Artistic representation of sparks from flint and pyrite
Craig Williams, Trustee of the British Museum
Approximately 400,000 years ago, Neanderthals or their ancestors in Britain struck flint with pyrite, repeatedly igniting fires in the same location. Archaeologists believe this is the earliest evidence of human fire-making discovered to date.
Early humans may have opportunistically utilized fire for around 1.5 million years, likely benefiting from naturally occurring fires caused by events like lightning strikes.
Starting around 400,000 years ago, signs of more extensive fire usage grew in Europe, yet direct evidence indicates that humans gained the ability to control fire only around 50,000 years ago.
Nick Ashton from The British Museum reported three crucial findings from the Burnham Quarry site in Suffolk: pyrite, charred deposits, and a heat-damaged hatchet.
Pyrite holds significant importance in humanity’s fire history, as striking it with flint can produce sparks capable of igniting dry materials. However, pyrite does not naturally occur near quarries, implying that early humans must have transported it. “Pyrite is crucial,” Ashton states.
Additionally, the reddish sediment left by these fires is vital, according to him. Combustion alters the iron minerals present in the deposits, consequently changing their magnetic characteristics. Laboratory tests indicate that the reddish clay layer may have experienced firing events more than a dozen times, suggesting that humans revisited and ignited fires in this area repeatedly.
Heating flint facilitates its shaping into sharp tools, but excessive heat can lead to its shattering, as evidenced by the hatchet discovered at Burnham. Tests indicated it exceeded 700 degrees Celsius, prompting Mr. Ashton to believe it had inadvertently been heated.
Excavations at a disused quarry in Burnham, UK
Jordan Mansfield, Road to Ancient Britain Project.
Ashton notes that there’s accumulating evidence suggesting humans half a million years ago possessed a range of cultural and technological abilities, including making and using fire.
“Early Neanderthals, along with other modern human species, were far more capable than we often acknowledge,” Ashton says. “Starting a fire is no simple task; it necessitates understanding pyrite’s origin, its properties when used with flint, and selecting the right tinder to create a flame.”
John Gowlett at The University of Liverpool has stated that recent findings make it “highly plausible” that individuals 400,000 years ago were not just aware of fire but likely utilized it daily.
“Early humans were indeed familiar with fire, but the mere discovery of a burnt object associated with a tool doesn’t automatically indicate human control over it,” he explains. “If a location shows signs of repeated human occupation accompanied by multiple indicators of fire, that presents compelling evidence of human control, as natural fires seldom occur in the same place repeatedly.”
A gentle walk through the origins of humanity and prehistoric times in south-west England
Join a gentle walking tour immersing yourself in early human eras, including the Neolithic, Bronze Age, and Iron Age.
“This site, dating back 400,000 years, represents the earliest known evidence of fire not just in Britain and Europe but across the globe,” stated Nick Ashton, co-author of the study and curator at the British Museum. He noted that this discovery pushes back the timeline of when our ancestors might have first harnessed fire by approximately 350,000 years.
Researchers are uncertain about the uses of fire by these hominin ancestors. They may have roasted meat, crafted tools, or shared narratives under its glow.
Understanding when our ancestors mastered the use of fire is crucial to unraveling the complexities of human evolution and behavior.
One hypothesis suggests that the ability to start fire contributed to the increase in brain size among early humans, as cooking facilitates easier digestion and boosts caloric intake. Another theory posits that controlling fire may have fostered social gathering spots at night, boosting social behavior and cognitive evolution.
“We know brain size was increasing towards its current capacity during this period,” remarked Chris Stringer, research head in human evolution at London’s Natural History Museum and another author of the Nature study. “The brain is energetically costly, consuming about 20 percent of the body’s energy. Thus, the ability to use fire enhances nutrient absorption from food, provides energy for the brain, and allows for the evolution of larger brains.”
Stringer emphasized that this finding does not signify the beginning of fire usage among humans but is merely the earliest instance researchers can confidently point to. Other early indications of fire use have been found in regions of South Africa, Israel, and Kenya, though these are contentious and open to interpretation.
From an archaeological standpoint, it’s challenging to ascertain the cause of wildfires or whether they were initiated by humans.
“The key question is whether they collected it from a natural source, managed it, or created it themselves. On the surface, this appears to be a robust case suggesting that the group knew how to start fires,” noted Dennis Sandogyas, a senior lecturer in the archaeology department at Simon Fraser University in Canada, who was not part of the study.
In the recent Nature study, researchers highlight the presence of deposits with fire residue, fire-cracked stone tools including a flint hatchet, and two small fragments of pyrite likely brought to the site by humans for fire-making, as indicated by geological analysis.
The prehistoric hatchet stone tool was discovered near a 400,000-year-old fire site that researchers believe was frequently used by Neanderthals. Road to Ancient Britain Project
Other outside researchers expressed skepticism.
Much of the evidence presented is “circumstantial,” wrote Will Loebloeks, a professor emeritus of paleolithic archaeology at Leiden University in the Netherlands, in an email.
Lowbrokes pointed out that later Neanderthal sites, dating to around 50,000 years ago, showed flint tools with wear signs indicating they had been struck against pyrite to produce sparks, an indication of humans creating fire. This evidence isn’t present in the current study.
“While the authors conducted thorough analysis of the Burnham data, they seem to be overstating claims by suggesting this is the ‘earliest evidence of a fire outbreak,'” Lobruks noted.
For our ancestors, fire was vital for warmth, nutrition, deterring predators, and even melting resins used in adhesives.
However, Sandgate emphasized that the evolution of fire-starting is not a straightforward path; it included sporadic adaptations and innovations. Evidence exists that early groups who learned to create fire sometimes lost that ability or ceased its use for cultural reasons.
“We must be cautious not to generalize any single instance … as proof that from this moment forward everyone will know how to start a fire,” Sandogyas remarked, referencing nearly 100 modern hunter-gatherer groups that have been meticulously observed. Some lacked the ability to generate fire.
“It’s probable that the art of fire-making was discovered, lost, rediscovered, and lost again across various groups over time. Its history is undoubtedly intricate.”
The ancient human foot bones have puzzled scientists since their discovery in 2009.
Johannes Haile-Selassie
The origins of a 3.4-million-year-old foot bone uncovered in Ethiopia may finally be elucidated, prompting a reevaluation of how various ancient human ancestors cohabited.
In 2009, Johannes Haile-Selassie and his team at Arizona State University unearthed eight hominin bones that previously constituted a right foot at a site known as Burtele in northeastern Ethiopia’s Afar region.
This discovery, dubbed Bartele’s foot, features opposable big toes akin to those of gorillas, indicating that any species could have had arboreal capabilities.
Another ancient human species, Australopithecus afarensis, was known to inhabit the vicinity, with the well-known fossil of Lucy—also discovered in the Afar region—but Bartele’s foot appeared to belong to a different species. “From the outset, we realized it was not part of Lucy’s lineage,” Haile Selassie states.
There were two primary hypotheses that intrigued Haile Selassie: whether the foot was associated with another species within the genus Australopithecus or perhaps an older, more primitive group known as Ardipithecus, which existed in Ethiopia more than a million years ago and also possessed opposable thumbs.
Meanwhile, in 2015, scientists announced the identification of a previously unknown hominid species, named Australopithecus deiremeda, after jaw and tooth remains were found in the same region. Initially, there was uncertainty about whether the enigmatic leg bone was part of A. deiremeda, as its age differed from that of the jaw and tooth remains.
However, in the subsequent year, researchers made a crucial discovery. The lower jaw of A. deiremeda was located within 300 meters of Bartele’s foot, and both sets of remains were dated to the same geological era. This led the research team to conclude that Bartele’s foot belonged to A. deiremeda.
Bartele’s foot (left) and bones shaped like a gorilla’s foot (right), similar to Australopithecus deiremeda
Johannes Haile-Selassie
In a separate part of the study, researchers analyzed Earth’s carbon isotopes. They found that A. deiremeda primarily consumed materials from trees and shrubs, while human teeth were more adapted for a diet rich in grasses than those of afarensis.
Haile Selassie noted that this finding suggests that both hominin species occupied the same ecological niche without competing for resources. He believes these groups could have coexisted harmoniously, engaging in separate activities. “They must have crossed paths and interacted within the same habitat, each doing their own thing,” he remarked. “While members of Australopithecus deiremeda may have spent time in trees, afarensis was likely wandering the adjacent grasslands.”
This revelation enhances our understanding of human evolution. “Historically, some have argued that only a single hominid species existed at any given time, with newer forms emerging eventually,” Haile Selassie explained. “We are now realizing that our evolutionary path was not straightforward. Multiple closely related hominid species coexisted at the same time, indicating that coexistence was a fundamental aspect of our ancestors’ lives.”
Carrie Mongul, a professor at Stony Brook University in New York, expressed enthusiasm about these developments. “Understanding more about the diversity of Pliocene hominins is truly exciting,” she stated. “This period, around 3 million years ago, was rich in evolutionary significance.”
For nearly a century, dark matter has posed a significant enigma. Although it outnumbers ordinary matter by a ratio of five to one, it remains invisible and undetectable by current technology.
A daring new analysis of 15 years of data from NASA’s Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope now claims to shed light on this mystery.
The latest research reveals the detection of a peculiar halo-like glow of gamma rays surrounding the Milky Way galaxy, with distinct peaks in energy that align closely with the signals predicted for a specific type of hypothetical dark matter particle.
These particles, referred to as weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs), can generate gamma rays by annihilating one another.
“If this is validated, it would be the first instance where humanity has ‘seen’ dark matter,” stated Professor Tomonori Toya, an astronomer at the University of Tokyo and co-author of the study.
In an interview with BBC Science Focus, he expressed his initial skepticism: “When I first noticed what looked like a traffic light, I was doubtful, but after careful investigation, I became convinced it was accurate—it was an exhilarating moment,” he shared.
However, despite the excitement surrounding the new signals, independent experts caution that this discovery is far from conclusive.
This possible breakthrough emerges nearly a century after Swiss astronomer Fritz Zwicky first proposed dark matter’s existence, after observing that the galaxies in the Milky Way cluster were moving too swiftly for their visible mass.
Mr. Toya’s study, published in the Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics, scrutinized 15 years of data from the Fermi telescope, focusing on the regions above and below the Milky Way’s main disk—known as the galactic halo.
After modeling and accounting for known sources of gamma rays, such as interstellar gas interactions, cosmic rays, and massive bubbles of high-energy plasma at the galaxy’s center, he identified a leftover component that shouldn’t exist.
“We detected gamma rays with a photon energy measuring 20 giga-electron volts (or an impressive 20 billion electron volts), extending in a halo-like formation toward the Milky Way’s center,” Toya explained. “This gamma-ray-emitting component aligns with the expected shape of a dark matter halo.”
