The near-Earth asteroid called the 2024 YR4 has been closely monitored over the past few months as its chances of impacting Earth increased to about 3% in 2032. After the latest observations from the ESO's very large telescope (VLT), the probability of impact has decreased to about 0.001%.
This VLT image shows asteroid 2024 YR4 near Earth. Image credit: ESO/O. hainaut.
2024 yr4 On December 27, 2024, the Asteroid Terrestrial Impact of Río Hurtado was discovered by the Last Alert System (Atlas) station.
Between 40-90 m in diameter, the asteroid took a close approach to Earth at a distance of 828,800 km (515,000 miles) two days before its discovery.
The 2024 YR4 is currently moving, with the next close approach taking place on December 17th, 2028.
On December 22, 2032, the asteroid quickly rose to the top of the ESA risk list due to its size and potential impact. This is a catalogue of all the space rocks that can affect Earth.
“Uncertainty means that the orbit of an asteroid is like a flashlight beam. It becomes wide and wide and ambiguous in the distance.”
“As we observe more, the beam becomes sharper and narrower. The Earth was illuminated more by this beam. The probability of impact increased.”
The observations of the new VLT, along with data from other observatory data, were able to exclude the impact on Earth in 2032 by Dr. Hainaut and his colleagues, but were able to constrain sufficient orbits for all.
“The narrower beams are now far from Earth,” Dr. Heinout said.
The impact probability reported by the ESA's short-range object adjustment center is about 0.001%, and asteroids no longer place the ESA risk list above.
As the 2024 YR4 is far from Earth, it has become increasingly faint and difficult to observe it with all but the largest telescopes.
“The VLT contributes to the observation of this asteroid due to its mirror size and excellent sensitivity, and is an excellent darker sky at the Delusional Observatory of ESO in Chile, where the telescope is located,” the astronomer said.
“This would ideally help track faint objects such as the 2024 YR4 and other potentially dangerous asteroids.”
“Unfortunately, the same pristine, dark sky that allowed these important measurements is now under threat by Industrial Megaproject Inna by AES Andes, a subsidiary of US utility AES Corporation.”
“The project plans to cover areas similar to the size of small cities and be located at the nearest point, about 11 km from VLT.”
“Because of its size and proximity, INNA will have a devastating effect on the quality of Paranal's sky, particularly due to mild contamination from industrial facilities.”
“In bright sky, telescopes like VLT lose the ability to detect the weakest universe's targets.”
The physicist with Atlas collaboration We presented our first observations of VVZ production at Cern's large Hadron Collider. This is a rare combination of three giant vector bosons.
Three vector boson events recorded by Atlas are when one W-boson collapses into electrons and neutrinos, one collapses into moons and neutrinos, and two moons collapses into z boson. Muons are shown with a red line, electrons are shown with a green line, and a white line where “loss of energy” from Neutrino is destroyed. Image credits: Atlas/Cern.
As carriers of weak forces, W and Z bosons are central to standard models of particle physics.
Accurate measurements of multiboson production processes provide excellent testing of standard models and shed light on new physical phenomena.
“The production of three vector (V) bosons is a very rare process in LHC,” says Dr. Fabio Cerutti, Ph.D., Atlas Physics Coordinator.
“The measurement provides information about the interactions between multiple bosons linked to the symmetry underlying the standard model.”
“It is a powerful tool to uncover new physics phenomena, such as new particles that are too heavy to be produced directly in LHC.”
The Atlas team observed the generation of VVZ with statistical significance of 6.4 standard deviations, exceeding the five standard deviation thresholds needed to assert the observations.
This observation extends previous results from Atlas and CMS collaborations, including observations of VVV production by CMS and observations of WWW production by Atlas.
As some of the heaviest known particles, W and Z bosons can collapse in countless different ways.
In a new study, Atlas physicists focused on seven attenuation channels with the highest discovery potential.
These channels were further refined using a machine learning technique called Boosted Decision Trees, where the algorithms for each channel were trained to identify the desired signal.
By combining the attenuation channels, researchers were able to observe the production of VVZ and set limits on the contributions of new physical phenomena to the signal.
“The resulting limitations confirm the validity of the standard model and are consistent with previous results on the generation of three vector bosons,” they said.
“Analyzing the third run of LHC and the large dataset from future HLHCs will further improve the measurements of the generation of three vector bosons. We will deepen our understanding of these basic particles and our role in the universe.”
Could scientists use parasites in your brain to treat diseases? The concept of utilizing parasites as a medical tool may sound unconventional, but it offers hope for conditions like Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s. Researchers believe that if parasites can transport drugs directly to the brain, it could aid in treating these ailments.
An international team of scientists is doing just that. They are utilizing single-cell parasites called Toxoplasma gondii, which causes the infection toxoplasmosis. These parasites naturally travel from the human intestine to the central nervous system and provide proteins to host cells. In their experiment, bioengineers manipulated the internal system of T. gondii cells to produce and release proteins outside the cell, creating a secretion system.
The team explained that delivering medications to the brain is challenging due to the blood-brain barriers that safeguard the brain from harmful substances. T. gondii has evolved the ability to overcome these barriers, which could be beneficial in this process. Initially, they tested whether T. gondii can cross the blood-brain barrier in mice and then in human brain cells, specifically neurons, before moving on to testing on intact mouse brains to potentially apply the findings to humans.
Their drug delivery system mediated by T. gondii consists of proteins created from at least two regions of different genes that are combined and translated into a single unit, known as a protein fusion. They incorporated a therapeutic drug with a T. gondii protein called takihorin to transport medicine to the brain.
Initially, scientists faced challenges in determining the appropriate dilution factor for the drug compound. They had to find a balance between allowing the proteins to pass through the blood-brain barrier while ensuring they were still therapeutically effective. Through trial and error, they found the correct dilution factor and successfully administered the treatment to the targeted brain area.
The next step involved delivering therapeutic proteins to brain cells through T. gondii. Researchers used lab-grown mouse brain cells and specific proteins that regulate the movement of molecules across the cell membrane, known as vesicle transport protein. They demonstrated that the engineered T. gondii successfully transported healing proteins to the brain cells of lab-grown mice.
The researchers then tested the treatment process on human brain cells cultivated outside of the body. They confirmed that the therapeutic proteins delivered by T. gondii could bind to the DNA of human brain cells. This binding altered gene expression in the laboratory-grown brain cells.
Finally, engineers demonstrated the success of this therapy on whole mouse brains. By ensuring that the therapeutic proteins could pass the blood-brain barrier in live mice, they then evaluated the brains post-euthanasia. Utilizing 3D imaging, they illuminated specific neural pathways and markers in the mouse brain, confirming that the engineered proteins effectively delivered therapeutic proteins to the brain.
The researchers concluded that their findings show progress in drug delivery via engineered parasites but emphasized the need for further research to determine the potential advantages and drawbacks of this method. With the success of this study, they proposed that utilizing engineered parasites for drug delivery could offer new treatment options for brain-related diseases.
Without human-induced climate change, the Earth could have been on track to enter another ice age within 11,000 years. This long-term prediction of the planet's “natural” climate is based on a new analysis of how orbital shapes and the tilt of their axis combine to change the amount of solar energy reaching Earth.
For millions of years, these orbital oscillations (known as the Milankovich cycle) entered and left the planet during the Ice Age about every 41,000 years. However, over the past 800,000 years, these ice ages, also known as ice age, have only occurred every 100,000 years. The term Ice Age, as it is currently, can be used to refer to whenever there is ice on Earth's poles, but generally refers to a wide range of ice Age periods.
The ambiguity of the record as the ice sheets were willingly retreated meant that it was not possible to explain how trajectory changes were involved in driving this long cycle.
If previous research attempted to link orbital changes to a specific period, such as onset of an ice age, Stephen Barker Cardiff University in England and his colleagues took a new tack. They came back fading during the “glacial age” where they saw the overall pattern of the ice age, also known as ice age. This allowed us to link changes in trajectories with changes in ice, despite the ambiguity of ice records over the past million years.
They discovered that these 100,000-year cycles appear to follow simple rules. For the last 900,000 years, following the most circular phase of the orbit, the planets also tilted towards the Sun, thus causing all interglacial periods after the Earth's axis wobbled at the farthest from the Sun.
This suggests that all three of these aspects of Earth's orbit (known as precession, oblique and eccentricity) are combined to create a 100,000-year glacial cycle, Barker says. “Since 900,000 years ago, this simple rule has predicted all of these major glacial end events, which says it's really very easy to predict,” he says.
Under that rule, the next ice age where you currently live is expected to begin approximately 66,000 years from the year, as there is no impact on greenhouse gas emissions. But that could only be started if there was an ice age before that,” says Barker.
The diagonal and gradual stages of precession that preceded the Holocene suggest that the glaciers are likely to be on track between 4300 and 11 and 100 years from now. We may now live in what would have been the beginning of this next ice age. “Of course, it's just a natural scenario,” says Barker.
More than 1.5 trillion tons of carbon dioxide have been released into the atmosphere as the Industrial Revolution is expected to cause sufficient warming to disrupt this long-term glacial cycle.
“The amount we've already put into the atmosphere is so big that it takes hundreds to thousands of years to pull it out through natural processes,” Barker says. However, he says more research is needed to define the planet's future natural climate in a more detailed way.
It states that this is consistent with previous modeling suggesting that anthropogenic emissions can prevent the onset of the next ice age, from dozens to hundreds of thousands of years. Andrei Ganopolsky At the Potsdam Climate Impact Research Institute in Germany.
But he says even at pre-industrial levels of CO2 in the atmosphere, it was high enough to delay the ice sheet advancement by 50,000 years. This is due to the unusually small orbital changes expected in thousands of years and the unpredictable way that Earth responds to those changes.
As we approach February, Skywatchers have a final opportunity to witness the “Planet Parade” lighting up the night sky.
The celestial event, where all seven planets in the solar system, apart from Earth, are visible most weeks, is set to provide the best viewing chances for Skywatchers worldwide on Friday. This is because mercury, which only recently appeared on the horizon, will be at its highest point above the horizon.
Starting from Friday, mercury and Saturn will become too dim and too low on the horizon for most observers.
If the conditions are right, it should be possible to spot five out of the seven planets with the naked eye with mercury and Saturn in mind. However, a telescope is necessary to view Uranus and Neptune.
Planetary parades occur when multiple planets are visible simultaneously and spread out in an arc across the sky. While not uncommon, it is rare for all seven planets to be visible at the same time. Four planets were visible before sunrise in August, but NASA states that five will not be visible again until October 2028.
To observe the planets in the sky this week, it is best to find locations on clear nights with minimal light pollution.
Saturn is visible near the horizon (it sets below the sky, making it harder to see during moonrise). Mercury has been far from the sun in recent weeks, making it easier to locate. After sunset, near Saturn, it can be seen low in the western sky.
Venus is also situated in the western part of the sky and is usually the easiest planet to spot due to its brightness.
Jupiter can be observed at dusk. NASA. Mars, meanwhile, is the last planet to set before sunrise.
Michael Shanahan, planetarium director at Liberty Science Center in New Jersey, suggests searching for mercury and Saturn with binoculars near the sunset point shortly after dusk.
As it gets darker, Jupiter, the brightest star in the sky, can be seen overhead. Towards the east, Mars on Earth remains quite bright,” he added.
Shanahan also mentioned that beyond Friday, individuals can witness what he described as “Planetal Ballet against the Starry Background.”
“Around March 10th, Venus will appear too low. Currently, Venus is a bright spot resembling an airplane,” he noted.
Planetary alignments occur due to the planets orbiting the Sun in a relatively flat, disc-like plane. They move along this metaphorical racetrack at their own pace. Mercury completes its orbit in 88 days, Venus takes 225 days, and Saturn takes over 29 years to orbit the Sun.
When multiple planets align on the same side of the metaphorical track, Jackie Faherty, an astronomer and senior research scientist at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City, explained to NBC News earlier this month.
The International Space Station may be a little too clean
geopix/alamy
A strategy to keep the spacecraft as clean and infertile as possible to ensure that astronauts do not get sick may be a mistake. Researchers studying the International Space Station (ISS) say our immune system may require stimulation from certain types of molecules and microorganisms to maintain good health.
“The general concept is to have as few microorganisms as possible, but the question is whether it's the best thing for long-term space travel.” Peter Drestein At the University of California, San Diego. “And that's related to places on earth, such as research. [stations]hospitals and submarines, can spend more than a few months. ”
One reason for sterilizing spacecraft is to avoid covering contaminated planets such as Mars with microorganisms from Earth, but the main concern is that infections that can easily be treated on our planets can become a major problem with spacecraft.
Dorrstein and his team analyzed over 700 surface swabs mounted on the ISS.
