Planetary scientists using ESA's Mars Express spacecraft's high-resolution stereo camera have captured stunning images of Earth's mysterious landscapes. Australe Scopri Region in the southern hemisphere of the red planet.
Frozen landscape of the Australe Skopli region on Mars' south pole. Image credit: ESA / DLR / FU Berlin.
“Here, a layer of carbon dioxide ice and dust envelops the site, turning Mars white,” ESA researchers said in a statement.
“The contrasting light and dark layers are especially striking on the exposed surfaces of hills and valleys.”
“They track the seasonal polar layered deposits characteristic of the region, which form when layers of ice freeze and trap varying amounts of dust within them. It is something that will be done.”
“It's probably better to take a sled ride, but either way, dress warmly, because it's -125 degrees Celsius (-193 Fahrenheit) outside so it's cold,” they added.
“Skiers and sledders on Mars will have to slalom around potentially hundreds of dust jets.”
“That's because ski season is almost over and it's starting to look like spring, or even summer. This image was taken on June 16, 2022, near the Antarctic summer solstice.”
If you zoom in on the image above, you can see numerous dark spots where the ice has already sublimated. This is a sure sign that the sun's warming rays have been hitting the area for some time.
“When sunlight hits the translucent upper layer of carbon dioxide ice, it warms the underlying surface,” the scientists explained.
“The ice at the bottom of the layer begins to sublimate, forming pockets of trapped gas.”
“As the pressure increases, the overlying ice suddenly cracks, causing gas to burst out from the surface.”
“These gas fountains carry black dust from below, which falls to the surface in a fan-shaped pattern depending on the prevailing wind direction.”
“Fan lengths range from tens of meters to hundreds of meters.”
“If you look more closely, it often appears that the fans follow the boundaries between polar layered deposits.”
“Perhaps these boundaries represent zones of weakness, from which escaping dust-laden jets can more easily break through the ice layer.”
“We may have missed the chance to create 'Frosty the Snowman,' but it's still a wonderful time of year on Mars.”
New research suggests the moon may be older than many scientists thought.
This study suggests that the moon rock samples taken during the Apollo missions date back to an event in which the moon's surface melted, rather than the moment the moon formed.
Therefore, the authors believe that the Moon formed about 4.51 billion years ago, which is more than 100 million years earlier than the generally accepted estimate.
The moon may be more than 100 million years older than some scientists previously thought, according to a new study.
The study was published on Wednesday. journal naturechallenges long-held ideasThe moon is thought to have formed about 4.35 billion years ago after an object the size of Mars crashed into the early Earth and created our natural satellite.
That timeline is based on analysis of lunar rock samples taken during NASA's Apollo mission. But new research shows that the moon formed much earlier, about 4.51 billion years ago, and then underwent a dramatic “remelting” phenomenon around the time other scientists thought the moon first formed. It suggests that you have experienced it.
According to the authors, the melting occurred because Earth's constant gravitational pull distorted the moon and made it extremely hot as it moved away from Earth. According to the study, this process altered the moon's surface and hid the moon's true age.
The study's lead author, Francis Nimmo, a professor in the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences at the University of California, Santa Cruz, said the extreme heating caused the moon's surface to re-melt, effectively “resetting all the clocks” on the moon's rocks. 'There is a possibility.
“So moon rocks don't tell us when the moon formed, but they tell us when subsequent events that heated the moon occurred,” he says.
The scientific community has disagreed for decades about the exact age of the moon. Nimmo and his colleagues are not the first to offer older estimates. This new discovery adds to the growing consensus that there may be more to the moon's history than the Apollo samples revealed.
For example, planetary scientists have wondered how a massive collision occurred 4.35 billion years ago, when most large objects in the history of the solar system were thought to have already come together to form planets. I have had a hard time explaining why the moon was formed.
“Those who studied the Apollo samples had reasonable guesses about the moon's age, but those who modeled how the planets in our solar system formed are wondering why so much material still remains after 200 million years. “It was always difficult to explain why the solar system was still flying,” Nimmo said. “That's the way it is, and the two camps want different ages.”
The adjusted schedule by Nimmo's team may also help explain why.A mineral called zircon found on the moonIt was discovered in Apollo's moon rock and is estimated to be approximately 4.5 billion years old. The moon's zircons, like other minerals on the moon, were thought to have crystallized during the moon's extreme temperatures, but their much older age has long puzzled scientists. .
In a new study, Nimmo and his colleagues suggest that the moon's overheating is the product of a process known as “tidal heating.”
“There are certain spots where the moon's orbit can be temporarily thrown off as it gets pushed aside,” Nimmo said. “During that time, the moon can be squeezed and stretched by Earth's gravity, which causes it to heat up.”
Similar tidal heating is thought to occur between Jupiter and its moons. a 2020 survey Researchers have discovered that the gas giant's gravity can stretch and squeeze some of its icy moons to the point where they heat up their interiors and melt rocks into magma. It is believed that this also applies to Jupiter's moon Io.
Recent and upcoming lunar missions could provide better insight into the moon's evolutionary history, Nimmo said. This includes China's Chang'e 6 mission, which collected samples from…
“The evolution of the solar system was very rapid. In just tens of millions of years, all the objects we know today were formed,” Munker said. “That's why we need very good temporal resolution for these very early events and why it's important to understand how the Earth-Moon system formed.”
It wouldn’t be Christmas without the smell of freshly baked gingerbread wafting through your home. A blend of warming spices and rich molasses, it’s a must-have snack on a winter’s day. And when I was a kid, it was always gingerbread that I fed Santa every Christmas Eve. In fact, gingerbread might be my favorite biscuit. It has the perfect balance of crunch and chewing power.
I’d like to think I know a thing or two about how to accomplish that. Participated in the 2023 series. Great British Bake Off He also received the notoriously difficult handshake from judge Paul Hollywood during Biscuit Week.
My success lies in the careful application of science to the art of baking. So let me share some key insights you need to bake gingerbread that will really turn heads, and the science behind why they’re so important. I’m a chemist by trade, so I eschew the traditional gingerbread house and instead assemble biscuits to create a stand-alone Christmas ‘chemistry’. Drool was already coming out of my mouth.
As with all biscuits, the first step is to prepare the dry ingredients. Flour, sugar, spices, and baking soda (see “Ingredients and Instructions” on the right) are required, and each has an important role to play. The flour acts as a binder and helps form the structure of the biscuit, while the sugar caramelizes to create sweetness, color, and texture.
Gingerbread’s flavor comes from a blend of spices, with ginger and cinnamon being the main ingredients.
A new method of using adhesive tape to create ultrathin diamond wafers could aid in the production of diamond-based electronics, which may one day provide a useful alternative to silicon-based designs.
Diamond is an excellent insulator, and at the same time has unusual electronic properties that allow electrons with a certain energy to move with little resistance. This means it can handle high energy with higher efficiency than traditional silicon chip designs.
However, manufacturing practical diamond chips requires large, very thin wafers, similar to the thin silicon wafers used to make modern computer chips, which have proven difficult to create.
now, Chu Zhiqing and colleagues at the University of Hong Kong have discovered a way to use adhesive tape to fabricate extremely thin and flexible diamond wafers.
Chu and his colleagues first embedded nano-sized diamonds in a small silicon wafer and then sprayed methane gas at high temperatures onto them to form a continuous, thin sheet of diamond. Next, we made a small crack on one side of the pasted diamond sheet, and then used regular adhesive tape to peel off the diamond layer.
They say that this exfoliated diamond sheet is extremely thin, less than a micrometer, much thinner than a human hair, and smooth enough to use the kind of etching techniques used to make silicon chips. I discovered.
“This is very reminiscent of the early days of graphene, when cellophane tape was used to produce the first monolayers of graphene from graphite. I never imagined this concept would be applied to diamond. “I did,” he says. julie macpherson At the University of Warwick, UK.
“This new edge-exposed delamination method will enable numerous device designs and experimental approaches,” he says. Mete Atature at Cambridge University. One area that could be particularly useful is increasing control over quantum devices that use diamonds as sensors, he says.
Chu and his colleagues say the diamond films they can produce are about 5 centimeters in diameter, showing that the method works as a proof of principle. andrea ferrari But that’s smaller than the 20 to 30 centimeters that are standard in many wafer processes, and it’s not clear whether the new method can be scaled up, he says.
The manufactured wafers also appear to be polycrystalline, but they are not as smooth and regular as single-crystal diamond, which may limit their use in some applications, McPherson said.
Robots the size of a grain of sand work together like ants
Jung Jae-wi et al.
Swarms of small robots guided by magnetic fields can coordinate and act like ants, even swarming to form floating rafts or lifting objects hundreds of times their weight. The microrobots, which are about the size of a grain of sand, could one day be able to perform tasks that larger robots cannot, such as unclogging blood vessels or delivering drugs to specific parts of the human body.
Jung Jaewi and his colleagues at South Korea's Hanyang University built the tiny, cubic-shaped robot using a mold and epoxy resin embedded with a magnetic alloy. These tiny magnetic particles allow the microrobot to be “programmed” to form different configurations after being exposed to a strong magnetic field from a specific angle. The bot is controlled by an external magnetic field and can perform rotations and other movements. This approach allowed the team to “efficiently and quickly manufacture hundreds to thousands of microrobots” with magnetic profiles designed for specific missions, Wee said.
The researchers instructed swarms of microrobots to work together to overcome obstacles five times higher than individual microrobots and form floating rafts on water. The bot also punched through a clogged tube and transported tablets weighing 2000 times their individual weight through a liquid, demonstrating potential medical applications.
“These magnetic microrobots hold great promise for minimally invasive drug delivery in confined, confined spaces,” he says. small guangdong from Vanderbilt University in Tennessee was not involved in the study. However, microrobots are not yet capable of autonomously navigating complex and narrow spaces such as arteries.
There are also safety challenges, Dong said, including the need to coat “potentially toxic” magnetic particles with human-friendly materials. Still, he says he's optimistic about future medical applications for such microrobots. When safe, bots can “effectively travel to targeted disease sites and deliver drugs locally,” making treatments more precise and effective.
Good neighborhoods are defined by the people who reside there. The presence of a helpful individual can enhance the community, while a negative neighbor can detract from its overall quality. The same concept applies to the brain, as revealed in a recent study indicating that brain cells behave like communities. Some cells contribute to a nurturing environment, promoting health and resilience in adjacent cells, while others spread stress and damage like bad neighbors.
Throughout one’s life, the composition of this brain community influences the aging process. Negative relationships can accelerate aging and lead to issues such as memory loss, while a healthy brain community can work collectively to combat aging. Researchers at Stanford University believe that these findings could potentially inform the development of treatments to slow or reverse aging.
Published in the journal Nature, the study identified 17 cells that influence aging positively or negatively. Notably, T cells and neurons were highlighted for their significant impact as bad and good neighbors, respectively. T cells, typically involved in fighting infections, can contribute to inflammation in the brain and hasten aging, while neural stem cells play a vital role in rejuvenation and maintaining a youthful brain.
The researchers conducted gene activity mapping across 2.3 million cells in the mouse brain, constructing a “spatial aging clock” to predict the biological age of individual cells. This innovative approach could lead to new biological discoveries and interventions, such as inhibiting pro-aging factors released by T cells or enhancing the efficacy of neural stem cells.
These findings have implications for understanding diseases like Alzheimer’s and potential strategies to strengthen the brain’s natural repair mechanisms and prevent cognitive decline. The research offers hope for uncovering ways to support brain health and combat aging-related challenges.
A momentous (or more accurately prehistoric) finding was unearthed just below the Earth’s surface on a New York homeowner’s lawn.
A full mastodon jaw was found in the backyard of a house in Scotchtown, a town in Orange County, as confirmed by state officials. The New York State Museum and the State University of New York at Orange researchers retrieved the jaw and additional bone fragments, as announced by the state Department of Education in a press release on Tuesday.