A gigaelectronvolt (GeV) represents a unit of energy utilized by physicists to quantify subatomic particles’ energy levels—approximately a billion times the energy that a single electron attains when traversing a 1-volt battery.
The potential dark matter signal identified by Toya sharply rises from a few GeV, peaks around 20 GeV, and subsequently declines, consistent with predictions for WIMPs, which possess about 500 times the mass of a proton.
This gamma-ray intensity map illustrates a signal that may originate from dark matter encircling the Milky Way halo. The gray horizontal bar in the central area represents the galactic plane, which was exempted from the analysis to avoid strong astrophysical radiation. – Photo credit: Tomonori Toya, University of Tokyo
In Totani’s perspective, this data significantly indicates the existence of dark matter. “This marks a crucial advancement in astronomy and physics,” he asserts.
Nevertheless, Jan Conrad, a professor of astroparticle physics at Stockholm University in Sweden and an independent expert in gamma-ray searches for dark matter, advises prudence.
“Making claims based on Fermi data is notoriously challenging,” he remarked to BBC Science Focus.
This isn’t the first instance of astronomers witnessing such phenomena; the story stretches back to 2009, shortly after the Fermi telescope’s launch. In that year, researchers identified an unexplained surplus of gamma rays emanating from the galactic center.
For years, this finding stood out as a compelling hint of dark matter. However, Conrad pointed out that even after 16 years, the scientific community has yet to arrive at a consensus about the signal’s dark matter roots.
“It’s believed to be related to dark matter,” he claims. “Despite accumulating data and enhanced methods since then, the question of dark matter’s existence remains unresolved.”
Even at this juncture, researchers who have spent over a decade working to disprove the galactic center excess are unable to definitively prove it is astrophysical in nature (originating from sources other than dark matter), nor can they confirm it is attributable to dark matter. The issue remains unsolved.
Conrad emphasized that the emerging signals from the halo are insufficiently studied and will likely necessitate many more years of investigation for verification. Both the new halo anomaly and the much-debated galactic center signal share a common challenge: noise interference.
In these regions, gamma rays potentially stemming from dark matter annihilation may also originate from numerous other, poorly understood sources—complicating efforts to reach definitive conclusions.
“The uncertainties surrounding astrophysical sources make it exceedingly difficult to assert strong claims,” Conrad stated.
Despite their differing confidence levels, both Totani and Conrad highlight the same forthcoming focus: dwarf galaxies.
These small, faint galaxies orbiting the Milky Way are believed to contain significant amounts of dark matter while exhibiting minimal astrophysical gamma-ray background, rendering them ideal for studying dark matter annihilation.
“If we detect a similar excess in dwarf galaxies, that would provide compelling evidence,” Conrad said. “Dwarf galaxies provide a much cleaner environment, allowing for potential confirmation.”
Dr. Toya concurred, noting, “If the results of this study are validated, it wouldn’t be surprising to observe gamma rays emitting from dwarf galaxies.”
The Cherenkov Telescope Array Observatory (CTAO) is the most sensitive ground-based gamma-ray observatory ever constructed, offering a powerful new approach to scrutinize whether this enigmatic signal is indeed dark matter. – Photo credit: Getty
Yet, the ultimate verification of Toya’s discovery might be closer to home. Experiments designed to detect dark matter are currently taking place in facilities situated deep underground around the world.
“If we were to observe a signal there that aligns with a WIMP of the same mass…that would present a robust argument, as it would be much cleaner,” Conrad pointed out.
In the coming years, the next-generation Cherenkov Telescope Array Observatory (CTAO) will significantly enhance sensitivity to high-energy gamma rays, enabling researchers to analyze halo signals with greater detail.
“Naturally, if this turns out to be true, it’s a significant discovery,” Conrad said. “The true nature of dark matter remains elusive. A clear signal indicating dark matter particles would be monumental. However, further research is essential to explore alternative explanations for this excess.”
“Plants lack ears and brains, so they can’t experience music like we do…”
Credit: Michele Cornelius/Alamy
Do you serenade your plants? As a botanist passionate about houseplants, I often get asked this. The idea of playing music for plants gained traction in the 1960s, alongside the rise of “music for plants” albums, and it’s making a comeback online. But what does current research reveal about this enduring topic?
Clearly, plants lack ears or brains, so they cannot enjoy music in the way humans do. However, recent studies, including one study, indicate that they can detect vibrations in their environment and adapt their behavior accordingly. For instance, mouse worms exposed to the sound of caterpillar chewing produced high levels of a defensive bitter toxin. Astonishingly, plants can differentiate between the vibrations caused by munching insects and those from wind or mating calls, activating their defenses only when threatened.
Moreover, plants react to the sounds of opportunity. Certain flowers, like tomatoes, blueberries, and kiwis, ignore the buzzing of non-pollinating bees and release pollen only when stimulated by the vibrations of specific pollinators. This response can be rapid; for example, evening primrose flowers show changes in nectar composition within three minutes of being played sounds of bees in flight: Rich in sweet rewards. Researchers even reported pea plants can shift their root growth toward the sound of flowing water.
Nonetheless, as anyone who’s heard a seven-year-old on a recorder can attest, there’s a significant distinction between noise and “music.” Experiments aimed at assessing music’s impact on plant growth yielded mixed results. A recent study found certain music tracks enhanced lettuce growth significantly, while alfalfa showed no improvement.
Another investigation into background noise discovered that sage and marigold plants exposed to 16 hours of continuous traffic noise daily exhibited notably reduced growth. Could this continual noise be obstructing plants’ ability to perceive vital sound cues? At this stage, that remains uncertain.
The takeaway? Recent studies reveal that plants are not entirely oblivious to sound; in fact, they are significantly impacted by it. Yet, much about the specifics remains unclear, so we can’t definitively predict which sounds, at what frequencies or volumes, will yield desired results. So before you consider blasting Katy Perry for your plants’ benefit, remember that they might not appreciate it—and neither will your neighbors.
James Wong is a botanist and science writer focused on food crops, conservation, and environmental issues. Trained at the Royal Botanic Gardens in Kew, London, he personally owns over 500 houseplants in his compact apartment. Follow him on X and Instagram @botanygeek.
Lupus can cause severe fatigue, rashes, and joint and muscle pain
Shahril Maulana/Alamy
The virus responsible for glandular fever, also referred to as mononucleosis or the kissing disease, has been shown to infect and modify the body’s immune cells, leading to the development of the autoimmune disease lupus in some individuals.
Lupus, or systemic lupus erythematosus, arises when the immune system becomes overly active, attacking healthy tissues due to the persistent activity of immune cells known as B cells and T cells. This can result in various symptoms such as muscle and joint pain, rashes, and profound fatigue. The exact cause of lupus remains unclear, though it likely involves a combination of genetic, hormonal, and environmental factors, including infections and microbiome imbalances.
To explore the connection, William Robinson and his team at Stanford University devised a single-cell RNA-seq technology called EBV-seq to identify which B cells (responsible for producing antibodies against pathogens) in lupus patients are infected with EBV and which genes are being expressed by those cells.
In their research, they found that in blood samples from 11 lupus patients, approximately 25 out of every 10,000 sequenced B cells were infected with EBV. Conversely, in 10 asymptomatic individuals, only up to 3 in every 10,000 sequenced B cells were found to carry the virus.
The majority of infected cells were identified as memory B cells, which retain information about previous pathogenic exposures to facilitate a quicker response upon re-exposure.
Robinson and his colleagues demonstrated that these infected memory B cells express genes such as ZEB2 and TBX21, initiating a chain reaction that activates another immune cell type known as helper T cells, subsequently recruiting uninfected B cells. This escalates immune activity in a harmful cycle, eventually beginning to target the body itself.
A significant finding affirming the causal role of EBV in lupus erythematosus was the observation that the virus seems to promote the activation of memory B cells via a protein called EBNA2. ZEB2 and TBX21 activate relevant genes and amplify their activity. “What we discovered essentially reveals how this very common virus, affecting 95% of us, the Epstein-Barr virus, leads to lupus,” says Robinson.
As for why most individuals infected with EBV do not go on to develop lupus, Robinson hypothesizes that some people have a genetic predisposition that causes their B cells to erroneously target healthy cells. “The genetic and environmental contexts of EBV infections predispose individuals to lupus, and these factors combine to provoke the disease,” he asserts.
“EBV may not be implicated in all lupus cases, due to the diverse mechanisms involved in the disease’s development. However, in specific patients, we maintain that EBV serves as a primary cause,” he explains. George Tsokos reports from Harvard Medical School: The virus instigated an abnormal T-cell response, noted in individuals with lupus over 40 years ago.
A strong correlation between EBV and multiple sclerosis, another autoimmune disorder, was identified in 2022, and Robinson suggests that these new insights highlight how the virus can trigger such conditions more broadly.
This may also clarify why certain CAR T-cell therapies have yielded promising results in lupus clinical trials. These treatments, which genetically modify a patient’s T cells to target specific antigens, were originally designed for blood cancers that arise when B cells proliferate uncontrollably and are often reduced in number. “These CAR T-cell therapies seem to result in lasting remissions. [lupus] Patients have been able to discontinue all medications, implying that the therapy might potentially even cure some individuals. We believe they may achieve this by removing [B cells] or depleting EBV-infected B cells,” Robinson suggests.
Nonetheless, Tsokos cautions that the efficacy of this therapy for lupus remains uncertain, partly because while B cell levels in the blood of patients treated with CAR T cells appear diminished, these cells can often conceal themselves in the bone marrow, and there is currently no evidence confirming that all of them are being eliminated.
The research also underscores the potential for developing a vaccine to combat the saliva-transmitted Epstein-Barr virus, which may help avert various autoimmune diseases. “Such a vaccine could be pivotal in preventing EBV infections and thereby lupus in the future,” Professor Robinson states, though he notes it would not mitigate symptoms for individuals already infected with EBV, as B cell reprogramming appears to occur shortly after infection.
Tsokos believes the broad adoption of the EBV vaccine will hinge on weighing its costs against benefits and side effects. He notes that preventing a single case of lupus might necessitate vaccinating over 1,000 individuals.
Caves in the Hebrus Valley of Mars may have been sculpted by ancient water flows
NASA Mars Earth Surveyor
Subsurface caves shaped by flowing water on Mars may have provided ideal conditions for life, with potential remnants still present today.
Throughout Mars, numerous openings resembling cave entrances are found, primarily near volcanic regions. This implies these features were likely formed by processes related to volcanic activity rather than water.
Earth is home to numerous karst caves, created by the dissolution of soluble rock by water. However, scientists have yet to find equivalent caves on Mars, despite evidence indicating the planet was once covered in water billions of years ago.