“The space station doesn't have many molecules and microorganisms,” he says. “It's at the extreme edge of human life.”
The team believes this lack of exposure to the usual wide range of molecules and microorganisms could be one of the reasons why there is a major change in the universe's immune system. On space stations, astronauts are often subject to rashes, abnormal allergies, fungal or bacterial infections, and activation of latent viruses such as Epstein Barr found in one of the samples.
“We don't fully understand that,” says Drestein. “But the way I see this is that you have to ping your immune system regularly.”
Researchers say they need to find ways to ensure that environments like space stations are “more diverse in molecules and microorganisms, but without introducing infectious pathogens.”
One way to do this is Subtilis Bacillus Instead of disinfectant, Drestein says. B. subtilis It is already widely used for antifungal activities.
Growing a variety of plants is also helpful. “We know from other studies that when people are exposed to more plant molecules, they tend to have a reduced connection to asthma and allergies,” Drestein says. He says these plant molecules are not entirely present in the space station.
Feedback is the latest science and technology news of new scientists, the sidelines of the latest science and technology news. You can email Feedback@newscientist.com to send items you believe readers can be fascinated by feedback.
The hypothesis is that when male masculinity is threatened, it is overcompensated as an “extreme demonstration of masculinity.” For example, when men were told they were feminine, they responded by expressing more support for the “dominant hierarchy” and said they wanted more personal strength. They also became more supportive of war and homophobia.
But the bit that caught Hobbes' attention is that they were interested in purchasing a sports utility vehicle (SUV) because it was so ridiculous.
Reading all this, I found that feedback stares into the universe, but the faces of famous people flashed in the past. It reminded me of singer James Blunt when he was interviewed on Jesse Ware's podcast. Table etiquette. He admitted that he had followed in college. A meat-only meal to prove his manliness and annoy his vegan friends– You'll just be diagnosed with scurvy.
We recall many examples of right-wing male men who confessed on social media that they did not believe in the existence of female orgasms.
It reminded me that Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg's trash cans were talking to each other during the proposed cage battle for a year. And we thought those sociologists might have the point.
Ready and not ready
We are all trying to adapt to the rise of artificial intelligence, but the next technological revolution is Quantum Computers. Thanks to issue 3530, regular readers will already know this. But what about all the poor souls who didn't pick it up?
What is being offered? Why teach leaders help to create “clear and comprehensive quantum response strategies for durable, competitive differentiation.” Quantum computing is promised to “simply solve meaningful problems and unlock business value in various fields.” Hype, stable at Microsoft.
As a result of this upcoming power of quantum computing, leaders need to “understand the organizational change needed to lead the quantum era through a structured approach to business transformation tailored to the organization's objectives.” They need to “run Quantum Application Roadmap” for businesses that “assess the impact of Quantum.” In other words, do some research, plan, and do it. You really can't put financial value on advice that combines quality and originality to that extent.
The problem, of course, is that we don't know if quantum computers will be useful or if they will be of any exact help. So, while companies may spend a lot of time preparing for a quantum future, we see that surprisingly different quantum futures actually occur.
In a very realistic sense, even if the company is quantum-enabled, it is not quantum-enabled. If there is a thought experiment that could explain such a situation.
How to leave the planet
Given the state of things mentioned above, feedback sometimes makes me wonder if we might depart Planet Earth for a new meadow. Certainly space travel plagues dangers like metstone strikes, intense radiation, and true heart-wrenching scales of interstellar distance.
However, on the other hand, the grass may have greenery. In the idol moment, we may be able to fantasize that the approaching asteroid 2024 YR4 is a disguised flying saucer and cover the lift into the Alpha Centauri.
So when we learn, we can imagine our surprise through sustainability consultant Niki Rus Unusual LinkedIn Recruitment Certainly.com. A company called Black Book Resourcing Ltd wanted it “Pioner Colonists – Mars Village Program.” Responsibilities include “establishing and maintaining a life support system,” “generating power and managing resources for long-term survival” (just a little of the understatement here), “working as a team under extreme conditions.”
A rather long list of “essential requirements” includes “peak physical and mental endurance” and “backgrounds for engineering, medicine, botany, geology, or survival skills.” Confusingly, this list requires both “completely isolated adaptability and resilience” and “strong teamwork and leadership skills.” Finally, you should have “Don't depend on the luxury of the earth, only grit and resolve.” “Previous Experiences in Extreme Environments” is optional.
Not everything is in a hurry: the listing has expired and we are not at all sure it is authentic. Moreover, given the frankly intense requirements, the feedback was surprised to see that the proposed salary was between £60,000 and £100,000 a year. However, the company deserves credit for listing the work as “permanent.” That will definitely be the case. Bonus points for the location. This is described simply as “remote”.
Have you talked about feedback?
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All of our solar system planets line up in the night sky once this week. This extraordinary celestial event will see the sky scattered with seven visible planets in what is called a great planet alignment, or what is called a “planet parade.”
The eight planets in our solar system first formed from the same disc of debris around the sun, thus bringing the sun into orbit on roughly the same plane. The lines that line this plane appear along the zodiac when the sun crosses the daytime sky, as the sun crosses the daytime sky, appear all along the zodiac when the planets appear in the sky. The orbit is slightly tilted, so it’s not the perfect line of the planet, but it’s pretty close.
This is less obvious than during planetary alignment. Normally, only a few planets share the night sky, but the unusual alignment of all seven planets will be visible around a few nights, around February 28, depending on your location.
The best time to see is right after sunset, and you will have the opportunity to see all the planets arching in the sky, but all of them are near the horizon except Mars, Jupiter and Uranus. These three will continue to stroll all night, but by the time the sky is completely dark, Mercury and Saturn will sink below the horizon, and Neptune and Venus will soon follow.
The main thing that prevents such alignments from being invisible all the time is the difference in orbital periods between planets, except for the weather. Mercury closest to the Sun takes about 88 Earth days to complete its orbit, but Neptune, most of the distant planets, takes nearly 165 Earth years.
It is only possible to have a large alignment if the planets are all relatively far from the Sun, so they can be seen at night, so they are all in roughly the same half of the sky, so they can be seen at the same time. It’s a coincidence of an astonishing trajectory. Sometimes there are multiple large alignments per year, sometimes even if there are no more than one year, it can pass. A similar event is not scheduled to occur until 2040.
“It’s great to see the interest that Planet Parade is creating.” David Armstrong At the University of Warwick, UK. “It’s all great to be involved in astronomy, look up at the sky and evaluate the wonders of our solar system. I encourage anyone interested in going out and looking at the planets with their own eyes if they get the chance in the next few days.”
Published in the journal Endocrine review, this research suggests that certain naturally occurring hormones might be able to slow down the aging process in the body.
“Our study sheds light on key hormones that play a role in regulating pathways associated with skin aging, including connective tissue degradation (which leads to wrinkles), stem cell survival, and pigment loss (which causes graying of hair),” explained Professor Markus Böhm from the University of Munster, Germany.
“Some of these hormones have shown anti-aging properties and could potentially be used as treatments to prevent skin aging in the future.”
The primary focus of this research was to examine the connection between hormones and aging, with a particular emphasis on hormones like estrogen, growth hormone, and melatonin, all of which can impact skin aging.
One hormone that stood out in the study was melatonin. While commonly known for its role in regulating sleep, melatonin was found to also play a role in maintaining youthful skin. Its powerful antioxidant effects help protect skin cells and slow the aging process.
Other hormones, such as melanocyte-stimulating hormone and oxytocin, were also identified as potential contributors to maintaining youthful skin and hair and protecting against UV damage.
The skin, being the body’s largest organ, is prone to damage from environmental factors, especially UV rays from the sun.
“The skin not only responds to various hormones that impact skin aging pathways, but it is also a significant site for hormone production, aside from the traditional endocrine glands like the pituitary gland,” added Böhm.
Researchers are hopeful that these findings will lead to the development of a new anti-aging therapy known as Senotherapeutics, which targets and eliminates senescent cells. By doing so, these drugs may help slow down or even reverse the signs of aging that result from the accumulation of these cells in the body over time.
“Further research on these hormones could pave the way for the development of new treatments to address and prevent skin aging,” concluded Böhm.
The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope produced excellent images of a small portion of the Veil Nebula, part of the remnants of a supernova called the Cygnus loop.
This Hubble image shows part of the Veil Nebula. Image credits: NASA/ESA/Hubble/R. Sankrit.
Cygnus loop It is a large donut-shaped nebula located approximately 2,400 light years from Earth.
Also known as the W78 and Sharpless 103, it is actually an explosive blast from a supernova explosion that occurred 10,000 to 20,000 years ago.
Its name comes from the position of the northern constellations of Cygnus and covers an area 36 times the full moon.
The visual part of the supernova remains is known as the veil nebula, also known as the caterpillar or filamentous nebula.
“This nebula is about 20 times more star remnants than the sun that exploded 10,000 to 20,000 years ago,” said Hubble astronomers.
This new image consists of observations from Hubble Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3) Optical part of the spectrum.
“This view combines images taken with three different filters to highlight the release from hydrogen, sulfur and oxygen atoms,” the astronomer said.
“The image shows just a small part of the Veil Nebula. If we could see the entire nebula without the help of a telescope, it would be as wide as six full moons were placed side by side.”
“The image captures the Veil Nebula at just one point, but it helps researchers understand how the remnants of the supernova have evolved over the decades.”
“Combining this snapshot with Hubble observations from 1994 reveals the movement of individual knots and gas filaments over that time, improving our understanding of this stunning nebula.”
Mixing 50 grams of walnuts with muesli and yogurt increased faster reaction times throughout the day, and later in the day, according to a team of scientists at USDA Human Nutrition Research Center, a reading university at Tufts University's Aging, which improved memory performance later that day compared to eating a breakfast that suited comparable calories.
Eating walnuts for breakfast can improve brain function in healthy young adults. Image credit: Tim Ulama.
“Diet is one of the most important lifestyle factors that strongly affect cognitive function,” says Professor Claire Williams of the University of Reading and a colleague.
“Therefore, a balanced diet rich in nutrients can improve cognitive function throughout your life.”
“One of the class of foods linked to beneficial cognitive health is the nut family, and several epidemiological studies highlight the positive relationship between regular nut consumption and cognitive function.”
“For example, epidemiological studies, such as the Doetinchem Cohort study, found that levels of nut consumption were positively predicted for memory, processing speed, cognitive flexibility, and global cognitive function in middle-aged adults.
“Preclinical studies have also demonstrated the cognitive benefits of walnut supplementation.”
“Rodent studies have shown that walnuts promote improved working memory performance on Morris' water maze tasks and improve learning and memory performance in elevated and radial arm mazes.”
“The cognitive benefits of walnuts can be due to certain nutrients, as they are known to be high in omega-3 fatty acids, protein/peptides, and flavonoids and polyphenol classes,” they added.
“The main purpose of our study was to determine the cognitive and mood effects of acute consumption of walnut-rich breakfasts in healthy young adults throughout the day, and secondly, to investigate the potential neurological and physiological mechanisms that explain the benefits of cognitive.”
In this study, 32 healthy young adults ages 18-30 consumed both walnut-rich and matched breakfasts on separate occasions.
Participants completed various cognitive tests while monitoring brain activity 6 hours after eating each breakfast.
“Breakfast and some walnuts can give young adults a mental advantage when they need to play at the top of the game,” Professor Williams said.
“It's particularly exciting that this simple diet can make a measurable difference in cognitive performance.”
Brain activity records revealed changes in neural activity suggesting that walnuts may help the brain work more efficiently during challenging mental tasks, and blood samples revealed positive changes in glucose and fatty acid levels.
“Our findings provide evidence of the benefits of reaction time throughout the day after a walnut-rich breakfast, but memory findings were mixed with benefits observed only later in the day,” the researchers said.
“However, more research is needed on how walnut-containing diets modulate cognitive improvement in humans both postpartum and long-term.”
result Published in the journal Food and Function.
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L. Bell et al. The effect of walnut-rich breakfast on daily cognitive performance and brain activity in healthy young adults: a crossover intervention trial. Food functionsPublished online on February 3, 2025. doi:10.1039/d4fo04832f
New research reveals a potential protective role for citrus fruits in preventing depression. Faecalibacterium prausnitzii, a type of bacteria found in the human intestine, and its metabolic activity, may influence the impact of citrus fruits and their flavonoids on mood.
Samuthpontorn et al. We report that citrus intake and its ingredients are positively associated with changes in abundance of 15 intestinal microbial species, including reduced risk of depression and enrichment Faecalibacterium prausnitzii. Image credit: Hans.
Depression is a widespread and debilitating condition that affects more than 280 million individuals around the world.
The exact cause of depression is unknown, and treatment is often ineffective.