It has been over 11 years since a discovery of this kind has been made in New York.
The mastodon jaw, presumed to belong to an adult, was discovered by researchers after a homeowner noticed it surfacing on his lawn. Initially, the homeowner found two teeth hidden in plants on the property, and after some digging, two more teeth were discovered.
“Upon finding the tooth and examining it closely, we knew it was unique and decided to seek out an expert,” stated the homeowner.
Following this, museum and university staff conducted an excavation that led to the unveiling of the well-preserved jaw of a mastodon, an ancient relative of present-day elephants. Additionally, part of a toe bone and rib fragments were found.
Mastodon jaw unearthed in backyard in Scotchtown, New York new york state museum
“Though the jaw is the highlight, the additional toe and rib fragments provide valuable context and possibilities for further research,” said Dr. Corey Harris, chair of the Department of Behavioral Sciences at New York University at Orange. “We are also keen on exploring the surrounding area to look for more preserved bones.”
The fossil will undergo carbon dating and analysis to determine the mammal’s time of existence in the area, its dietary habits, and habitat details. The discovery will be showcased on public television as of 2025 and is expected to be featured in magazines.
“This finding proves New York’s rich paleontological history and our persistent efforts to understand the past,” said Robert Ferra, Director of Research and Collections and Curator of Ice Age Animals at the New York State Museum. Dr. Neck mentioned, “This mastodon jaw offers a unique chance to study the ecology of this extraordinary species and enhance our comprehension of the ice age ecosystems in the region.”
To date, approximately 150 mastodon fossils have been found in New York, with about one-third of them located in Orange County.
It’s that time of the year again when runny nose season has already arrived. However, for some people, runny noses are a year-round struggle due to allergies. In fact, an estimated 25-40% of people worldwide are affected by allergic rhinitis, a condition that causes inflammation of the nose’s mucous membranes.
So, what’s behind this constant sniffing? Scientists may have an answer: individuals with allergies harbor a variety of fungi in their noses.
Despite this discovery, the presence of any fungus in our noses is quickly countered by our immune system. We all have fungi in our nasal mycobiome, a diverse community of fungal microorganisms that reside in our nostrils and sinuses, contributing to our overall microbial diversity essential for maintaining a healthy immune system and fighting off harmful pathogens.
In a study on nasal mycobiome, researchers collected nasal swabs from 214 allergic patients and 125 healthy individuals. The swabs showed significant differences in the prevalence and diversity of nasal fungi between the two groups, with allergic patients exhibiting more abundant and diverse mycobiomes.
“These findings suggest that the nasal cavity serves as a reservoir for fungi that may contribute to allergic rhinitis,” said Dr. Luis Delgado, a Professor at the University of Porto, Portugal, and one of the authors of a new study published in 2006 in the journal Frontiers of Microbiology.
The study also identified specific metabolic pathways more common in the fungal communities of allergic rhinitis patients, potentially paving the way for future allergy treatments.
Saturn’s icy rings may be much older than they appear, as they are resistant to contamination from collisions with rocky debris.
Hyodo others. This suggests that the apparent youthfulness of Saturn’s rings may be due to resistance to pollution, rather than an indication that they were formed at a young age. Image credits: NASA / ESA / Hubble / A. Simon, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center / MH Wong, University of California, Berkeley / OPAL team.
Saturn’s rings were once thought to be ancient, perhaps forming at the same time as Saturn itself, about 4.5 billion years ago.
Over time, it is thought that the rock and ice particles that make up the ring become dirty and darkened by micrometeorite impacts.
However, when NASA’s Cassini spacecraft reached Saturn in 2004, it observed that Saturn’s rings appeared relatively bright and clean.
“According to the hypothesis that non-icy micrometeorite impacts act to darken Saturn’s rings over time, Saturn’s rings are estimated to be approximately 100 million to 400 million years old. “Cassini observations show that the particles in the rings appear to be relatively clean,” said Dr. Tatsuki Hyodo of Tokyo University of Science and colleagues.
“These younger age estimates assume that the rings formed from pure water ice particles with high accretion efficiency impacting non-ice micrometeorite material.”
In the new study, researchers used a computer model to simulate the collision between a micrometeorite and an ice ring particle.
They found that high-velocity collisions can cause the micrometeorite to evaporate, and that vapor can expand, cool, and condense in Saturn’s magnetic field to form charged nanoparticles and ions.
The researchers’ simulations showed that these charged particles could either collide with Saturn, be dragged into the atmosphere, or escape Saturn’s gravity altogether.
As a result, scientists suggest that little of this material builds up on the rings, keeping them relatively clean.
They say very low pollution levels mean Saturn’s rings are actually billions of years old and are simply maintaining a more youthful appearance. suggests that it is possible.
Although more research is needed, this process may also occur in the rings of Uranus and Neptune, as well as in the icy moons around the giant planets.
“High-velocity collisions leading to the production of charged nanoparticles and ions could potentially occur in places such as the rings of Uranus and Neptune or the icy moons around the giant planets,” the authors said.
“While this mechanism may not change the bulk composition of the impacted target, it suggests that the surface composition may change.”
“Furthermore, the new material from the impactor may not be efficiently incorporated into the satellite’s rings or surface and may be transported elsewhere.”
“Thus, most of the compositional differences observed in the various ring systems of giant planets may be due to their formation processes, for example when building materials come from outside the system, rather than to their post-formation dynamics.” There is a sex.”
of study Published in this week’s magazine natural earth science.
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Takashi Hyodo others. Pollution resistance of Saturn’s ring particles during micrometeoroid impact. nut. earth sciencepublished online on December 16, 2024. doi: 10.1038/s41561-024-01598-9
According to a study led by researchers at University College London, one of these genetic variations was inherited from Neanderthals.
El Sidrón Neanderthals taste wild mushrooms, pine nuts, and forest moss. Image credit: Abel Grau, CSIC Communication.
“Teeth can tell us a lot about human evolution. Well-preserved ancient teeth are of particular interest to archaeologists, as we learned from the transition to cooked foods and when human teeth began to shrink in size.” We will highlight milestones such as when the , a researcher at University College London.
“However, little is known about the genetic basis of differences in tooth size and shape in modern humans, partly because teeth are difficult to measure.”
“We have now identified a large number of genes that influence tooth development, some of which are responsible for differences between ethnic groups.”
In the study, Dr. Adhikari and his colleagues used data from 882 Colombian volunteers of European, Native American, and African descent.
The dataset included crown measurements (dimensions of the part of the tooth visible above the gums) taken from 3D scans of dental plaster casts.
The researchers compared these measurements to participants' genetic information in genome-wide association studies, using an analytical approach called multi-omics that integrates numerous data sources.
They identified 18 genomic regions that influence the size and shape of different tooth groups, 17 of which had not previously been associated with tooth dimensions.
One of the new connections concerned genes thought to have been inherited from Neanderthals through interbreeding with ancient humans. homo sapiens.
This genetic variation, which contributes to the biological pathway of tooth development, is found only in people of European descent, and carriers of the mutation have thinner incisors (the eight teeth located at the front of the mouth). The thickness of the tooth was measured from back to front).
Generally speaking, people of European descent had smaller teeth.
Scientists also found a link between tooth dimensions and a gene already known to influence the shape of incisors in East Asians, but the new study shows that this gene, called EDAR, It turns out that it also determines the width of all teeth.
“Some of the genes that contribute to normal variations in tooth dimensions in healthy people may also contribute to pathogenic variations, such as tooth growth failure and other dental health conditions,” said a researcher at Fudan University. said researcher Dr. Chin Lee.
“We hope that our findings will have medical benefits, such as people with certain dental problems being able to undergo genetic testing to help diagnose them, and dental abnormalities one day being treated with gene therapy.” I hope.”
“Our findings did not reveal whether the genes that specify tooth shape were selected during evolution for special benefits for dental health. “Differences that occur as a side effect may have been selected for the shape of the area as well as its influence on other areas,” said Professor Andres Luis Linares, a researcher at University College London, Fudan University, and Aix-Marseille University. said.
a paper The findings were published in a magazine on December 12th. current biology.
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Chin Lee others. PITX2 Expression and Neanderthal gene introgression HS3ST3A1 Contributes to changes in tooth dimensions in modern humans. current biologypublished online on December 12, 2024. doi: 10.1016/j.cub.2024.11.027
Using data from ESO’s Very Large Telescope (VLT) and the Keck Telescope, astronomers detected a binary star system in the S star cluster near Sagittarius A*, the supermassive black hole at the center of the Milky Way. I discovered it. This is the first time that a binary star has been discovered near a supermassive black hole.
This image shows the location of binary star D9 orbiting Sagittarius A*, the supermassive black hole at the center of the Milky Way. Image credit: ESO / Peißker et al. / S. Guizard.
Sagittarius A* is orbited by fast stars and dusty objects collectively known as the S cluster.
Binary star systems (two stars gravitationally bound to each other around a common center of mass) are predicted to exist within the S cluster, but have not been detected so far.
Previous studies have suggested that such stars are unlikely to be stabilized by their interactions with Sagittarius A*.
“Black holes are not as destructive as we think,” says Florian Peisker, an astronomer at the University of Cologne.
“Our findings show that some binaries can temporarily thrive even under disruptive conditions.”
The newly discovered binary star, named D9, is estimated to be just 2.7 million years old.
Due to the strong gravity of the nearby black hole, it will probably merge into a single star within just a million years, a very short time for such a young system.
“This only provides a short window on the cosmic timescale for observing such binary star systems, but we succeeded,” said Dr. Emma Bordier, also from the University of Cologne. Ta.
“The D9 system shows clear signs of gas and dust surrounding the star, suggesting it may be a very young system that must have formed near a supermassive black hole. ” said Dr. Michal Zajacek. Astronomer at Masaryk University and the University of Cologne.
The most mysterious of the S clusters are the G objects, which behave like stars but look like clouds of gas and dust.
It was while observing these mysterious objects that the research team discovered a surprising pattern in D9.
“This result sheds new light on what the mysterious G-objects are,” the authors said.
“They may actually be a combination of binaries that have not yet merged and leftover material from stars that have already merged.”
“Planets often form around young stars, so this discovery allows us to speculate about their existence,” Dr. Pisker said.
“It seems like it’s only a matter of time before planets are detected at the center of the galaxy.”
a paper This discovery was published in today’s magazine nature communications.
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F. Peisker others. 2024. A binary star system in the S star cluster near the supermassive black hole Sagittarius A*. Nat Commune 15, 10608; doi: 10.1038/s41467-024-54748-3
NASA announced on Tuesday that two astronauts have been stranded on the International Space Station since a problem with their Boeing spacecraft in June. Due to delays, they will have to remain there even longer.
The next astronaut launch to the ISS, originally scheduled for February, has been postponed to late March. This is to allow the new SpaceX spacecraft used for the mission more time to complete processing.
The four crew members currently on board the station must wait for the next crew member to arrive before departing in another SpaceX Dragon capsule. Among them are NASA astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore, who are set to embark on the first test flight of Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft.
Originally planned to spend about a week on the space station, Williams and Wilmore have now been living and working in orbit for over nine months, including additional time due to the recent delay.
Typically, new crew members overlap with departing crew members for a short period on the ISS, known as the handover period. During this time, astronauts exchange information about ongoing experiments, maintenance projects, and other protocols.
When Williams and Wilmore finally depart, NASA astronaut Nick Haig and Russian cosmonaut Alexander Gorbunov will also return home with them.
December 2, 2024, ISS astronaut Suni Williams. NASA (via Flickr)
According to officials, the new Dragon capsule scheduled for launch in late March should arrive at NASA’s processing facility in Florida in early January. Steve Stich, NASA’s commercial crew program manager, emphasized the meticulous attention to detail required in manufacturing, assembling, testing, and integrating a new spacecraft.