Currently, Ding Vermicelli, a professor at Shenzhen University in China, has identified eight caves that seem to have been formed by ancient water flows instead of volcanic activity. These caves are situated in the Hebrus Gorge, a northwestern region characterized by extensive valleys and depressions likely shaped by ancient floods.
Previous Mars missions, including NASA’s Mars Global Surveyor (which orbited Mars from 1997 to 2006), have mapped these caves. Ding and his team analyzed material near one cave entrance using spectroscopic data from that mission, revealing a notable presence of carbonate and sulfate minerals typically associated with water.
They also detected signs of an ancient stream ending near the cave entrance, similar to patterns seen near karst caves on Earth. James Baldini from Durham University, UK, noted, “On a map, you’d expect a river to emerge to the surface only to disappear suddenly, as the cave system absorbs its water.”
Daniel Le Corret from the University of Kent in the UK mentioned that while the mineralogical and geological data implies these may be water caves, they appear quite similar to other Martian caves of volcanic origin. “I’ve spent countless hours evaluating the global catalog of Martian caves and these resemble known volcanic formations,” he said.
If these caves are indeed formed by water, they might be excellent locations for searching for life. “For life to exist, water and a protective environment from Mars’ intense surface radiation are essential,” Baldini remarked. “Volcanic caves and lava tubes also present good avenues for potential life, though they don’t necessarily involve water.”
Mars’ water caves may contain stalagmites—bulbous rock formations generally found in Earth’s karst caves—and could act as time capsules of Mars’ ancient climate conditions, such as temperature.
However, stalagmites require thousands of years of sustained water flow to develop, and determining their formation timing could be challenging, even if rovers or drones succeed in collecting samples, according to Baldini.
Mysteries of the Universe: Cheshire, England
Join a weekend with some of science’s leading minds as you delve into the enigmas of the universe, featuring a tour of the renowned Lovell Telescope.
Paleontologists from China and Brazil have reported the discovery of 320 phytoliths (tiny mineral structures formed within plant cells) found in the fossilized stomach of a pterosaur species known as Synopterus atavismus.
Rebuilding the life of Synopterus atavismus. Image credit: Maurilio Oliveira / Science China Press.
Pterosaurs, a group of reptiles that went extinct during the Mesozoic Era, were the first vertebrates to develop powered flight.
However, their dietary habits remain largely enigmatic.
Various hypotheses have been proposed regarding pterosaur diets, including insectivorous, piscivorous, carnivorous, omnivorous, herbivorous/frugivorous, filter feeding, and generalized diets.
Though stomach contents provide compelling evidence, such finds are exceedingly rare.
In addition to scales associated with the thorax of Eudimorphodon, only five confirmed instances of pterosaur gastric contents have been documented since the Late Triassic in Italy, all related to Rhamphorhynchus from the Late Jurassic Solnhofen limestone in Germany.
These instances largely consist of remains like dead fish, along with some unidentified items.
In a recent study, Dr. Xiaolin Wang from the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, and colleagues investigated the contents of fossilized stomachs from Synopterus atavismus, which existed in China approximately 120 million years ago.
They identified numerous small gastroliths in the stomach contents, from which they extracted 320 phytoliths.
“Phytoliths are microscopic silica structures formed during plant growth, exhibiting diverse morphologies across different plant species and even within various parts of the same plant,” the paleontologists stated.
“This discovery marks the first extraction of phytoliths from a pterosaur and the second documented instance of a pterosaur featuring a gastrolith.”
Specimen of Synopterus atavismus. Image credit: Jiang et al., doi: 10.1016/j.scib.2025.06.040.
To determine whether Synopterus atavismus was indeed herbivorous, the researchers explored other possible interpretations.
“Initially, we confirmed that surrounding rocks did not contain the phytoliths found in the stomach, eliminating contamination as a factor,” the researchers commented.
“We also considered the possibility that the plant material could have originated from animals that consume plants.”
“However, Synopterus atavismus exhibited a rapid metabolism akin to that of birds. If it had consumed vertebrates or insects, traces like bones, scales, or hard insect shells would have been present in the stomach, but none were found.”
“The hypothesis of eating soft-bodied creatures like caterpillars was also insufficient. Why would it require so many gastroliths if hard food wasn’t part of its diet?”
“These stones typically assist in breaking down tough materials such as insect shells and plant matter, making them unneeded for softer prey.”
“Lastly, prior research suggested that Tapejara wellnhoferi, a close relative of Synopterus atavismus, had robust jaws adapted for consuming plants, reinforcing this conclusion.”
“Thus, phytoliths clearly indicate direct dietary intake, while gastroliths were utilized as tools for grinding plant material.”
The team’s paper is published in the October 15, 2025 issue of the journal Science Bulletin.
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Jiang Shunxin et al. 2025. First phytoliths discovered in pterosaurs – evidence of herbivory. Science Bulletin 70 (19): 3134-3138; doi: 10.1016/j.scib.2025.06.040
Researchers have uncovered new DNA evidence that challenges established theories regarding Napoleon’s ill-fated 1812 invasion of Russia. As his Grand Army, comprising around 500,000 soldiers, advanced toward Moscow, it encountered severe resistance, dwindling resources, and the harshness of winter.
As the troops began their retreat, starvation and disease were rampant. Analyzing the remains of soldiers now indicates that multiple infectious diseases may have caused the significant loss of life in the French emperor’s army, rather than typhus being the singular primary cause of devastation.
A recent study led by Dr. Nicholas Raskovan at the Pasteur Institute in Paris involved extracting genetic material from the teeth of 13 soldiers interred in a mass grave in Vilnius, Lithuania.
Through ancient DNA sequencing, no evidence of typhus was identified. Instead of the long-suspected bacteria rickettsia, the team pinpointed two distinct pathogens: salmonella enterica, which causes enteric fever (like typhoid), and Borrelia recurrentis, linked to recurring fever.
Raskovan mentioned, “Our research alters the understanding of pathogens previously unrecognized,” as reported in BBC Science Focus.
Previous research employed PCR tests, akin to those used in contemporary COVID-19 testing, to search solely for specific microorganisms. Currently available technology enables scientists to “cast a wider net,” allowing them to detect DNA fragments from all microorganisms present, Raskovan explained.
“Thanks to advancements in technology, we now have insights that were unimaginable a decade ago,” Raskovan noted.
“When we integrate our prior and current research, we discover that four different diseases affected just a small group of individuals. This implies that a single pathogen didn’t account for all the 3,000 deaths, but rather, these individuals were infected with various pathogens.”
In essence, the situation for Napoleon’s army during their retreat from Russia was dire, facilitating the spread of various diseases. It was almost inevitable that if one illness was avoided, another would take hold.
The research also highlighted the strain Borrelia recurrentis found at the site, which is genetically identical to those from Iron Age Britain, approximately 2,000 years ago, a lineage that has since vanished.
Raskovan stated, “This strain derives from an ancestor that either no longer exists or is currently unknown. This emphasizes the significant changes in sanitation over the past two centuries, particularly with the advent of antibiotics that have virtually eradicated this once prevalent disease.”
For Raskovan, these ancient microorganisms are more than peculiar findings; they are historical witnesses. “For those infected, it’s not surprising,” he remarked. “For me, it’s fulfilling to reconstruct history.”
“These pathogens provide us with a means to learn about past populations and their dynamics.”
No blue pigments have been found in Paleolithic art. This absence is attributed to the scarcity of naturally occurring blue pigments and the subtlety of these colors. However, archaeologists employed various methods to uncover traces of the lively blue mineral pigment azurite in Paleolithic adhesive stone artifacts from Mühlheim-Dietesheim, Germany, marking the earliest known use of blue pigments in Europe.
Three areas of blue residues found in the sandstone formations of stone artifacts at Muhlheim Dieschetim, Germany. Image credit: Wisher et al., doi: 10.15184/aqy.2025.10184.
Both Neanderthals and Homo sapiens utilized mineral and organic colors; however, their palette seems confined to black and red-yellow pigments sourced from charcoal, manganese dioxide, and various iron oxides.
These pigments are well documented across continents for numerous applications.
During the Paleolithic Age (300,000-40,000 years ago) in central Europe, Neanderthals are thought to have employed ochres and manganese dioxide, likely for purposes ranging from cave art to functional applications like adhesive compounds and fire extinguishing agents, as well as for symbolic practices.
In Homo sapiens, the use of pigments correlates with the onset of “behavioral modernity,” which emerged over 100,000 years ago and is acknowledged as a hallmark of cognitive complexity.
The prevalence of pigment use in the Upper Paleolithic raises intriguing questions about the absence of blue pigments in their artistic practices.
So far, only one instance of a copper-based turquolithic pigment has been documented, originating from decorated anthropomorphic figurines in parts of Malta, dating back 19,000-23,000 years.
The presence of blue pigments has not been recognized in the Paleolithic period in Europe until now.
“Our findings challenge the conventional understanding of the use of Paleolithic pigments,” stated Izzy Wisher, an archaeologist at Aarhus University.
In their investigation, Dr. Wisher and colleagues discovered blue pigments in stone artifacts with concave bowl-like features dating from 14,000 to 11,700 years ago on Mullheim Dieche Island, Germany.
This discovery signifies the first known utilization of blue pigments during the Upper Paleolithic in Europe.
“The detection of azurite suggests that Paleolithic individuals possessed a profound understanding of mineral pigments and had access to a broader color spectrum than previously recognized.
“Stones previously thought to be open circuit lamps now appear to have served as a mixed surface or palette for preparing blue pigments. This indicates an artistic or cosmetic practice that has largely gone unnoticed.”
These findings prompt a reconsideration of Paleolithic art and color usage, paving the way for exploring how early humans articulated their identities, status, and beliefs through a far more diverse and vibrant array of materials than was once imagined.
“We hypothesize that azurite was likely used more extensively than we had anticipated, based on its presence in Muhlheim Dietesheim and its potential availability within the landscape,” the researchers noted.
“The use of azurite might have been confined to activities that are not well-preserved in the archaeological record.”
“Blue pigments were evidently not employed to adorn Paleolithic cave walls or portable art objects in Europe, but they may have been utilized for body decoration instead.”
“Our results invite a critical examination of color usage in the Upper Paleolithic to ascertain why certain hues were favored or neglected in different artistic endeavors.”
The results were published this week in the journal Ancient.
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Izzy Wisher et al. The earliest evidence of the use of blue pigments in Europe. Ancient Published online on September 29th, 2025. doi:10.15184/aqy.2025.10184
The mantle of Mars houses ancient fragments measuring up to 4 km in width from its formation, as revealed by an analysis of seismic data gathered by NASA’s InSight Mission.