70% of patients with depression are unable to respond to initial antidepressant treatment and experience unbearable side effects of the drug.
Diet may be a promising tool for preventing and managing depression.
Mediterranean diets are associated with a nearly 35% reduction in the risk of depression, and similar diets show a reduction in mood symptoms.
While the specific food groups underlying these findings remain unknown, recent studies have linked citrus fruits, such as oranges and grapefruits, with a reduced risk of depression.
However, the mechanisms explaining the relationship between diet and depression prevention remain unclear.
In a recent study, Dr. Raaj Mehta, a medical instructor at Harvard Medical School and a physician at Massachusetts General Hospital, along with colleagues, analyzed the interactions between citrus consumption, gut microbiome, and risk of depression in over 32,427 participants.
They prospectively examined the long-term effects of citrus intake on depression, the abundance of gut microbial species, and the potential metabolic pathways related to depression.
“I was collaborating with a talented postdoc named Chatpol Samuthpontorn. He came across a paper from 2016 suggesting that citrus fruits could reduce the risk of depression,” explained Dr. Mehta.
“This finding intrigued us, as we had access to extensive datasets that could help us investigate further.”
“One of these datasets was the Nurse Health Study II (NHS2), which began in 1989 to identify risk factors for major chronic diseases in women.”
“We found evidence in this dataset that nurses who consumed higher amounts of citrus fruits had a lower incidence of depression in the future.”
The authors found that consuming one medium orange per day could reduce the risk of developing depression by about 20%.
“When examining total fruit and vegetable consumption, or other individual fruits like apples and bananas, we did not observe a significant relationship with depression risk,” Dr. Mehta noted.
A unique aspect of this study was that a subset of NHS2 participants provided stool samples over a year for researchers to analyze.
“We used DNA sequencing results from these stool samples to identify links between citrus intake and specific bacterial species in the gut microbiota,” said Dr. Mehta.
“People who were not depressed had higher levels of this bacterium, and consuming more citrus was also linked to increased levels of Faecalibacterium prausnitzii.”
“This bacterium may play a key role in connecting citrus consumption with good mental health.”
“We also investigated similar studies involving men, as NHS2 only included women, and found an inverse correlation between Faecalibacterium prausnitzii and depression risk scores in this group,” Dr. Mehta added.
“This raises the question: Does Faecalibacterium prausnitzii contribute to positive mood?”
“One possible explanation is that these bacteria use metabolic pathways, such as the S-adenosyl-L-methionine cycle I pathway, to influence the production of neurotransmitters like serotonin and dopamine in the intestine,” Dr. Mehta explained.
“These neurotransmitters not only influence digestion but can also travel to the brain, where they affect mood.”
“We hope our findings encourage further research into the link between diet and mental health,” Dr. Mehta stated.
“People generally understand that food can impact mood, but researchers are just starting to unravel the specifics.”
A paper detailing these findings was published in the journal Microbiome.
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C. Samuthpontorn et al. 2024. F. Prausnitzii Potentially modulates the association between citrus intake and depression. Microbiome 12, 237; doi:10.1186/s40168-024-01961-3
A team of researchers from Bayerisches Geoinstitut conducted high-pressure temperature laboratory experiments to determine the crystal structure and density of the iron sulfide phase in the Mars core.
man et al. The formula shows that the high pressure iron sulfide phase is fe4+xs3 It has a higher density than the liquid Mars core, and its fe4+xs3 When the temperature drops below 1960 K at the center of Mars, the inner core crystallizes. Image credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Maryland.
Like Earth's core, Mars' core is expected to be made up of molten ferrous metals.
However, the density is low, indicating that the Mars core must contain rich amounts of additional lighter elements, such as sulfur.
Previously, it was thought that the temperature of the Martian core would likely be too high for the solid inner core to crystallize, but the possibility of the iron sulfide mineral that forms the inner core was not examined in detail.
“Observations from NASA's insight mission reveal that Mars' core is enriched in the light element, as Mars' nuclei appears to be significantly lower than the density of iron-nickel alloys,” said Leangie, a researcher at Geoinstitut at Bayerish.
“From a cosmic perspective and geochemical considerations, candidate light elements in the Mars core include sulfur, oxygen, carbon and hydrogen.”
“In particular, sulfur is the most common moderately volatile element of the solar nebulae, and is the “iron-loving” behavior during core mantle differentiation, and is therefore often emphasized as a possible main component of the Mars core, as Mars' core formation is not extended enough or is not at the height of silicon or oxycone.
“Earthquake and Lander radio science data from the Insight mission confirmed that Mars has a flow core, but now geophysical basis cannot rule out the presence of a solid inner core.”
“In addition, geophysical observations, when combined with the physical interpretation of the appropriate minerals, provide not only essential constraints on internal composition and temperature, but also provide the mechanism that initiated and terminated the magnetic field of early Mars.”
In their study, scientists conducted high-pressure temperature lab experiments to determine the crystal structure and density of the iron sulfide phase in the Mars core.
They suggest that the temperature at the center of Mars should be below about 1,960 Kelvin, which is within the estimated range of this region.
Further geophysical measurements are required to confirm the actual presence of the core inside solid Mars.
“But our work supports the potential of a solid inner Mars core today, after Mars has been cooled further, or in the near future,” the author said.
Their paper Published in the journal Natural Communication.
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L. Mann et al. 2025. Structure and stability of Fe4+xs3 And the possibility of forming the inner core of Mars. Nut commune 16, 1710; doi:10.1038/s41467-025-56220-2
NASA’s Lucy spacecraft flies by the small asteroid Donald Johansson on April 20, 2025.
By flashing between images captured by NASA’s Lucy spacecraft on February 20th and 22nd, 2025, this animation shows Donald Johansson’s perceived movement against the background star as the spacecraft rapidly approaches the asteroid. Image credit: NASA/GODDARD/SWRI/JOHNS HOPKINS APL.
Donald Johansson It is a carbonaceous small intestine about 4 km (2.5 miles) in diameter.
First discovered by American astronomer Sheltebas at the Siding Spring Observatory on March 2, 1981, it orbited within the inner region of the main asteroid belt.
NASA’s Lucy spacecraft will pass within 960 km (596 miles) of Donald Johansson on April 20th.
“This second asteroid encounter for Lucy will serve as a rehearsal for Jupiter’s Trojan asteroid outfit, the spacecraft’s main target,” a member of the Lucy team said in a statement.
“The spacecraft had already successfully observed the main belt asteroid Dinkinesh and its moon, Serum and Serum in November 2023.”
This diagram shows NASA’s Lucy spacecraft passing through one of the Trojan asteroids near Jupiter. Image credit: Southwest Research Institute.
“But at a distance of 70 million km (45 million miles), Donald Johansson is still dim, but he stands out clearly in this area of relatively faint stars in the constellations of Sextane,” the researchers said.
“The north of the sky is on the right side of the frame, with a 0.11-degree field of vision corresponding to 85,500 miles (140,000 km) of asteroidal distance.”
“Of the two images, another dimly lit asteroid can see the photobomb in the quadrant at the bottom right of the image.”
“However, as the headlights of approaching cars often remain relatively still, Donald Johansson’s obvious movement between these two images is much smaller than that of this intruder, who has fallen out of sight in the second image.”
According to scientists, Donald Johansson was named after anthropologist Donald Johansson, who discovered “Lucy.” Lucy Mission is named after the fossil.
“Lucy will continue to image Donald Johansson as part of his optical navigation program for the next two months. The optical navigation program will use the apparent position of the asteroid against the star’s background to ensure an accurate flyby,” they said.
By chemically analyzing ancient rock crystals, scientists at Curtin University, Portsmouth University and St. Francis Xavier University discovered that glaciers were carved to mark the landscape after the events of the neoplasm of the Snowman Earth, releasing the main minerals that transformed the sea shells. This process has had a major impact on the composition of the planet, creating conditions that allow complex life to evolve.
Impressions of the artist “Snowman Earth.” Image credit: NASA.
“Our research provides valuable insight into how the natural systems of the Earth are deeply interconnected,” says Chris Kirkland, professor of Curtin University, the study's lead author.
“When these huge ice sheets melted, they caused a huge flood that washed out mineral and uranium-containing chemicals into the ocean.”
“This influx of elements changed marine chemistry as more complex lives began to evolve.”
“This study highlights how Earth's land, oceans, atmosphere and climate are closely connected. Even ancient glacial activity triggers the chemical chain reaction that formed the planet.”
This study also offers a new perspective on modern climate change.
It shows how past changes in the global climate have caused large-scale environmental transformations.
“This research is a clear reminder that while the Earth itself can withstand, the conditions that make it habitable can change dramatically,” Professor Kirkland said.
“These ancient climate changes demonstrate the profound and lasting impact of changes in the natural and human-driven environment.
“Understanding these past events will help us to better predict how today's climate change will reconstruct our world.”
A new study led by scientists at the Max Planck Institute of Geoanthropology challenges traditional ideas about the habitability of ancient tropical forests and suggests that West Africa may be an important center of the evolution of our species. Homo sapiens.
The Bete I site in Ivory Coast and other African sites from around 130,000-190,000 years ago. Image credits: Awakening et al. , doi: 10.1038/s41586-025-08613-y.
Homo sapiens It is believed that it appeared in Africa about 300,000 years ago before it was dispersed around the world.
Humans lived in the rainforests in Asia and Oceania 45,000 years ago, but there was the earliest evidence to connect people to the rainforests in Africa about 18,000 years ago.
“Our species are thought to have emerged in Africa 300,000 years ago before they were dispersed to occupy all the biomes of the world, from deserts to densely populated rainforests,” says Dr. Eslem Ben Araus, a researcher at the National Center for Human Evolution and a geographer at the Max Planck Institute.
“While grasslands and coasts are usually given advantages in studying the cultural and environmental contexts of human emergence and spread, recent evidence relates several regions and ecosystems during the early prehistoric periods of our species.”
“The tropical rainforest settlements in Asia and Oceania have been well documented as early as 45,000 years ago, and perhaps 73,000 years ago.”
“However, despite evidence that central Stone Age assembly is widespread in modern African rainforest regions, the oldest safe and close human associations with such damp tropical forests in Africa are not more than about 18,000.”
In their study, in the Agnama region of Côte de Iboir in West Africa, Dr. Auros and co-authors focused on the archaeological site of Bethe I.
The site is 150,000 years old and contains signs of human occupation, such as stone tools such as picks and small objects.
“Several recent climate models suggest that even during the arid season of forest fragmentation, the area may have been a refuge for rainforests,” said Professor Eleanor Serli, a researcher at the Max Planck Institute.
“We knew this site offered the best possible opportunity to know how much it has returned to past rainforest settlements.”
Researchers investigated sediment samples of precipitated plants called pollen, silicid plant plants, and investigated wax isotopes in the leaves.
Their analysis shows that the area is rich in woodland and has pollen and leaf wax typical of wet West African rainforests.
Low levels of grass pollen showed that this site was not in narrow forest strips and not in dense forests.
“This exciting discovery is the first in a long list, as there are other Koiboria sites waiting to be investigated to study the human presence associated with rainforests.”
“Convergent evidence shows that there is no doubt that ecological diversity is at the heart of our species,” added Professor Scerri.
“This reflects the complex history of the population plots in which different populations lived in different regions and habitat types.”
“We now need to ask how these early human niche expansions affected the flora and fauna that shared the same niche space with humans.”
“In other words, how much will human changes in human nature's habitat return?”
study Today I'll be appearing in the journal Nature.
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E. Ben Aurus et al. A man from a wet tropical forest in Africa 150,000 years ago. NaturePublished online on February 26th, 2025. doi:10.1038/s41586-025-08613-y
The new NASA Space Observatory is set to launch into orbit on Thursday with a crucial mission to map over 450 million galaxies.
The Spherex mission, short for the spectrophoton meter of space history, reionization epoch, and Ice Explorer history, will map the entire sky four times over two years, giving scientists the chance to study galaxy formation and uncover insights into the universe’s evolution.
“That’s going to answer the fundamental question: how did we get here?” Shawn Domagal-Goldman, acting director of the Astrophysics Division at NASA headquarters, stated in a recent news briefing.
Spherex is scheduled to be launched from the Vandenberg Space Force Base in California at 10:09 pm on Thursday.
The cone-shaped spacecraft will be launched on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket along with four suitcase-sized satellites deployed simultaneously for another NASA mission to study the sun.
A spacecraft preliminary design that includes a hexagonal solar shield to help keep your instrument cool. NASA / JPL-Caltech
The $488 million Spherex mission has been in development for approximately 10 years. According to NASA, it aims to map objects using 102 infrared colors and light.