The capsule, known as Crew 10, will be launched by NASA astronauts Anne McClain and Nicole Ayers, Russian cosmonaut Kirill Peskov, and Japanese cosmonaut Takuya Onishi. Until then, the quartet will continue training for the mission at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston.
Primates, consisting of apes, monkeys, tarsiers, and lemurs, are among the most charismatic and well-studied animals on Earth.
Phylogeny of 455 primates synthesized using Chrono-STA. The roots of the phylogeny were discovered 71.3 million years ago. The crown of Strepsirrhini is 57 million years old, and the crown of Haplorrhini is 68.5 million years old. The crown of the eyelid is 42.2 million years old. Image credit: Craig others., doi: 10.3389/fbinf.2024.1495417.
Primate mammals consist of 172 species of Old World apes and monkeys (Cataluni), 146 species of New World monkeys (Platyria), and 144 species of lemurs, lorises, and galagos (Strepsilini).
Primates exhibit some of the most remarkable behaviors observed in nature. Chimpanzees use specially chosen sticks to “fish” for termites inside hollow logs, while orangutans use leaves as gloves to handle the prickly durian fruit.
Although they are some of the most intensely studied species on Earth, there is no comprehensive molecular phylogenetic hypothesis about the evolutionary history of primates that summarizes the patterns and timing of relationships among all primates. plug.
Such phylogenetic trees use molecular sequence data to tell us both when each species or group of species first appeared and which other groups on the tree are their closest relatives. Masu.
The largest timed molecular phylogenetic tree, called the “Time Tree,” includes just over 200 primate species to date, but the largest synthetic time tree, based on more than 4,000 published studies, , containing only twice that number, and about one-fifth of the primates remaining. The tree of life is unresolved.
“The value of a timed evolutionary tree that includes all species of a particular lineage cannot be underestimated,” said lead author Dr. Jack Craig and colleagues at Temple University.
“These trees are inherently fascinating because they capture the evolutionary history that has given us our current biodiversity, but they also form an essential foundation for many types of future research. I will.”
“For example, taxonomic and systematic efforts to catalog species rely on them to identify new lineages.”
“The study of the rate of evolution and its possible correlations, such as climate and geological changes, is fundamentally tied to its underlying phylogeny.”
“Disciplines such as biogeography, phylogeography, and historical ecology, which use time trees to investigate spatial and ecological patterns, would not be possible without phylogeny.”
“And as we watch global biodiversity being lost in ongoing extinction events, phylogenetics can help identify conservation priorities and help save species. It is an essential tool in assessing the impact of our efforts.”
In the new study, the authors were able to construct a time tree of 455 primates, incorporating all species for which molecular data are available.
This phylogenetic tree is the most complete description of the evolutionary relationships among primates to date.
“This effort proves that while the evolutionary history of even some of the most charismatic species on Earth is incompletely understood, we have the tools to fill many of the knowledge gaps. “We did so,” the researchers said.
“We believe our research protocol will be an accessible and ultimately extremely valuable tool in the effort to understand evolution.”
“We have found that complete time trees are a fundamental resource in many fields and can often be constructed from existing data.”
“Furthermore, such a complete time tree allows us to test hypotheses that would otherwise not be possible.”
“For example, our study shows that the number of species in different primate clades is better explained by unique rates of speciation, with some primate lineages generating new species much faster than others. Or whether the best explanation is simply time: all lineages produce new species at about the same rate, and older lineages produce more species over time.''
“What we discovered is that the major groups of primates actually all share relatively similar speciation rates, and therefore their age is a better predictor of species richness. That's what it means.
“This analysis becomes very problematic when a time tree is missing many species or dates, so it serves as a perfect example of the usefulness of large, complete time trees.”
of the team result appear in the diary Frontiers of bioinformatics.
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Jack M. Craig others. 2024. Completed primate molecular time tree. Frontiers of bioinformatics 4;doi: 10.3389/fbinf.2024.1495417
Tree-planting projects help tackle the climate crisis, but they can also impact water supplies
Cost Photo/NurPhoto
The major environmental, social and economic crises facing the world today, including biodiversity, climate change, health, food, and water, are closely linked, and we must work together to tackle them. has many advantages. However, focusing on just one issue can exacerbate other crises.
This is the conclusion of a major report compiled by 165 researchers from 57 countries and approved by 147 governments over the past three years.
United Nations conventions on issues such as biodiversity and climate focus on these issues separately. “So what we will do now in this report, which has not been done before, is to combine all of these and make sure that looking at these crises individually is not only inefficient, but actually the real danger. “It's about showing what's involved,” he says. paula harrison He co-chaired the evaluation process for the report at the UK Center for Ecology and Hydrology. “Action is urgent, but unless we act in a way that takes these interdependencies into account, we will create new problems or exacerbate existing ones.”
Mr Harrison said the scientific studies assessed for this report provide strong evidence that there are a number of actionable actions that can have beneficial effects on all five areas simultaneously. . These include conserving and restoring mangrove forests, improving soil health and carbon content, creating early warning systems for all kinds of hazards, reducing the risk of disease spread from animals to humans, and universal health insurance. It includes international cooperation on technology related to the problem.
There is a trade-off. Actions that have broad benefits are not the same as actions that are the best solution to a particular problem, she says.
“What you can’t do is get the best value possible at the same time,” Harrison says. “While we cannot optimize food production without negatively impacting everything else, we can take a balanced approach that benefits all.”
Harrison gives the example of planting trees to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. If the focus is solely on climate, the trees selected are likely to be fast-growing non-native species that do not support wildlife and affect water supplies by taking up too much water. However, if a project takes a more holistic approach, it may choose native tree species that use less water and increase biodiversity. “It may not sequester as much carbon, but it will add a lot of value to other aspects of the system,” Harrison says.
There are also economic benefits to integrated approaches that help conserve biodiversity and achieve other goals. nexus reportMore than half of the world's gross domestic product ($50 trillion), as it is officially known, states that it is moderately to highly dependent on nature.
“The unaccounted costs of our current approach to economic activity, including climate change impacts on biodiversity, water, health, and food production, are estimated to be at least $10 trillion to $25 trillion per year. It has been.” Pamela McElwee The other co-chair, a professor at Rutgers University in New Jersey, said in a statement.
“There is a lot of evidence that there are very strong and growing biophysical risks to economic prosperity and financial stability if we continue the way we are,” Harrison said.
says the report is very ambitious Anne LarigoderlyExecutive Director of IPBES. Its purpose is to provide the science and evidence needed to support the achievement of other international conventions, such as the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, and the Paris Agreement on climate change. , she says.
Molecular tests can be used to assess the quality of drinks
Evgeny Parilov/Alamy
Beverage manufacturers and consumers may soon have access to small, portable kits not unlike coronavirus tests to check the quality and safety of alcoholic beverages.
The device is called an “artificial tongue” because it can detect additives, toxins, and sweetness in drinks with just a few drops.
Current methods for analyzing alcoholic beverages, such as liquid chromatography, require expensive and cumbersome laboratory equipment and require specialized technicians to manipulate and analyze the samples.
The artificial tongue relies on biological nanopore technology. It uses modified organisms, such as bacteria, that have tiny holes, or pores, in their cell membranes that are just a few nanometers in diameter. By charging the membrane with an electrical charge, small molecules of the substance being tested can be drawn into the pores and passed through them.
When these molecules pass through the nanopore, they generate unique electrical signatures that can be analyzed to identify the chemicals present in the sample. Nanopores have already revolutionized DNA sequencing, allowing genetic material to be tested almost instantly using easily portable equipment.
Huang and colleagues used nanopores made in bacteria, called micropores, that have already been introduced for DNA sequencing. Smegmatis bacterium.
The device uses artificial intelligence to identify molecules that pass through the nanopores, such as fragrance compounds and additives, Huang said. “The sensor tells you right away what type of alcoholic beverage it is,” he says. “It can provide a quantitative standard of the product and also easily identify counterfeit alcoholic beverage products.”
Nanopore detectors require only a power source to operate, he says. “This nanopore sensing assay can be performed at home, in the office, or on the street as easily as a COVID-19 test,” Huang said. “You just add a drop of alcoholic beverage to the sensor and wait for the results. The machine learning algorithm does the rest of the work.”
Paleontologists have discovered a new species of early gorgonopsian therapsid that was part of the ancient summer humid biome of equatorial Pangea.
Recreating the life of the Gorgonopsians of Mallorca in a floodplain environment. Image credit: Henry Sutherland Sharpe.
Therapsids were a major component of Permian terrestrial ecosystems around the world, eventually giving rise to mammals in the early Mesozoic Era.
However, little is currently known about when and where it originated.
“Therapsids are a diverse and ecologically successful clade of tetrapods, of which the modern representatives are mammals,” says paleontologist at the Museum of Science and Nature in Barea and the Paleontological Institute of Catalonia. said Dr. Rafel Matamares and colleagues.
“The roots of this clade date back to the late Paleozoic era, when non-mammalian therapsids were important components of terrestrial ecosystems.”
“The oldest distinct therapsids known to date were Laranimus dashankoensisprobably from the Rhodian (Late Middle Permian) deposits of Central East Asia.
“However, phylogenetic analyzes consistently show that therapsids are a sister group to the pterosaur ‘perisaurian’ class monoapsids, which originated in Pennsylvania (about 320 million years ago). It suggests that
“This implies a long lineage of therapsid ghosts spanning about 40 million years.”
The newly discovered therapsid is the oldest of its kind, and possibly the oldest therapsid ever discovered.
This dog-like saber-toothed animal does not yet have a species name, but it belongs to a group of therapsids called gorgonopsids.
“Gorgonopsids are more closely related to mammals than to other modern animals,” said Dr. Ken Angielczyk, a paleontologist at the Field Museum.
“They have no modern descendants and are not our direct ancestors, but they are related to species that were our direct ancestors.”
“The oldest known gorgonopsids lived about 265 million years ago, but the newer fossils date from 270 to 280 million years ago.”
“This is probably the oldest chrysophyte on Earth,” said Dr. Josep Fortuny, a paleontologist at the Miquel Crusafont Catalan Institute of Paleontology.
This fossil was discovered on the Spanish island of Mallorca in the Mediterranean Sea. However, during the time of the Gorgonopsians, Mallorca was part of the supercontinent Pangea.
“The amount of bone remains is surprising,” Dr. Matamares said.
“We found everything from fragments of skulls, vertebrae and ribs to a very well-preserved femur.”
“In fact, when we started this excavation, we did not expect to find so many fossils of this type of animal in Mallorca.”
“If you saw this animal walking down the street, you would think it would look a little like a medium-sized dog, maybe about the size of a husky, but that’s not entirely true,” says Dr. Angielczyk.
“It didn’t have any fur, and it probably didn’t have dog ears.”
“But this is the oldest animal with long, blade-like canine teeth that scientists have ever discovered.”
“These saber-like teeth suggest that this gorgonopsid was the top predator of its time.”
The fact that this gorgonopsian is tens of millions of years older than its closest relatives has changed scientists’ understanding of the evolutionary time of therapsids, key milestones to the emergence of mammals, and, by extension, where we came from. It tells us something about Tanoka.
“Before the age of dinosaurs, there was the age of our ancient mammalian relatives,” Dr. Angielczyk said.
“Most of those ancient mammal relatives looked nothing like what we think of as mammals today.”
“But they were really diverse and had different ecological roles.”
“This new fossil discovery is another piece of the puzzle of how mammals evolved.”
This finding is reported in the following article: paper Published in a magazine nature communications.
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R. Matamares-Andrew others. 2024. Early-Middle Permian Mediterranean gorgonopsids suggest an equatorial origin for therapsids. Nat Commune 15, 10346; doi: 10.1038/s41467-024-54425-5
In June 1972, the Royal Society of Medicine in London hosted a symposium called “Man in His Place.'' The lecture featured a diverse group of speakers, including Jacob Bronowski, who was featured in a highly acclaimed 13-part BBC television series. rise of manwill be broadcast the following year. But the first person to take to the stage was John Bumpass Calhoun of the National Institute of Mental Health in suburban Washington, DC.