The immense collisions during early Mars’ history resulted in a global ocean of magma. Image credit: Vadim Sadovski / Imperial College London.
The planet’s mantle serves as a significant layer, located between the crust and core, preserving vital evidence about its formation and evolution.
In contrast to Earth, where active plate tectonics constantly mix the mantle, Mars functions as a smaller planet with a single plate surface.
This results in considerably less mixing of the Martian mantle, which may retain records of early internal history, providing valuable insights into the formation and evolution of rocky worlds.
Utilizing data from NASA’s InSight Lander, Dr. Constantinos Charalambous from Imperial College London and his colleagues analyzed the seismic signatures of Marsquakes to better understand the composition of the Martian mantle.
They studied eight recorded quakes, including those triggered by the impact of meteorites, discovering that the arrival of high-frequency P-waves is consistently delayed as they traverse deeper regions of the mantle.
The authors suggest that these delays indicate variations in the composition of the mantle stretching over kilometers.
Given that Mars lacks plate tectonics and large-scale recycling processes, these minor irregularities are likely remnants of its formative history.
Investigating the heterogeneity of the Martian mantle implies that it results from an intense and destructive process, reflecting the significant events of the planet’s early history that caused extensive interior disruption and mixed both foreign and crustal materials at a planetary scale.
Furthermore, additional variations might have arisen from the vast ocean of crystallized magma formed during this aftermath.
Rather than being erased, these features were preserved as the Martian crust cooled and mantle convection ceased.
“The seismic signals displayed clear signs of interference while traveling deep within Mars,” Dr. Charalambous noted.
“This coincides with a mantle composed of structures originating from various compositions, representing Mars’ early remnants.”
“What occurred on Mars is that following these initial events, the surface hardened into a stagnant lid.”
“It became isolated from the mantle, entrapping ancient, chaotic features like planetary time capsules.”
“Our observations reveal the distribution of fractals, where energy from violent collisions exceeds an object’s strength.”
“This mirrors the effect seen when glass falls onto a tiled floor, akin to meteorite impacts with a planet. It results in the formation of both large and small fragments.”
“It’s astonishing that we can still detect this distribution today.”
“The Jet Propulsion Research Institute” stated Dr. Mark Panning, a researcher at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
“It’s exhilarating to witness scientists uncovering new findings through the earthquakes we observe!”
The team’s paper was published today in the journal Science.
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Constantinos Charalambous et al. 2025. Evidence of a highly uneven Mars mantle inferred from earthquake analysis. Science 389 (6763): 899-903; doi: 10.1126/science.adk4292
Researchers from University College London and other institutions have analyzed the molars of female Boss Torus (cattle) discovered at Stonehenge.
Stonehenge. Image credit: Regina Wolf.
In 1924, archaeologists restored the jawbone of an elderly cow found at the base of the groove surrounding Stonehenge Stage 1, constructed between 2995 and 2900 BC.
Professor Michael Parker Pearson from University College London and his team dated the find between 3350 and 2920 BC through isotopic analysis of a tooth, suggesting its origins in Wales.
“This offers even more intriguing evidence of Stonehenge’s connection to Southwest Wales, the source of Bluestone,” noted Professor Parker Pearson.
“It heightens the likelihood that these cows assisted in transporting the stones.”
Researchers recorded chemical signals from the second year of the animal’s life and sectioned its third molar into nine horizontal slices.
This enabled them to measure isotopes of carbon, oxygen, strontium, and lead, each shedding light on the cow’s diet, environment, and movements.
The varying concentrations and types found in the teeth offered insights into the cattle’s lifestyle.
Oxygen isotopes indicated that the teeth recorded about six months of growth spanning winter to summer, while carbon isotopes revealed seasonal dietary changes: forest feed in winter and pasture in summer.
Moreover, strontium isotopes suggested that these seasonal food sources came from different geological regions, implying that the cattle may have moved seasonally or that winter feed was transported.
Lead isotopes indicated a spike in composition between late winter and spring, suggesting older lead sources than the other dental leads.
The findings imply that the cattle originated from much older Paleozoic rock formations in the Pleshri hills of Pembrokeshire, Wales.
“This research revealed six months of unprecedented details about the life of this cow, presenting the first evidence of cattle movements from Wales and documenting dietary shifts and life events from around 5,000 years ago,” remarked Professor Jane Evans, an archaeologist at the National Environmental Isotope Facility at the British Geological Survey.
“One slice of cow tooth has conveyed an extraordinary narrative. I am hopeful that more revelations will emerge from her extensive journey as new scientific tools become available.”
Additionally, scientists concluded that unusual lead signals could not be attributed solely to local contamination or movement.
Rather, this lead, retained in the cow’s bones, was regenerating during the stress of pregnancy.
If accurate, this indicates that the cow was female during the formation of the teeth and was either pregnant or breastfeeding.
To validate this hypothesis, the authors employed peptide-based sex determination techniques, suggesting that the animal was likely a female.
“This study offers significant new insights into the life history of this enigmatic cow, whose remains were deposited at such a pivotal location at the entrance to Stonehenge,” said Professor Richard Majwick of Cardiff University.
“It provides unparalleled details regarding the animal’s distant origins and the arduous journey it undertook.”
“Often, grand narratives dominate research on major archaeological sites, but this detailed biographical examination of individual animals brings a fresh perspective to Stonehenge’s story.”
The team’s findings were published on June 17th, 2025, in the Journal of Archaeological Science.
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J. Evans et al. 2025 Boss Torus Evaluating the comparative sources and uptake times of teeth, strontium and lead from Stonehenge. Journal of Archaeological Science 180:106269; doi:10.1016/j.jas.2025.106269
Cut marks on the foot bone from El Mirador cave, Spain
iphes-cerca
The discovery of human remains in caves in northern Spain indicates that Neolithic people may have resorted to cannibalism after battles.
Francesc Marginedas from the Catalan Institute of Human Paleoecology and Social Evolution (IPHES) in Tarragona, along with his team, examined fragments from 650 human remains found in El Mirador cave on Mount Atapuerca. These remains date back approximately 5,700 years and belong to 11 individuals.
All examined bones displayed evidence that these individuals had been consumed by other humans. Some exhibited chop markings made by a stone tool, while others showed translucent portions with gently rounded edges. Some of the long bones were fractured open with stones to access the bone marrow, and smaller bones like metatarsals and ribs had clear human bite marks.
This research supports the notion that cannibalistic practices were more prevalent in human history than previously believed.
El Mirador marks at least the fifth significant site in Spain with notable evidence of cannibalism during the Neolithic era, a shift period from foraging to agriculture, according to Margida. “There’s a growing understanding that such behavior was more frequent than we anticipated.”
The motives behind these cannibalistic acts remain unclear. Some archaeological sites show skull cups indicating a ritualistic aspect to cannibalism, while others hint at survival strategies during dire circumstances.
However, Marsidas and his team propose that the findings at El Mirador suggest these acts were linked to warfare. There was a significant amount of animal remains, and no signs of nutritional stress among the humans involved, indicating this early agricultural community was not struggling with food scarcity. Their findings offer no indication of ritualistic behavior, as human bones were found alongside animal remains.
The ages of the individuals ranged from under seven to over fifty, implying that an entire family unit may have been lost to conflict. Radiocarbon dating indicated that all 11 individuals were killed and consumed within a few days.
This evidence reflects patterns of conflict and cannibalism, which have also been noted at two other Neolithic sites: the Von Bregore Caves in France and Helxheim in Germany. This period appears marked by instability and violence due to community clashes with neighboring groups and newcomers.
While Margida and his colleagues are uncertain about the reasons behind these cannibalistic practices, historical ethnographic studies suggest that such acts during warfare can serve as a method of “ultimate exclusion.” “We believe that one group attacking and consuming another serves as a humiliating statement,” states Merseydus.
“The thoroughness of the body’s treatment and consumption is remarkable.” Paul Pettitt from Durham University, UK, comments, “The aggressive nature shown in these artifacts, regardless of whether the consumed were relatives or adversaries, mirrors a dehumanization process during consumption.”
Sylvia Bello from the Museum of Natural History in London concurs that this evidence of death likely ties back to conflicts but remains skeptical about the notion of consumption as humiliation. She suggests that cannibalism may stem from aggression and animosity rather than ritualized farewell practices, implying a more complex interpretation. “It could carry ritual significance, even amid warfare,” she asserts.
Neanderthals, Ancient Humans, and Cave Art in France
Join new scientist Kate Douglas on an enthralling exploration of the key Neanderthal and Upper Paleolithic sites in southern France, spanning from Bordeaux to Montpellier.
Paleontologists have uncovered footprints that are 76 million years old, belonging to a dominant group of Ceratopsian dinosaurs, in Dinosaur Provincial Park, Alberta, Canada. This remarkable finding is the first indication of herd behavior among mixed dinosaur species, reminiscent of how modern wildebeests and zebras flock together on the African savannas.
Salatopsian herd (Styracosaurus albertensis) accompanied by ankylosaurus (Euplocephalus tutus) walking through old river channels under the watchful eyes of two Tyrannosaurus (Golgosaurus libratus). Image credit: Julius Csotonyi.
Dinosaur Provincial Park, located in southern Alberta, Canada, is one of the premier regions in the world for studying late Cretaceous terrestrial ecosystems.
The park yields hundreds of dinosaur skeletal remains and a vast array of bones and teeth, making it a prime location for exploring dinosaur evolution, behavior, biological introduction, and paleoecology.
Despite the wealth of skeletal remains, dinosaur footprints and trackways are surprisingly uncommon.
“In 2024, we discovered a new track site, a skyline track site containing ‘typical’ natural mold tracks that had not been identified in the park before,” stated Dr. Phil Bell and his colleagues at the University of New England.
At this site, paleontologists uncovered 13 Seratopsia (horned dinosaurs) tracks, showing at least five animals walking side by side, along with an ankylosaurus (armored dinosaur) that might have been walking among them.
They were also intrigued to find two large Tyrannosaurus tracks alongside the group. Additionally, a footprint from a smaller meat-eating dinosaur was also discovered.
View of the Skyline Track Site immediately after its discovery (a) and during excavation (b). Image credits: Bell et al., doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0324913.
“I have been collecting dinosaur bones in Dinosaur Provincial Park for nearly two decades, but I had never given much thought to footprints,” remarked Dr. Bell.
“The edge of this rock had a mud-like appearance that caught between my toes, which immediately intrigued me.”
“The Tyrannosaurus tracks give the impression that they are truly observing the herd.”
“It was thrilling to see them walking in the footprints of dinosaurs 76 million years after they went extinct,” said Dr. Brian Pickles from Reading College.
“Using innovative search techniques, we were able to locate several additional track sites throughout the park’s diverse terrain. We will provide further details on how these captivating creatures interacted and behaved in their ecosystems.”