Infrared technology allows scientists to see through dust and gas, observing some of the oldest stars and galaxies in the universe. By utilizing spectroscopy, scientists can analyze the composition, density, temperature, and movement of celestial objects.
The Spherex Observatory employs spectrometers to explore the sky in three dimensions and study hundreds of millions of galaxies’ properties, as stated by Jamie Bock, a lead investigator at the Spherex mission and a physics professor at the California Institute of Technology.
Bock mentioned that these observations could provide insights into galaxy formation and allow researchers to examine the origins of water and other organic materials in the Milky Way galaxy.
“When you dissect light, you can determine the galaxy’s distance, construct a three-dimensional map, and identify the water fingerprint,” Bock explained.
Unraveling the origins of water can enhance scientific understanding of life’s evolution on Earth and possibly reveal clues about vital life components elsewhere in the galaxy.
“This new capability can lead to discoveries or surprises,” Bock added.
By mapping the celestial sky, the Spherex mission addresses one of astronomy’s enduring mysteries: The Big Bang that Created the Universe approximately 13.8 billion years ago.
One theory proposed in the late 1970s and early 1980s suggests the universe experienced a staggering trillion-fold expansion in the first fraction of a second post-big bang. Known as cosmic inflation, this theory aims to explain the universe’s curved geometry, structure formation, and rapid expansion.
However, astronomers have grappled with connecting the driving force behind this cosmic inflation and why it occurred. By meticulously mapping hundreds of millions of galaxies, the Spherex mission can test theories in new ways, aiding scientists in refining the physics underlying the universe’s inflation and rapid expansion.
“What Spherex does is test specific inflation models by tracking hundreds of millions of galaxies in three dimensions,” Brock noted.
Domagal-Goldman expressed that the Spherex Mission’s exploration of galaxies, cosmic inflation, and the universe’s origins could deepen human comprehension of basic physics.
“We are fortunate to live in an era where we can uncover answers about the universe’s long narrative of human existence on this planet,” he remarked.
Whether we communicate, whether we are worried about how we choose the right words to scribbles on Valentine’s Day cards or suffering from the way we ask our bosses awkward questions, there is very little trouble in our lives. And that’s before you become the incredible realm of digital communication and the new danger of “hybrid meetings”, the danger of trembling.
Andrew Brozky I know these challenges better than most. Based at the University of Texas at Austin, he is a workplace technology and communications expert. His own situation means that face-to-face interactions are not always possible in his teens, which led him to study virtual interactions. His insights have become invaluable when the Covid-19 pandemic came and we were all forced to be on platforms like Zoom and the team.
Brodsky is currently studying virtual communications of over 100,000 people, and his findings have led to a book. Ping: The secret to success in virtual communication. Drawing on his research and insights from others in the field, Brodsky unlocks secrets that will help us succeed in our personal lives and careers, giving some pointers with obvious pitfalls. Was that meeting via email? How close do you need to be to someone before sending a voice note? Brodsky has the answer.
Chris Stokel-Walker: Communication digitally is something we all have to do, but what led us to look at this very closely?
Andrew Brodsky: One of the things that really shocked me in my life is that I have cancer…
Jeff Goldblum has made many contributions to this world, but perhaps the best is the delivery of the iconic line in the 1993 film Jurassic Park. In the scene where his character Ian Malcolm bets Dinosaur Park creator John Hammond, Goldblum speaks of what has become a long-standing meme.
As we might call it high, paradigms are a great way to think about the risks and rewards of scientific efforts.
Still, it is rare to see scientists appear strongly in their field of research. As a mathematician, Malcolm probably didn’t really care much about the development of genetics. Perhaps this has given us a recent warning against creating “Mirror Life.” Molecules can wreaking havoc through the biosphere, where they have an opposite orientation to everything else on Earth.
The creation of mirror life can cause havoc through the biosphere
Mirror Life fails violently on the “must-have” side of the scale, but there seems to be little reason to create it – in other cases, the decision is not that easy. Perhaps the most troublesome recent example is gain-of-function research. This is where often pathogenic organisms are modified and increase their ability to both risk and reward. For example, changing the flu virus makes it obviously a risk to make it easier to infect humans. But if it helps us understand the virus and potentially prevent the pandemic, is it worth it?
The acquisition of features has always been controversial, but recently the debate over it has exploded. People who believe that SARS-Cov-2, the virus behind Covid-19, was created in the lab – no evidence-based belief jumped on gain-of-function research as a smoking gun. Does this mean that such work must be prohibited? Perhaps not, but in Malcolm’s words, we need to keep in mind the distinction between “possibility” and “essential.”
Woman drinks water during heat waves in French Hierrez
Magali Cohen/Hans Lucas/AFP Getty Images
Extreme fever appears to speed up biological aging in older adults, suggesting that it may increase the risk of age-related diseases.
“This is one of the first large-scale studies linking long-term heat exposure to biological aging in humans,” he says. Eun Young Choi At the University of Southern California. “Elderly people who live in areas with biologically extreme heat in cooler areas.”
Choi and her colleagues analyzed genetic data extracted from blood samples collected by other researchers from 3,600 people in the US in 2006-7. At the time, they were all over 56 years old.
They estimated the biological age of each participant using three so-called epigenetic clocks, including seeing patterns of chemical tags called methyl groups on DNA. These patterns change as we age, and such changes are associated with age-related diseases.
The researchers also looked at daily temperature measurements taken within a few kilometres of where participants lived for six years before blood samples were collected.
They found that every 200 days of six years when participants were exposed to daily maximum temperatures of at least 32.2°C (90°), biological age was on average up to 3.5 months old, and on average up to 3.5 months of age than those in cooler areas. That number depends on which watch was used.
“This refers to heat exposure increasing the rate of biological aging,” he says. Austin Argencheri At Harvard University, where he was not involved in the research.
Previous studies on the Taiwanese and German people have also found a link between extreme heat exposure and biological aging.
However, epigenetic watches do not fully capture the aging process or the risk of people's illnesses, says Argentieri. “More jobs that can link both extreme heat exposure, biological aging from these watches, age-related diseases, mortality and the effects on life expectancy itself will help us drive home what we need to take away from now on.”
Furthermore, the study did not consider access to air conditioners or the duration of time participants spent outdoors, so individual exposure changes to heat exposure, says Argentieri. The team controlled for other factors such as age, gender, race, wealth, ethnicity, smoking status, alcohol consumption, obesity, and physical activity.
Furthermore, research should investigate whether results will be translated to younger people or to people living in different countries where people may have different approaches to keeping people cool, says Argentieri.
Identifying the people who are at the lowest risk of aging fastest due to extreme heat could help policymakers develop and deploy measures to protect them, he says.
AMOC brings warm water north from the tropical region near the surface and takes cold water in opposite directions of the deep sea
noaa
Important ocean currents will rarely close by the end of this century, according to new findings that undermine the end of the impending catastrophic collapse.
The Atlantic Meridian Surrounding Circulation (AMOC) transports warm water from the tropical north and helps maintain temperatures in Northern Europe. The temperature and the influx of cold water from the Arctic ice weakens the current temperature, and scientists fear it can stop it completely. This will disrupt marine ecosystems and cool the European climate a few degrees faster.
Some researchers say that the irreversible closure of AMOC could be in the century. But I say this worst-case scenario is unlikely Jonathan Baker At the Met Office in the UK.
To investigate whether a complete AMOC collapse of this century is possible, Baker and his colleagues used 34 climate models to simulate changes in AMOC under extreme climate change, and greenhouse gas levels trained overnight from today's levels. The team also modeled a large amount of freshwater entering the North Atlantic at many times the rate of ice melting now.
They found that although AMOC is significantly weakened in these two scenarios, ocean currents continue in their weakened state, supported by deep-sea upwellings in the North Atlantic, driven by southern sea winds. “The Southern Ocean winds continue to blow, and this brings deep waters up to the surface. This works like a powerful pump,” Baker says. “This keeps AMOC running on models of this century.”
This finding helps explain why climate models generally simulate more stable AMOCs in the warming world compared to studies that rely on statistical methods. This tends to suggest that AMOC is more vulnerable.
Niklas Bore The Potsdam Climate Impact Institute in Germany said the findings are “good news” for those worried about the imminent collapse of the AMOC. “I agree that all cutting-edge climate models will not show a complete AMOC collapse within the 21st century.
However, the model does not predict a complete collapse of AMOC, but shows that quaternary reddish CO2 concentrations lead to a 20-81% reduction in the current intensity.
With AMOC weaker by about 50%, the impact on climate will become important, Baker says it will be important due to marine ecosystem disruption, sea level rise on the North Atlantic coastline, and changes in global rainfall patterns that affect crop harvests around the world. However, this type of weakening does not bring rapid cooling to Europe, he says.
In comparison, Bohr emphasizes that AMOC, which is 80% less than today, will have a devastating effect. “Of course, it's a nearly blocked AMOC,” he says. “It has all the impact on Europe's cooling and changing patterns of tropical monsoon, and all the things we are concerned about.”
Stephen RahmstoefHe is also at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact in Germany, and agrees that under the extreme warming of this century, there may be a weak and shallow AMOC trend left in the world. Some studies even define AMOC disintegration as this type of substantial weakening, he says. “A new study is investigating the remaining wind-driven covers [current] In more detail, this is a valuable contribution to the scientific literature,” he says. “However, in response to human-induced global warming, we will not change our assessment of the risks and impacts of future AMOC changes.”
Computer threads woven with metal and textile yarn to make potential clothing
Hamilton Osoi, IFM
An elastic computer on threads sewn onto clothing can be used to record whole-body data that most medical sensors cannot pick up.
Wearable technologies such as smartwatches monitor body signals, such as heart rate and temperature, but usually only from a single location. This gives you an incomplete picture of how your body works.
now, Yoel Fink The Massachusetts Institute of Technology and his colleagues developed a computer that could be sewn into clothing made from chips connected with copper and elastic fiber threads.
This thread has 256 kilobytes of onboard memory around that of a simple calculator, and sensors that can detect temperature, heart rate, and body movement. There is also Bluetooth to allow various threads to communicate.
This means that location-specific data can be collected collectively on the body. It says that it is theoretically used by artificial intelligence to allow for more accurate monitoring of human health. “We're starting to write apps for fabrics, monitor our health and, frankly, we're very close to the point where we can do all sorts of things that our phones can't.”
To create individual threads, Fink and his team folded the chips into conductive boxes and connected them to copper wire. The wire was then wrapped in a protective plastic casing and pulled into a thin tube that could be covered with fabrics such as cotton or synthetic Kevlar.
To test them, four fibers were sewn onto the feet and arms of human clothes. Researchers found that they could identify various movements a person has made, such as lunges, squats, and arm circles.
The team is currently testing thread-computer-made clothing on an Arctic expedition as part of Operation Nanook, an annual military exercise led by the Canadian Army. Clothes record temperature and data from various parts of the body. Fink says it could one day help protect people in extreme circumstances.
Threads are being tested by Army personnel during training
US Army Cold Area Research & Engineering Lab
Not only does it record, but it says this could help vulnerable people detect dangerous falls. Theo Hughes-Riley At Nottingham Trent University, England.
Without the need to wire the sensors together, the design becomes much simpler than other electronic fabrics, he says. Researchers also demonstrated that the thread can be washed, but only water was used, not detergent. Therefore, durability in everyday use must be proven before it is widely adopted, says Hughes Riley.
Dr. Ross Young at the University of Adelaide and colleagues at the QCDSF collaboration are investigating the structure of the subatomic problem, which seeks to provide further insight into the powers that underpin the natural world. Their results are perhaps the smallest force field map ever produced in nature.
Distribution of the Colour Lorenz forces acting on the unpolarized quarks of the lateral plane (indicated by vector fields) superimposed on the upper Quark density distribution in the impact parameter space of the unpolarized protons. Image credits: Crawford et al. , doi: 10.1103/physrevlett.134.071901.
“We used a powerful computational technique called lattice quantum chromodynamics to map the forces acting within protons,” Dr. Young said.
“This approach allows us to decompose space and time into fine grids and simulate how strong forces (the fundamental interaction that links quarks to protons and neutrons) change in different regions within the proton. I'll do it.”
“Our findings show that even on these tiny scales, the forces involved reach immeasurable, up to 500,000 Newtons, equivalent to about 10 elephants, in spaces much smaller than the nucleus. It has become clear that it is being compressed,” said the University of Adelaide. D. Student Joshua Crawford.
These force maps provide a new way to understand the complex internal dynamics of protons, and why it works in experiments investigating the basic structure of high-energy collisions and materials such as CERN's large hadron criders. It helps to explain.
“Edison didn't invent the light bulb by studying bright candles. He was built on a generation of scientists who studied how light interacts with matter,” Young said. The doctor said.
