, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

V404 Cygnus, an X-ray binary star that hosts a low-mass black hole, has a wide echelon with a tertiary companion at least 3,500 astronomical units (AU) away from the inner binary, according to MIT astrophysicists. It is said to be part of a triple star.

V404 SIGNI. Image credit: Verge others., doi: 10.1038/s41586-024-08120-6.

V404 Cygni is located approximately 7,800 light-years away in the constellation Cygnus.

This system first attracted attention more than 80 years ago, during the 1938 nova explosion.

Another eruption occurred in 1989 and was discovered by the Japanese X-ray satellite Ginga and high-energy instruments aboard the Mir space station.

The 1989 explosion, known as Nova Cygnus 1989, was pivotal in the study of black holes.

Until then, astronomers had known of only a handful of objects that could be black holes, and V404 Cygnus was one of the most likely candidates.

V404 Cygnus is known to host a central stellar-mass black hole in the act of consuming a small star that spirals very close to the black hole every 6.5 days. This is a configuration similar to most binary star systems.

But new research suggests there's a second star orbiting the black hole, albeit much further away.

“Most black holes are thought to be formed by violent explosions of stars, but this discovery helps cast doubt on that,” said Kevin Burge, a researcher at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Ta.

“This system is very interesting for the evolution of black holes, and also raises the question of whether triples exist.”

Artist's impression of V404 Cygnus: The central black hole (black dot) is consuming a nearby star (orange object on the left), while the second star (white flash at the top) is far away orbiting a distance of Image credit: Jorge Lugo.

Burge and his colleagues estimate that the third companion star orbits the V404 Cygnus black hole every 70,000 years.

The fact that black holes appear to exert a gravitational pull on distant objects raises questions about the origins of black holes themselves.

Black holes are thought to be formed by violent explosions of dying stars. This is a process known as a supernova, in which a star releases a huge amount of energy and light in one final burst before collapsing into an invisible black hole.

But the team's findings suggest that if the newly observed black hole had originated from a typical supernova, the energy released before it collapsed would have kicked loosely bound objects around it. It suggests that it might have been.

So the second outer star shouldn't be hanging around yet.

Instead, the authors believe that the V404 Cygnus black hole formed through a more gentle process of direct collapse, in which the star simply collapsed and formed the black hole without a final, dramatic flash. I think it might be.

Such a benign origin poses little impediment to loosely bound, distant objects.

Because V404 Cygnus contains a very distant star, this suggests that the black holes in this system were born through a more gradual, direct collapse.

And while astronomers have observed more violent supernovae for centuries, this triple system may be the first evidence of a black hole formed from this more gentle process.

In addition to providing clues about the black hole's origin, the outer star also revealed the age of the system.

Astrophysicists observed that the outer star happened to be in the process of becoming a red giant, a stage that occurs at the end of a star's life.

Based on this star's evolution, they determined that the outer star was about 4 billion years old.

Considering that the neighboring stars were born at about the same time, they conclude that the components of the binary star are also 4 billion years old.

“This has never been done before with old black holes,” Dr. Burge says.

“Thanks to this discovery, we now know that V404 Cygnus is part of a triple star. It may have formed by direct collapse, and it formed about 4 billion years ago.”

of findings Published in this week's magazine nature.

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KB barge others. The black hole low-mass X-ray binary V404 Cygnus is part of a wide triple. naturepublished online October 23, 2024. doi: 10.1038/s41586-024-08120-6

Source: www.sci.news

Ancient Christian Church Unearthed in Armenia after 1,600 Years

Posted on October 25, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

Armenian archaeologists have discovered the remains of an early Christian church in the ruins of the ancient city of Artaxata.

Preliminary reconstruction of the early Christian church of Artaxata. Image credit: Armenian-German Arttaxata project.

ArtaxataThe main city of ancient Armenia, also known as Artashat, served as the capital of the Kingdom of Armenia from its founding in 176 BC to 120 AD.

Founded during the reign of Artaxias I (Artashes), the city is located on the left bank of the Arax River, in modern-day Ararat province of Armenia.

Artaxata was destroyed and rebuilt several times between the 1st and 5th centuries AD, but was eventually abandoned.

“According to legend, Gregory the Enlightener converted the Armenian king Tiridates III to Christianity at Artaxata in 301 AD, making Armenia the first Christian state in the world,” said Professor Achim Lichtenberger, an archaeologist at the University of Münster. said the colleague.

“The medieval monastery of Khor Villap, located very close to the newly discovered church, is a reminder of this tradition.”

“Artaxata served as the capital of the Armenian kingdom ruled by the Artaxiads and Arsacusids.”

“The city developed into an important metropolis during the Hellenistic period and was the capital of the Kingdom of Armenia for almost six centuries.”

Early Christian churches were built on stately columns. Image credit: Armenian-German Arttaxata project.

The newly discovered Christian church is an octagonal building with a cross-shaped extension.

The building was approximately 30 meters in diameter and was simply constructed with mortar floors and terracotta tiles.

Marble imported from the Mediterranean was also used lavishly.

Professor Lichtenberger and his colleagues from the National Academy of Sciences of Armenia and the University of Münster discovered the remains of a wooden platform in an extension approximately 30 meters in diameter, which they radiocarbonly date to the mid-4th century AD. .

“The fourth-century building is the oldest archaeologically recorded church in the country and is sensational evidence of early Christianity in Armenia,” Professor Lichtenberger said.

Dr. Mukrtich Zardarian, an archaeologist at the Armenian National Academy of Sciences, said: “Octagonal churches were previously unknown here, but we are well-known in the Eastern Mediterranean region, where they first appeared in the 4th century AD. I did,” he added.

“Typologically, this find corresponds to an early Christian monument.”

The researchers said, “We plan to continue the excavation and hope to make new discoveries, including the question of who this church was dedicated to.''

Source: www.sci.news

Carbon emissions are rising at a quicker rate than pre-pandemic levels

Posted on October 24, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

Greenhouse gas emissions are still on the rise

Weisen Hayashi/Getty Images

As the world emerges from lockdowns caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, many countries are seeking climate-friendly solutions as recovery efforts are expected to accelerate global progress towards net-zero emissions. He promised to rebuild the economy. In fact, the opposite is happening.

Instead of a “green recovery”, global greenhouse gas emissions are now increasing at a much faster pace than in the decade before the global pandemic. Emissions increased by 1.3 percent in 2023, reaching 57.1 gigatonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent. This is a much faster annual growth rate than the decade from 2010 to 2019, when emissions increased by an average of 0.8 percent per year. In fact, global greenhouse gas emissions are currently just below the peak of 59.1 gigatonnes recorded in 2019.

According to one report, all sources of greenhouse gas emissions except land use are increasing. report Support from the United Nations Global Environment Program (UNEP) as the economy continues to recover from COVID-19. Emissions from road transport, leaks from oil and gas infrastructure such as pipelines, and industrial emissions all rose rapidly in 2023, with emissions from aviation increasing by 19.5%, according to UNEP.

Rising emissions mean the world’s opportunities to avoid catastrophic climate change are shrinking. inger anderson UNEP said in a statement. “The climate crisis is here,” she said. “I ask all citizens, please stop the heat.”

Since 2015, countries have jointly pledged to limit global warming to as close to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels as possible, but current national targets are far from meeting that goal. Given countries’ current commitments, the world is on track for 2.6°C to 2.8°C of warming, and this situation will remain largely unchanged from 2022.

Countries are expected to submit new national climate plans by February ahead of the COP30 climate conference in Brazil in November. Plans must spell out in detail how countries will reduce emissions between now and 2035.

Mr Anderson said it was important for countries to develop bolder plans to reduce emissions and they needed to start now. He added that while the 1.5°C target is still technically achievable, it is becoming increasingly likely to be achieved. “Even if global temperatures rise above 1.5°C, and the possibility of that happening increases every day, we must continue to strive for a net-zero, sustainable and prosperous world. “No,” Anderson said.

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Source: www.newscientist.com

Recent research indicates that Betelgeuse may actually be a binary star

Posted on October 24, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

Betelgeuse, also known as Alpha Orionis or Alpha Ori, is the second closest red supergiant star to Earth. From November 2019 to March 2020, the star experienced a historic diminution in visible brightness. Its apparent magnitude is usually between 0.1 and 1, but around February 7-13, 2020, its visual brightness decreased to magnitude 1.6. This event is called the Great Fading of Betelgeuse. A new study shows that the observed dimming is probably caused by an invisible companion star orbiting Betelgeuse. The companion, named Alpha Ori B, or Betelbuddy, acts like a snowplow as it orbits Betelgeuse, pushing light-blocking dust out of the way and making Betelgeuse appear temporarily brighter.

Graphic depiction of Betelgeuse and Betel Buddy. Image credit: Lucy Reading-Ikanda/Simons Foundation.

Betelgeuse, the second brightest star in the constellation Orion, is an 8 million-year-old red supergiant star about 724 light-years from Earth.