“This discovery highlights the vast amount left to uncover in dinosaur paleontology,” noted Dr. Caleb Brown, PhD, from the Royal Tyrrell Museum of Paleontology.
“Dinosaur Park boasts one of the world’s most comprehensive dinosaur collections and studies, with over a century of dedicated research. Only now are we beginning to fully explore the potential of dinosaur trackways.”
The findings are published in a paper in the journal PLOS 1.
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PR Bell et al. 2025. A track site controlled by Ceratopsids from the Campanian in Dinosaur Provincial Park, Alberta, Canada. PLOS 1 20(7): E0324913; doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0324913
Generates brain cells from the hippocampus that proliferate in culture
Arthur Chien/Science Photo Library
The ongoing debate about whether adults can produce new brain cells takes a new turn, as evidence increasingly supports that they indeed can. This revelation addresses one of neuroscience’s most disputed questions and raises hopes that this knowledge could be used in treating conditions like depression and Alzheimer’s disease.
Neurons are produced via a process known as neurogenesis, which occurs in both children and adults, as shown in research on mice and macaques. This involves stem cells generating progenitor cells, which multiply and eventually develop into immature neurons that mature over time.
Earlier studies have indicated the presence of stem cells and immature neurons in the hippocampus of adult humans. This brain area, crucial for learning and memory, is a primary site for neurogenesis in younger humans and some adult animals. However, progenitor cells have not yet been detected in adult human brains. “This link was overlooked. It forms a central argument for the emergence of new neurons in the adult human brain,” states Evgenia Salta from the Netherlands Institute of Neuroscience, who was not involved in the latest research.
To establish this link, Jonas Frisen and his team at the Karolinska Institute in Sweden developed a machine learning model capable of accurately identifying progenitor cells. They used hippocampal samples from six young children, donated by their parents for research post-mortem.
The researchers trained an AI model to recognize progenitor cells based on the activity of about 10,000 genes. “In childhood, these cells’ behavior closely resembles that of precursor cells in mice, facilitating their identification,” explains Frisen. “[The idea is] to use molecular fingerprints of childhood progenitor cells to find equivalents in adults.”
To validate the model, the team identified progenitor cells in hippocampal samples from young mice. The model correctly identified 83% of the progenitor cells and misclassified other cell types as progenitor cells in less than 1% of cases. In a further test, the model accurately predicted that progenitor cells were nearly absent in adult human cortical samples, a brain area devoid of evidence supporting neurogenesis in humans.
“They validated their models effectively by transitioning from data on human children to mice and then to adult humans,” says Sandrine Thuret from King’s College London.
With this validation in hand, the researchers can check for neurogenesis in human adults by identifying 14 hippocampal progenitor cells from individuals aged 20 to 78 at the time of their passing.
Crucially, the researchers first introduced a method to enhance the likelihood of detecting progenitor cells. Previous studies have indicated that these cells are extremely rare in adults. The team utilized antibodies to select brain cells that were actively dividing at the time of death, including non-neuronal cells such as immune cells and progenitor cells. This helped filter out common cell types that do not divide, like mature neurons, making rare progenitor cells easier to identify.
Subsequently, they organized the genetic activity data related to these dividing cells into models. “They were enriched due to the selected cells,” remarks Kaoru Song at the University of Pennsylvania. Previous research lacked this approach, he adds.
The team successfully identified progenitor cells in nine donors. “It is well established that environmental and genetic factors in rodents affect how neurogenesis occurs, so I suspect variations in humans may also be attributed to these factors,” Frisen notes.
The findings strongly indicate the presence of adult neurogenesis, according to Thuret, Song, and Salta. “We are adding this missing piece, which significantly advances the field,” Salta states.
“Neurons originate from cell division occurring in adulthood, and that is what this study definitively establishes,” Thuret comments.
Thuret suggests the possibility of examining variations in neurogenesis among adults with brain-affecting conditions such as depression or Alzheimer’s disease. She speculates that medications promoting this process could alleviate symptoms.
However, John Arellano from Yale University cautions that even if adults produce new brain cells, they may be too few in number to be therapeutically beneficial. Thuret, however, believes this is unlikely to create issues. “In mice, a small number of new neurons can significantly impact learning and memory,” she asserts.
In collaboration with the Chicago-Carnegie Hubble program, astronomers utilizing the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope have conducted new measurements of the Hubble constant. The findings align with the prevailing Lambda Cold Dark Matter (λCDM) model without necessitating the introduction of additional new physics.
This artist’s illustration depicts the universe’s evolution, starting with the Big Bang on the left. Following this, you can see the microwave background of the universe. The formation of the first stars ends the universe’s dark ages, leading to the creation of galaxies. Image credit: M. Weiss/Harvard – Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics.
“Emerging evidence indicates that standard models of the cosmos remain robust,” stated Professor Wendy Friedman from the University of Chicago.
“While this doesn’t rule out potential inconsistencies with the model in the future, it currently appears consistent concerning the Hubble constant.”
Presently, there are two primary methods for calculating the rate of the universe’s expansion.
The first method involves measuring the residual light from the Big Bang, which still permeates the universe.
This radiation, referred to as the cosmic microwave background, provides astronomers with insights into the universe’s early conditions.
Professor Friedman and her colleagues focus on the second method, which assesses the current rate of expansion in our local astronomical context.
Ironically, this approach poses more challenges than retracing cosmic history due to the difficulty of accurately measuring distances.
Over the last fifty years, scientists have developed several techniques to measure relatively nearby distances.
One method relies on detecting the light from a specific category of stars at their brightest moment when they explode as supernovae at the end of their lifecycle.
By knowing the peak brightness of these supernovae, astronomers can gauge their apparent luminosity and determine the distance.
Further observations reveal how fast the galaxy that the supernova originated from is moving away from us.
Images of CMB radiation captured by the Atacama cosmological telescope, where orange and blue signify differing radiation strengths. Image credit: ACT collaboration.
Professor Friedman has advanced two additional techniques utilizing knowledge from other star types: giant red stars and carbon stars.
However, considerable adjustments are necessary before finalizing these distance measurements.
Astronomers first need to account for cosmic dust that dims the light coming from these distant stars within our galaxy.
It is also critical to verify and correct for any luminosity variations that may occur over time and space.
Lastly, correction for any subtle measurement errors from the instruments utilized is essential.
Fortunately, technological advancements, such as the launch of the more powerful Webb telescope in 2021, have enabled scientists to refine these measurements significantly.
“We have more than doubled the sample of galaxies used to calibrate supernovae,” Professor Friedman noted.
“Statistical enhancements are valuable and will greatly improve the findings.”
The latest calculations from the team, which incorporate data from both the Hubble and Webb telescopes, yield a value of 70.4 km per second, with a margin of error of 3% per megaparsec.
This brings the value into statistical alignment with recent measurements from cosmic microwave background observations at 67.4 km per megaparsec, with an accuracy of plus or minus 0.7%.
The Webb telescope, with four times the resolution of Hubble, allows for the identification of individual stars that were previously recorded as blurry groupings.
It also offers enhanced precision and is approximately ten times more sensitive, enabling the detection of significant objects.
“We’re truly witnessing how remarkable the Webb telescope is for accurately measuring distances to galaxies,” stated Dr. Taylor Hoyt, a researcher at Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory.
“Its infrared detectors can penetrate the dust that has historically impeded precise distance measurements, enabling much more accurate brightness assessments of stars.”
“Astrophysicists are striving to formulate a theory that might elucidate varying rates of expansion as the universe ages,” Professor Friedman remarked.
“There are over a thousand scholarly papers addressing this issue, and it proves to be exceptionally challenging.”
The team’s research paper was published on May 27th in the Astrophysical Journal.
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Wendy L. Friedman et al. 2025. Status Report on the Chicago Carnegie Hubble Program (CCHP): Measurement of Hubble constants using Hubble and James Webb’s Space Telescopes. APJ 985, 203; doi:10.3847/1538-4357/adce78
Polar ecosystems are bolstered and enriched by birds that nest there seasonally, serving as keystone members of these ecosystems. Despite the significant ecological role of polar birds, the origins of high-center nests remain unclear due to limited fossil evidence. A recent study conducted by paleontologists explored an extensive collection of bird fossils from the late Cretaceous Purine Cream Formation in Alaska.
Illustration of Cretaceous birds alongside other dinosaurs from the same period. Image credit: Gabriel Ugueto.
“Birds have existed for 150 million years,” stated Lauren Wilson, a doctoral candidate at Princeton University.
“For a significant portion of that time, they constructed nests in the Arctic.”
In their research, Wilson and colleagues studied the bones and teeth of fossilized birds from the Alaska Prune Creek Formation, dating back 73 million years.
They identified various bird types, including land birds, seagull-like birds, and diving birds that bear similarities to some modern ducks and geese, all of which were nesting in the Arctic while dinosaurs roamed the same territory.
Before this research, the earliest known evidence of breeding birds in the Arctic or Antarctic was approximately 47 million years ago, following the asteroid impact that wiped out 75% of Earth’s species.
“This will extend the timeline by 25-30 million years for records of birds breeding in the polar regions,” remarked Dr. Pat Druckenmiller, director of the University of Alaska Museum.
“The Arctic is recognized as a modern nursery for birds.”
“Finding bird bones from the Cretaceous period is exceptionally rare,” Wilson noted.
“Discovering baby bird bones is almost unheard of, making these fossils particularly significant.”
“We conducted extensive mapping of Alaska for fossil birds—it wasn’t on anyone’s radar,” added Dr. Druckenmiller.
“Now, we are one of the premier locations in the country for bird fossils from the dinosaur age.”
“Given the richness of this information, these small bones and teeth offer exceptional insights into the fauna from that era.”
It remains uncertain whether these newly discovered specimens are the earliest recognized members of Neornithes, a category that encompasses all modern birds.
Some of the newly unearthed bones exhibit skeletal characteristics exclusive to this group. Additionally, like contemporary birds, some did not possess true teeth.
“If they belong to a modern bird lineage, they would represent the oldest fossils ever found,” explained Dr. Druckenmiller.
“Currently, the oldest such fossils are about 69 million years old.”
“However, establishing that requires the discovery of a partial or complete skeleton.”
Survey results I will be featured this week in the journal Science.
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Lauren N. Wilson et al. 2025. Evidence of bird nesting in the Arctic dates back to the Cretaceous period. Science 388 (6750): 974-978; doi: 10.1126/science.adt5189
Illustration of an ancient bird nesting above the Arctic Circle
Gabriel Ugueto
Recent findings of bone fragments from Alaska indicate that birds have been nesting and breeding in the Arctic for at least 73 million years.