“Like almost the same, modern research, such as our recent research, behaves how the basic building blocks of matter are struck by light, and at its most basic level of understanding nature at its most basic level. It makes clear that we will deepen the
“As researchers continue to unravel the inner structure of protons, greater insights could help improve the way protons are used in cutting-edge technologies.
“One of the most notable examples is proton therapy, which uses high-energy protons to accurately target tumors while minimizing damage to surrounding tissue.”
“Just as early breakthroughs in understanding light paved the way for modern lasers and imaging, advances in knowledge of proton structures can shape the next generation of applications in science and medicine.”
“By making the invisible forces within protons visible for the first time, this study bridges the gap between theory and experiment, which reveals the secrets of light to change the modern world. It bridges the same way that we did it.”
a paper Explaining the team's results was published in the journal Physical Review Letter.
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Ja Crawford et al. 2025. Lateral force distribution of protons from lattice QCD. Phys. Pastor Rett 134, 071901; doi:10.1103/physrevlett.134.071901
Technology may be falsely blamed for lack of sleep
Cavan Images/Getty Images
Unlike our ancestors who lived in technologically advanced times, there is much written about how modern lifestyles mean that we no longer get enough sleep. However, an analysis of 54 sleep studies conducted around the world has shown that people in small, non-industrial societies actually sleep less than people in industrialized communities.
“Everyone I talk about in Canada and the US are talking about how bad their sleep is.” Leela Mackinnon At Toronto Mississauga University, Canada. “The numbers don't show that.”
It is often assumed that the rise of gadgets like big screen televisions and smartphones means that people today are less sleepy than in the recent past.
However, many studies reporting sleep declines over the past few decades are based on asking people how long they spend sleep. This is an unreliable measure. Even using this method, The results are mixedmany studies have found that there is no change or even an increase in sleep duration.
Studies based on more reliable measurements, such as using physical activity monitors and electrodes to monitor brain waves, have not declined over the last few decades. For example, we found a 2016 review of 168 studies. There is no decline Sleep period for the past 50 years.
However, these studies have been conducted in developed countries and reveal the question of whether people had more sleep before industrialisation. Wrist-based activity monitors are now available, making it easier to study sleep in a non-industrial society.
Such studies have revealed an incredible short period of sleep. For example, among hunter-gatherers, Sun sleeps on average 6.7 hours per night, Hatza sleeps 6.2 hours, and Bayaka sleeps 5.9 hours per night. The shortest time ever found is 5.5 hours of sleep in the HIMBA community in Namibia, a herdsman of nomadic livestock.
McKinnon and her colleagues David SamsonUniversity of Toronto, University of Mississauga, is also involved in several such research. They now compare sleep habits in industrialized societies, including the US, Australia and Sri Lanka, with people from small, non-industrial communities, including the Amazon, Madagascar and the Pacific indigenous people.
Overall, the analysis is based on 54 studies that include direct measures of sleep in people over 18 years of age without serious health conditions. In total, only 866 people are involved in these studies, but the dataset is the most comprehensive to date, says Samson. “It's the best now.”
Overall, these individuals slept on average 6.8 hours, while in non-industrial societies the average was 6.4 hours, while in industrial societies it was 7.1 hours.
The two also found that people from the industrial world were asleep for 74% of their time in bed.
McKinnon and Samson also evaluated the regularity of people's circadian rhythms using a measure called the circadian function index, where the score of 1 is perfect. In non-industrialized communities, the average was 0.7 compared to 0.63 in industrial societies.
Samson attributes the higher period of sleep and increased sleep efficiency in industrialized societies to conditions that encourage sleep more. “We see that we have some real benefits from the safety and security of our sleep scene,” he says. “There's no need to dodge the night or predators with rival human groups.”
Conversely, people in industrial areas are less exposed to clues that help to maintain a circadian rhythm, such as low night temperatures and bright daylight exposure. Although they did not appreciate this, both MacKinnon and Samson said that a low normal circadian rhythm would have a negative effect explaining why many people perceive their sleep as poor. I doubt there is a possibility of giving it.
What is not clear from the paper says that individuals in these 54 studies are representatives of the overall population. Nathaniel Marshall At Macquarie University in Sydney, Australia. “Special sampling is required to make a statement about epidemiological prevalence,” he says.
Samson said he looked into whether large sample sizes could change results, and concluded that there was no significant difference.
New genus and species of Titanosaurus have been identified from fossilized sites found in the Hayeg Basin, Transylvania, western Romania.
The artist's impression of the lithotrothian dinosaur herd (right). Image credit: Abelov/CC by 3.0.
The newly identified species was alive Haeg IslandA large subtropical land located in the Thetis Sea about 70 million years ago (Cretaceous).
dubbing uriash kadicithe animals belong to Lithostrotiaa group of titanosaurus dinosaurs containing many armored species.
“The sauropod dinosaurs on Titanosaurus include the largest animal walking on land, with a huge species of over 60 tons,” says Paleoliths at the Museum of Fool Naturkunde, a Livenitz Installation Fool Evolution. said Dr. Veronica Dees Diaz, a scholar. colleague.
“By the late Cretaceous, Titanosaurus had achieved almost global distribution.
“Despite the rich and global fossil record, the evolutionary relationships of Titanosaurus are less known, limiting our understanding with this diverse megaharbibaud (the only group of sauropods is , the only group to survive the latest Cretaceous period).
“European giants in particular have been largely ignored in phylogenetic analysis,” they said.
“This neglect comes mainly from the historical advantages of the Gondwana species and the rarity and imperfection of Laurasian artefacts, particularly from Europe.”
“However, this began to change with the combination of reassessment of existing species and specimens and the discovery of new sites with distinct partial skeletons.”
“As a result, the fossil records of the most recent Cretaceous European sauropods are increasingly important for biogeographical scenarios, and rich evolutionary history is increasingly recognized for increasing incorporation into phylogenetic analysis. It is beginning to make clear.
Holotype of uriash kadici It was discovered in the formation of density in the Hayeg Basin, Romania.
Dinosaurs are estimated to weigh between 5 to 8 tons and their body length is close to 12 m.
“uriash kadici It is the largest titanosaurus species known from the Ha eg basin, exceeding the maximum reached by most other late Cretaceous European Titanosaurus. Abitosaurus (Estimated at 14 tons and 17.5 m long)”, the paleontologist said.
The existence of large giants such as ” uriash kadici It is worth noting and requires explanation as it appears to contradict, or at least weaken, the supposed behavior of “island domination” over these faunas. ”
uriash kadici It coexists with three other Titanosaurus species. Majarosaurus Dax, PaluditiTan nalatzensis and Petrustitan Hungarian.
The diversity was probably even higher, as evidenced by the substantial amounts of fossils involved.
“Our phylogenetic analysis shows that these Transylvanian titanosaurus exhibit particularly close relationships with Gondwana species. Majarosaurus Retrieved as a member or relative of the Saltasauria family. Palditian Affinity with lognkosauria and the Spanish Titanosaurus that were almost the same era Lohuecotitan; Petrustitan It is most closely related to early branched eutitanosaurian species in South America. and Uriash We share a unique feature with Gondwanan Titanosaurs,” they said.
“These analyses also reinforce the paleobiogeographic hypothesis that the latest Cretaceous European giants were members of the Gondwana lineage that invaded the old regions during the ages of Valemia and Albia.”
“Since the first discovery, Majarosaurus Dax The island's dwarfs have been identified as star sauropods, proposed as explanations for the small size of this species and other dinosaurs on Hayeg Island. ”
“on the other hand Palditian and Petrustitan It is also a small body sauropod. Uriash It is several orders of magnitude heavier and represents one of the largest Titanosaurus species found in the Late Cretaceous period of Europe. ”
“We have shown that the existence of this body size disparity is ecologically excluded from body size reduction due to competition with small-body titanosaurus, or as evidence that some lineages and small We interpret it as evidence that it occurred early in stratigraphically among the giants of the body. Hayeg Island has descendants of existing dwarf ancestors.”
“In contrast to some previous studies, signs of titanosaurus leaving the body size, including swapping the War star species for larger-sized species during the top Cretaceous period of the Transylvanian region. I can't see it.”
Discovery of uriash kadici Reported in a paper It was released this month Journal of Systematic Palaeontology.
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Veronica Dies Dias et al. 2025. The Romanian sauropod dinosaur revision reveals high titanosaurus diversity and body size disparities on Hayeg Island of Titanosaurus, affecting the biogeography of Titanosaurus. Journal of Systematic Palaeontology 23(1): 2441516; doi: 10.1080/14772019.2024.2441516
The scientist is White Oak (Quercus alba), a rich forest tree species in eastern North America of ecological, cultural and economic importance.
Quercus alba Individual sequences of genome assemblies growing at Star Hill Farm in Loretto, Kentucky, USA. Image credit: D. Larson.
“The Oaks are an important member of many ecosystems around the world,” said a researcher at the University of Tennessee. Meg Staton And a colleague.
“In eastern North America, white oak is a keystone species and is one of the most abundant forest trees across its range.”
“In addition to its ecological and cultural importance, white oak has a very economic importance, including many high value material applications and the main species used in barrel styles for the aging of distilled spirits. It's there.”
“However, few studies have addressed the diversity of white oak genomes. The lack of available genetic and genomic resources now creates barriers to fostering understanding of white oak biology and evolutionary history. It's presenting it.”
In their study, the authors sequenced individual genomes of white oak from a forest near Loretto, Kentucky, USA.
They found that this oak species has a high genetic diversity, many of which preceded divergence from other oaks, and likely could affect divergence time estimates .
“The White Oak genome represents a major new resource for studying genome diversity and evolution. Quercus” said Dr. Staton.
“Also, unbiased gene annotations are key to accurately assessing the evolution of R (disease-resistant) genes. Quercus. ”
“Our paper addresses the degree of genetic diversity and population differentiation in white oaks and how gene content and disease resistance genes evolved. Quercus Related species. ”
The authors say that the amount of standing genetic variation and the degree to which the population is regionally adapted will affect the response of white oaks and other oak species to increasingly common heat and drought stress. It points out.
“The details are interesting for those who are invested in the sustainability of White Oak, across economic, ecological and cultural boundaries,” they said.
Drew A. Larson et al. Haplotype-degradated reference genomes Quercus alba It sheds light on the history of orc evolution. New BotanistPublished online on February 11th, 2025. doi: 10.1111/nph.20463
Use data collected by China’s Zhurong Roverplanetary researchers have identified hidden layers of rocks beneath the Martian surface, which strongly suggests the existence of the ancient North Sea.
Panoramic photograph taken by China’s Zhurong rover on Mars. Image credit: National Astronomer.
“We’re finding locations on Mars that looked like ancient beaches and deltas of ancient rivers,” said Pennsylvania researcher Benjamin Cardenas, who co-authored the study.
“We found evidence of a lack of wind, waves and sand. It’s a proper vacation style beach.”
The now inactive Zhurong Rover landed on Mars in 2021 in an area known as Utopia Planitia and was open for a year between May 2021 and May 2022.
From the time when Mars had a thicker atmosphere and warmer climate, it traveled about 1.9 km (1.2 miles) to cliffs that are considered ancient coastlines from the time period.
Along its path, the rover probed up to 80 m (260 feet) under the surface using ground penetration radar.
This radar is used to detect not only underground objects such as pipes and utilities, but also irregular features.
The radar image shows thick layers of material along the entire path, all facing upwards towards the estimated shoreline at an angle of about 15 degrees, roughly the same as the angle of beach sediments on Earth.
This thickness of sediment on Earth would have taken millions of years to form. It suggests that Mars had long-lived water with the effect of waves to distribute sediments along the sloped coastline.
Radar also allowed to determine the size of the particles in these layers and matched the particles of sand.
However, the deposits do not resemble the ancient wind-blowed dunes common on Mars.
“This quickly stood out to us because it suggested there were waves. That means there was a dynamic interface between air and water,” Dr. Cardenas said. I did.
“Looking back at the places where the earliest life on Earth developed, it was in the interaction between the ocean and the land, which paints an ancient habitable environment, and conditions for microbial life. You can embrace the
“Comparing Mars data with radar images of coastal sediments on Earth, we found impressive similarities.”
“The dip angle observed on Mars fell within the range seen in coastal sedimentary deposits on Earth.”
“We see the coastline of this body of water has evolved over time,” Dr. Cardenas said.
“We tend to think of Mars as a static snapshot of a planet, but it was evolving. The rivers were flowing, the sediments were moving, the land was constructed and eroded. This type of sedimentary geology tells us how landscapes look and how they evolved. And, importantly, identifying where you want to look for your past life. It will help you.”
“The discoveries show that Mars was a much damper location than it used to be today, further supporting the hypothesis of the past oceans that covers most of the planet’s North Pole.”