With a radius about 1,400 times larger than the Sun, Betelgeuse is one of the largest known stars.

It is also one of the brightest stars known, emitting more light than 100,000 suns.

The star is nearing the end of its life, and when it explodes, the event will be bright enough to be visible during the day for several weeks.

Astronomers can predict when Betelgeuse will explode by effectively “checking the pulse.”

This is a variable star, meaning it brightens and dims, pulsating like a heartbeat.

Betelgeuse has two heartbeats. One pulsates on a timescale of slightly longer than a year, and the other on a timescale of about 6 years.

One of these heartbeats is Betelgeuse's fundamental mode, a pattern of brightening and dimming unique to the star itself.

If a star's fundamental mode is its long-scale pulse, Betelgeuse could be ready to explode sooner than expected.

However, if the fundamental mode is that short-scale heartbeat, as some studies have suggested, then that longer heartbeat is a phenomenon called long secondary period.

In that case, this long brightening and dimming would be caused by something outside the star.

Scientists still don't know exactly what causes the long secondary period, but one leading theory is that the star has a companion star orbiting it and flying through the cosmic dust produced and ejected by the star. A secondary period occurs when the

The displaced dust changes the amount of starlight that reaches Earth, changing the star's apparent brightness.

Astrophysicist Jared Goldberg of the Flatiron Institute and his colleagues are investigating whether other processes, such as stirring inside the star or periodic changes in the star's strong magnetic field, could have caused the long secondary periods. was investigated.

After combining data from direct observations of Betelgeuse with sophisticated computer models that simulate the star's activity, the researchers concluded that Betelgeuse was the most likely explanation.

“We've eliminated all possible inherent variables as to why it brightens and dims the way it does,” Dr. Goldberg said.

“The only hypothesis that seems compatible is that Betelgeuse has a companion star.”

The authors have not yet determined exactly what Betelbadi is, but they assume it is a star with up to twice the mass of the Sun.

“Other than giving us constraints on mass and orbit, it's hard to say what the companion star actually is,” said Dr. Meridith Joyce, an astronomer at the University of Wyoming.

“A Sun-like star is the most likely type of companion star, but it's not definitive.”

Next, the team will try to take images of Bethelvadi with telescopes, as visibility may open around December 6, 2024.

“Since our results are based on inference rather than direct detection, we need to confirm that Betelbadi actually exists,” said Dr. László Molnár, an astronomer at the Konkoli Observatory.

“So we are currently working on an observation proposal.”

of findings will appear in astrophysical journal.

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Jared A. Goldberg others. 2024. Betelgeuse's companion: Binary stardom as the origin of Alpha Orionis' long secondary period. APJin press. arXiv: 2408.09089

Source: www.sci.news

New Insights into the Evolution of Flight from Microraptor Dinosaur Footprints

Posted on October 24, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

The trajectories of theropod dinosaurs could be used as indirect evidence of pre-avian aerial behavior, according to a new study.

The animals in charge are Dromaeosauriformipes larus Trucks are thought to be small microraptid dinosaurs related to the ancestors of birds. Image credit: Julius Csotonyi.

In the study, University of Maryland paleontologist Thomas Holtz Jr. and his colleagues examined two-toed footprints made by fast-moving, small, bird-like microraptid dinosaurs.

with scientific name Dromaeosauriformipes larus these footprints are almost 100 million years old (Cretaceous period) and were discovered preserved in rock slabs in Korea.

“This guy is lanky. He's one of the smallest dinosaurs we have fossils of,” Holtz said.

“These footprints were a puzzle because they were so small and so far apart.”

Paleontologists believe that the producers Dromaeosauriformipes larus It's not just about running on land.

The animal gained lift by flapping its winged arms, allowing it to move faster than relying solely on leg strength.

This form of exercise, known as flap running, falls somewhere between running and flying.

This generates enough aerodynamics to lift the animal off the ground in one go, allowing it to run up a tree, for example, but stops short of flying at full power.

Microraptors are cousins, but Velociraptor And it is unknown whether it is a modern bird Dromaeosauriformipes larus You will be able to fly for longer periods of time.

Trajectory of a Microraptorian theropod excavated from the Jinju Formation in Korea. Image credit: Dececchi others., doi: 10.1073/pnas.2413810121.

“We can overcome the debate over whether pre-avian dinosaurs used arms for locomotion before flight evolved and provide missing details such as which species had these abilities, when they developed them, and to what extent. We can now begin to find out,” he said. Michael Pittman is a paleontologist at the Chinese University of Hong Kong.

“Our findings show that Dromaeosauriformipes larus “It would have needed to run at about 10.5 meters per second (23.5 miles per hour) to make the track using just the power of its hind legs,” said paleontologist Dr. Alex DeCecchi of Dakota State University.

“The relative speed of our footprints is faster than that of modern running animals such as ostriches and cheetahs.”

“This is also unlikely, so we think the dinosaur could have used the aerodynamics created by flapping its feathered arms to lengthen its stride, creating a slower trajectory.”

“The footprints also suggest that the raptor was in the midst of taking off or landing,” Holtz said.

“It's like a plane descending, bouncing a little bit on the runway, and then slowing down.”

“Microraptors, capable of powered flight, were less sophisticated than modern birds in terms of flight equipment. They would have been relatively clumsy.”

of result Published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

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T. Alexander Dececchi others. 2024. Theropod trajectories as indirect evidence of pre-avian aerial behavior. PNAS 121 (44): e2413810121;doi: 10.1073/pnas.2413810121

Source: www.sci.news

Google tools simplify the detection of posts generated by AI

Posted on October 23, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

The probability that one word follows another can be used to create watermarks for AI-generated text.

Vikram Arun/Shutterstock

SEI 226766255 — The probability that one word follows another can be used to create watermarks for AI-generated text.

Vikram Arun/Shutterstock

Google uses artificial intelligence watermarks to automatically identify text generated by its Gemini chatbot, making it easier to distinguish between AI-generated content and human-written posts. This watermarking system could help prevent AI chatbots from being exploited for misinformation and disinformation, as well as fraud in schools and business environments.

Now, the technology company says it is making available an open-source version of its technology so that other generative AI developers can similarly watermark output from their large-scale language models. I am. Pushmeet Kohli Google DeepMind is the company's AI research team, combining the former Google Brain and DeepMind labs. “SynthID is not a silver bullet for identifying AI-generated content, but it is an important building block for developing more reliable AI identification tools,” he says.

Independent researchers expressed similar optimism. “There is no known way to reliably watermark, but I really think this could help detect some things like AI-generated misinformation and academic fraud,” he said. I say. scott aaronson at the University of Texas at Austin, where he previously worked on AI safety at OpenAI. “We hope that other leading language modeling companies, such as OpenAI and Anthropic, will follow DeepMind’s lead in this regard.”

In May of this year, Google DeepMind announced Google announced that it has implemented the SynthID method for watermarking AI-generated text and video from Google's Gemini and Veo AI services, respectively. The company recently published a paper in the journal nature SynthID generally performs better than similar AI watermarking techniques for text. The comparison involved evaluating how easily the responses from different watermarked AI models were detectable.

In Google DeepMind's AI watermarking approach, as a model generates a sequence of text, a “tournament sampling” algorithm subtly moves it toward selecting “tokens” of specific words that are detectable by associated software. Create a statistical signature. This process randomly pairs candidate word tokens in tournament-style brackets. The winner of each pair is determined by which one gets the highest score according to the watermark function. Winners advance through successive tournament rounds until there is one round remaining. The “layered approach” “further complicates the potential for reverse engineering and attempts to remove watermarks,” it said. Yellow Furong at the University of Maryland.

It said a “determined adversary” with vast computational power could remove such AI watermarks. Hanlin Zhang at Harvard University. But he said SynthID's approach makes sense given the need for scalable watermarking in AI services.

Google DeepMind researchers tested two versions of SynthID that represent a trade-off between making watermark signatures easier to detect in exchange for distorting the text typically produced by AI models. They showed that the undistorted version of the AI watermark continued to work without noticeable impact on the quality of the 20 million text responses Gemini generated during live experiments.

However, the researchers also acknowledged that this watermarking works best on long chatbot responses that can be answered in a variety of ways, such as composing an essay or an email, as well as on math or coding questions. The response to this has not yet been tested.

Google DeepMind's team and others have stated the need for additional safeguards against misuse of AI chatbots, and Huang similarly recommended stronger regulation. “Requiring watermarks by law addresses both practicality and user adoption challenges and makes large language models more secure to use,” she says.

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Source: www.newscientist.com

Rare Bronze Age Wooden Tools Unearthed in British Trenches

Posted on October 23, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

Archaeologist removing excess mud from a Bronze Age plow

wessex archeology

A Bronze Age wooden spade has been unearthed by British archaeologists. It is extremely rare that wooden artifacts from such an ancient period have been preserved.

This spade offers a glimpse into life at a time when people grew crops and increasingly lived in settled communities.