Even those in the audience familiar with Calhoun's work had no idea what was in store for them, and the title of his talk, “Death Squared: The Explosive Growth and Demise of Rat Populations” was not conveyed very well. “I mainly talk about rats, but my thoughts are about humans, healing, life and its evolution,” he began. He went on to describe a long-term experiment he is conducting on population dynamics in mice living in a “utopian environment” he calls Space 25. Although his research subjects were rodents, Calhoun believed that his metropolis had an effect on humans. A cautionary tale about the chaos and social collapse that awaits humanity in an overpopulated world.
An ecologist turned psychologist turned futurist, Calhoun became a science rock star in the 1970s. His message resonated at a time when the human population was rapidly expanding and overpopulation was a major political issue. As interest in his research grew, Calhoun was courted by the great and the good, from politicians and urban planners to prison reformers and writers. He also had an audience with the Pope. Strange as it may seem, his rodent city…
The earliest known sabertooths hunted large prey 270 million years ago. The newly discovered remains could help explain how early mammal relatives became warm-blooded animals.
The first land predators usually hunted relatively small prey. But things changed about 273 million years ago, when an event known as the Olson extinction shook ecosystems around the world. Then, much larger terrestrial herbivores began to appear, and predators needed new weapons to dispatch such large prey. Josep Fortuny At the Miquel Cursafont Catalan Institute of Paleontology, Barcelona, Spain.
This may help explain why the fossilized partial skeleton of an ancient predator that Fortuny and his colleagues just discovered on the Spanish island of Mallorca had saber-shaped teeth. These fangs are better suited for injuring larger prey than for grabbing and holding small animals. “This was the first time we had access to this kind of tool for preying on herbivores,” Fortuny said.
Dating back an estimated 270 million years, this predator is the oldest known member of a group of carnivores known as gorgonopsians, all of whom had saber-shaped teeth. The largest gorgonopsids grew to several meters in length, with canine teeth reaching 15 centimeters in length. The Mallorca gorgonopsian was smaller, measuring about 1 meter long and its canine teeth only 5 centimeters long. Fortuny said researchers are waiting to name the new gorgonopsian until they have analyzed the bones and teeth in more detail.
Ancient predators are important not only because of their age. At the time they roamed Mallorca, the island was part of a tropical supercontinent called Pangea, but all known fossils of gorgonopsids date back 270 million years. They come from areas of the world that were at high latitudes. The new discovery suggests that the gorgonopsian actually originated near the equator.
Perhaps adaptations developed there, such as the ability to efficiently hunt large prey, may have allowed them to regulate their body temperature in order to spread into cooler habitats away from the equator.
Fortuny says it’s important to better understand this process because gorgonopsids belonged to the therapsids, a group of animals that also includes mammals. “There’s a lot of debate about the first steps in thermoregulation in this group,” he says.
New research has revealed that during the early Bronze Age in England, at least 37 people may have been “systematically dismembered” and eaten in the aftermath of “extremely violent” attacks.
The study, published in the journal ancient, revealed that more than 3,000 bones were excavated from a 50-foot hole at Charterhouse Warren in southwest England.
The bones, which were first discovered in the 1970s by cave explorers, showed an “abundance of cut marks,” prompting researchers to conduct further analysis.
Lead author Rick Schulting, a professor of scientific and prehistoric archeology at the University of Oxford, described the violence inflicted on the bodies as exceptional, with victims being killed with blows to the head, systematically dismembered, skinned, and crushed.
The study suggests that this extreme violence likely occurred in a single event between 2210 BC and 2010 BC, making it a unique example of violence in early Bronze Age Britain.
An example of cranial trauma in a Bronze Age skull recovered from Charterhouse Warren. Antiquity Publications Ltd / Cambridge University Press
This act of violence was likely not isolated and may have sparked a cycle of revenge within and between communities in the Early Bronze Age, according to Mr. Schulting.
The motives behind such attacks are difficult to determine, but the study suggests that tensions may have escalated from accusations of theft and witchcraft, leading to an uncontrollable spiral of violence.
Victims may have been eaten to dehumanize and treat them like animals, involving a large number of aggressors based on the number of victims and the dismemberment process, the study noted.
The bones were found alongside animal fossils, indicating early evidence of slaughter, which the researchers believe was driven by hunger as the attackers had access to plenty of food.
Physicists are Alice Collaboration. Evidence of antihyperhelium-4 has been seen for the first time at CERN’s Large Hadron Collider (LHC). Antihyperhelium-4 consists of two antiprotons, an antineutron, and an antilambda. New results are also the first evidence of the heaviest antimatter hypernuclear still at the LHC.
Illustration of the production of antihyperhelium-4 in a lead-lead collision. Image credit: AI-assisted J. Ditzel.
Collisions between heavy ions at the LHC created quark-gluon plasma, a hot, dense state of matter that is thought to have filled the universe about a millionth of a second after the Big Bang.
Heavy ion collisions also create conditions suitable for the production of atomic nuclei, exotic hypernuclei, and their antimatter counterparts, antinuclei and antihypernuclei.
Measuring these forms of matter is important for a variety of purposes, including helping to understand the formation of hadrons from quarks and gluons, the building blocks of plasma, and the matter-antimatter asymmetry seen in the modern universe.
Hypernuclei are exotic atomic nuclei formed by a mixture of protons, neutrons, and hyperons, the latter of which are unstable particles containing one or more strange types of quarks.
More than 70 years after their discovery in cosmic rays, hypernuclei continue to be a source of fascination for physicists. This is because hypernuclei are rarely found in nature and are difficult to create and study in the laboratory.
Collisions of heavy ions produce large numbers of hypernuclei, and until recently, the lightest hypernuclei, hypertriton (composed of protons, neutrons, and lambda), and its antimatter partner, antihypertriton, have been observed.
Following recent observations of antihyperhydrogen-4, ALICE physicists have detected antihyperhelium-4.
This result has a significance of 3.5 standard deviations and is also the first evidence of the heaviest antimatter hypernucleus ever at the LHC.
The ALICE measurements are based on lead-lead collision data taken in 2018 at an energy of 5.02 teraelectronvolts (TeV) for each colliding pair of nucleons (protons and neutrons).
The researchers examined data for the signals of hyperhydrogen-4, hyperhelium-4, and their antimatter partners using machine learning techniques that go beyond traditional hypernuclear search techniques.
Candidates for (anti)hyperhydrogen-4 were identified by looking for an (anti)helium-4 nucleus and a charged pion with which it decays; identified by. -Three atomic nuclei, an (anti)proton, and a charged pion.
In addition to finding evidence for antihyperhelium-4 with a significance of 3.5 standard deviations and evidence for antihyperhydrogen-4 with a significance of 4.5 standard deviations, the ALICE team found that the production yields of both hypernuclei and measured the mass.
“For both hypernuclei, the measured masses are consistent with current global average values,” the scientists said.
“The measured production yields were compared with predictions from a statistical hadronization model that adequately accounts for the formation of hadrons and nuclei in heavy ion collisions.”
“This comparison shows that the model's predictions closely match the data when both the excited hypernuclear state and the ground state are included in the prediction.”
“This result confirms that the statistical hadronization model can also adequately explain the production of hypernuclei, which are compact objects about 2 femtometers in size.”
The authors also determined the antiparticle-to-particle yield ratios for both hypernuclei and found that they agreed within experimental uncertainties.
“This agreement is consistent with ALICE's observation that matter and antimatter are produced equally at LHC energy and further strengthens ongoing research into the matter-antimatter imbalance in the Universe.” concluded.
In 2003, Hubble provided evidence of giant exoplanets around very old stars. Such stars have only small amounts of the heavy elements that make up planets. This suggests that some planetary formation occurred when our universe was very young, and that those planets had time to form and grow large within the primordial disk, becoming even larger than Jupiter. I am. But how? To answer this question, astronomers used the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope to study stars in the nearby Small Magellanic Cloud, which, like the early Universe, lacks large amounts of heavy elements. They discovered that not only do some stars there have planet-forming disks, but that those disks are longer-lived than the disks found around young stars in our Milky Way galaxy.
This web image shows NGC 346, a massive star cluster in the Small Magellanic Cloud. Yellow circles superimposed on the image indicate the positions of the 10 stars investigated in the study. Image credits: NASA/ESA/CSA/STScI/Olivia C. Jones, UK ATC/Guido De Marchi, ESTEC/Margaret Meixner, USRA.
“With Webb, we have strong confirmation of what we saw with Hubble, and we need to rethink how we model planet formation and early evolution in the young Universe.” European Space Research Agency said Dr. Guido de Marchi, a researcher at Technology Center.
“In the early universe, stars formed primarily from hydrogen and helium, with few heavier elements such as carbon or iron, and were later born from supernova explosions.”
“Current models predict that because heavy elements are so scarce, the lifetime of the disk around the star is short, so short that in fact planets cannot grow,” said a researcher at NSF's NOIRLab's Gemini Observatory. said lead scientist Dr. Elena Sabbi.
“But Hubble actually observed those planets. So what happens if the model is incorrect and the disks have a longer lifespan?”
To test this idea, the astronomers trained Webb in the Small Magellanic Cloud, a dwarf galaxy that is one of the closest galaxies to the Milky Way.
In particular, they examined the massive star-forming cluster NGC 346, which also has a relative lack of heavy elements.
This cluster served as a nearby proxy for studying stellar environments with similar conditions in the distant early universe.
Hubble observations of NGC 346 since the mid-2000s have revealed that there are many stars around 20 to 30 million years old that are thought to still have planet-forming disks around them.
This was contrary to the conventional idea that such disks would disappear after two or three million years.
“Hubble's discovery was controversial and went against not only the empirical evidence for the galaxy, but also current models,” Dr. De Marchi said.
“This was interesting, but without a way to obtain the spectra of these stars, we will not know whether what we are witnessing is genuine accretion and the presence of a disk, or just an artificial effect. I couldn't actually confirm it.”
Now, thanks to Webb's sensitivity and resolution, scientists have, for the first time, spectra of the formation of Sun-like stars and their surrounding environments in nearby galaxies.
“We can see that these stars are actually surrounded by a disk and are still in the process of engulfing material even though they are relatively old, 20 or 30 million years old,” De Marchi said. Ta.
“This also means that planets have more time to form and grow around these stars than in nearby star-forming regions in our galaxy.”
This discovery contradicts previous theoretical predictions that if there were very few heavy elements in the gas around the disk, the star would quickly blow away the disk.
Therefore, the lifespan of the disk is very short, probably less than 1 million years.
But how can planets form if dust grains stick together to form pebbles and the disk doesn't stay around the star long enough to become the planet's core?
The researchers explained that two different mechanisms, or a combination of them, may exist for planet-forming disks to persist in environments low in heavy elements.
First, the star applies radiation pressure to blow the disk away.
For this pressure to be effective, an element heavier than hydrogen or helium must be present in the gas.
However, the massive star cluster NGC 346 contains only about 10 percent of the heavy elements present in the Sun's chemical composition.
Perhaps the stars in this cluster just need time to disperse their disks.
A second possibility is that for a Sun-like star to form when there are few heavier elements, it would need to start with a larger cloud of gas.
As the gas cloud grows larger, it produces larger disks. Therefore, because there is more mass in the disk, it will take longer to blow it away, even if the radiation pressure is acting the same.
“The more material around the star, the longer the accretion will last,” Sabbi says.
“It takes 10 times longer for the disk to disappear. This has implications for how planets form and the types of system architectures that can be used in different environments. This is very exciting.”
of study Published today on astrophysical journal.