The study also provides new information on the evolution of Mars’ environment, suggesting that life-friendly warm, wet periods can potentially last tens of millions of years.
“The power of Zhurong Rover allowed us to understand the geological history of the planet in a whole new way,” said the University of California, a professor of Michael Manga at Berkeley.
“That underground intrusion radar gives us an underground view of the planet.
“These incredible advances in technology have made it possible to realize basic science that uncovers a new mountain of information about Mars.”
result It was published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
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Jianhui Li et al. 2025. Ancient sea coastal deposits imaged on Mars. pnas 122 (9): E2422213122; doi: 10.1073/pnas.2422213122
As our solar system orbits the Milky Way, we encounter a variety of environments, including dense regions of interstellar media. These encounters can increase the flow of interstellar dust into the solar system and the Earth's atmosphere, exposing parts of the solar system to interstellar mediums. The discovery of new galactic structures, such as the Radcliffe waves over the 9,000 Wright years, raises the question of whether the Sun encountered any of them. New research shows that the solar system trajectories intersected with the waves of Radcliffe in the Orion star-forming region 15 to 12 million years ago (Miocene era). In particular, this period coincides with the mid-Miocene climate transition on Earth, providing an interdisciplinary connection with paleoclimatology.
When the solar system brings the Milky Way into orbit, we encounter a variety of galactic environments with different interstellar densities, including hot voids, fronts of supernova blasts, and cold gas clouds.
The passage of the sun through dense regions of interstellar media can affect the solar system in several ways.
For example, pressure enhancement compresses the heliosphere and exposes parts of the solar system to cold, dense interstellar media.
Furthermore, the amount of interstellar dust mounted on the Earth's atmosphere can increase, potentially enhancing the delivery of radioactive isotopes such as iron-60 through dust grains.
Radcliffe's waves are narrow sinusoidal gas structures and consist of many known star-forming cloud complexes, including CMA, Orion, Taurus, Perseus, Cephaus, North American Nebula, and Cygnus.
With an estimated mass of 3 million people, this gas structure appears to vibrate consistently like a moving wave and is thought to be part of the Milky Way spiral structure.
Dr. Efrem Macconi, a doctoral student at the University of Vienna, said:
“Our Sun encountered a higher gas density region as it passed through the waves of Radcliffe in the Orion constellation.”
Using data from ESA's Gaia mission and spectroscopic observations, Dr. Maconi and his colleagues identified the passage of the solar system through the Radcliffe Wave in the Orion area.
“The findings are based on previous works identifying Radcliffe's waves,” said Professor Joanne Albes of the University of Vienna.
“We passed the Orion area as well as famous star clusters like NGC 1977, NGC 1980 and NGC 1981.”
“The area is easily visible in the winter sky in the Northern Hemisphere and in the summer in the Southern Hemisphere.”
“Look for Orion Constellation and Orion Nebula (Messier 42) – our solar system has come from that direction!”
“The increased dust from this galaxy encounter may have had some effects.”
“It could potentially leave traces of radioactive elements from supernovas in the geological record that permeate the Earth's atmosphere.”
“Current technologies may not be sensitive enough to detect these traces, but future detectors may make it possible.”
This study shows that the solar system passing through the Orion region occurred around 18.2 to 11.5 million years ago, with the most likely time between 148 and 12.4 million years ago.
This time frame is in good agreement with the mid-Miocene climate transition, and is a major shift from warm variable climate to cool climates, leading to the establishment of a continental-scale prototype Antarctic ice sheet composition.
This study raises the possibility of a link between past crossings of the solar system through galaxy neighbours and Earth's climate through interstellar dust, but the authors need further investigation of the causal relationship. It emphasizes that there is.
“The basic processes responsible for the mid-Miocene climate transition have not been fully identified, but available reconstructions are most likely to be long-term reductions in atmospheric greenhouse gas carbon dioxide concentrations. It suggests that it is a high explanation.
“However, our research highlights that interstellar dust associated with the crossing of Radcliffe's waves has affected the Earth's climate and may have played a potential role during this climate change. Masu.”
“To change the Earth's climate, the amount of extraterrestrial dust on Earth needs to be much larger than what previous data suggests.”
“Future research explores the importance of this contribution. This past climate change and current climate change is comparable as this past climate change is unfolding over a timescale of hundreds of thousands of years. It is important to note that we do not do that.”
“In contrast, the evolution of global warming today has been happening at an unprecedented rate for decades to centuries due to human activity.”
study Published in the journal Astronomy and Astrophysics.
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E. Machoni et al. 2025. Passing through the solar system through the waves of Radcliffe in the mid-Miocene. A&A 694, A167; doi: 10.1051/0004-6361/202452061
This iron mineral, called ferihydrite, formed under oxidative conditions during cold, humid periods on early Mars, continuing its transition to the current overheating environment.
This image of Mars Express's high-resolution stereo camera shows Mars glove set on a dark background. The planet's disc has patches of yellow, orange, blue and green, all with a muted gray hue throughout, representing the various compositions of the surface. Image credits: ESA/DLR/FU BERLIN/G. MICHAEL/CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO.
Mars is easily identified in the night sky due to its prominent red tint.
Thanks to a fleet of spacecrafts that have been studying planets over the past decades, this red colour is known to be due to rusty iron minerals in the dust.
In other words, iron bound to the rocks of Mars reacted at one point with water and oxygen in the air, just as how rust on Earth formed.
For more than billions of years, this rusty material, iron oxide — has been broken down into dust around the planet by the wind, a process that continues today.
However, iron oxide has a lot of flavour and the precise chemistry of Mars' rust is heavily debated as it is a window into the environmental conditions of Earth at the time.
And what's closely linked to it is the question of whether Mars has been habitable to date.
Previous studies of the iron oxide components of Martian dust based solely on spacecraft observations found no evidence of water contained within it.
Therefore, planetary researchers say that this particular type of iron oxide is formed under hematite, which is formed under dry surface conditions through reaction with the Martian atmosphere for billions of years after an early wet period on Mars. I had concluded that it had to be.
However, new analysis of spacecraft observations combined with new laboratory techniques shows that Mars' red colour is better matched by iron oxides containing water known as ferihydrite.
Felihydrite usually forms quickly in the presence of cold water, so it must have been formed when Mars was still water on the surface.
The minerals hold a watery signature to this day, despite their spreading down to the ground.
Dr. Adomas Valantinas, a researcher at Brown University, said:
“Ferihydrite, mixed with volcanic rock basalt, has proven to be the most suitable for the minerals found in Martian spacecraft.”
“Mars is still a red planet. It's not only about understanding why Mars is red, but it also means that our understanding has changed.”
“The main meaning is that Mars was rusting faster than before, as ferrihydrite could only form when water was still on the surface.”
“In addition, under current conditions on Mars, ferrihydrite remains stable.”
Mars has acquired its iconic color from the combination of rust and erosion over its 4.6 billion years of history. Image credits: ESA/ATG Europe/Valantinas et al. , doi: 10.1038/s41467-025-56970-z.
Other studies have also suggested that ferrihydrite may be present in Mars' dust, but the current study has been the first comprehensive study through a unique combination of space mission data and new laboratory experiments. Provide evidence.
The authors used an advanced grinder machine to create replica Mars dust, achieving realistic dust grain sizes equivalent to 1/100th of human hair.
To make a direct comparison, the samples were then analyzed using the same technology as the spacecraft orbiting the spacecraft, and ultimately identified ferrihydrite as the best match.
“This study is the result of a complementary dataset from a fleet of international missions exploring Mars at orbital and ground levels,” says Dr. Colin Wilson, PhD, Trace Gas Orbiter (TGO) from ESA and Mars Express Project Scientist. said.
Mars Express's dust mineralogy analysis helped to show that even the highly dusty regions of the planet contain water-rich minerals.
Also, thanks to TGO's unique trajectory, you can see the same area at different lighting conditions and angles. Researchers can unravel the particle size and composition essential to replicate the correct dust size in the lab.
Data from NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter and ground-based measurements from NASA's Mars Rovers Curiosity, Pathfinder and opportunity also helped to assert ferrihydrite.
“We are eagerly awaiting the results of our upcoming missions, including ESA's Rosalind Franklin Rover and sample returns from NASA/ESA Mars.
“Some of the samples that have already been collected by NASA's Perseverance Rover and are waiting for their return to Earth contain dust. Putting these precious samples into the lab will result in dust. You can accurately measure the amount of ferihydrite contained and what this means to understand the history of water and the potential for life on Mars.”
“This research is an opening opportunity for the door,” said Dr. Jack Mustard, a planetary scientist at Brown University.
“It gives us a better opportunity to apply the principles of mineral formation and conditions and tap time.”
“More importantly, the return of samples from Mars, which are currently being collected through patience.”
Survey results It will be displayed in the journal Natural Communication.
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A. Valantinas et al. 2025. Detection of ferrihydrite in the red dust of Mars records ancient cold and wet conditions on Mars. Nut commune 16, 1712; doi:10.1038/s41467-025-56970-z
Paleontologists have discovered 4.9 million (Early Pliocene) fossilized ruins of an extinct flying squirrel Myopetaulista Webbi Tennessee, USA. Generation of the genus Myopetaulista Eastern North America is bewildered because it is separated from the known geographical range of the genus and the extent of organisms of its sister species. Petaurista. Researchers assume that Myopetaulista which is linked to a warm forest environment and was dispersed across North America through the Beringland Bridge during the warm phase of the early Pliocene.
The lifespan of a flying fossil squirrel Miopetaurista neogrivensis It indicates that the animal is ready to land on a tree branch. Image credit: Oscasani Sidro / ICP.
Myopetaulista Webbi It jumps over the sky in what is now southern Appalachia, sliding over rhinoceros, mastodons and red pandas.
New materials of this kind have been discovered in Grey Fossil Site In Tennessee.
“discovery Myopetaulista In North America, this genus was very unexpected because it is known only from Eurasia,” said Dr. Isaac Casanovas Bilar, paleontologist at Mikel Crusafont of paleontology at the University of Barcelona. .
“There have been some uncertain reports from Florida, but new specimens from the grey fossil site provide new information, with these giant flying squirrels coming together alongside other mammals around five million years ago. It helped me to make sure I crossed the bridge.”
According to paleontologists, Myopetaulista Webbi Probably closely related Myopetaulista Tarelionly known Pliocene Eurasian species.
“The Appalachians today may try to think of these ancient creatures as closely related to the squirrels that regularly see them,” the researchers said.
“However, their closest relatives are giant flying squirrels from Japan, China, and Indonesia.”
“These giant flying squirrels have a lightweight build, weighing around three pounds, and were pretty agile on the treetop.”
“When they arrived in Tennessee now, the world was much warmer than it is now.”
“Its warm climate allows squirrel ancestors to travel across North America and could slip through dense, damp forests like those preserved in the fossil records of grey sites millions of years ago.”
The new specimen is Myopetaulista A genus of North America.
“As the climate cooled over time, Pleistocene ice age led to the isolation of these giant flying squirrels in warm shelters like Florida, and ultimately contributed to their extinction.” Miquel Crusafont from the University of Barcelona.
“The Last American Myopetaulista It has lived for millions of years since the species of Eurasian of this genus disappeared.
Team's work It was published in Journal of Mammalian Evolution.
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M. Grau-Camats et al. 2025. Intercontinental Sliding: A Review of the North American Records of Giant Flying Squirrels Myopetaulista (Rodentia, Sciuridae) Description of new materials for the grey fossil site (Tennessee). J Mammal Evol 32, 8; doi:10.1007/s10914-025-09751-w
As children grow, they grow in many ways. Children make mental progress in how they feel, think and act – what scientists call them Cognitive Control. Researchers view creativity, fluid inference, and academic achievement as part of human cognitive control. They found that people with good cognitive control also improve mental health. However, scientists still don't know the best type of training to help children develop cognitive control.
Previous researchers found that training can improve cognitive functions such as working memory in children. However, they have not decided whether the same training improves the child's associated function or overall cognitive control. Therefore, an international team of researchers recently investigated whether improving one cognitive function helped improve overall cognitive control in children.
They focus on specific cognitive functions that have not been studied more thoroughly than others; Response inhibition. Response suppression is the ability of a person to stop himself from responding to a previously responded queue. They wanted to test how long it took to suppress training responses to affect other cognitive functions in children, such as creativity and reasoning.
The researchers explained that previous researchers studying cognitive control in children found conflicting results. Some found that training children with response suppression increased overall cognitive control, while others found that training skills only improved. The team proposed that the methodological problems of previous researchers had contradictory results. Therefore, they sought to address these issues by clearly defining how children train, making training schedules unpredictable and attractive, and testing larger groups of children than in previous studies.