“It’s very specific,” he says ed treasure At Wessex Archaeology, Salisbury, UK. “It’s a very direct connection to the past.”

The spade was discovered in a bog near Poole Harbor on England’s south coast, where Wessex Archeology has been excavating for several years. of The Moors of the Arne Coastal Change Project is working to restore the region’s coastal wetlands, and archaeologists are carrying out excavations to ensure that no useful artifacts are accidentally lost.

The researchers were digging a ring gully, a circular trench that is thought to have originally surrounded the shelter. In one of the ring gullies they found the handle of a spade. “It was an almost unbelievable moment,” says Treasure, who was not personally present. “I could tell right away that it was a carved piece of wood.” The spade was carved from a single piece of oak.

Moist conditions did not expose the shovel to oxygen, slowing down rot.

Using debris found with the spade, the team radiocarbon-dates the spade to 3,400 to 3,500 years ago. “A small part of the spade broke off during the burial, but we used it as a date,” Treasure said. Nearby pottery also showed a similar age. This dates the origins of the spade back to the Middle Bronze Age.

“We’re in the midst of some pretty big changes in prehistoric Britain,” Treasure says. People stopped living as nomads and began spending more time in settled communities, growing a variety of grains and other foods.

However, there are no signs of permanent settlement at this location throughout the year. Of course, it was and still is a wetland. “We strongly believe this is a seasonal use of this landscape,” Treasure says. People may have brought in animals for summer grazing, cut peat for fuel, or collected reeds for thatching.

Future research will try to understand how plows were made and what they were used for. “It may have been used to cut peat on site,” Treasure said. “It may also have been used to dig the ring ditch where it was discovered.”

It is rare that a spade from this era has been preserved. One of the only other examples is the Brynlow shovel. Discovered in Cheshire in 1875rediscovered in the 1950s It was discovered by fantasy author Alan Garner in a school assembly hall and was eventually radiocarbon dated to almost 4,000 years ago.

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Source: www.newscientist.com

New study reveals surprising insights on throwing Frisbees

Posted on October 22, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

Have you ever experienced it? Throwing a Frisbee to a friend, only for it to end up in the middle of a nearby picnic. Researchers at Berry College in Georgia may have found a solution to this embarrassment by discovering the optimal way to hold the disc for maximum performance.

A study conducted by the researchers involved professional and amateur disc golfers to investigate how different thumb positions affect disc throwing. The research revealed that positioning the thumb approximately 3 centimeters from the outer edge of the disc led to the fastest launch and spin speeds.

“For amateur players unsure of where to place their thumbs, starting at the 3cm position is a good choice,” said lead author Dr. Zachary Lindsey.

Disc golf, a sport where players throw a disc towards a metal basket, was established in the 1960s in the United States and is now played by approximately 108,000 players from 40 countries under the Professional Disc Golf Association.

To analyze techniques for enhancing players’ skills, Lindsey’s team utilized miniature sensors to examine the speed and rotation of discs thrown by 24 players. Through 600 pitches, it was observed that higher spin rates correlated with faster launch rates.

A 2020 study published in the European Journal of Applied Physics indicated that disc stability and flight distance can be improved by increasing frisbee spin. Physicists have also kept themselves busy during lockdown by studying how faster spin results in longer flight distances and faster launches.

The study concluded that the optimal thumb position for achieving the fastest launch and highest spin speeds is at the sweet spot, 3 cm from the center. Scientists are eager to further explore whether this position is effective for Frisbees of all sizes.

Read more:

Source: www.sciencefocus.com

Explanation of UK time shift and when clocks will go back to 2024

Posted on October 22, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

As the UK prepares for the clocks to change, two major shifts are on the horizon. Unfortunately, summer is coming to an end, but on the bright side, you’ll get an extra hour of sleep when the clocks go back in October.

But when exactly will this happen? And why do we turn the clocks back to March? Here’s everything you need to know.

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When will the clocks change in October 2024?

The clocks will go back to 2am on Sunday, October 27, 2024, marking the end of Daylight Saving Time (DST) or British Summer Time (BST) and the switch to Greenwich Mean Time (GMT).

This adjustment means that the sun will set an hour earlier in London at 4:41pm on Sunday. However, the sunrise in London will also move back an hour from 7:45am to 6:45am, so you can expect a brighter morning.

Your smartphone will automatically update the time while you sleep, but get ready to reset your car, wall, and oven clocks the next day.

I hope this year I won’t have to keep pressing the minute button repeatedly to reset the time…

Why do the clocks change?

The practice of changing the clocks is more practical than scientific, allowing people to maximize daylight. Turning back the clocks in autumn means the sun sets earlier, giving us a head start on winter.

Where did daylight saving time originate?

The concept of daylight saving time can be traced back to George Hudson in New Zealand in 1895. He proposed adjusting the clocks to have more sunlight for activities. The idea was later supported by William Willett in the UK in 1907 to make better use of daylight hours.

Britain implemented daylight saving time in 1916 for energy conservation during World War I.

Why do some people want to end daylight saving time?

While many enjoy an extra hour in the fall, the spring clock change can disrupt sleep patterns and impact health. Studies have shown an increased risk of heart attack and decreased sleep quality during time transitions.

Experts suggest soaking up natural light and avoiding hitting the snooze button to adjust to the time change.

Are there benefits to abolishing daylight saving time?

Research has shown that serious traffic accidents decrease and crime rates lower with the adjustment of daylight saving time. Countries differ in their adoption of this practice.

Which countries do not use daylight saving time?

Most countries do not observe daylight saving time, including many in Africa. The EU is undecided on abolishing daylight saving time, while countries near the equator enjoy stable daylight hours.

Read more:

Source: www.sciencefocus.com

IC 3225 in Virgo Cluster shows signs of being stripped of Ram pressure by Hubble

Posted on October 22, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

Early galaxies are dominated by bright galaxy clusters, which are larger and more massive than the local Universe. Star formation activity can be strongly influenced and even halted by many processes that are directly related to the environment in which galaxies exist. Ram pressure stripping, the removal of interstellar gas from the disk of star-forming galaxies by hydrodynamic interaction with the hot intergalactic medium, is one such process that It is thought to have a strong influence on the galaxy population. Groups, especially clusters.

This Hubble image shows spiral galaxy IC 3225 with Ram pressure removed. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble / M. Sun.

IC 3225 is a spiral galaxy located approximately 100 million light years away in the constellation Virgo.

Also known as LEDA 40111 or UGC 7441, discovered It was announced on November 4, 1899 by German astronomer Arnold Schwassmann.

“IC 3225 looks strikingly like it was fired from a cannon, hurtling through space like a comet with a tail of gas streaming from the disk behind it,” Hubble astronomers said in a statement.

“IC 3225 is one of more than 1,300 members of the Virgo cluster, so the galaxy's location suggests several causes for this active scene.”

“While the density of galaxies within the Virgo cluster creates a rich field of hot gas between them, the so-called intracluster medium, the extreme mass of this cluster also allows for some extremely There are galaxies that orbit around the center in fast orbits.”

“Collision into thick intracluster material, especially near the center of a galaxy cluster, places enormous collision pressures on the moving galaxy, stripping the gas from the moving galaxy.”

“Although IC 3225 is currently not very close to the center of the cluster, astronomers suspect that it has undergone such ram pressure removal in the past,” the researchers noted.

“This galaxy looks as if it has been affected by this. One side of the galaxy is compressed and there is significantly more star formation at this leading edge, while the other end is misshapen. Masu.”

“Being in such a crowded region, a close call with another galaxy may have pulled IC 3225 and created this shape.”

“The sight of this distorted galaxy is a reminder of the incredible forces at work on an astronomical scale that move and reshape entire galaxies.”

This new image of IC 3225 consists of observations from. Hubble's advanced survey camera (ACS) in the near-infrared and optical portions of the spectrum.

Two filters were used to sample different wavelengths. Color is obtained by assigning different hues to each monochromatic image associated with an individual filter.

Source: www.sci.news

A recent review suggests that using weighted blankets can be beneficial for enhancing sleep quality

Posted on October 22, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

Weighted blankets can help improve sleep in adults with insomnia and mental health conditions such as anxiety and depression, but results are mixed in children, one researcher says. new review paper Published in American Occupational Therapy Journal.

dawson others. We suggest that occupational therapists should consider offering or recommending weighted blankets as a sleep intervention option for all age groups, taking into account individual preferences. Image credit: Martin de Arriba.

“Sleep is a basic human need, and not getting enough sleep can increase or worsen the risk of chronic diseases such as heart disease, stroke, and mental health problems, as well as It can cause health problems.” Dr Suzanne Dawson, researcher at Flinders University.

“In occupational therapy, weighted blankets are becoming common among many age groups as an assistive technology, but there are no current clinical guidelines for their use.”

In a review study, Dr. Dawson and fellow authors considered 18 existing studies that investigated the overnight use of weighted blankets.