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Guido de Marchi others. 2024. Protoplanetary disks around Sun-like stars appear to live longer when they are less metallic. APJ 977,214;Doi: 10.3847/1538-4357/ad7a63
This article is adapted from an original release by the Webb Mission Team at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center.
Paleontologists have identified a new species of procolophonid reptile from fossilized skull and jaw fragments found in southwest England.
rebuilding the life of Treodatos casmatos. Image credit: Mark Whitton.
The newly discovered species Treodatos casmatoslived during the Late Triassic period, approximately 220 to 210 million years ago.
The ancient creature is a member of Leptopleuroninaean extinct lizard-like quasi-reptilian subfamily within the clade Procolophonidae.
Luke Mead, a palaeontologist at the University of Birmingham, said: “Procolophoids appeared in the late Permian, persisted until the end-Permian extinction event, and were a notable element of the post-extinction fauna in the Triassic, on the supercontinent. They were small quasi-reptile species that were diverse throughout Pangea.” his colleagues.
“Procolophonid diversity decreased during the Late Triassic and is represented only by the late-divergent clade Leptopleuroninae, known for small occurrences in Brazil, North America, Scotland, England, and possibly Wales. ”
“Leptopleuronin procolophorids typically have a reduced number of laterally expanded bicuspid maxillary teeth and are often characterized by cranial decorations such as enlarged spines of the quadrate zygoma.”
“Leptopleuronins appear to be well adapted to a high-fiber herbivore, omnivore, or entomovore diet, and this group may represent the latest surviving clade of Parareptilia.” There is.”
Fossilized remains are Treodatos casmatos It was discovered at Cromhall Quarry in southern Gloucestershire, south-west England.
“The teeth and jaws of this small reptile exhibit features never before seen in this group,” said Dr. Mead, lead author of the paper. study Published in a magazine Paleontology Papers.
“They probably fed differently than their relatives, raising new questions about how these animals interacted with their environment during the Late Triassic. ”
Reptiles have tricuspid teeth in their upper jaws, each with three distinct points. The lower jaw, on the other hand, has compressed unicuspid teeth with unusual edentulous (toothless) tips.
These adaptations may have facilitated unique methods of food processing.
Dr Mark Jones, curator of fossil reptiles at the Natural History Museum, said: “The interaction between the upper and lower teeth is interesting and there are some mammalian similarities in the shape of the teeth.”
“The mandible was not fused at the jaw area; instead, the connection was held by soft tissue and was probably flexible.”
“This flexibility may have allowed the lower jaws to make contact in a way that made it easier to masticate food.”
“This feature is not seen in closely related species and may indicate a specialized diet or feeding strategy.”
“The Late Triassic was a period of dramatic environmental change when Pangea began to collapse.”
“The unique adaptation of teeth is Treodatos casmatos This suggests that they may have carved out a unique ecological niche in a changing climate, feeding on plants, insects, or other small prey that required specialized oral food processing. ”
“Treodatos casmatos “They lived at a time when solar radiation was much lower than it is today, but there was much more carbon dioxide in the atmosphere,” Dr. Jones said.
“It has become generally hotter, global average sea levels have risen, and extreme rainfall events have occurred.”
“therefore, Treodatos casmatos And the communities it lived in may provide perspective on today's threatened ecosystems and the global emergency we face. ”
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Luke E. Mead others. 2024. A new protocolophonid with complex tooth rows that lived in the Late Triassic of southwestern England. paleontology papers 10 (6): e1605;doi: 10.1002/spp2.1605
The bartender said, “We don't serve time travelers here.” A time traveler enters the bar.
OK, yes, you'll almost certainly regret starting this article with such a lame old joke. Most of us, at some point, have wanted to go back in time to fix a mistake or failure. But that's impossible, right?
Well, not necessarily. Albert Einstein's theory of general relativity suggests that time travel may actually be possible. We know that matter can bend space-time, and if we bend it enough we may be able to create time loops. Of course, there are many caveats, and researchers have yet to present a working time machine. But that didn't stop them from exploring the possibilities.
Here are five ways time travel could be possible, from sci-fi classics to surprising new ideas. It also introduces some thorny practical obstacles that need to be overcome.
1. Prepare the galaxy laser ring
The main problem with time travel is that nothing can travel faster than the speed of light, which is 299,792,458 meters per second. This speed limit maintains causation, the idea that the cause must always come before the effect. Thanks to a quirk of Einstein's special theory of relativity and the fact that space and time are intimately connected, traveling faster than the speed of light messes it up. If we could travel faster than light, we would travel back in time. But you can't do that.
The next best thing is to manipulate the fabric of space-time. in…
Plastic food packaging can expose people to chemicals such as bisphenol A (BPA)
Shutterstock/Trong Nguyen
Hundreds of thousands of deaths and millions of heart disease cases worldwide may be linked to chemicals found in common plastic products, and stricter regulations on such toxins are needed. This suggests that there may be potential benefits to public health.
Maureen Cropper researchers from the University of Maryland investigated the effects of oxidation on three chemicals primarily used in plastics: bisphenol A (BPA), di(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (DEHP), and polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs). The public health impact of exposure was assessed. BPA and DEHP are used in plastic food packaging, and PBDE is a flame retardant used in some household products such as furniture and electronics.
Based on more than 1,700 studies published to date, the researchers estimated how much people in 38 countries, representing about a third of the world’s population, are exposed to these three chemicals. Three of these countries, the United States, Canada, and South Korea, also have public databases that monitor levels of these chemicals in urine and blood samples, providing more accurate data.
Researchers calculated the health effects caused by these chemicals by combining them with medical records and toxicology reports. Researchers found that in 2015, approximately 5.4 million coronary artery diseases and 346,000 strokes were linked to BPA exposure, and approximately 164,000 deaths among people aged 55 to 64 were caused by DEHP. I discovered that it could be.
Thanks to you rules Since their enactment in the 2000s, the prevalence of these chemicals has decreased in many countries, including the United States, Canada, and Europe. Researchers estimate that approximately 515,000 deaths could have been avoided if exposure to BPA and DEHP in the United States had remained at post-regulation levels since 2003. This highlights the importance for governments and manufacturers to limit the use of hazardous chemicals in plastic products before they reach consumers. says Cropper.
However, it is important to remember that these results are only approximations. “Frankly, I think one of the real limitations is the lack of exposure data on these substances,” Cropper said. This means that estimates may be less accurate for some countries than for others. “It would be a good idea for more countries to actually monitor it.” [exposures to] Examining these and other substances will improve our understanding of their public health burden, she says.
called radiation-resistant bacteria Deinococcus radiodurans It can withstand radiation doses thousands of times higher than what would kill a human. The secret behind this resistance is the existence of a collection of simple metabolites that combine with manganese to form a powerful antioxidant. Now, Northwestern University professor Brian Hoffman and his colleagues have discovered how this antioxidant works.
First discovered in 1956, Deinococcus radiodurans It is one of the most radiation-resistant organisms known.
It was isolated in an experiment aimed at determining whether high doses of gamma rays could be used to sterilize canned food.
In a new study, Professor Hoffman and co-authors characterized a synthetic designer antioxidant called MDP. Deinococcus radiodurans'Resilience.
They show that the components of MDP, manganese ions, phosphates, and small peptides, form a ternary complex that is a much more powerful protector from radiation damage than when manganese is combined with other individual components alone. I discovered that.
This discovery could ultimately lead to new synthetic antioxidants specifically tailored to human needs.
Applications include protecting astronauts from intense space radiation during deep space missions, preparing for radiation emergencies, and producing radiation-inactivated vaccines.
“This ternary complex is MDP's excellent shield against the effects of radiation,” said Professor Hoffman.
“It has long been known that manganese ions and phosphates together make a powerful antioxidant, but now we discover and understand the 'magical' potency brought about by the addition of a third ingredient. That's a breakthrough.”
“This study provided the key to understanding why this combination is such a powerful and promising radioprotector.”
In a previous study, researchers found that: Deinococcus radiodurans It can withstand 25,000 Grays (or units of X-rays and gamma rays).
But in a 2022 study, Professor Hoffmann and his team found that this bacterium, when dried and frozen, can withstand 140,000 Gy of radiation, 28,000 times the dose that would kill humans. did.
Therefore, if there are dormant frozen microbes buried on Mars, they may have survived the onslaught of galactic cosmic radiation and solar protons to this day.
In an effort to understand radioresistance in microorganisms, researchers investigated a designer decapeptide called DP1.
When combined with phosphate and manganese, DP1 forms the free radical scavenger MDP, which protects cells and proteins from radiation damage.
Professor Michael Daly, from Uniformed Services University, said: “This new understanding of MDP could lead to the development of even more powerful manganese-based antioxidants with applications in areas such as medicine, industry, defense and space exploration. Yes,” he said.
of result will appear in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
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Hao Yang others. 2024. A ternary complex of Mn2+, synthetic decapeptide DP1 (DEHGTAVMLK), and orthophosphate is an excellent antioxidant. PNAS 121 (51): e2417389121;doi: 10.1073/pnas.2417389121
Saturn and its rings photographed by the Cassini spacecraft in 2016
NASA/JPL-California Institute of Technology/Space Science Institute
Modeling studies suggest that Saturn's rings are much older than previously thought and may have formed around the same time as Saturn. But not all astronomers are convinced, and the researchers who were part of the team that calculated that Saturn's rings are relatively young insist that the new findings do not change their findings. are.
For most of the 20th century, scientists believed that Saturn's rings formed with the planet about 4.5 billion years ago. But when NASA's Cassini spacecraft visited Saturn in 2004, it found its rings to be noticeably free of contamination from tiny space rocks known as cosmic dust. This innocent appearance indicated that they were much younger. Estimates for 2023 put their age between 100 million and 400 million years.
now, Ryuki Hyodo in Japan Space Science Institute He and his colleagues calculated that Saturn's rings should be much more resistant to contamination from space dust than previously thought, allowing them to maintain a pristine appearance for long periods of time. Hyodo and his team haven't calculated a new age for the ring, but they suggest it could be as old as Earth, as astronomers once believed.
The researchers then modeled how these particles moved through Saturn's magnetic field, and found that only a small portion settled on the rings, while the majority were drawn into Saturn's atmosphere. It turned out that the object was either destroyed or bounced back into space. “The accretion efficiency of Saturn's rings is only a few percent, which is much smaller than previously assumed,” says Professor Hyodo. This could extend previous ring age estimates by hundreds of millions to billions of years, he said.
Sasha Kemp A member of the team at the University of Colorado Boulder that calculated an earlier, much younger estimate of the age of Saturn's rings, he and his colleagues considered not only the ring's contamination efficiency, but also its contamination efficiency, taking into account the time it would take. He said he used a more complicated method. This is because matter reaches the ring and disappears. The values calculated by Hyodo and his colleagues do not change the overall results for that age, Kempf said. “I'm sure this doesn't mean we really have to go back to square one.”
However, Hyodo argues that times should change dramatically as pollution efficiency declines. “They assumed an efficiency of 10%, but we reported 1%. The equation tells us that it's a billion years, or a billion years.”
Kemp also said that while the new simulation assumes that Saturn's rings are made of solid ice particles, the actual rings are made of soft particles that are much larger in size than what was modeled in the study. He said there was. “If you fire particles into these fairly complex and soft structures, the outcome of such collisions will be very different,” he says.
Hyodo argues that this assumption is standard for many similar studies. “No one knows what kind of effect the difference in ice will have,” says Hyodo. “It may or may not be more efficient.”
Lotfi Ben Jaffer A professor at France's Paris Institute of Astrophysics, who was not involved in either age-estimation study, said the study suggests the rings are not as young as recently claimed. “This is a positive step toward a lack of modeling efforts needed to adequately address the fundamental question of planetary ring system formation and evolution,” he says.