The researchers studied 235 children aged 6 to 13 from the Great London region of England. They divided the children into two groups, 119 and 116. They introduced both groups of children to a series of seven different computer games that they attended over eight weeks.
During the video game, the children sailed around the island picking up coins. Their goal was to win as many coins as possible. The first group of 119 children received training in response suppression. This means that you have received the coin after you have stopped performing the requested action. The other 116 children served as control groups. This means that you've been in the same game.
To determine how children's cognitive skills change throughout the experiment, researchers collect self-reports from children, perform standardized skill tests, and take neuroimaging of the brain to physiology. We have confirmed the changes. These data were collected before, immediately after the experiment, and 1 year later.
Researchers found that trained children had better response suppression than non-sex children, but they found that overall cognitive control was not good. For example, they found that trained children did not have test results to show that their academic performance improved over their children in the control group. They also found that brain imaging showed no physiological differences between the two children's groups. The researchers interpreted these results as meaning that response inhibition training did not improve overall cognitive control in children.
Researchers concluded that training children with a single cognitive skill does not improve overall cognitive control. However, they acknowledged that the sample of children participating in this study was from families with above average socioeconomic status and thus may not be representative of lower social classes. Ta. Anyway, they recommended that future researchers look for alternative ways to promote the development of cognitive control in children.
Members of the Namibian HIMBA community get an average of 5.5 hours of sleep at night
Nick Fox/Aramie
Unlike our ancestors who lived in technologically advanced times, there is much written about how modern lifestyles mean that we no longer get enough sleep. However, an analysis of 54 sleep studies conducted around the world has shown that people in small, non-industrial societies actually sleep less than people in industrialized communities.
“Everyone I talk about in Canada and the US are talking about how bad their sleep is.” Leela Mackinnon At Toronto Mississauga University, Canada. “The numbers don’t show that.”
It is often assumed that the rise of gadgets like big screen televisions and smartphones means that people today are less sleepy than in the recent past.
However, many studies reporting sleep declines over the past few decades are based on asking people how long they spend sleep. This is an unreliable measure. Even using this method, The results are mixedmany studies have found that there is no change or even an increase in sleep duration.
Studies based on more reliable measurements, such as using physical activity monitors and electrodes to monitor brain waves, have not declined over the last few decades. For example, we found a 2016 review of 168 studies. There is no decline Sleep period for the past 50 years.
However, these studies have been conducted in developed countries and reveal the question of whether people had more sleep before industrialisation. Wrist-based activity monitors are now available, making it easier to study sleep in a non-industrial society.
Such studies have revealed an incredible short period of sleep. For example, among hunter-gatherers, Sun sleeps on average 6.7 hours per night, Hatza sleeps 6.2 hours, and Bayaka sleeps 5.9 hours per night. The shortest time ever found is 5.5 hours of sleep in the HIMBA community in Namibia, a herdsman of nomadic livestock.
McKinnon and her colleagues David SamsonUniversity of Toronto, University of Mississauga, is also involved in several such research. They now compare sleep habits in industrialized societies, including the US, Australia and Sri Lanka, with people from small, non-industrial communities, including the Amazon, Madagascar and the Pacific indigenous people.
Overall, the analysis is based on 54 studies that include direct measures of sleep in people over 18 years of age without serious health conditions. In total, only 866 people are involved in these studies, but the dataset is the most comprehensive to date, says Samson. “It’s the best now.”
Overall, these individuals slept on average 6.8 hours, while in non-industrial societies the average was 6.4 hours, while in industrial societies it was 7.1 hours.
The two also found that people from the industrial world were asleep for 74% of their time in bed.
McKinnon and Samson also evaluated the regularity of people’s circadian rhythms using a measure called the circadian function index, where the score of 1 is perfect. In non-industrialized communities, the average was 0.7 compared to 0.63 in industrial societies.
Samson attributes the higher period of sleep and increased sleep efficiency in industrialized societies to conditions that encourage sleep more. “We see that we have some real benefits from the safety and security of our sleep scene,” he says. “There’s no need to dodge the night or predators with rival human groups.”
Conversely, people in industrial areas are less exposed to clues that help to maintain a circadian rhythm, such as low night temperatures and bright daylight exposure. Although they did not appreciate this, both MacKinnon and Samson said that a low normal circadian rhythm would have a negative effect explaining why many people perceive their sleep as poor. I doubt there is a possibility of giving it.
What is not clear from the paper says that individuals in these 54 studies are representatives of the overall population. Nathaniel Marshall At Macquarie University in Sydney, Australia. “Special sampling is required to make a statement about epidemiological prevalence,” he says.
Samson said he looked into whether large sample sizes could change results, and concluded that there was no significant difference.
Norwegian researchers have connected the dots from 2,000 years ago, suggesting that a woman could have engraved her name on the oldest dated runestone ever discovered in Norway.
The inscription starts with the word “I” in the Lunic script, hinting that it might be the author’s name. The runestone was unearthed in the Hall cemetery, a small town in southern Norway, towards the east of the capital.
“The text essentially indicates that it is the name of the Rune attendee,” Christel Zilmer, one of the study’s co-authors, told NBC News over the phone. He shared that the script was found by a Rune attendee.
Rune stones appear to be part of the excavation. Museum of Cultural History
Experts believe that the Germanic alphabet script drew inspiration from the Roman alphabet, with Runes serving as key components in early Scandanavian communication. This form of communication was prevalent in the region until the late Middle Ages.
Rune inscriptions have been identified on items like Danish bone knives, iron knives, and combs, estimated to be around 700 Guangxi around 150 AD, correlating with other runestones discovered by archeologists.
These inscriptions often carried messages involving spells for the deceased and enchanting words.
However, the evolution of Runes over time remains a mystery, and deciphering them without an archaeological context can pose significant challenges.
The reconstruction and accompanying illustrations reveal the rune inscription. Christel Zilmer
Recent research indicates that the fragments uncovered in 2021 belonged to a single slab, aiding scientists in understanding language evolution and the significance of such stones.
Two years later, additional fragments were discovered, and it appears that the inscriptions span across all fragments, suggesting they are part of a single stone.
“By finding two additional pieces that fit perfectly into the existing inscription, it has almost completed the inscription,” Zilmer remarked.
Due to the stone’s deterioration and weathered state, deciphering the exact text containing the names of the attendees poses some challenges, but it is noted that the inscription ends with a “-u”, which peaked researchers’ interest.
Excavation was found at the Swingyad Site, west of Oslo, Norway. Museum of Cultural History
If confirmed as a woman’s name in ancient runes, it could be the earliest known record of female Runes inscription.
The fragments buried alongside cremated human remains in the pit allow scientists to use radiocarbon dating, tracing the fragments back to a period between 50 BC to 275 AD, providing valuable context.
“There could be a series of interconnected events here involving different individuals. It’s possible that the stone served multiple purposes,” Zilmer commented.
While much of the research is still underway, there remains a conspicuous gap in our understanding, as Zilmer noted.
“It’s akin to a puzzle with missing pieces, but exploring how these individual fragments, some inscribed, could potentially connect is an intriguing prospect,” she added.
Asteroids flying near Earth in 2032 are expected to safely pass through the planet, with a shock chance of just 0.004%. NASA said Monday.
This is a significant downgrade to the risk from the record highs the space agency gave earlier last week.
The asteroid known as the 2024 YR4 is between 130 and 300 feet wide and is large enough to cause local damage if it hits Earth. However, the exact odds of the event have been an impressive target since the space rock was first detected about two months ago.
The extremely slim chances NASA estimated on Monday were even smaller than the 0.28% chance it gave late last week. Just a few days ago, the agency had the chance to 1.5% and 3.1% before that.
With the short odds exceeded 3%, the first object officially classified as Level 3 of 10 out of 10 in a measurement known as the Torino Scale became the space rock.Richard Binzel first proposed it nearly 30 years ago.
Level 3 classification means that objects are worthy of attention by astronomers, and pose a threat of “close encounters.”
Named after an Italian city officially adopted by astronomersIn 1999, the Turin Impact Hazard Scale is a way to communicate to the public the risks posed by asteroids and other space objects near Earth to planets.
The scale is color-coded, with categories ranging from 0 (white without risk) to 10 (red for a particular collision). With a 3.1% chance of colliding with the Earth, 024-year-old 4 was temporarily placed in the mid-yellow zone of the scale.
The gusts of news reports about the asteroids have attracted more attention than ever on Turin's scale. Binzel said this type of situation was exactly why he created the system in the first place.
“The Massachusetts Institute of Technology has made it a great opportunity to learn about the world,” said Bindel, a professor of planetary science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. “But it's like being between a rock and a difficult place because we want to report what we know to maintain the trust of our people, but we don't want to raise unnecessary anxiety. Because.”
The challenges of walking that thin line are revealed in Asteroid 2024 YR4.
According to NASA, the reason for the recent decline in impact probability is The ground telescope was able to get a better look Based on these observations, on the Space Lock on February 19th and 20th, astronomers were able to improve models of asteroid orbits, allowing them to estimate the Space Lock trajectory more accurately. This will help scientists to more reliably predict where 2024 YR4 will be on December 22, 2032, where asteroids are likely to encounter closely with Earth.
The shifting probability is somewhat dizzy, but according to Bindsel, the possibility that such a close-Earth asteroid could dance like this is completely normal.
The Asteroid 2024 YR4 is thought to measure up to 300 feet in diameter.Atlas
When Binzel debuted the Turin scale in the astronomical community decades ago, his goal was to promote greater public awareness of shock risk. According to him, the idea was to implement something similar to the Richter scale, which measures the magnitude of an earthquake, or the Saffir Simpson scale, which assigns categories to hurricanes based on wind speed.
But when he first presented the system at the 1997 UN conference, it wasn’t well received, he said. According to Biinsel, some astronomers were skeptical that it would help the public.
In the same year, scientists discovered an asteroid called XF11 in 1997. We thought this could hit Earth in 2028. It didn’t take long for astronomers to eliminate potential conflicts, but the ending story expanded in news reports, followed by subsequent denunciations. Something that was perceived as a major mistake.
“It ended up being a bit of embarrassment,” Binzel said. “Astronomers did not make any errors, but there was no good way to convey uncertainty. So this classifies objects that cannot be immediately ruled out over centuries of Earth. This motivated me to propose a simple system for
Binzel once again presented the scale in Turin at a conference held in Turin in 1999, attended by representatives from the NASA and the European Space Agency. In that workshop, the system was ultimately adopted by the International Astronomical Union, a non-governmental organization made up of professional astronomers who act like the governing body of the astronomical community.
In addition to using colours and numbers to accommodate different risk levels, the scale includes explanations of potential outcomes, the possibility of changing risk assessments, and actions that the government or the public should take.
For example, the level 6 threat in the orange zone explains the possibility of close shaving by “large objects pose a serious and uncertain threat of a global catastrophe.”
Astronomers recommend giving this object “critical attention” to know if a collision occurs. “If the encounter is less than 30 years, the government's emergency plan could be guaranteed,” the scale states.
On the other hand, Level 3 threat, according to the scale explanation, means that “current calculations provide more than 1% chance of a collision that can be locally destructive.” “Perhaps observations of the new telescope lead to reallocation to level 0. Attention by civil servants is valuable if the encounter is within ten years.”
Naturally, Binzel was correctly suspected when asteroid 2024 YR4 was considered to be the 3 that would eventually be downgraded.
Meanwhile, however, the 2024 YR4 hit an unpleasant milestone. It is the only known astide with a classification above level 1, and set the record to reach the highest impact probability and spend the longest time with the probability above 1%. According to the European Space Agency.
The higher classification of similar or larger sized asteroids on the Turin scale is in 2004, when asteroid Apophis was temporarily ranked as Level 4, with an estimated 2.7% chance of hitting Earth There was a possibility.
Vincell said he was pleased to witness the scale feature in real time, but he is pleased to be modest about his connection to it.
“At the end of the day, if Turin scale helps, there's a great deal of satisfaction. It really makes my day,” he said. “But it's nice to hide my name behind where the scale was adopted. It helps to keep my phone from ringing too much.”
Scheduled to appear in space this week, the Robot Moonlander is set to mark the second moon mission of a company that made history last year by becoming the first private company to successfully land on the moon’s surface.
The spacecraft, named Athena, was built by Intuitive Machines, a company based in Texas. It is equipped with a drill and various instruments to analyze the chemical composition of rocks and soil beneath the lunar surface.
The mission is part of NASA’s Commercial Moon Payload Services Program, which aims to assist private companies in developing Moonlanders. The anticipated landing site is the plateau of the lunar Antarctic region, specifically a flat mountain known as Monsmouton.