“It’s quite unusual, as raising a newborn in the Arctic is challenging,” explains study author Lauren Wilson from Princeton University.
Currently, around 250 bird species can thrive at the poles. Some migrate great distances to enjoy continuous daylight in summer, while others brave the winter, enduring extreme cold and long periods of darkness. However, knowledge about how these birds first adapted to the highest latitudes remains limited.
Wilson and her team searched for ancient avian traces within the Princreek Formation in northern Alaska, which formed on coastal floodplains about 73 million years ago. At that time, northern Alaska was approximately 1,000-1,600 kilometers closer to the Arctic than it is today.
The researchers retrieved ancient soil samples from several narrow rock layers, encountering temperatures of -30°C (-22°F) in a makeshift tent. “This has definitely been the most demanding fieldwork I’ve undertaken,” Wilson admits.
Back at the lab, they spent hours peering through microscopes at sediments smaller than two millimeters, hunting for tiny fossil bone fragments.
The team uncovered over 50 fossil fragments belonging to ancient birds, primarily from chicks and even embryos. The fossilized bones of these young birds exhibit a sponge-like texture, indicative of rapid bone growth.
Although birds likely began nesting in the Arctic Circle 73 million years ago, these fossils represent the earliest evidence of such behavior, extending the timeline of avian presence back by 30 million years.
However, many fossils are fragmented and do not clarify whether these birds remained year-round or only in the warm summer months.
“The Arctic’s food web, which supports life in extreme cold and darkness, couldn’t exist without the plethora of birds that inhabit high latitudes,” says Steve Brusatte from the University of Edinburgh, who wasn’t involved in the study. “These fossils illustrate that birds have been a vital part of these high-latitude ecosystems for tens of millions of years.”
Wilson’s team identified three major bird groups represented among the fossil fragments: extinct tooth-like birds similar to ducks, extinct tooth-like birds reminiscent of gulls, and various species that may be related to modern birds.
Conversely, the samples did not include bones from older bird groups known as enantiornithines, or “opposite birds.” Gerald Mayle from the Senckenberg Institute in Germany, who also wasn’t part of the study, noted that this finding suggests that more advanced bird ancestors could survive the harsh Arctic conditions due to certain evolutionary advantages that older birds lacked.
The ecosystems that shaped the Princreek Formation existed when non-avian dinosaurs dominated the planet, with evidence that ancient birds coexisted with species like tyrannosaurs and horned ceratopsians in these Arctic environments. Some dinosaurs even nested within the Arctic Circle.
Locally referred to as Makarahi, meaning “big rock,” this boulder was displaced over 200 m inland by a tsunami approximately 7,000 years ago.
Limestone rock Makarahi. Image credits: Kohler et al. , doi: 10.1016/j.margeo.2025.107567.
The Makarahi boulder measures 14 x 12 x 6.7 m and weighs nearly 1,200 tons, making it the largest known boulder located atop a cliff and one of the largest vibration-transport boulders globally.
This limestone formation is situated 200 meters away from the coastline on the southern shore of Tongatapu, Tonga.
“Our research focused on the southern part of Tongatapu Island, examining coastal cliffs that show signs of past tsunamis,” stated Martin Kohler, a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Queensland.
“At the end of our fieldwork day, while conversing with some local farmers, they pointed us toward this rock.”
“I was truly astonished. It was found inland, outside our designated research area, indicating it must have been moved there by a massive tsunami.”
“It was remarkable to witness this large boulder enveloped in lush vegetation.”
“We created a 3D model before returning to the coast to identify a location from which boulders could be dislodged from cliffs over 30 meters high.”
Through numerical modeling, the researchers determined that a wave height of roughly 50 m lasting about 90 seconds would be required to transport the Makarahi boulder from its original cliff edge to its new location.
“The University of Queensland has provided a fantastic opportunity to explore the forces shaping our world,” remarked Dr. Annie Lau, a coastal geomorphologist at the institution.
“The recent tsunami in Tonga in 2022 resulted in six fatalities and extensive damage.”
“Gaining insights into extreme past events is crucial for preparing and assessing risks related to current and future hazards.”
“The findings concerning the Makarahi boulder offer evidence of Holocene Pacific tsunamis that have occurred since about 11,700 years ago.”
“This analysis will enhance our understanding of rock wave transport and improve coastal hazard assessments in tsunami-affected regions worldwide.”
The team’s study is published in the journal Marine Geology.
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Martin Kohler et al. 2025. Investigating the world’s highest boulder atop a cliff: preliminary insights and numerical simulations of transport on cliffs ranging from 30-40 m in Tongatapu (Tonga). Marine Geology 487, 107567; doi:10.1016/j.margeo.2025.107567
Often referred to as the Earth’s “twin planet,” Venus presents a stark contrast in surface conditions, atmospheric composition, and structural characteristics. Gaining insight into the internal mechanisms that shape Venus’s surface remains a key objective in planetary science.
An artist’s impression of a volcanic eruption on Venus. Image credit: ESA/AOES Mediaab.
The Earth’s surface is perpetually reshaped through the continual movement and recycling of vast sections of the crust, known as tectonic plates, which float above the viscous mantle.
Unlike Earth, Venus lacks tectonic plates, but its surface is still influenced by molten material rising from beneath.
To better comprehend the processes underlying these transformations, scientists have examined structures known as corona.
With sizes ranging from dozens to hundreds of kilometers, coronae are primarily formed where hot, buoyant mantle material ascends and pushes against the lithosphere above.
These features generally exhibit an oval shape and are surrounded by a concentric fracturing pattern.
Researchers estimate that hundreds of coronae are present on Venus.
Utilizing archival data from NASA’s Magellan mission, Dr. Gael Cascioli from the University of Maryland and colleagues identified signs of surface or subsurface activity that significantly shaped many of Venus’s coronae.
“Coronae are not observable on Earth today. However, it is conceivable that our planet’s early history included formations before the advent of plate tectonics,” stated a recent paper published in the journal Advances in Science.
“By integrating gravity and topographical data, this research has provided critical new insights into the subterranean processes that likely continue to influence Venus’s surface today.”
Launched in 1989, Magellan employed a radar system to penetrate Venus’s dense atmosphere and create detailed maps of its mountainous and plain terrains.
Among the various geological features mapped, coronae were notably enigmatic, with their formation remaining initially unclear.
Since then, planetary scientists have detected numerous coronae in regions where the lithosphere is thin and geothermal activity is high.
“Coronae are plentiful on Venus, representing significant features, and over the years, multiple theories have been proposed concerning their formation,” remarked Dr. Anna Gürcher, a researcher at the University of Bern.
“The exciting aspect of our research is that we can now assert that ongoing activity processes driving their formation are highly probable.”
“We hypothesize that similar processes may have also taken place early in Earth’s history.”
Researchers have developed advanced 3D geodynamic models illustrating different scenarios for the formation of plume-induced coronae, which were then compared with Magellan’s gravity and topographic data.
Gravity data has proven instrumental in enabling researchers to detect low-density regions below the surface and identify buoyant structures at elevated temperatures, something that topographical data alone cannot reveal.
Of the 75 coronae analyzed, 52 exhibited buoyant mantle materials beneath them, suggesting potential for significant structural processes.
One critical process is subduction. On Earth, this occurs when one tectonic plate is pushed beneath another.
Friction between plates can induce earthquakes, and as older rocky material descends into the hotter mantle, those rocks melt and re-emerge at the surface through volcanic activity.
On Venus, various forms of subduction are suspected to happen around several coronae.
In this context, hot rock buoyancy within the mantle forces material into the lithosphere, resulting in surface material rising and spreading outward, colliding with surrounding areas and pushing some material back down into the mantle.
Additionally, another structural process known as lithosphere drip may exist, with denser cold materials sinking from the lithosphere into the heated mantle below.
Several locations have also been identified where a third process might be occurring, where molten rock plumes beneath thicker areas of the lithosphere could potentially drive volcanic activity above.
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Frog Casioli et al. 2025. Spectra of structural processes in Venus’ coronae revealed by gravity and topography. Advances in Science 11 (20); doi:10.1126/sciadv.adt5932
Significant amber deposits found in northern Japan may have been propelled from the forest into the sea by tsunamis occurring between 116 million and 114 million years ago during the early Cretaceous period. This is according to a recent study conducted by geological surveys at Japan and Chuo University.
Amber deposits from Sichuan Quarry in Hokkaido, northern Japan. Image credit: Kubota et al. , doi: 10.1038/s41598-025-96498-2.
Identifying traces of ancient tsunamis can be challenging, as the powerful waves tend to reshape coastlines. The sediment left behind often resembles deposits created by other high-energy events, like storms.
Nevertheless, amber, which originates on land and is then transported to the sea, acts as a historical record of tsunami occurrences, illuminating the physical processes influencing sediment movement during these events.
“A tsunami is a destructive ocean wave primarily caused by significant changes in submarine or coastal crust, as well as impacts from asteroids,” explains Dr. Aya Kubota, a researcher at geological surveys at Japan and Chuo University.
“They have been extensively studied during the Holocene (the last 11,700 years) due to their relevance in disaster prevention.”
“Aside from asteroid sediments, accurately identifying ancient tsunamis before major vegetation growth is extremely difficult for two key reasons.”
“First, coastal tsunami deposits are easily eroded in their dynamic environments. Second, well-defined criteria for identifying tsunami deposits have not been established, as they can be difficult to differentiate from other high-energy coastal events, such as cyclones.”
In their research, Dr. Kubota and colleagues examined amber-rich silica deposits from the Shiko River Quarry in northern Hokkaido, which formed during the early Cretaceous period around 115 million years ago.
Using fluorescence imaging, the authors discovered that the amber samples exhibited clear deformation in what is known as the flame structure. This occurs when the amber is still pliable at the time of deposition, allowing it to change shape before solidifying.
This suggests that a substantial quantity of amber was swiftly transported from land into the open ocean due to the backwash from one or more tsunamis, experiencing minimal exposure to air.
The amber then settled at the seabed, becoming covered with a layer of silt, which helped to preserve it.
“Other terrestrial sediments carried into open water could be instrumental in studying significant ancient catastrophic events, such as tsunamis,” the researchers concluded.
Their study was published in the journal Scientific Reports on May 15th.
____
A. Kubota et al. 2025. Amber, a deep-sea sediment from the Cretaceous period, reveals a massive tsunami. Sci Rep 15, 14298; doi:10.1038/s41598-025-96498-2
Stepping into the Royal Society of London, the UK’s foremost National Academy of Sciences, you’ll encounter a three-word phrase: Nullius in Verba. This motto, held for over 350 years, translates to “I accept no one’s word.” Essentially, trust in science must be based on empirical evidence.