They found significant evidence supporting the use of weighted blankets to improve sleep in adults.

“Weighted blankets appear to offer a specific, non-drug intervention to improve sleep quality,” says Dr. Dawson.

“Adults who used the blanket reported improved sleep, reduced use of sleeping pills, and even improved mood and pain management.”

Despite strong evidence for use in adults, research on the use of weighted blankets in children is mixed, and there are limits to their ability to improve sleep in children with conditions such as ADHD and autism spectrum disorders.

“However, some parents report positive results with the use of weighted blankets, and some studies have shown that children’s daily functioning improves after using weighted blankets.”

“Parents often reported that when using blankets, their children seemed more relaxed, less anxious, and more focused in their daily lives. This has been shown to improve children’s overall health can have long-term effects,” Dr. Dawson said.

The authors note that for children and adults with cognitive impairments, the blankets used should be easy to remove on their own.

Although the findings indicate that overnight use of weighted blankets is recommended for adults and can be continued for children, the next step is to develop clear clinical guidelines for blanket use.

“This scoping study was conducted to inform change in practice and its findings were used to change state-wide protocols for the use of weighted blankets across South Australia’s public mental health services. I’m very happy about that,” Dr. Dawson said.

“Blankets come in many different types, including those with beads and chains, and those of varying weights, but there are still no standardized recommendations including type, weight, frequency of use, and duration. .”

“More rigorous research is needed to find out how best to use them, but the practical use of weighted blankets requires further research.”

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Suzanne Dawson others. 2024. Weighted Blankets as a Sleep Intervention: A Scope Review. American Occupational Therapy Journal 78 (5): 7805205160;doi: 10.5014/ajot.2024.050676

Source: www.sci.news

Archaeologists Uncover Ancient Roman Forum in Spain

Posted on October 22, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

Archaeologists from the University of Granada have announced the discovery of the remains of an ancient Roman forum in Ubrique, Spain’s Andalusia region.

Ruins of Ubrique, Andalusia, Spain. Image credit: University of Granada.

“The main purpose of the excavations was to confirm the hypothesis proposed by local scholar Juan Vegaso at the end of the 18th century that the central terrace of the hill, known as Cerro de la Mora, was the site of a Roman forum. City”, University of Granada. Professor Macarena Bustamante Alvarez her colleagues said in a statement.

At the site, archaeologists unearthed what appears to be a wall surrounding the central plaza, about 1 meter (3.3 feet) high and 16 meters (52.5 feet) long.

They also discovered a series of architectural elements indicating large, clearly public buildings dating back to Roman times.

“We confirmed the presence of a monumental altar with decorative architectural remains,” the archaeologists said.

“These include the bases and axes of columns, as well as other evidence of statue plinths and column remains scattered throughout the city.”

“We were also able to re-examine some of the buildings at the site and outline an area that shows Roman religious practices, especially those related to water.”

Ruins of an ancient Roman forum in Ubrique, Andalusia, Spain. Image credit: University of Granada.

According to researchers, the ruins continued to be inhabited until the end of the 4th century AD.

“This is confirmed by coins found in the area, one of which bears a christogram, the first example of Christian iconography found at the site,” they said. Ta.

“Additionally, North African pottery allowed us to extend the period of occupation of this site, which was previously thought to last until the third century AD.

“It also helped us understand the trade routes that are closely connected to the Campo de Gibraltar region.”

In addition, scientists have unearthed the possible basis of a medieval defensive structure.

“This building would have provided a visual link between this site and other surrounding fortifications that would have been used to monitor this mountainous area of Cadiz,” they said. Ta.

“This excavation provides an overview of a space important for understanding the arrival and settlement of the Romans in the southern Iberian Peninsula and their intermixture with communities already settled in the area.”

Source: www.sci.news

A recently discovered bird species in South America

Posted on October 22, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

Ornithologists have described a new species of tanager in the genus Snapdragon. Trichotraupis It lives on the eastern slopes of the Andes.

Trichotraupis melanops (above) and Trichotraupis griseonota (below). Image credit: Eduardo Brettas.

The newly discovered species belong to: Trichotraupisa genus established in 1851 that previously included only one species. Black-billed goldfish (Trichotraupis melanops).

These forest-dwelling birds live in pairs or small groups, feed on fruits and arthropods, and regularly feed on swarms of army ants.

These are common in the Atlantic Forest and are bold, conspicuous, and easy to observe. However, it is less conspicuous in the Andes Mountains, since its main habitat is drier forests than in the Atlantic region.

“Trichotraupis is a single-species genus found in two separate populations, one in the Atlantic Forest of eastern Brazil (from southern Bahia to Rio Grande do Sul), northeastern Argentina, and eastern Paraguay, at an altitude of 1,200 m above sea level. In the range of up to meters. ” Dr. Wagner Cavalzel from Paulista University and its colleagues.

“It is usually associated with the Atlantic Forest, but some isolated populations also exist in the Gallery Forest of the southern Pantanal and eastern Chaco.”

“The second population is found on the eastern slopes of the Andes from northern Peru to extreme northwestern Argentina, primarily at altitudes between 1,000 and 1,700 meters.”

recent research proven The people of the Atlantic Ocean and the Andes Trichotraupis melanops Because they are genetically isolated, their current classification as monotypic species should be reconsidered.

In the new study, Cavalzere and his co-authors evaluated the morphology, plumage, and vocalizations of Atlantic and Andean populations.

The researchers examined a total of 581 skin specimens housed in museums around the world.

“Our feather studies revealed full diagnostic potential between the two populations. Trichotraupis” they said.

“Both populations are also differentiated by tarsal length, with the Atlantic population having longer tarsals on average.”

“Furthermore, the taxa live in different types of vegetation (Atlantic Forest and Tucumano-Boliviano Forest and Yungas Mountain Forest).”

named Trichotraupis griseonota (common name: Andean black swan), this new species is found on the eastern slopes of the Andes in Peru, Bolivia, and northwestern Argentina, at altitudes ranging from 400 meters to 1,700 meters.

“Trichotraupis griseonota “It is restricted to the eastern slopes of the Andes in south-central Peru, Bolivia and northwestern Argentina,” the scientists said.

“It inhabits the seasonally dry Tucumano-Boliviano forest, which is restricted to the Andean forests of northwestern Argentina and the foothills of north-central Bolivia.”

“This species also occurs in the narrow Yungas woodlands at the foothills of the Andes in northern Bolivia and Peru.”

“These montane forests exhibit higher moisture levels compared to the Tucumano-Boliviano forests.”

According to the research team, the fact that these different lineages were previously unrecognized is somewhat interesting, given that: Trichotraupis It is a common species and is abundant in collections.

“Given that museum specimens have played the most important role since their birth several centuries ago, in addition to being a very important and relatively new paradigm in describing new species discovered in museum cabinets. “We emphasize that it is particularly important in the era of genomes and supercomputers; it is fundamental to avian taxonomy,” the authors concluded.

“By documenting and organizing variations and enabling these insights, Trichotraupis griseonota This should serve as a reminder for ornithologists to never underestimate the potential for exciting new discoveries in a seemingly common set of bird skin specimens. ”

of study Published in a magazine zoo animals.

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Wagner Cavalzere others. 2024. A new species of golden butterfly (species: Traupidae) that lives on the eastern slopes of the Andes Mountains. zoo animals 5468 (3): 541-556;doi: 10.11646/zootaxa.5468.3.7

Source: www.sci.news

Wasps have a unique ability to store alcohol that surpasses any other animal on the planet.

Posted on October 21, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

Oriental hornet (Vespa orientalis) may drink you under the table

Vladimir Kazachikov/Shutterstock

One species of wasp, which often eats alcohol-containing foods, can retain alcohol at levels that other known animals cannot tolerate without causing side effects.

‘This is crazy,’ says study author Sofia Bucebuti at Ben-Gurion University in the Negev, Israel.

Oriental wasp diet (vespa orientalis) consists of ripe fruit containing nectar and grapes. This fruit contains sugar, which is converted to ethanol through natural fermentation over time.

While ethanol is highly nutritious for animals, it is also highly intoxicating. Even animals that routinely eat fermented fruit, such as fruit flies and shrews, cannot have more than 4% ethanol in their diet, Bucebuti and his colleagues say.

But when Bucebuti’s team fed the hornets nothing for a week other than various sugar solutions containing varying amounts of ethanol from 1 to 80 percent, the hornets seemed unaffected. Neither their behavior nor their lifespans changed. What makes this particularly surprising is that a solution containing 80% ethanol contains four times the alcohol content of what occurs in nature.

“We initially experimented with only 20%. [ethanol] And we are already surprised,” say study authors Elan Levin At Tel Aviv University, Israel. The 80% ethanol figure is “even more incredible.”

Analysis of the genomes of several wasp species suggests that the insects have two to four copies of the gene that produces NADP+, which helps break down alcohol. Researchers think this may help explain why the oriental hornet, and perhaps other wasp species, can process such large amounts of alcohol.