But Hyodo and his team need to improve their modeling to more accurately estimate the ring's contamination, he says, so they can more accurately determine its age.
Astronomers using the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope have taken striking new photos of barred spiral galaxy NGC 2566.
The barred spiral galaxy NGC 2566 has a prominent star bar at its center, with spiral arms emerging from each end of the bar. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble / D. Tilker.
NGC2566 It is located in the constellation Leo, about 76 million light years away from Earth.
The galaxy was discovered by German-British astronomer William Herschel on March 6, 1785.
Also known as ESO 495-3, LEDA 23303, or UGCA 138, this galaxy is a member of the PGC 80593 group of at least 16 large galaxies.
“NGC 2566 appears tilted from our perspective, so its disk is almond-shaped, giving the galaxy the appearance of a cosmic eye,” Hubble astronomers said in a statement.
“As NGC 2566 stares back at us, we’ll be looking directly behind it, using Hubble to study the galaxy’s star clusters and star-forming regions.”
“Hubble data is especially valuable for studying stars that are only a few million years old.”
“These stars are bright in the ultraviolet and visible wavelengths to which Hubble is sensitive.”
Using these data, astronomers will measure the ages of NGC 2566’s stars, helping them piece together the timeline of star formation in the galaxy and gas exchange between the star-forming clouds and the stars themselves.
“Several other observatories have investigated NGC 2566, including NASA/ESA/CSA’s James Webb Space Telescope,” the researchers said.
“Webb’s data complement this Hubble image, adding a view of NGC 2566’s warm, glowing dust to Hubble’s stellar portrait.”
“NGC 2566, at the long wavelength end of the electromagnetic spectrum, has also been observed by the Atacama Large Millimeter/Submillimeter Array (ALMA).”
“ALMA is a network of 66 radio telescopes working together to capture detailed images of the gas clouds where stars form.”
Most pet owners have probably seen their furry friends get soaking wet. After dripping for 1 second, they spray water everywhere. wet dog shake. Almost all hairy mammals, from dogs, cats, and mice to lions, tigers, and bears, shiver and dry when their fur gets wet. But even though it's common for dogs to get wet and shiver, scientists still don't know what causes this behavior.
Our skin is very sensitive to touch. Most people can easily distinguish the gentle touch of a loved one, a breeze, the movement of a pest on the skin. We sense touch through our nervous system using specialized cells called . somatosensory neurons Detect changes in our skin. Hairy animals have 12 unique types of somatosensory neurons that sense and respond to touch. One such neuron is C-LTMRresponds only to mild, slow stimuli. When these neurons sense something, they react strongly by sending strong electrical signals through the nervous system. The research team wondered if these neurons were responsible for the tremors in wet dogs.
To investigate the link between C-LTMR neurons and wet dog tremors, the researchers first measured this behavior in mice. They used a dropper to place droplets of sunflower seed oil on the necks of 10 mice and monitored their behavior for five minutes. Mice initiated wet dog shaking within an average of 10 seconds after droplet placement, often 3 to 4 times every 18 seconds. After the first minute, the mice stopped shaking frequently and instead groomed and scratched themselves.
So the researchers wanted to know whether the shivering in wet dogs was an automatic behavior triggered by neurons that sensed these droplets. To test this, they used genetic engineering techniques. crisper In order to remove the genes that create touch sensors in neurons, piezo 2. CRISPR is piezo 2 Gene for finding mouse cells themselves piezo 2 gene. CRISPR then disrupts the gene, preventing the mouse cells from making touch sensors. When researchers placed oil drops on the necks of genetically engineered mice, wet dog shakes did not occur. The researchers concluded that touch is the main mechanism that triggers the automatic shivering behavior in wet dogs.
Many somatosensory neurons use Piezo2 to sense touch, so the researchers are unable to pinpoint the neurons responsible for the wet dog's tremors. However, some genes are only produced by certain types of neurons. The researchers used genetic engineering to target these genes, a process called light-sensitization. optogenetics. These light-sensitive genes produce proteins that become activated when scientists shine a blue laser on them. The researchers used optogenetics to create light-sensitive C-LTMR neurons and compared them to other light-sensitive somatosensory neurons.
When the researchers shined a light on the skin of seven light-sensitive C-LTMR mice, the mice shivered 60% of the time like a wet dog. But mice with other light-sensitive neurons did not show the dog-wetting tremors in response to the laser. The researchers found that photosensitive C-LTMR mice responded best 80% of the time when the laser was applied to the neck rather than the back or thighs, with 30% and 0% responses, respectively. Ta.
The researchers thought this might indicate that C-LTMR neurons were sending signals through other neurons in the spine. spinal parabrachial neurons or SPN. To test this, the researchers cultured SPNs containing optogenetic C-LTMR neurons in Petri dishes. When they shined a laser on C-LTMR neurons, the electrical signals within the SPN were measured with electrodes, showing that these neurons were communicating.
The researchers concluded that wet dog tremors are caused specifically by C-LTMR neurons in the spine. They hope that future studies can build on their findings and gain a deeper understanding of the connections between C-LTMR neurons and the brain. Continuing these studies will impact how scientists understand wet dog tremors in mammals and how hypersensitivity and other contact-based symptoms develop in humans. Possibly.
In 2023, scientists in Southeast Asia’s Greater Mekong River region described an astonishing 234 new species. The discovery was announced in 2023. Report from the nature conservation organization WWF173 species of plants, 26 species of reptiles, 17 species of amphibians, 15 species of fish, and 3 species of mammals.
Since 1997, more than 3,500 new plant and vertebrate species have been identified in the region covered by this report, which includes Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam, with an average of 130 new species per year. I’m going up.
Here, we introduce six new species, including a hairy hedgehog named after a vampire, an almost invisible dragon lizard, and an endangered leafless orchid.
Hiromiz macaron
The furry hedgehog family pictured above is endemic to Vietnam. Hiromiz macaron It may seem innocuous, but its name is Macaron Means vampire in Vietnamese. It gets its name thanks to its long, pointed fangs, which remain hidden in this photo.
Hyposideros Kingston
This small leaf-nosed bat lives from Thailand to Borneo. confirmed by DNA analysis Hyposideros Kingston It was born as a new species in 2023.
It’s not known where these tiny bats, which weigh just 4.9 to 7 grams, roost. It has been seen near large limestone caves, suggesting that it may be hiding there, but it is also possible that it lives far from known caves, hiding in the hollows of trees. It is also possible that they are building a roost.
Laodracon calusticola
You need keen eyesight to spot this small lizard (Laodracon calusticola), which lives high on the tops of rugged karsts in Laos, which may explain why this species has been ignored by scientists until now. One of the earliest known sightings of this lizard was by a zipline tour guide.
Zhangixalus melanoleucus
This lime green tree frog (Zhangixalus melanoleucus) was discovered at an altitude of 2000 meters in the evergreen forest of Mount Phu Samsoon in northern Laos. Although the region is home to many other endemic species, it is one of the least studied regions in Asia.
The mystery of how the Egyptian pyramids were built has puzzled researchers for centuries. Constructed over 4,000 years ago as burial sites for pharaohs, there are still over 100 pyramids remaining. The largest, the Great Pyramid of Giza, originally stood at 147 meters (482 feet) in height.
Comprised of around 2.3 million stone blocks, each weighing between 2.5 and 15 tonnes, the construction required innovative methods to transport and lift the heavy stones. Different theories exist among scientists regarding the techniques used to achieve such great heights,” says Dr. Eman Ghoneim, a Professor at the University of North Carolina Wilmington in the United States.
Eman Ghoneim on Egypt's Giza Plateau with the Great Sphinx and the pyramids of Khufu, Khafre and Menkaure – Photo credit: UNCW/Eman Ghoneim
Recent research has shed light on some aspects of pyramid construction. One prevailing theory suggests the use of ramps to move the stones, supported by the discovery of sloped structures near some pyramids. Dr. Roland Enmarch, a Senior Lecturer in Egyptology at the University of Liverpool, and his team unearthed groundbreaking evidence of quarry ramps in eastern Egypt used in pyramid construction.
Construction schedules were also crucial in the building of pyramids. It is believed that the Great Pyramid of Giza took 20 years to complete, starting at the beginning of a pharaoh’s reign. Archaeologist Frank Müller-Römer has proposed various ramp designs for pyramid construction, emphasizing the importance of multiple ramps placed along the exterior of the structure.
Construction Schedule
Various techniques like levers, cranes, and pulleys were likely employed in addition to ramps. In a study by Xavier Landreau and his team in Paris, a hydraulic lift system was proposed as a method to build the Step Pyramid of King Djoser. However, some experts question the feasibility of such systems based on archaeological evidence.
Research using scanning techniques is ongoing to explore the internal structure of the Great Pyramid of Giza. The ScanPyramids project by teams from Egypt and France aims to uncover hidden spaces within the pyramid using advanced imaging technologies.
Identifying Supply Lines
Transporting materials to the construction site was a logistical challenge. Researchers like Dr. Ghoneim and his team used satellite images and ground surveys to uncover ancient tributaries of the Nile River that were crucial for transporting goods to the pyramids. These discoveries shed light on the transportation methods used by ancient Egyptians.
Archaeologists have also unearthed logbooks detailing the construction activities at the Great Pyramids of Giza, dispelling myths of supernatural involvement. Ongoing excavations of workers’ quarters near the pyramids provide insight into the organizational aspects of pyramid construction.
About our experts
Dr. Eman Ghoneim, a professor at the University of North Carolina Wilmington, specializes in geographic information systems and remote sensing.
Dr. Roland Enmarch, a Senior Lecturer in Egyptology at the University of Liverpool, has extensive experience in ancient Egyptian research.
Frank Muller Roemer, a German archaeologist and Egyptologist, focuses on ancient Egyptian construction and transportation techniques.
Prepare yourself with a coat, warm socks, and a chair to witness the spectacle of the night sky. The Geminid meteor shower is approaching, offering a breathtaking display of colorful meteors painting the heavens. While this year may not be as spectacular as the previous one, the shooting stars are still worth observing.
So, when will the 2024 Geminid meteor shower occur? The peak is set for the late hours of Friday, December 13th, continuing into the early hours of Saturday, December 14th. This prime time presents the best opportunity to witness these shooting stars, visible to the naked eye with their vivid hues.
According to Dr. Shyam Balaji, a researcher in astroparticle physics and cosmology at King’s College London, the optimal viewing time is around 2 a.m. local time. However, the meteor shower can be observed from the evening onwards. The shower will remain active from December 4th to December 20th, allowing for extended viewing opportunities.
No special equipment is needed to enjoy the meteor shower, just warm clothing, a sense of adventure, and your eyes to gaze at the spectacle.
However, with a full moon on Sunday, some of the fainter meteors may be obscured, as noted by Professor Don Polacco, an astrophysicist at the University of Warwick.
Despite suboptimal conditions this year, the Geminid meteor shower is always worth witnessing. So, if weather permits, grab your warm attire, settle into your chair early Saturday morning, and behold the wonder above.
Looking up to observe the meteor shower, locate the constellation Gemini, the radiant point of the shower. Find Orion the Hunter and then spot Castor and Pollux above and to the left for a guide to Gemini’s location in the sky.
The Geminid meteor shower has been known to produce 120 to 150 meteors per hour during its peak, offering a dazzling display of bright meteors streaking across the sky.
These meteors exhibit varying colors, from white, yellow, and green to red, orange, and blue, depending on the metals present in the debris and their interaction with Earth’s atmosphere.
The Geminid meteor shower was particularly bright in 2023 – Credit: NurPhoto / Contributor
The Geminid meteor shower is unique as it originates from asteroid 3200 Phaethon, referred to as a “rocky comet.” These denser fragments result in a more spectacular show than typical comet debris. The close proximity of the shower’s orbit to the Sun also adds to its distinctive qualities.
Get ready to witness the magic of the 2024 Geminid meteor shower and enjoy the celestial spectacle it has to offer.