But what qualifies as evidence? This aspect becomes a bit more nuanced. The assertion that the sky is blue can be easily substantiated by anyone who can see it; therefore, little further proof is necessary. However, if someone claims the sky is purple, we’d need a robust explanation for our apparent oversight.
Another famous saying, attributed to astronomer Carl Sagan, encapsulates the demand for solid evidence: “Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence.” This issue highlights several notable recent examples that fall short of that standard.
The first example resonates strongly with Sagan’s perspective. Recently, astronomers proposed they detected gases potentially indicative of extraterrestrial life in distant exoplanets, but subsequent analysis suggests they may have found nothing. There’s also a significant backlash from biotechnology firm Colossal against the International Union for Conservation of Nature, alleging it “clears” threats to the wolf population.
The work of science is, as always, to dig deeper in hopes of revealing the truth.
There is considerable excitement surrounding these claims, with many hoping they prove true, but unfortunately, they do not hold up. We are committed to accurately reporting substantial claims, as seen in our discussion about the assertion that light is not subject to wave-particle duality, but consists solely of quantum particles.
This is indeed an extraordinary claim, challenging a century of established physics. As we explore, the evidence to substantiate this notion is currently lacking, though physicists remain intrigued enough to pursue further investigation. Without clear evidence disproving the claim, the essence of scientific inquiry remains: to dig deeper in hopes of uncovering the truth or, at the very least, our best approximation.
In Roman arenas, gladiators fought lions and other wildlife. Despite the tales of epic battles found in ancient texts, sculptures, mosaics, and portrayed in modern media, physical evidence of gladiators with animal-inflicted wounds has never been discovered by archaeologists.
Recently, skeletal remains from Roman settlements in the UK provided the first direct evidence of gladiators who were injured by lions.
The discovery was made during excavations in York, where a couple was planning to renovate their garden. The cemetery found at the site halted construction plans and revealed a rich Roman archaeological history in the region.
Tim Thompson, an anthropologist from Maynooth University and author of a paper published in the journal PLOS One, highlighted the significance of this discovery in shedding light on ancient Roman practices.
The site in York contained the remains of over 80 individuals, mostly young men with signs of trauma on their bodies. The demographics, injuries, and burial practices suggest that these individuals were gladiators who fought in the area nearly 1,800 years ago.
One particular skeleton, identified as 6DT19, displayed a unique wound on its hip bone that resembled bite marks from a large animal, possibly a lion.
Further analysis indicated that the injuries on the skeletons could indeed be bite marks from large animals like lions. This finding challenged previous beliefs about the absence of physical evidence of gladiators fighting animals.
Dr. Thompson and his team collaborated with British zoos to study animal bite marks and compare them to the skeletal injuries found on the ancient remains.
Through meticulous analysis and comparison, they concluded that the injuries on the gladiators matched those inflicted by lions. While the bite on 6DT19 likely did not cause death, it provided valuable insights into the practices and culture of the Roman Empire.
This discovery not only sheds light on individual lives from the past but also reveals the extent of Roman influence and entertainment involving gladiator battles with animals.
Dr. Marklein, an anthropologist from the University of Louisville, emphasized the significance of these findings in understanding Roman society and its use of violence as entertainment and political display.
Gladiator games served not only as spectacles of power but also as warnings and demonstrations of Roman citizenship and virtue.
This discovery underscores the complex relationship between humans, animals, and culture in ancient Rome.
Impressions of the artists of Planet K2-18B and its host star
ESA/Hubble, M. Kornmesser
Astronomers claim they have seen the most powerful evidence ever for living on another planet. However, other astronomers are cautioning until the findings are verified by other groups, allowing alternative, nonbiological explanations to be excluded.
“These are the first hints we see about the alien world we probably live in.” Nick Madhusdan We held a press conference at Cambridge University on March 15th.
Astronomers first discovered the Exoplanet K2-18B in 2015, quickly establishing it as a promising place for searching for life. Planets orbiting stars about eight times more than Earth, 124 light years away from us, sit in a habitable zone of stars where liquid water is present. Further observations in 2019 found evidence of water vapor. This led to the suggestion that, although not all astronomers agreed, the planet could be covered in oceans sitting under a hydrogen-rich atmosphere.
In 2023, Madhusudhan and his colleagues used James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) instruments to examine the atmosphere of the near-infrared light K2-18B, again finding evidence of water vapor and methane. However, they also found appetizing hints for dimethyl sulfide (DMS), a molecule that is produced exclusively by organisms on Earth, primarily by marine phytoplankton. However, the signs of DMS were very weak and many The astronomers argued Stronger evidence is needed to be certain about the existence of molecules.
Currently, Madhusudhan and his colleagues use different instruments to observe the K2-18b than the mid-infrared camera JWST. They discovered a much stronger signal against DMS and a molecule that could be called dimethyldisulfide (DMDS).
“What we’re finding is a line of independent evidence in different wavelength ranges with different equipment that can potentially biological activity on the planet,” Madhusdan said.
The team argues that detection of DMS and DMD is at three sigma levels of statistical significance. This corresponds to a 1/100 chance that a pattern of data like this will become absorption. In physics, the standard threshold for accepting something as a true discovery is five sigmas, which corresponds to 1-3.5 million chances that data is a coincidence.
Nicholas Wargan The NASA Ames Research Center in California says the evidence is more convincing than the 2023 results, but it should be verified by other groups. When data is published next week, other researchers can begin to review the findings, but this could take weeks or months as JWST data is difficult to interpret. “It’s not just about downloading data and checking if there’s a DMS. It’s this extremely complicated process,” says Wogan.
Other scientists are more skeptical of the findings. “These new JWST observations do not provide compelling evidence that DMS or DMD exists in the atmosphere of K2-18B.” Ryan McDonald At the University of Michigan. “We have a juvenile chase wolf situation in the K2-18B, where multiple previous 3-sigma detections have completely disappeared when subjected to closer scrutiny.
Madhusudhan and his team estimate that further 16 to 24 hours of further observations at the JWST will help reach 5-sigma levels, but observing the planet’s atmosphere means that this cannot be guaranteed.
“The relative size of the atmosphere compared to the planet’s size is pretty close to the thickness of the apple’s skin on top of the apple, which is what we’re trying to measure.” Thomas Beatty At the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where I was not part of the learning team. Wogan adds that reaching five sigmas may be fundamentally impossible due to the amount of noise in the data.
But if further observations prove that this is a real discovery, it would be a “risqué progress,” says Beatty. “Ignoring whether it was actually being produced for a moment, I said that ten years ago it is evidence of life in a planetary atmosphere that can certainly host it.”
Madhusudhan and his colleagues calculate that the potential concentration of DMS and DMD in K2-18B appears to be over ten parts, thousands of times more than the concentrations in the Earth’s atmosphere. This could show far more biological activity than Earth if the signal turns out to be correct, but establishing that chemicals have biological origins requires more work, he says.
“We need to be very careful,” Madhusdan said. “At this stage, when you detect DMS and DMD, you can’t claim it’s for life. Let’s be very clear about that.
It could take some time to eliminate another mechanism, Wogan says. “This kind of thing hasn’t been studied in practice. In a hydrogen-rich atmosphere, DM doesn’t know tons about it. It requires a lot of work.”
The difficulty in proving that it has no nonbiological explanations is that it could potentially put K2-18B in the category of viable biosignature candidates over a long period of time. Sarah Seager At Massachusetts Institute of Technology. “It could remain in that category for decades, because the problem will not be completely solved by providing limited data deplanets,” she says.
However, Madhusudhan says this discovery is important whether it comes from life or not. “This was a revolutionary moment, and we were able to come from a single cell life, not just as astronomers, but also for our species, from a single cell life billions of years ago, to a highly technological civilization where we could peer into the atmosphere of another planet and find evidence of actual biological activity,” he said.
The Mystery of the Universe: Cheshire, England
Spend a weekend with some of the brightest minds of science. Explore the mystery of the universe in an exciting program that includes an excursion to see the iconic Lovell telescope.
Congressional speeches have shifted to not based on evidence
volodymyr tverdokhlib/alamy
The language used by US Congress members in the debate has increasingly included words like “fake,” and “suspectful” for words like “proof,” and “reason.”
This linguistic trend, away from evidence in support of intuition, was revealed in an artificial intelligence analysis of millions of Congress speech transcripts. It also says it coincides with both the larger political polarization in Congress and the decline in the number of laws enacted through Congress. Stephen Lewandowski At the University of Bristol, UK.
“We can think of the truth as something that can be achieved based on an analysis of evidence, or we can think of it as the result of intuition or “gut sensation,” says Lewandowsky. “The concepts of integrity and truth are expressed in how we use everyday language.”
Adapting the ready-made AI language model, Lewandowsky and his colleagues analyzed the words used in the transcripts of eight million council speeches given between 1879 and 2022. They then calculated scores indicating whether a particular parliamentary speech was leaning towards evidence or intuition.
They found that since the 1970s, Congress has increasingly supported languages based on intuition rather than evidence-based languages. Before that, in the golden age of 1899-1901, and in the Great Repression of 1933-1935, intuitive language also skyrocketed.
“The findings fit the other impressions of anti-intellectualism, populism and rejection of science experts over the last decades.” John Jost At New York University.
The specific strength of the research is not only tracking frequency, but also assessing the context in which the words are displayed, he says Renata Nemet At the University of Eötvös Loránd, Hungary. “These models can capture deeper and often subtle connections between words, even reflecting cultural meanings and social relationships,” she says.
Second, Lewandowsky and his colleagues will look for similar language shifts for individual lawmakers in both Congress speeches and social media posts. They also seek to compare similar trends among other parliaments throughout history, including speeches from lawmakers from Italy and Germany.
Enjoy the beautiful scene of Music sounds as Maria and von Trapp’s children sing about the lonely Jasteld Jodel in the Austrian Alps (lay-ee-odl-lay-ee-odl-lay-hee-hoo).
Despite the picturesque moment, I was unfamiliar with these characters. Comparing their yodeling to that of monkeys in the rainforest of Latin America, it seems somewhat embarrassing.
Recent research conducted by Anglia Ruskin University (ARU) and the University of Vienna in collaboration with experts from Japan, Sweden, and Bolivia sheds light on this topic.
Through recordings and analysis of black and gold Howler monkeys, tufted capuchins, black-cap squirrel monkeys, and Peruvian spider monkeys at Randa Verde Wildlife Reserve in Bolivia, scientists discovered that these primates can jump three or more musical octaves at once, unlike human yodelers who span sub-octaves.
Dr. Jacob Dunn, an associate professor of evolutionary biology at ARU, highlighted how these voice leaps contribute to the primates’ communication abilities in complex social settings.