These findings “remind us that we’re not the only ones who like alcohol.” james fry at the University of Rochester in New York. However, because data from other animal studies are difficult to compare, researchers are not convinced that wasps are the only organisms that can process such large amounts of alcohol.

Wasps’ love of alcohol may give them a competitive advantage when it comes to eating nutritious, highly fermented foods, researchers say. Irene Stefanini At the University of Turin, Italy. She believes that the wasp’s resistance is probably related to the mutualistic relationship between the animal and fermenting brewer’s yeast. budding yeastWhich her study They have been shown to live in the intestines of wasps, survive, and even mate. Perhaps the wasp helps the yeast move from fruit to fruit, and the yeast helps the wasp find energy-rich food.

topic:

insect/
drugs and alcohol

Source: www.newscientist.com

New research shows early humans carried two distinct strains of Helicobacter bacteria

Posted on October 21, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

Two ecological species Helicobacter pylori. The bacteria, named ‘Hardy’ and ‘Ubiquitous’, coexisted in the stomachs of modern humans before they left Africa, and were dispersed around the world as humans migrated, new research shows. Ta.

Tourette’s others. They discovered that indigenous peoples in Siberia and the Americas were infected with two different types of viruses. Helicobacter pylori. Image credit: sjs.org / CC BY-SA 3.0.

First discovered in 1983, Helicobacter pylori. During long-term colonization of human hosts, it disturbs the stomach lining and causes sequelae such as ulcers and gastric cancer.

Numerous Helicobacter pylori. Virulence factors have been identified and show wide geographic variation.

In the new study, Dr. Elise Tourette and colleagues at the Shanghai Institute of Immunology and Infection used an unprecedented collection of 6,864 individuals. Helicobacter pylori. Genomes from around the world to investigate the prevalence of bacteria.

They unexpectedly discovered a very distinct variant. Helicobacter pylori. They named it the Hardy species, which originated hundreds of thousands of years ago and spread around the world with humans.

They proposed that this species is specialized to live in the stomachs of carnivores whose diet consists mainly of meat and fish.

Therefore, genetic variations found in the bacteria in our stomachs today can tell us what our ancestors ate.

“Our diverse global sample has allowed us to gain a deeper understanding of world history. Helicobacter. This confirmed previous findings that these bacteria were already passengers in our stomachs when we left Africa more than 50,000 years ago,” said Dr. Tourette. .

“But we also identified something surprising, in the form of a new ecological species. Helicobacter. We called it Hardy.”

“It differs by more than 100 genes from the common type we called ubiquitous.”

“Hardy’s ecospecies turned out to be very informative about what bacteria need to do to survive in our stomachs, but more fundamentally, bacterial diversity How it was maintained also turned out to be very informative.”

“Most humans alive today are omnivores or vegetarians, meaning a significant portion of our diet consists of plant material,” said Dr. Daniel Farash, also of the Shanghai Institute of Immunology and Infection. said.

“However, in some parts of the world, plant material was historically unavailable for large parts of the year, and people relied heavily on fish and meat for food.”

“So far, the Hardy ecospecies has only been identified in humans from indigenous populations such as Siberia and northern Canada.”

“Due to ancient host jumps, this virus has also been found in tigers and cheetahs in zoos, with important genetic differences that allow it to adapt to gastric conditions in carnivores.”

“This association is particularly interesting because our analysis also suggests that both ecological species have accompanied humans since our species’ emergence in Africa more than 200,000 years ago.” Because there is.”

“If this species is indeed adapted to being a carnivore, it means that humans who spread around the world often did not eat plants, even if plants were available. .”

By analyzing Helicobacter pylori. By analyzing genomes from around the world, researchers discovered that the first modern humans were infected with two different types of bacteria: M. hardyi and M. ubiquitous.

Both species spread from Africa during early human migrations, reaching as far as South America.

The ubiquitous ecospecies has been found in every human population sampled to date, whereas the Hardy ecospecies has only been sampled from a small number of indigenous populations and may have become extinct at many points along its migratory routes. It suggests that.

However, one strain of the African Hardy strain has shifted hosts to big cats and has been isolated from cheetahs, lions, and tigers in zoos.

Understanding why these species can coexist in some populations but not in others will help us understand the profound implications of our prehistory and the gastric diseases we still suffer from today. It is hoped that this will shed light on the burden.

“Our results also show that very different adaptive strategies can arise and be stably maintained within bacterial populations, even in the presence of continuous genetic exchange between strains.” said the scientists.

of findings. Published in a magazine nature.

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E.Tourette others. ancient ecological species Helicobacter pylori. naturepublished online October 16, 2024. doi: 10.1038/s41586-024-07991-z

Source: www.sci.news

Could Scientists Soon Revive the Tasmanian Tiger? Is Concern Necessary?

Posted on October 19, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

Scientists in the United States and Australia are working on bringing back the Tasmanian tiger nearly a century after their extinction. They believe that with new DNA technology and Tasmanian tiger fossils, the animal could be reintroduced into the wild.

Researchers are collaborating with Colossal Biosciences to develop a plan to revive the Tasmanian tiger. They aim to address ecological issues and consider the potential impact of resurrecting an extinct species.

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What was the Tasmanian Tiger?

The Tasmanian tiger, also known as the Tasmanian possum, resembled dogs and wolves in many ways. Its official name, Thylacine, means “dog-headed pouched animal” when translated. Despite its dog-like appearance, the marsupial was comparable in size to a golden retriever, including its long tail.

However, human misunderstanding and hunting led to the extinction of the Tasmanian tiger, with the last known species dying in a Tasmanian zoo in 1936.

Why would they want it back…?

Colossal Biosciences believes that reintroducing the Tasmanian tiger could have positive impacts on the ecosystem. Predators like the Tasmanian tiger could help control population levels of other species and prevent diseases from spreading.

Researchers suggest that the presence of Tasmanian tigers could have prevented the decline of the Tasmanian devil population, which is currently facing extinction due to facial tumor disease.

…and how?

Scientists are using DNA technology to recreate the genetic structure of the Tasmanian tiger using samples from related species. By comparing DNA sequences and making genetic edits, they hope to reconstruct the Tasmanian tiger’s genome and potentially bring it back to life.

While challenges remain in transitioning revived species from the lab to the wild, researchers are optimistic about the project’s progress.

Are we all doomed?

The implications of reintroducing extinct species like the Tasmanian tiger are still unknown. Scientists are cautious about the potential consequences on existing ecosystems and the behavior of revived animals in the wild.

Further research and monitoring will be crucial to understanding the impact of reviving extinct species and reintroducing them to their natural habitats.

What animals might come back next?

Colossal Biosciences is also working on reviving other extinct species, such as the dodo and woolly mammoth. These projects pose similar ethical and ecological challenges, but researchers are hopeful about the potential benefits of bringing back these ancient creatures.

Source: www.sciencefocus.com

Confirmation of a new plant-eating dinosaur species in Argentina

Posted on October 19, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

Paleontologists have identified a species of medium-sized iguanodont ornithopod dinosaur from two specimens found in northwestern Patagonia, Argentina.

Reconstruction of the life of early rhabdodontomorph dinosaurs Iani Smitty. Image credit: Jorge Gonzalez.

Emilia Saura Alessandri They lived in what is now Patagonia during the Valanginian period of the Early Cretaceous period, about 138 million years ago.

“Knowing early Cretaceous dinosaurs is crucial for gaining insight into the evolution of the clade characteristic of younger Cretaceous fauna,” said lead author Dr. Rodolfo Coria, Argentina, Canada , said a European colleague.

“Dinosaur diversity around the Jurassic-Cretaceous boundary represents a unique chapter characterized by the establishment of several major lineages.”

“However, knowledge of the diversity of dinosaurs during the Early Cretaceous period is poor, especially in South America.”

Emilia Saura Alessandri belongs to rhabdodontomorphaa group of early Iguanodon dinosaurs within the clade ornithopoda.

This dinosaur group consists of small to large plant-eating animals that live in Europe and Gondwana.

“Emilia Saura Alessandri “This is the first South American record of the family Rhabdodontomorphinae, and is currently the oldest and more primitive member of this clade,” the paleontologists said.

“This new species formed part of a diverse Early Cretaceous (Valanginian) dinosaur assemblage that also included diplodocids, sauropods of the dicraeosauridae, and theropods of the carcharodontosauridae.”

Emilia Saura Alessandri It is represented by two fossil specimens collected from different locations and stratigraphic levels. Murichinko formation.

“The holotype specimen includes the coracoid, proximal scapula, humerus, and complete right hindlimb, whereas the paratype specimen preserves vertebral elements, haemarchus, incomplete pelvis, and nearly complete hindlimb. “, the researchers said.

“The new species has an anteroposteriorly elongated ilium with an S-shaped dorsal margin and a broad short shelf, a femoral shaft with a proximally located broad fourth trochanter, and a short, stout diaphysis similar to that of the new species. It has a second toe with a blunt claw phalanx.” tonic ataxia ornithopod”

of findings Published in this week's magazine Cretaceous research.