Juno and Galileo’s volcanic activity on Io, Jupiter’s innermost Galilean moon and the most volcanically active object in the solar system, is unlikely to originate from a global magma ocean just below the surface. Deep space networks and astronomical observations, according to new analysis of Doppler data.
The internal structure of Io revealed by this research. Image credit: Sofia Shen / NASA / JPL / Caltech.
Slightly larger than Earth’s moon, Io is the most volcanically active object in the solar system.
It is the innermost of Jupiter’s Galilean moons, which in addition to Io includes Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto.
Trapped in a gravitational tug of war between Jupiter, Europa, and Ganymede, Io is constantly squeezed, causing frictional heat to build up within its interior, which is thought to be the cause of sustained and widespread volcanic activity.
Volcanic activity on the Moon was first discovered in 1979. That’s when Linda Morabito, an engineer on NASA’s Voyager program, spotted an eruption plume in one of the images taken by the spacecraft during its famous Grand Tour of the outer planets.
Since then, countless observations have been made from both space telescopes and telescopes on Earth documenting Io’s restless nature.
“Io is Galileo’s innermost moon, orbiting Jupiter every 42.5 hours,” said Juno collaborator Dr. Ryan Park of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory and colleagues.
“It has an average diameter of 3,643 km and a bulk density of 3,528 kg/m.3 As such, it is approximately 5% larger than the Moon, both in diameter and density.”
“Io’s eccentric orbit changes its distance from Jupiter by about 3,500 km, which leads to fluctuations in Jupiter’s gravitational pull.”
“Similar to the Moon’s tides caused by Earth, these gravitational fluctuations cause tidal deformations on Io, which are theorized to serve as the main energy source for the intense volcanism and infrared radiation observed on Io’s surface.”
The amount of tidal energy could be enough to cause Io’s interior to melt, potentially forming a magma ocean underground, but this theory is controversial.
Measuring the extent of Io’s tidal deformation could help determine whether the shallow magma ocean theory is plausible.
“Since the discovery of Morabito, planetary scientists have wondered how volcanoes were fed by lava beneath the Earth’s surface,” said Scott Bolton, Ph.D., principal investigator at Juno and a researcher at the Southwest Research Institute.
“Was there a shallow ocean of white-hot magma that fueled the volcano, or was the source more local?”
“We knew data from Juno’s two very close approaches could give us insight into how this beleaguered satellite actually works.”
Io’s arctic region was captured by NASA’s Juno on December 30, 2023, during the spacecraft’s 57th approach to the gas giant. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / SwRI / MSSS / Gerald Eichstädt.
NASA’s Juno spacecraft flew very close to Io in December 2023 and February 2024, coming within about 1,500 km of the surface.
During its approach, Juno communicated with NASA’s Deep Space Network and acquired high-precision dual-frequency Doppler data. This data was used to measure Io’s gravity by tracking how it affects the spacecraft’s acceleration.
Combining these observations with archival Doppler data from NASA’s Galileo mission and ground-based telescopes, the researchers calculated how much Io is deformed by tidal forces.
This result is inconsistent with what would be expected if a shallow global magma ocean existed, suggesting that Io has a nearly solid mantle.
It is not yet known whether there are regions of magma deep within the moon.
The findings show that tidal forces do not necessarily create global magma oceans, which could have implications for our understanding of other moons such as Enceladus and Europa.
“Juno’s discovery that tidal forces don’t always produce global magma oceans not only prompts us to rethink what we know about Io’s interior,” Dr. Park said.
“It has implications for our understanding of other moons such as Enceladus and Europa, as well as exoplanets and super-Earths.”
“Our new findings provide an opportunity to rethink what we know about planet formation and evolution.”
The team’s paper published in this week’s magazine nature.
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RS Park others. Due to Io’s tidal reactions, shallow magma oceans do not form. nature published online on December 12, 2024. doi: 10.1038/s41586-024-08442-5
The annual Geminid meteor shower is scheduled to peak Friday night and early Saturday.
It is usually one of the best and most reliable meteor showers of the year.
Stargazers can also look for Jupiter and three bright star formations known as the Winter Triangle.
Stargazers may have something to look forward to this weekend, as the annual Geminid meteor shower peaks Friday night into early Saturday morning.
The meteor shower has been going on all month, but the number of shooting stars is expected to increase into the weekend, especially after midnight Friday and in the pre-dawn darkness. According to NASA.
The Geminid meteor shower can be seen in the northern and southern hemispheres, but a nearly full moon could wash out some faint shooting stars in this year’s show.
Still, the Geminid meteor shower is typically one of the best and most reliable meteor showers of the year, so when conditions are clear, skywatchers can spot bright meteors streaking the night sky. You can do that.
Under ideal sky viewing conditions, with no bright moonlight and little interfering light pollution, you can see as many as 120 Geminid meteor showers per hour.
The Geminid meteor shower was observed in Mumbai, India on December 14, 2017. Pratik Chorge / Hindustan Times / Getty Images File
As their name suggests, Geminid meteors appear to stream from the constellation Gemini, but skywatchers should be able to see the shooting stars without looking directly into the constellation.
NASA experts suggest lying on your back with your feet facing south to enjoy the Geminid meteor shower. It is best to choose a dark viewing location, away from city lights and other light pollution.
Unlike most other meteor showers, which are caused by comet debris that has burned up in Earth’s atmosphere, the Geminid meteor shower is the remains of an asteroid known as 3200 Phaethon.
If you’re planning on checking out the meteor shower this weekend, be sure to also look for Jupiter in the night sky. The planet lies between the nearly full moon and the brightest reddish-orange star in the constellation Taurus, called Aldebaran, and is visible to the naked eye.
Meanwhile, all winter long, skywatchers in the Northern Hemisphere also have the chance to spot the Winter Triangle, a three-bright star formation. This celestial triangle, consisting of Sirius in the constellation Canis Major, Procyon in the constellation Canis Minor, and Betelgeuse in the constellation Orion, stands out in the winter sky.
To see the Winter Triangle, first look for the three stars that make up Orion’s distinctive band. A little below and to the left of the belt is Sirius, the brightest star in the night sky. From there Procyon is a little higher and to the left. Betelgeuse can be seen by looking back toward the constellation Orion, and the shoulder of the constellation appears red.
Last year, the obesity rate among U.S. adults decreased slightly for the first time in more than a decade, a study found.
Researchers suggested this may be due in part to the rise of weight loss drugs like Ozempic.
However, other drugs and factors (such as the effects of the coronavirus pandemic) may also have played a role.
Obesity rates among U.S. adults declined slightly last year, according to a study, but it was the first time in more than a decade that the country had seen a downward trend. Part of that may be due to the recent rise of blockbuster weight loss drugs like Ozempic, the study authors said.
The findings of the study were announced on Friday. Journal JAMA Health Forumthe most significant declines were seen in the South, especially among women and adults ages 66 to 75.
The study looked at BMI measurements for more than 16.7 million adults from 2013 to 2023 across different regions, age groups, genders, races, and ethnicities. BMI measurements are a standard but limited method for estimating obesity relative to body weight. Height to length was collected from electronic health records.
Researchers found that the adult obesity rate in the United States decreased from 46% in 2022 to 45.6% in 2023. (These are slightly higher rates than the U.S. adult obesity rate) Estimate from the centers for disease control and preventionThis means that from 2021 to 2023, approximately 40% of U.S. adults were obese. )
Benjamin Rader, a computational epidemiologist at Boston Children's Hospital and an author of the study, said the results were not uniform across demographics or geographic regions.
“Obesity has been on the decline in the United States as a whole, especially in the South, but this has not been the case in some regions,” he said. “Obesity among Black Americans also decreased significantly, but obesity among Asian Americans increased.”
Rader said the decline in the South was notable because the region observed the highest per capita intake of weight loss drugs, based on researchers' analysis of insurance claims. But he acknowledged that the possible link needed further investigation.
The study authors also noted that obese people in the South had a disproportionately high number of COVID-19 deaths, which may have influenced the overall data.
Dr. Michael Weintraub, an endocrinologist and clinical assistant professor at New York University's Grossman School of Medicine, said the results are consistent with the following: Recent data from the CDC Results showed a slight decrease in obesity prevalence among U.S. adults from 2021 to 2023 compared to 2017 to 2020 (although severe obesity increased during this period). ).
“This data is interesting and holds the promise that we may be on the cusp of changing this obesity epidemic,” said Weintraub, who was not involved in the new study. “However, I would hesitate to call the value of this downward trend in 2023 a trend.”
Even if weight loss drugs were the main factor in reducing obesity, experts say further studies over longer periods of time are needed to assess the true effects of new drugs.
“We know these drugs are very effective, but we need a few more years to see if this is really a trend, or if it's just a small spike and we're back to normal, or if things get much worse. Dr. Tannaz Moin, an endocrinologist and associate professor of medicine at the University of California, Los Angeles, said he was not involved in the study.
Moyn also pointed out that the new study only analyzed preparations of GLP-1 weight loss drugs (a category that includes Ozempic and Mounjaro). This type of drug is used to treat diabetes and obesity by reducing a person's appetite and food intake. This drug mimics the hormone that makes you feel full.
But GLP-1 drugs are only part of the prescription for treating obesity, and a more comprehensive study of different drugs could better capture changing trends, Moyn said. said. Weight loss drugs are also expensive, which can skew data about who can receive treatment.
Additionally, the study used insurance claims data, meaning those who were uninsured or who purchased weight loss drugs out of pocket were likely not included in the results.
Moin said he was surprised by the decline in BMI seen in older people.
“This group is not necessarily the group that I think is the biggest user of GLP-1 drugs, because a lot of them are in the Medicare age group,” she says, adding that weight loss drugs are the most popular for people on Medicare. may be difficult to obtain, he added. The Biden administration recently proposed a rule that would require Medicare and Medicaid to cover weight loss drugs for people seeking obesity treatment.
However, Weintraub cautioned that the observed decline does not necessarily indicate a long-term decline.
“We've been fooled until now by fluctuations in obesity prevalence,” he says. “We were excited about the downward trend in childhood obesity rates announced by the CDC in the early 2000s, but in the years since, obesity rates have increased even more.”
Zoomies are a hilarious sight. Watching a cat bounce off walls like a pinball is pure entertainment. One moment they’re leaping over furniture, and the next they’re careening into a lampshade. They zip around here, there, and everywhere before inevitably falling asleep.
Most cats will experience zoomies at some point, also referred to as “periods of frenzied random activity” or “FRAP.” This behavior is more common in the early and late hours of the day and is often seen in kittens and young cats.
Zoomies may also occur after a bowel movement, leading to terms like “poo” and “clap ‘n flap.” Several theories exist to explain this behavior.
Photo credit: Kyle Smart
Some believe it may be a response to a dirty litter box, as cats are naturally clean and want to distance themselves from their waste quickly.
Others suggest it could indicate a gastrointestinal issue or digestive illness.
One theory proposes that the behavior harks back to a cat’s wild instincts, as fecal matter can attract predators. By defecating swiftly, cats may avoid drawing unwanted attention.
On a different note, gastroenterologist and author Dr. Anish Sheth hypothesized that large stools could stimulate the vagus nerve, which connects the brain to abdominal organs.
This stimulation may decrease heart rate and blood pressure, leading to reduced blood flow to the brain and potential dizziness. The outcome? A goofy moment of cat craziness, or zoomies.
While this theory is intriguing, conventional wisdom suggests that vagus nerve activity typically relaxes animals rather than making them more active. As a result, the debate continues.
This article explores the question “Why do cats get zoomy after pooping?” posed by Ann Rosales via email.
If you have any queries, feel free to reach out to us at:questions@sciencefocus.comor message us on Facebook,Twitter, or visit our InstagramPage (please include your name and location).