NASA is particularly interested in the Antarctic region of the Moon due to the presence of water ice in permanently shadowed craters. The presence of water could be crucial for establishing permanent bases on the moon, and Athena’s mission will focus on searching for groundwater.
Athena is scheduled to launch on top of the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket on Wednesday at 7:17pm from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The same rocket will also launch a lunar mapping satellite developed by NASA, called the Lunar Trailblazer.
In addition to these missions, NASA plans to send the Spherex Space Observatory into orbit on Thursday to study the origins of the universe. SpaceX’s Starship Megarocke is set for its eighth test flight on Friday, and another robot Moonlander developed by Firefly Aerospace will attempt to land on the moon over the weekend.
Following its release, the Athena Lander is expected to travel for about a week before landing, potentially as early as March 6th. The mission will also test a 4G communications system developed by Nokia on the moon’s surface.
During the mission, Athena Lander will deploy a drone named Grace to explore the landing site through a series of hops. The company aims to replicate their historic moon landing success from February 2024 near Marapart A crater in the Antarctic region of the Moon.
The goal is for Athena Lander to successfully land and fulfill its mission objectives, paving the way for future lunar exploration and potentially aiding in establishing human presence on the moon.
Pere Santamaria was 15 years old when she developed myasthenia. This autoimmune condition can cause extreme muscle weakness and sometimes lead to difficulty breathing. In Santa Maria's case, it affected the muscles in the eye that controlled his vision, causing him to look double.
“It personally had a huge impact on me,” he says. “I was in adolescence and suddenly I couldn't play sports and couldn't live a normal life. I had to take very high doses of corticosteroids, so I was able to have balloons. It's inflated like that.”
Worse, these drugs simply attenuate the body's general immune response, rather than addressing the causes of autoimmune. In other words, Santa Maria did not expect that taking them would cure his condition.
As years went by, Santa Maria developed an additional autoimmune state. “I just wanted to understand the disease and mechanisms, and hopefully I can help others in the end,” he says.
He is now progressing towards that goal. He works as an immunologist at the University of Calgary, Canada. Santa Maria It is at the forefront of pushing to reprogram the immune system and develop new therapies to encourage the human body to end a destructive war against its own organization.
As these treatments move to clinical trials, there are signs of promise. Certainly, some are very effective, so with a single dose, in some cases, people have been symptomatically gone for years. So, is the end of an autoimmune state visible now?
Innate and Adaptive Immunity Systems
Our bodies have several lines of defense against pathogens. …
African elephants have extra copies of genes that help resist cancer
Neil Aldridge/Nature Picture Library/Aramie
Larger animals live longer and have more cells, and are expected to be at a higher risk of developing cancer. A comprehensive analysis of 263 species suggests that this is true, but also finds that some large animals have evolved ways of reducing risk.
“We provide the first empirical evidence that there is a link between body size and cancer prevalence, meaning that larger species increase cancer than smaller species. “I say it. George Butler University College London.
To gain a broader view, Butler and his colleagues analyzed data on the size and cancer rates of 79 bird species, 90 mammal species, 63 reptiles and 31 amphibians. The data comes from previous studies by other researchers who sifted through autopsy records that record whether a breeding animal stored in a place like Zoos or an aquarium had cancer when it died. .
The team found that smaller animals were slightly more likely to have cancer than fewer animals at the time of death. Each 1% increase in body weight was associated with an average increase of 0.1% in cancer rates between birds and mammals. Because body mass data were not available in reptiles and amphibians, the team used body length and found that it was associated with an average increase in cancer rate of 0.003% for every 1% increase.
Butler and his team say their discoveries will challenge a long-standing idea known as the Pete Paradox. on the other hand, Veragolbunova At the University of Rochester in New York, the weak correlation still needs explanation.
“The increased risk they see is very, very minor and not proportional to their body size,” she says. “If you take small animals like mice and humans are 100 times larger, or elephants are 100 times larger, the difference in cancer rates is not 100 times higher in humans and 1000 times higher in elephants.”
It suggests that larger species have evolved more ways to protect themselves, Golbunova says.
Indeed, by using evolutionary trees to infer evolutionary rates of animal body size, the team said that if the size increases more rapidly during evolution, birds and mammal species of similar sizes can be We found it to provide better protection against cancer.
Previous studies have identified genetic adaptations in elephants and whales, protecting against cancer by improving DNA repair and preventing broken cells from dividing.
A deeper understanding of how some animals resist cancer can lead to new treatments for people, says Golbunova. “In these cancer-resistant animals, there are specific biological pathways of different fine-tuning, for example, targeting these pathways and then killing cancer cells more efficiently, or perhaps killing cancer cells. You can even prevent cancer from occurring,” she says.
“As these mechanisms have been tested over millions of years in the course of evolution, they are likely to become highly promising drugs,” she says.
Illustrations of two types of traboa, or sledge, which may be used by ancient people in North America
Gabriel Uguet
Drugmarks and human footprints, composed up to 22,000 years ago, have been found at several sites in White Sands National Park in New Mexico. These are thought to have been made by people pulling long pieces of wood stacked with goods, and are the earliest evidence of such activities.
This type of primitive vehicle is known as the trabore. “It’s basically a wheelless wheel.” Matthew Bennett He is a member of a team studying track at Bournemouth University in the UK.
They were widely used all over the world, but this is the oldest evidence of their use, says Bennett. “Nothing is this old.”
There are many ancient animal footprints in the ancient arid lake of White Sands, but in 2017, human footprints were discovered. In 2019, the team found a long drug mark in connection with human footprints.
“They happen in many different regions, so it was widespread,” Bennett says. “It’s not just an original family using travois.”
Some of the drag marks are made up of a single row. The team believes this was made by a trabore made up of two long wood joined in the form of a triangle. One end of each piece is held in one hand, but there is only a single point of contact on the ground.
The other drag marks consist of two parallel lines. These were probably the result of a trabore where two wood intersected in an x-shape, providing two handles and two ground contact points, which would have been more stable.
Drugmarks often pass through the footsteps of people who are supposed to be pulling a travoy, as expected. In some cases, there are parallel tracks with footprints (often children’s footprints), indicating that others are walking together.
Drag marks created by ancient vehicles in White Sands National Park, New Mexico
Bournemouth University
Elsewhere in the world, Trabois was often pulled by dogs and horses, says Bennett, but there is no evidence that white sand people used animals.
Footprint dates, Announced in 2021 challenging the traditional idea that humans did not move to America until the ice sheet began retreating about 15,000 years ago.
“The people in the US debate are very controversial, but we’re pretty confident about the date,” says Bennett. “The traditional story is that the ice sheets have parted ways and they have come, but you can go through before the door closes.” Another recent discovery is that humans have 33,000 years ago. It suggests that they may have reached the Americas.
Bennett says it’s very likely that there are tracks around the world that are not aware of what they are. In fact, he says his team has already discovered similar markings elsewhere in the US.
Artist's impression of the moon's Athena spaceship
NASA
This week, a private space mission was launched on the moon, aiming to reach the southernmost point we've ever visited on the moon. The Athena spacecraft, built by an intuitive US-based machine, will be released from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida at 12:17am on February 27th (7:17pm on February 26th). It will be installed on the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. Also, several other missions hitch on the same rocket, including expeditions that mine asteroids.
The intuitive machine became the first private company to succeed on the moon last year when Odysseus' spacecraft landed near the moon's Antarctica. The spacecraft's instruments remained in operation, but Odysseus made a troublesome landing, flipped over, limiting the amount of data the equipment could collect, and shortening the mission.
The company hopes for a cleaner landing as Athena begins its descent towards the end of March. The planned landing site is near the highest mountain on the moon, the lunar mewton, about 60 kilometers from Antarctica, and Athena's attempts have become the most southern approach to date. If the ship is successful, it will start a moon night and operate for several weeks on par with the moon in a day before it loses power.
Athena carries over 10 musical instruments and missions from both NASA and other private companies. That's not all. The Falcon 9, the same one that fires Athena at the moon, also carries three unrelated spacecraft. These are asteroid-controlled spacecraft from space company Astroforge, and the first mission of this kind will investigate potential minable metal space rocks later this year. You can also map water to the moon along with NASA's lunar satellite aboard, looking for future landing sites. The third spacecraft, built by epic aerospace, is designed to help other satellites move between orbits.
Once Athena lands, NASA instruments will excavate up to 1 meter into the lunar soil to sample it, then look at water sediments and other chemicals. NASA would like to know if these will be present in sufficient quantities for future astronauts to be used as part of the Artemis Moon Landing, which is planned for the agency to be released in 2027. It's there.
Several small rovers will also be released near the landing site, including the plant pot-sized Yaokirovers of Japanese company Dimon. The heavier 10kg mobile autonomous exploration platform (MAPP), built by Space Company Lunar Outspost, explores and creates 3D maps of landing sites, testing how the 4G phone network built by Nokia works in a Lunar environment. Masu. Sitting on a mapp will be a much smaller, ant-sized robot built by researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
The intuitive machine deploys a suitcase-sized hopping robot called Grace. Grace runs a series of four hops, jumping into the air up to 100 meters, travelling a distance of about 200 meters until it lands in a deep, permanently shaded crater. Scientists have seen evidence that these areas do not get warmer than -170°C (-274°F), but have never been visited in person. Grace scans the bottom of this crater. This crater is scanned for about 45 minutes, about 20 meters below, before popping out again.
Biologists discovered a new species of the tree frog genus and redescribed another Litrea Living on the Australian continent.
Swirling wooden frog (Litrea Reverata). Image credit: Stephen Mahony.
Litrea The large genus of tree frogs native to Australia, including the Bismarck Islands, the Solomon Islands, New Guinea, the Lesser Sunda Islands and the Moluccan Islands.
This genus contains approximately 100 species and belongs to the monomorphic subfamily liriinae within the family Perodridae family.
A newly discovered species named Eungella Whirring Frog (Litoria eungellensis) and lives only 20km2 The cool Montertaine temperature forests in Queensland's Enguera Mountains are above 900 m above sea level.
This frog is separated by several hundred km from its nearest relative.Litrea Kolbeni).
These two species survive only in isolated, cool, humid, high altitude environments, with few opportunities to shift their habitat as temperatures rise.
“The 'adapt or corruption' mantra does not apply equally to a species,” said Professor Michael Mahony of Newcastle University.
“The frogs are literally running out of space. They are nowhere to be left because the climate model is isolated on the summit to predict warm, dry conditions.”
Dr. Luke Price, a researcher at the Museum of South Australia, said:
“Wet tree frogs only occur in wet forest habitats, and therefore occupy the wet forest habitats interconnected along a large divisional range from northeastern New South Wales to Tablelands in Atherton. I'm sure he was. Current experience.”
“We're not talking about climate warming related to human influences or greenhouse effects, we're talking about much older changes related to continental movements and global meteorological distribution.”
Researchers have also revealed this Litoria eungellensis and Litrea KolbeniDespite its similar appearance, the bright mustard yellowish body with red spots hidden behind the legs – has evolved separately for at least 1.5 million years.
The subtle differences in mating calls and genetic analysis confirmed their distinct evolutionary pathways.
“Litoria eungellensis Currently, it holds the enviable title of one of Australia's top 10 frogs.
“Species that are limited to such small areas face immeasurable risks, from wildfires to pollution events. One catastrophic event has managed to wipe them out completely.”
“The observation that species are confined to isolated patches of high-altitude cool rainforest habitat suggests that they are already living at biological limits, and due to climate warming, species are in the form of a sinus. There's no place to enlarge or move around.”
“A similar situation occurs Litrea Kolbenibut it is slightly larger. ”
Both species meet the United Nations for conservation standards for listed as Critical at riskmainly due to their limited distribution and the increased threat of climate change.
“These frogs already live at biological limits,” Professor Mahoney said.
“Their survival depends on active conservation efforts, as there is no place to move.”
On the other hand, it's more broad Litrea Reverata It appears to be less threatened when seen in New South Wales and southeast Queensland.
But the obvious stability of Litrea Reverata His assessment of no formal surveillance of this kind and not threatened may be more so because it is based solely on observations from interested biologists and community scientists,” said Dr. Price. I did.
The findings highlight the urgent need to understand and mitigate the impact of climate change on vulnerable species.
“We need to realize that not all species can adapt quickly enough,” Professor Mahoney said.
“Target conservation and habitat protection are essential to prevent these unique frogs from disappearing forever.”
Survey results It will be displayed in the journal Zootaxa.
____
Luke C. Price et al. 2025. Systematic evaluation of molecular genetic, morphological and acoustic variation reveals three species Litrea Reverata Complexes (Anal: Perodridae). Zootaxa 5584(3):301-338; doi:10.11646/zootaxa.5584.3.1
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