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RA Korea others. The first Valanginian (Early Cretaceous) ornithopods (order Dinosauria, order Ornithischian) from Patagonia. Cretaceous researchpublished online October 16, 2024. doi: 10.1016/j.cretres.2024.106027

Source: www.sci.news

Research shows that eating strawberries regularly could boost heart health and help control cholesterol levels

Posted on October 19, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

According to one researcher, daily consumption of strawberries (1-4 cups per day) improves lipid metabolism and inflammatory outcomes in people at high cardiovascular risk. new review paper Published in a magazine Critical reviews in food science and nutrition.

Strawberries are a natural and delicious way to support heart health and manage cholesterol. Image credit: D. Сroisy.

“Strawberries contain a number of potentially health-promoting phytonutrients, including phenols, polyphenols, fiber, micronutrients, and vitamins,” said Roberta Holt, a researcher at the University of California, Davis, and colleagues.

“The purpose of our review is to provide a comprehensive overview of recent human studies on the effects of strawberry and strawberry phytonutrient intake on human health.”

For the review, the authors conducted a literature search through the PubMed and Cochrane databases.

They combined results from 60 papers (47 clinical trials and 13 observational studies) published from 2000 to 2023.

They found that strawberries are rich in beneficial phytonutrients such as polyphenols and fiber, which help lower LDL cholesterol and triglyceride levels while reducing inflammation.

The result is improved overall heart health and better management of cardiovascular risk factors.

Daily consumption of strawberries, whether in fresh, frozen, or freeze-dried form, can have a significant impact on cardiometabolic health, especially in those at high risk for heart disease.

Strawberries can help lower the risk of developing cardiovascular disease by improving lipid metabolism and reducing systemic inflammation.

“Our research shows that regular consumption of strawberries not only lowers cholesterol, but also helps reduce inflammation, a major contributing factor to heart disease,” Dr. Holt said.

“This means that simply adding a cup of strawberries to your daily routine can significantly reduce your risk of cardiovascular events.”

Beyond heart health, the team's review revealed exciting benefits for brain health.

The findings suggest that strawberries are rich in flavonoids, which may help slow cognitive decline and prevent dementia.

The researchers said, “Strawberries may support cognitive function and fight oxidative stress, which is an important factor in keeping the brain sharp as we age.”

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Phrae Charonwoodhipon others. strawberry (Fragaria × ananassa) Intake on human health and disease outcomes: a comprehensive literature review. Critical reviews in food science and nutritionpublished online on September 11, 2024. doi: 10.1080/10408398.2024.2398634

Source: www.sci.news

Australia discovers a new, complex Ediacaran animal species

Posted on October 18, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

Questio Sympsonorum It is part of the Ediacaran biota and contains the oldest preserved evidence of complex macroscopic fauna.

close-up of Questio Sympsonorum Footprints. Image credit: Evans others., doi: 10.1111/ede.12491.

Questio Sympsonorum is one of more than 100 multicellular organisms during the Ediacaran period (635 to 538 million years ago), when the first complex macroscopic animals appeared on Earth.

The creature was up to 8 centimeters (3.1 inches) wide and likely moved along what was once the ocean floor.

Animals that burrowed into the sediment had not yet evolved, so this ocean floor was covered with a layer of microorganisms that formed a slimy organic mat.

“Questio Sympsonorum “It had some interesting characteristics that set it apart from other Ediacaran species,” said Mary Droser, a professor at the University of California.

“What's really interesting about this fossil is that it's essentially symmetrical, meaning the right side mirrors the left side, but there's also an asymmetrical element that forms an inverted question mark shape.”

“This kind of symmetry indicates some level of genetic complexity.”

“Humans are bilaterally symmetrical, but they have many asymmetries, such as the position of the heart and appendix.”

“Many other asymmetries like this have been found throughout the animal kingdom, and this appears to be one of the first organisms to organize it this way.”

Reconstructed by artists Questio Sympsonorum. Image credit: Walker C. Weiland.

more than a dozen specimens Questio Sympsonorum It was discovered in the Nilpena-Ediacaran National Park in South Australia.

“The unique trace evidence our team has discovered suggests that: Questio Sympsonorum “They ate ancient organic mats while on the move,” said Scott Evans, a professor at Florida State University.

“That the fossils are preserved directly alongside evidence of their behavior really speaks to the unprecedented nature of the fossil record at Nilpena. We can see how these animals got their food.”

“Nilpena is a site of great international importance, and there is no other place in the world like it,” said Stuart Paul, regional operations director for the National Parks and Wildlife Service.

“In addition to learning about these amazing fossils located within the park, tourists can also visit a former blacksmith shop, where they learn what these creatures look like and how they were formed. One of the fossil beds is brought to life by an impressive audio-visual recreation of the story.

of findings Published in a magazine evolution and development.

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Scott D. Evans others. A new motile animal that influenced the evolution of axial polarity lived during the Ediacaran period of South Australia. evolution and developmentpublished online on September 3, 2024. doi: 10.1111/ede.12491

Source: www.sci.news

Researchers suggest that microbial life on Mars could be supported by melted water beneath the ice

Posted on October 18, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

On Earth, solar radiation can travel up to several meters into the ice, depending on its optical properties. Organisms in the ice can harness the energy from photosynthetically active radiation while being protected from harmful ultraviolet radiation. On Mars, there is no effective ozone shield, so about 30% more harmful ultraviolet radiation reaches the surface compared to Earth. However, a new study shows that despite strong surface UV radiation, mid-latitude ice on Mars contains 0.01-0.1% dust, ranging from a few centimeters deep to several centimeters deep. It has been shown that a radioactive habitable zone exists with a range of up to 3000 m. Cleaner ice.

The white edges along these canyons on Mars' Terra Sirenum are thought to be dusty water ice. cooler others. It is thought that melt water could form beneath the surface of this type of ice, providing a potential site for photosynthesis. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / University of Arizona.

“Today, if we are trying to find life anywhere in the universe, the icy outcrops on Mars are probably one of the most accessible places we should look,” said a researcher at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. said Dr. Aditya Kuler.

Mars has two types of ice: frozen water and frozen carbon dioxide.

Dr. Cooler and his colleagues investigated water ice. The ice masses were formed from snow mixed with dust that fell on Mars during a series of ice ages over the past million years.

That ancient snow has since solidified into ice and is still dusted with dust.

Dust particles can block light in deeper layers of ice, but they are the key to explaining how underground pools of water form within the ice when exposed to the sun.

The black dust absorbs more sunlight than the surrounding ice, causing the ice to warm and potentially melt several feet below the surface.

Mars scientists are divided on whether ice actually melts when exposed to the Martian surface.

It's thought to be caused by the planet's thin, dry atmosphere, where water ice sublimates and turns directly into gas, similar to dry ice on Earth.

But the atmospheric effects that make melting difficult on Mars' surface don't apply beneath the surface of dusty snowpack and glaciers.

On Earth, dust in ice can create what are called cryoconite holes. This is a small cavity that forms in the ice when windblown dust particles (called cryoconite) land there, absorb sunlight, and melt deep into the ice each summer. is.

Eventually, these dust particles stop sinking as they move away from the sun's rays, but they still generate enough heat to create pockets of melted water around them.

This pocket can foster a thriving ecosystem of simple organisms.

“This is a common phenomenon on Earth,” says Arizona State University researcher Phil Christensen.

“Rather than melting from the top down, thick snow and ice melts from the inside out, letting in sunlight that warms it like a greenhouse.”

In 2021, the authors discovered powdery water ice exposed inside canyons on Mars and proposed that many canyons on Mars are formed by erosion as ice melts into liquid water.

Their new paper suggests that powdery ice lets in enough light for photosynthesis to occur as deep as 3 meters (9 feet) below the surface.

In this scenario, the upper layer of ice prevents shallow underground pools of water from evaporating, while also protecting them from harmful radiation.

This is important because, unlike Earth, Mars does not have a protective magnetic field to protect it from both the Sun and radioactive cosmic ray particles flying through space.

“Water ice most likely to form underground pools would exist in tropical regions of Mars between 30 and 60 degrees latitude, in both the northern and southern hemispheres,” the researchers said.

of paper appear in the diary Communication Earth and Environment.

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AR cruller others. 2024. Possibility of photosynthesis on Mars in snow and ice. common global environment 5,583;doi: 10.1038/s43247-024-01730-y

This article is a version of a press release provided by NASA.

Source: www.sci.news

Discovery of 12 human bones in a hidden tomb beneath Petra, Jordan

Posted on October 18, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

The veil of mystery surrounding the Treasury Monument in Petra, Jordan has been lifted once again.

Beneath an ancient building carved out of rock, archaeologists discovered a hidden tomb containing 12 relatively well-preserved human bones and a vast array of grave offerings.