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The issue of energy consumption and its sources has always been a significant concern in the context of the climate crisis. In response, efforts are being made to utilize cleaner and newer fuels. Recently, a groundbreaking discovery of vast reservoirs of hydrogen energy hiding beneath the Earth’s surface has emerged, prompting questions about its potential impact.
Naturally occurring geological hydrogen is formed through Earth’s geochemical processes and has been identified in limited locations such as Albania and Mali. Research published in the journal Scientific Progress suggests that these reserves are widespread globally.
The study posits that if just 2 percent of the underground hydrogen could be extracted, it could yield 1.4 × 10^16 Joules of energy, equivalent to the world population’s energy consumption in 35 minutes. This amount of energy exceeds that of all natural gas reserves on Earth and could aid in achieving net-zero carbon goals.
While current methods for obtaining hydrogen involve fossil fuels or water-intensive electrolysis processes with a carbon footprint, extracting geological hydrogen is a comparatively low-carbon process, albeit currently practiced only in Mali.
Researchers at the U.S. Geological Survey have developed a model combining knowledge of hydrogen occurrence and geological data to explore these reservoirs on a global scale, estimating a substantial amount of hidden hydrogen beneath the Earth’s surface.
However, experts are hesitant about committing resources to extraction due to the scale and infrastructure required, as highlighted by geoscientist Professor Bill McGuire from University College London (UCL). He emphasizes the abundance of renewable energy sources like wind and solar and questions the necessity of tapping into another finite resource.
About our experts
Professor Bill McGuire is a volcanologist, climatologist, and author currently serving as Professor of Geophysics and Climate Hazards at UCL. His works include books on natural disasters, environmental change, and climate solutions.
Intermittent fasting can be effective for weight loss, but it can also have negative effects on hair growth, as shown in a recent mouse experiment conducted by researchers at Westlake University in China. The study found that mice undergoing intermittent fasting experienced improved metabolic health but showed delayed hair regrowth. This link between restrictive eating and hair regrowth was also observed in a study published in Cell.
While similar effects may occur in humans, they are typically less severe due to differences in metabolic rate and hair growth patterns. Nevertheless, it is important to be aware of the potential unintended consequences of intermittent fasting, as highlighted by senior author and stem cell biologist Dr. Bing Zhang.
Further research is needed to fully understand the effects of fasting on hair growth, as current studies have primarily focused on its benefits for blood, muscle tissue supply, and metabolism. The research team at Westlake University conducted experiments on mice to explore the impact of intermittent fasting on hair regrowth, with findings suggesting that prolonged fasting stresses hair follicle stem cells, leading to delayed hair growth.
A small clinical trial involving 49 healthy young individuals showed that time-restricted eating with 18 hours of daily fasting reduced hair growth by an average of 18 percent. However, the researchers caution that the study’s small sample size and short duration may yield different results in larger-scale studies.
Future research will investigate how fasting affects other types of stem cells in the body and its implications for wound healing speed. Despite the potential drawbacks, intermittent fasting remains a popular and beneficial practice for many individuals.
In London, where I live, you forget about white Christmas. The best I can hope for is a storm of pathetic flakes. So this year I’m on a mission to make my own snow. It’s not just snow. To maximize the effect of the festival, we want to create the world’s largest snowflake.
It’s going to be a challenge. Guinness World Records Diameter 38cm, thickness 20cm. This incredible phenomenon was recorded in Montana in January 1887, when rancher Matt Coleman reported seeing snowflakes “larger than milk bread” during a violent storm. To be sure, some experts are skeptical. “If this was falling from the sky, they would probably need to wear crash helmets,” said Douglas Mair, a glaciologist at the University of Liverpool in the UK. Nevertheless, Guinness World Records claims that modern sources corroborate the record.
But wait a minute! There is a postscript. The largest snowflake was 10 millimeters. “A snowflake is a single ice crystal,” says Ken Libbrecht, who took the record-breaking photo in Ontario, Canada, in December 2003. The textbook image of a Christmas snowflake is actually a complete snowflake, but a snowflake is made up of several crystals joined together. So you might be able to break the record by creating the world’s largest snowflake instead. How difficult would it be? “You could grow ice crystals from water vapor,” says Libbrecht, whose lab at the California Institute of Technology makes “designer” snowflakes. “But if you want to look like a snowflake, and you want to actually make a symmetrical snowflake, that’s a tall order.” Obviously, I need help.
Alternating current magnetism is a unique form of magnetic ordering in which small magnetic components align antiparallel to their neighbors, but the structure housing each element is rotated relative to its neighbors. . Professor Peter Wadleigh and colleagues at the University of Nottingham have shown that this new type of magnetism exists and can be controlled with microscopic equipment.
Mapping of alternating current magnetic order vectors in MnTe. Image credit: Amin others., doi: 10.1038/s41586-024-08234-x.
Magnetic materials are used in a large portion of long-term computer memory and in the latest generation of microelectronic devices.
Not only is this a large and important industry, but it is also a global source of carbon emissions.
Replacing key components with alternative magnetic materials has the potential to lead to significant increases in speed and efficiency, while significantly reducing dependence on rare and toxic heavy elements required by traditional ferromagnetic technology .
Alternating magnets combine the advantageous properties of ferromagnets and antiferromagnets in a single material.
They are more robust, more energy efficient, and have the potential to increase the speed of microelectronic components and digital memory by a factor of 1,000.
“An alternating current magnet consists of magnetic moments pointing antiparallel to neighboring magnets,” Professor Wadley says.
“But each part of the crystal that hosts these tiny moments is rotated relative to its neighboring parts. It's like a twist on antiferromagnetism. But this subtle difference It has a big impact.”
Dr Oliver Amin, from the University of Nottingham, said: “Our experimental work provides a bridge between theoretical concepts and real-world implementation, and illuminates the path towards the development of alternative magnetic materials for practical application. I look forward to that.”
The new experimental study was conducted at the MAX IV international facility in Sweden.
This facility, which looks like a giant metal donut, is an electron accelerator called a synchrotron that generates X-rays.
A magnetic material is irradiated with X-rays, and the electrons emitted from the surface are detected using a special microscope.
This allows us to generate images of magnetism within materials with small feature resolution down to the nanoscale.
“Being the first to confirm the effects and properties of this promising new class of magnetic materials has been a hugely rewarding and rewarding privilege,” said the University of Nottingham PhD. Student Alfred Dal Din.
Scientists sequenced and analyzed the genomes of seven people who lived between 42,000 and 49,000 years ago in Ranis, Germany, and Zlatiks, Czech Republic. As a result, the Ranis and Zlati Kush were linked by distant kinship ties, and that they were part of the same small, isolated group, representing the deepest known split from lineages outside Africa. was shown. The Ranis genome contains a Neanderthal component derived from a single admixture event common to all non-Africans, which the authors date back 45,000 to 49,000 years ago. This means that all non-African ancestors sequenced so far existed in a common population during this time, and further The human remains suggest that they represent a distinct non-African population.
Illustration of the Zlati Kush, who belonged to the same group as the Ranis and had close relationships with two of them. Image credit: Tom Björklund / Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology.
Dr. Alev Schumer of the Max Planck Institute for Evolution said, “After modern humans left Africa, they met and interbred with Neanderthals, and as a result, approximately 2 to 3 percent of Neanderthal DNA is present in all areas outside Africa.'' It's in people's genomes.” Anthropology and its colleagues.
“However, little is known about the genetics of Europe's first settlers or the timing of interbreeding between Neanderthals and non-Africans.”
“An important site in Europe is Zlaty Kush in the Czech Republic, where the complete skull of a single individual who lived about 45,000 years ago was discovered and previously genetically analyzed.”
“However, due to the lack of archaeological context, we were unable to link this person to an archaeologically defined group.”
“Ilsenhöhle, located in Ranis, Germany, about 230 km from the nearby site Zlatiks, is known for a particular type of archeology, Rincombi-Ranissian-Jersmanovičian (LRJ), dating back about 45,000 years. ”
“It has long been debated whether the LRJ culture was created by Neanderthals or early modern humans.”
“Although most small bone fragments have been preserved at Ranis, previous research was able to analyze mitochondrial DNA from 13 of these remains, indicating that they belong to modern humans rather than Neanderthals. It turns out.”
“However, because mitochondrial sequences represent only a small portion of genetic information, their relationship to other modern humans has remained a mystery.”
In the new study, the authors analyzed the nuclear genomes of 13 specimens taken from Ranis and found that they represented at least six individuals.
Based on the size of the bones, it was determined that two of the children were infants, and that three were genetically male and three were female.
Interestingly, these individuals included mothers and daughters as well as more distant biological relatives.
The researchers also sequenced more DNA from the female skull found in Zlati Kush, producing a high-quality genome for this individual.
“To our surprise, we discovered that there is a fifth or sixth degree genetic relationship between the two people from Zlati Kush and Ranis,” Dr. Schumer said.
“This means that Zlati Kush is genetically part of an extended family of Ranis and likely created LRJ-type tools as well.”
Of the six Ranis bones, one bone is particularly well preserved, in fact, it is the best preserved modern human bone from the Pleistocene for DNA searches.
This allowed the research team to obtain a high-quality genome from this male individual, called Ranis13.
Together, the Ranis13 and Zlatý kůň genomes represent the oldest high-quality living human genome sequenced to date.
Analyzing genetic variation associated with phenotypic traits, scientists found that Ranis and Zlati Kush individuals carried mutations associated with dark skin and hair color, as well as brown eyes. I did. This reflects the recent African origins of this early European population.
By analyzing parts of the genomes of Ranis and Zlati Kush inherited from the same ancestor, the authors found that their populations consisted of at most a few hundred individuals and were spread over a larger area. We estimate that there is a possibility.
They found no evidence that this small early modern human population contributed to later European or other world populations.
The Zlati Kush/Ranis people coexisted with Neanderthals in Europe, raising the possibility that Neanderthals were among their recent ancestors after they migrated to Europe.
Previous studies of modern humans dating back more than 40,000 years have found evidence of recent admixture between modern humans and Neanderthals.
However, no such evidence for recent Neanderthal admixture was detected in the genomes of Zlati-Kush/Ranis individuals.
Illustration by Zlatý kůň/Ranis group. Image credit: Tom Björklund / Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology.
“The fact that no such Neanderthal ancestry remains in Ranis and Zlati Kush, while modern human populations that may have later arrived in Europe inherited such Neanderthal ancestry. is an older Zlati Kush/Ranis lineage This could mean that they entered Europe by a different route or may not have overlapped with the areas inhabited by Neanderthals.''Also Max Planck. said Dr. Kay Pruefer of the Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology.
The Zlati Kush/Ranis population represents the earliest divergence from modern human groups that migrated from Africa and later dispersed across Eurasia.
Despite this early separation, the Neanderthal ancestry of Zlatikush and Ranis derives from the same ancient admixture event that can be detected in all peoples outside Africa today.
By analyzing the length of Neanderthal-contributed segments in the high-coverage Ranis13 genome and using direct radiocarbon dating of this individual, researchers found that this common Neanderthal admixture dates back to 45,000 years ago. It was estimated to be 49,000 years old.
Since all modern non-African populations share this Neanderthal ancestry with the Zlati Kush and Ranis, this means that approximately 45,000 to 49,000 years ago, non-African populations of consistent ancestry still existed. It means you must have done it.
Dr Johannes Kraus, a researcher at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, said: “These results provide a deeper understanding of the early pioneers who settled in Europe.”
“They also suggest that the remains of modern humans more than 50,000 years old found outside Africa have interbred with Neanderthals and are part of the general non-African population now found in many parts of the world. This indicates that it may not have been the case.”
AP Sumer others. The genomes of the earliest modern humans constrain the timing of admixture with Neanderthals. naturepublished online on December 12, 2024. doi: 10.1038/s41586-024-08420-x
This article is adapted from the original release by the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology.
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