A similar tomb was discovered more than 20 years ago opposite the famous Treasury Building, also known as Al-Khazneh, one of the Seven Wonders of the World and a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Earlier this year, a team of researchers received permission from Jordanian authorities to conduct a week of remote sensing in and around the Treasury, a city center hand-carved into the walls of a desert canyon by the Nabatean people.

“There was always the idea that there might be more graves, but no one has yet been found,” Richard Bates, a geophysicist and professor at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland, said in an email. “The hope was to find an intact grave.”

A joint Jordanian-American team, which also included the Jordanian Department of Antiquities and the Amman-based nonprofit American Research Center, used ground-penetrating radar to detect the cavity and pinpoint its location and depth. Instead of digging straight through, which would have cut through solid rock and damaged parts of the building, Bates said they carefully dug by hand into the cavity from the outside.

Richard Bates. Excavation at the Treasury.
Kindly provided by Professor Richard Bates, University of St Andrews

Inside, in the original burial site, are 12 human bones, one of which is clutching the top of a broken pitcher, most likely dating from the 1st century BC. Bates said the bodies likely included both men and women and ranged in age from children to adults. Although that is not confirmed yet.

“No complete burial has ever been found here before, so this discovery could potentially tell us more about the Nabataean kingdom,” Bates said.

The discovery could also provide new insights into the Treasury itself, whose purpose is still unknown.

“Despite its fame, the Treasury Department remains a mystery to us in many ways,” Pierce Paul Creesman, director of the Center for American Studies, said in an email. “Anything we can do to understand it more deeply is important.”

Visited by more than 1 million visitors a year, the Treasury is the most famous of Petra’s iconic monuments. In Steven Spielberg’s 1989 film Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, it was featured as the resting place of the Holy Grail in the film.

The newly uncovered tomb excavation was featured in a two-part episode of the American reality television series Expedition Unknown, which aired on the Discovery Channel.

Bates said there are signs of other cavities in the area that could be graves.

“It’s very likely that more will be discovered, so we need to get the funding back and continue the research,” he said.

Source: www.nbcnews.com

Allen Telescope Array seeks radio signatures of technology from TRAPPIST-1 system

Posted on October 17, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

The TRAPPIST-1 system is a compact system of at least seven exoplanets that are similar in size to Earth. Astronomers from Pennsylvania State University and the SETI Institute spent 28 hours scanning the system for signs of alien radio technology using the Allen Telescope Array. This project marks the longest single-target search for radio signals from TRAPPIST-1. Although astronomers found no evidence of extraterrestrial technology, their work introduced new ways to search for wireless techno-signatures in the future.

This artist's impression shows a surface view of one of the exoplanets in the TRAPPIST-1 planetary system. Image credit: ESO / M. Kornmesser / Spaceengine.org.

TRAPPIST-1 is an ultracool dwarf star located 38.8 light-years away in the constellation Aquarius.

This star is barely larger than Jupiter and has only 8% the mass of the Sun. It rotates rapidly and produces an energetic flare of ultraviolet light.

TRAPPIST-1 is the home planet of seven transit planets named TRAPPIST-1b, c, d, e, f, g, and h.

All of these planets are the same size or slightly smaller than Earth and Venus, and have very short orbital periods of 1.51, 2.42, 4.04, 6.06, 9.21, 12.35, and 20 days, respectively.

Presumably they are all tidally locked, meaning that the same side of the planet always faces the star, just as the same side of the moon always points towards the Earth. This creates a persistent night side and a persistent day side for each planet in TRAPPIST-1.

Three of the planets, TRAPPIST-1e, f, and g, are located in the star's habitable zone, meaning they may have an environment suitable for life.

“The TRAPPIST-1 system is relatively close to Earth and has detailed information about the planet's orbit, making it an excellent natural laboratory for testing these technologies,” said Penn State graduate student Nick Tasei said.

“The methods and algorithms we developed for this project could eventually be applied to other star systems, increasing the likelihood of finding regular communications between planets beyond our solar system (if they exist). ).

Tusay and his colleagues focused on a phenomenon called interplanetary occultations.

These occultations occur when one planet moves in front of another. If intelligent life exists in that star system, it is possible that radio signals sent between the planets could leak and be detected from Earth.

Astronomers used the upgraded Allen Telescope Array to scan a wide range of frequencies, looking for narrowband signals that could be a possible sign of alien technology.

They filtered through millions of potential signals and narrowed it down to about 11,000 candidates for further analysis.

They detected 2,264 of these signals during the predicted interplanetary occultation period. However, none of the signals were of non-human origin.

New features of the Allen Telescope Array include advanced software to filter signals, helping researchers separate possible alien signals from those on Earth.

They believe that improving these techniques and focusing on phenomena such as interplanetary occultations could increase the chances of detecting alien signals in the future.

Although scientists did not find any alien signals this time, they plan to continue refining their search techniques and exploring other star systems.

Future explorations using larger and more powerful telescopes could help scientists detect even fainter signals and expand our understanding of the universe.

“This study shows that we are getting closer to detecting radio signals similar to those we send into space,” Tusey said.

“Most searches assume some kind of intent, such as a beacon, because our receivers have a sensitivity limit to the minimum transmit power above what we transmit unintentionally.”

“But with better instruments, such as the upcoming Square Kilometer Array, we may soon be able to detect signals from alien civilizations communicating with our spacecraft.”

of the team result will appear in astronomy magazine.

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Nick Tasei others. 2024. TRAPPIST-1 wireless technology signature search using the Allen Telescope Array. A.J.in press. arXiv: 2409.08313

Source: www.sci.news

Colossal, the company blamed for endangering species, announces nearly complete possum genome

Posted on October 17, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

The possum, or Tasmanian tiger, became extinct in 1936

huge life science

The genome of the extinct possum has been almost completely sequenced, the company that brought it back from extinction, Colossal, has announced. The group says the genome is more than 99.9 percent complete and that just 45 gaps will soon be filled, but it has not provided any evidence to support that claim.

“It's quite difficult to obtain the complete genome of almost any organism,” says Emilio Marmol Sánchez of the University of Copenhagen, Denmark, whose team first extracted RNA from preserved quolls. For example, the last few holdouts of the human genome have only been fully sequenced in the past few years.

Quosos, also known as Tasmanian tigers, were once carnivorous marsupials found throughout Australia, but by the time European explorers arrived they were restricted to Tasmania. The last known possum died in a zoo in 1936.

The conserved quoll genome is First sequenced in 2017 The tissue used was from a 108-year-old bag of quolls that had been preserved in alcohol. However, this genome was far from complete and had many gaps. Colossal, which is also currently aiming to recreate the woolly mammoth, says it has nearly completed the genome with the help of additional DNA from a 120-year-old tooth.

“While our genome is not as complete as the most complete human genome, we were able to take advantage of some of the same technologies,” said Andrew of the University of Melbourne in Australia, a member of Colossal's scientific advisory board. Pask said.

Completely deciphering the genomes of plants and animals is difficult because they contain large sections of the same sequence that repeat over and over again. Standard techniques for sequencing small segments of DNA at a time do not work for these parts. This is like trying to reconstruct a book from a list of words in the book.

New, long-read techniques can sequence much larger segments of DNA, equivalent to entire pages of a book. However, these methods are not very useful because old DNA is usually split into many small pieces.

“Most ancient samples preserve DNA fragments that are a few dozen or, if we're lucky, a few hundred bases long,” Pask says. “The samples we had access to were so well preserved that we were able to recover DNA fragments several thousand bases long.”

There is no direct way to know how complete it is, given that there are no other possum genomes to compare it to. Instead, Pask says Colossal uses other closely related species in the same family to make this estimate.

But even if the genome were as complete as Colossal thinks and could indeed fill in the remaining gaps, there is currently no feasible way to generate living cells containing this genome. Instead, Colossal plans to genetically modify a living marsupial called a fat-tailed dunnart to resemble a possum.

“This is rather a reproduction of some characteristics,” says Marmol Sánchez. “It would not be an extinct animal, but a very strange and modified version of a modern animal, similar to our image of an extinct animal.”

Colossal announces record 300 gene edits It affects the genome of Dunnart cells growing in culture. So far, the changes have been small, but Pask says the team plans to swap out tens of thousands of base pairs of thylacine DNA in the near future. He says it's not yet clear how much editing will be needed to achieve the company's goal of recreating the sugar glider.

When asked why Colossal did not provide any evidence to support its claims, the company's CEO, Ben Lamb, said that the company's sole focus was eradicating extinction and that the scientific literature He said it was not writing. “We are not an academic lab whose primary focus is papers,” Lamb said. “We will continue to make progress much faster than the process of writing a scientific paper.”

topic:

Source: www.newscientist.com

Study suggests that the majority of Earth’s meteorites come from the breakup events of only a few asteroids

Posted on October 17, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

A new study shows that about 70% of meteorites originate from at least three recent breakups of giant asteroids.

This is the artist's impression of the asteroid as it breaks apart. Credit: NASA/JPL-California Institute of Technology.

A type of meteorite, commonly called a chondrite, accounts for about 80% of all meteorites that hit Earth, including those that were involved in the violent impact period about 466 million years ago that is thought to have started the Ice Age. Included.

Previous studies have demonstrated that approximately 70% of meteorites on Earth have compositions known as H and L chondrites.

Argon-argon dating of L-chondrite meteorites on Earth suggests that these samples may have originated from the catastrophic destruction of a single asteroid that experienced a supersonic impact approximately 470 million years ago. It turned out to be high.

in new researchESO and MIT researcher Dr. Michael Marcet and colleagues have compiled spectroscopic data from asteroids in the main belt between Mars and Jupiter.

They found that a group of asteroids known as the Massalia family is very similar in composition to L-chondrite meteorites on Earth.

Through computer modeling, they propose that an impact event about 450 million years ago destroyed an L-chondrite asteroid, forming the Massalia family and providing debris that fueled the influx of meteorites.

in second studyCharles University researcher Miroslav Broz and his colleagues found that the current influx of H and L chondrite meteorites was likely caused by three recent breakups.

These events occurred about 5.8, 7.6 and 40 million years ago and involved the destruction of asteroids over 30 km (18.6 miles) in diameter.

More specifically, they suggest that the impact formation of the relatively young Karin and Coronis asteroid families and a second impact event (about 40 million years ago) in the older Massalia asteroids are currently falling to Earth. I guessed that explained most of the meteorites.

in Third, follow-upDr. Brož and his co-authors extended their approach to the entire meteorite family, revealing the major origins of carbonaceous chondrites and achondrites, in addition to those from the Moon, Mars, and Vesta.

“Our discovery provides insight into the mystery of where the most common meteorites that have ever hit Earth came from and how those impacts shaped Earth's history.” ,” the researchers said.

The results are published in three papers. journal nature and journal astronomy and astrophysics.

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M. Marcet others. 2024. Massalia asteroid family as the origin of ordinary L chondrites. nature 634, 561-565; doi: 10.1038/s41586-024-08007-6

M. Broz others. 2024. Young asteroids as the main source of meteorites. nature 634, 566-571; doi: 10.1038/s41586-024-08006-7

M. Broz others. 2024. Source region of carbonaceous meteorites and near-Earth objects. A&A 689, A183; doi: 10.1051/0004-6361/202450532

Source: www.sci.news

Meteorologists face backlash despite accurate storm forecasts

Posted on October 17, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

overview

Forecasts for hurricanes Helen and Milton were very accurate.
Meteorologists say they are facing unprecedented skepticism and vitriol despite the strong information they have released.
Some blame pre-election political tensions, while others point to climate change denial and the spread of misinformation on social media.

Nearly five days before Hurricane Milton hit Florida, forecasters at the National Hurricane Center predicted its path to within 19 miles of where the storm would later make landfall.

The forecast for Hurricane Helen was similarly accurate. Long before the storm reached the coast, the National Weather Service said “record flooding” in North Carolina, about 400 miles from the coast, was “one of the most significant weather events” in the state’s history. I warned you it would happen.

“The forecast was very accurate and I don’t think anyone was surprised by the landfall location and strength of this storm,” said NBC 6 South Florida meteorologist and hurricane expert John Morales.

But some meteorologists say this is the first time they’ve faced so much skepticism, hatred and conspiratorial backlash at a time when hurricane forecasts are at their most accurate.

They have been unfairly accused, primarily on social media, of steering the hurricane toward Florida or Appalachia. Some people have reported threats of violence online, while others say they have been personally attacked.

“Conspiracy theories have increased tremendously over the past two months, especially on social media, and it’s hurting our ability to do our jobs effectively,” said Matthew Cappucci, a meteorologist at Mailer Weather and The Washington Post. ” he said. “People will see false signals on radar and think we’re having a hurricane. Some people will think we can lead a hurricane into red states.”

Capucci said social media commenters criticized his Harvard education and said he should be fired. Cappucci added that he was recently interrupted at a bar in Louisiana by a man who noticed his MyRadar shirt and claimed that Cappucci worked for Bill Gates.

“He continued to harass me for the next 14 minutes about weather modification,” Capucci said.

Bradley Panovich, chief meteorologist at WCNC in Charlotte, North Carolina, said the messages are “getting more personal, meaner and more persistent.”

“It also takes time and effort away from the job of predicting the weather,” he added.

The wave of opposition and attacks comes as climate change intensifies and meteorologists grapple with the psychological toll of more severe and damaging hurricanes.

“Losing someone to a weather disaster is like losing a patient to a doctor on the operating table,” said Kim Klokow McClain, a senior social scientist supporting the National Weather Service. “Forecasters feel like they can save everyone. They take it personally.”

Hurricane forecasts are now more accurate

Hurricane forecasting has improved dramatically over the past 50 years.

Shel Winkley, a meteorologist at the nonprofit research group Climate Central, said that advances in computing power and a better understanding of storm physics have allowed the National Hurricane Center to develop forecast cones (forecast forecasts) before tropical cyclones develop. He said that he is now able to announce his future career path.

“Our cone is leaner,” Winkley said, meaning forecasters have more confidence in the hurricane’s path.

The National Hurricane Center annually releases data on how its forecasts match reality, and the trend shows tracking errors have been decreasing since the 1970s. At the time, storm forecasts issued 36 hours in advance could be off by about 230 miles. According to NOAA. So far in the 2020s, that margin of error is approximately 57 miles.

Capucci said the center’s predictions for Hurricane Milton were “almost prescient” and among the best in the center’s history.

Source: www.nbcnews.com

Understanding the Strange Nature of the First Discovered Brown Dwarf

Posted on October 17, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

Congratulations, you're twins

K. Miller, R. Hart/California Institute of Technology/IPAC

A strange star that has confused researchers for decades now makes sense. It turns out that it is not a single star, but two companion stars.

“Previously, it was thought that this brown dwarf was meaningless. We wondered if we were doing something horribly wrong, or if our models were horribly wrong. I was worried. But no, everything is fine. I just have friends.” timothy blunt at the Space Telescope Science Institute in Maryland.

Now, two research teams have used instruments from the W.M. Keck Observatory in Hawaii and the Very Large Telescope in Chile to solve the mystery of the first brown dwarf.

Brown dwarfs are “failed stars” in that they have too little material and are too hot to sustain nuclear fusion. Instead of shining brightly for thousands of years, they dim in the night sky like planets. The first brown dwarf, called Gliese 229B, was discovered in 1995 and had an inexplicably large mass. Jerry Xuan I worked on one of the studies at the California Institute of Technology.

Gliese 229B is estimated to have about 71 times the mass of Jupiter, and a star born at that size, even if it were as old as the universe, would cool down and become faint enough to see us. That would have never happened, said participant Brandt. One of the research team. This has led some researchers to suggest that Gliese 22B is a very faint pair of stars, but until now there has been no conclusive evidence.

Xuan said this was because two fellow brown dwarfs, Gliese 229Ba and Bb, were unusually close together, and very precise observations were needed to see them both. However, observations by both teams confirmed that they exist separately, orbiting each other every 12 days, and are always about 16 times the distance between Earth and the Moon.

He says that revealing the dual identity of Gliese 229B may be the start of a trend. samuel white book He was part of a research team at the California Institute of Technology. “There are probably a lot of binary systems that have been hiding in front of us all this time,” he says.

Xuan said he has already selected several other brown dwarfs to study more precisely. Brown dwarfs resemble both exoplanets and stars, so understanding how many of them are actually twins could shed light on the formation of these other objects as well. Maybe.

topic:

Source: www.newscientist.com

The Free Energy Principle: Is One Idea Enough to Explain the Existence of Everything?

Posted on October 17, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

Neuroscience seems like an unlikely place to find fundamental truths that might apply to everything in the universe. The brain is a special object that does things that few other objects in the universe are expected to be able to do. they recognize. they act. They read magazine articles. Usually they are the exception, not the rule.

Perhaps this is why the free energy principle (FEP) has attracted so much attention. In the early 2000s, what began as a tool to explain cognitive processes such as perception and behavior began to be presented as a “unified brain theory.” FEP was then put forward as the definition of life beyond the brain and, inevitably, as the basis for a new kind of artificial intelligence capable of reasoning. Today, some proponents argue that FEP even encapsulates what it means for something to exist in the universe. “The free energy principle can be read as the physics of self-organization,” says its founder. carl friston At University College London. “It's a description of what lasts.”

But some researchers, frustrated by the changes in scope, are skeptical that the FEP can deliver on many of its loftiest promises. “It was a moving target,” he says Mateo Colomboa philosopher and cognitive scientist at Tilburg University in the Netherlands.

All of this makes FEP a source of both fascination and frustration. While notoriously difficult to understand, its dizzying breadth is key to its enduring appeal. Therefore, given the claim that it can be used to explain…

Source: www.newscientist.com