The unique vocalizations known as “ultra yodels” are made possible by the distinct anatomy of the monkey’s throat, specifically the vocal membrane. This thin tissue ribbon allows for extended pitch ranges, enhancing the monkeys’ vocal repertoire.
The evolution of monkeys’ vocal membranes contrasts with human vocal abilities, as they enhance pitch range but may lead to voice instability.
Capuchin Monkeys are known for their intelligence and tool use
While humans yodel by shifting between voice registers, monkeys utilize vocal membranes to produce complex vocal patterns without the need for intricate neural control.
Not all monkeys excel at yodeling, with Latin American monkeys displaying a particular proficiency due to their vocal membranes. This suggests the importance of these calls for certain species.
Astronomers using Atacama’s Large Millimeter/Sub-Millimeter Array (ALMA) detected oxygen in the most perilous confirmed galaxy ever discovered. This detection, made by two different teams, suggests that the galaxy is much more chemically mature than expected.
This is the impression of the artist Jades-GS-Z14-0. Image credit: ESO/M. Kornmesser.
Discovered in 2024, the Jades-GS-Z14-0 (GS-Z14 for short) is far apart, and its light took 13.4 billion years to reach us. This means that the universe was under 300 million years old, about 2% of its current age.
“It’s like finding adolescence you only expect from a baby,” said PhD Thunder Shues. Leiden Observatory Candidate and First Author of a paper Accepted for publication in Astrophysical Journal.
“The results show that galaxies are forming very rapidly, mature rapidly, and there is growing evidence that galaxies form much faster than expected.”
Galaxies usually begin life filled with young stars. This is mainly made of light elements such as hydrogen and helium.
As the stars evolve, they create heavier elements like oxygen, which will disperse into the host galaxy after exploding in supernova events.
Researchers thought 300 million years ago that the universe was too young to ripen galaxies with heavy elements.
However, two ALMA studies show that GS-Z14 has about 10 times more heavy elements than expected.
The inset of this image shows Jades-GS-Z14-0 seen in Alma. The two spectra arise from independent analysis of ALMA data by two teams of astronomers. Both discover oxygen radiation, making the universe the most distant detection of oxygen just 300 million years ago. Image credits: alma/eso/naoj/nrao/carniani et al. /schouws et al. /NASA/ESA/CSA/WEBB/STSCI/BRANT ROBERTSON… etc.
“They opened up a new perspective on the first stages of Galaxy’s evolution and were surprised by the unexpected results,” said Dr. Stefano Carniani, an astronomer at the Scola Normal Superore in Pisa and lead author. paper Published in the journal Astronomy and Astrophysics.
“Evidence that galaxies are already matured in the infantile universe raises questions about when and how they formed.”
Oxygen detection allowed astronomers to make distance measurements on the GS-Z14 more accurate.
“ALMA detection measures galaxy distances very accurately to just 0.005% uncertainty,” says PhD Eleonora Parlanti. A student at the Scola Normal Supers in Pisa.
“This level of accuracy is similar to being accurate within 5 cm at a distance of 1 km, but it helps to improve our understanding of distant galactic properties.”
“The galaxy was originally discovered by NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb’s space telescope, but Alma took it to see and accurately determine its huge distance,” said Dr. Leichard Boowens, an astronomer at the Leiden Observatory.
“This shows an incredible synergy between Alma and Webb, revealing the formation and evolution of the first galaxy.”
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Thunder Shues et al. 2025. Detecting [OIII]88μm with Jades-GS-Z14-0 at Z = 14.1793. APJin press; Arxiv: 2409.20549
Stefano Carniani et al. 2025. The eventful life of a bright galaxy at Z = 14: metal enrichment, feedback, and low-gas fractions? A&Ain press; doi: 10.1051/0004-6361/202452451
For a century, astronomers have been studying Bernard's stars in the hopes of finding planets around them. First discovered by Ee Barnard at the Yerkes Observatory in 1916, it is the closest single star system to Earth. I'm using an astronomer now Maroon-X Instruments At the Gemini Northeres Scope, half of the NSF's International Gemini Observatory, there is solid evidence of three exoplanets around Bernard's star, two of which were previously classified as candidates. We also combined data from Maroon-X with data from Espresso instrument ESO's very large telescope confirms the existence of a fourth planet and raises it from candidate to candidate genuine exoplanet.
Illustration of an exoplanet artist orbiting Bernard's star. Image credits: International Gemini Observatory / Noirlab / NSF / Aura / P. Marenfeld.
Bernard's star is an M3.5 type star in the constellation of Ophetus.
Alpha Centauri's triple steller system is the closest star to the Sun, almost six light years away.
Also known as the Gliese 699 or GJ 699, Bernard's star is thought to be 10 billion years old due to its slow spin and low levels of activity.
According to a new study, stars host at least four planets, each with only about 20-30% of the Earth's mass.
They are very close to their home star, so in a few days they zip around the entire star.
It probably means they are too hot so uninhabitable, but this discovery is a new benchmark for discovering small planets around nearby stars.
“It's a really exciting discovery. The Bernard star is our universe's neighbor, but even so, we know little about it,” said doctoral degree Ritvik Basant. A student at the University of Chicago.
“The accuracy of these new instruments from previous generations signal a breakthrough.”
Stars are much brighter than planets, so it's easy to find the effects that planets have on them – such as watching the wind by seeing how the flag moves.
The Maroon-X instrument looks for one such effect. The gravity of each planet is pulled slightly towards the position of the star. In other words, the stars seem to wobble back and forth.
Maroon-X can measure the color of light very accurately, pick up these small shifts, and even bully the number of planets that have to circumvent the stars to have this effect.
Basant and colleagues rigorously coordinated and analyzed data taken on 112 different nights over three years.
They found solid evidence of three planets around Bernard's star.
When the team combined the findings with data from espresso instruments, they saw good evidence of the fourth planet.
“These planets are probably rocky planets, not gas planets like Jupiter,” the astronomer said.
“It would be hard to secure it secured. The angle seen from Earth means that they cannot see them crossing in front of the stars.
“But by gathering information about similar planets around other stars, we can make better guesses about their makeup.”
Team's Survey results It was released today Astrophysics Journal Letter.
____
Ritvik Basant et al. 2025. Four sub-Earth planets orbiting Bernard's star from Maroon X and Espresso. apjl 982, L1; doi: 10.3847/2041-8213/ADB8D5
The mass of the ultra-large black hole in the heart of the large Magellan cloud, a small milky satellite galaxy, is approximately 600,000 solar mass.
Impressions of the Hyper Belt Lattist artist ejected from the large Magellan cloud (shown on the right). If the binary star system gets too close to an ultra-large number of black holes, intense gravity will tear the pair apart. One star is captured in tight orbits around a black hole, while the other is thrown outward at extreme speeds – often exceeding thousands of kilometers per second, making it a high-speed star. The inset diagram illustrates this process. The orbital path of the original binary is displayed as an interwoven line, one star is captured by a black hole (near the center of the inset), and the other is ejected into space (bottom right). Image credit: CFA/Melissa Weiss.
“Our Milky Way galaxy halo includes a few stars running faster than local escape speeds in orbit that carry them into intergalactic space,” said Dr. Jesse Han, Ph.D. of the Harvard & Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics and Colleagues.
“One mechanism for generating such ultrafast stars is the Hills mechanism. When a close binary star wanders near an ultrahigh Massive black hole, one star can be captured, while the other is ejected at a rate that reaches more than a second.”
In their new study, astronomers followed the path with ultrafine accuracy of 21 superfast stars in halos outside the Milky Way.
They confidently categorized these stars, finding that seven of them coincided with those born out of the center of the Milky Way.
However, the other nine stars coincided with those born from the centre of the large Magellan cloud, about 160,000 light years away from us.
“Cosmologically speaking, it's amazing to notice another super-large black hole just below the block,” Dr. Han said.
“Black holes are so stealthy that this has been under our noses this time.”
Researchers discovered a large Magellanic Cloud black hole using data from ESA's Gaia Mission.
They also used improved understanding of the orbital of the d-star galaxies around the Milky Way, which was recently obtained by other astronomers.
“We knew these superfast stars had been around for a while, but Gaia provided us with the data we needed to figure out where they actually came from,” says Dr. Kareem El-Badry, an astronomer at Caltech.
“Combining these data with a new theoretical model of how these stars move, we made this incredible discovery.”
“The only explanation we can come up with for these data is the presence of a monster black hole in the next Galaxy,” said Dr. Scott Lucchini, an astronomer at the Harvard & Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics.
New research suggests that Mars once was the perfect holiday destination (if they were willing to overlook radiation exposure or lack of food sources), but also had the right conditions for alien life. why? The discovery of ancient sandy beaches on the red planet suggests that once a large liquid ocean spread across the north of the planet.
“Looking back at the places where the earliest life on Earth developed, it was in the interaction between the ocean and the land, which paints a picture of an ancient habitable environment that can embrace the conditions for microbial life,” he said. Benjamin Cardenasassistant professor of geology at Penn State University in the United States and co-author of the study.
Four billion years ago, these beaches would have been the best variety. The waves are softly wrapped sandy and immersed in the sun.
“We found evidence of a lack of wind, waves and sand. It’s a proper vacation style beach,” says Cardenas, whose research was published. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (pnas).
To find this, researchers used a probe up to 80m (260 feet) below the Mars surface in a region of North Mars called the Utopian Plain, using radar imaging, using a probe up to 80m (260 feet) below the Mars surface.
We discovered 76 hidden structures at depths of 10-35m (33-115ft). Sadly, this turned out to be not a mysterious alien infrastructure (we can dream of it), but rather a sedimentary deposit similar to what is found around the Earth’s coastline.
3.6 billion years ago, the ocean may have covered almost half of the red planet. The Orange Star shows where China’s Roberzouron began its exploration. Meanwhile, the Yellow Star is where NASA’s patient rover landed. Both arrived on Mars in 2021. -Image credit: Robert Citron
The structure, thickness and length of Martian sediments showed that they were not formed by the melting of rivers, winds, lava or ice, but rather by stable ancient seas. In fact, they were roughly the same as 21 people on Earth, including the Bay of Bengal.
Specifically, a formation called “foreshore sediments” is formed by the tide and wind that descends the slope towards the ocean at a 15° angle and carries sediments like sand and gravel.
“This quickly stood out to us because it suggested there were waves, meaning there was a dynamic interface between air and water,” Cardenas said. This interaction, which also took place in the early history of the Earth, is important for the beginning of life.
The discovery suggests that Mars had a warm, humid climate for tens of millions of years.
“We tend to think of Mars as a static snapshot of the planet, but it was evolving. The rivers were flowing, the sediment was moving, the land was built and eroding,” Cardenas said.
“This type of sedimentary geology tells us how the landscape looks, how they evolved, and, importantly, helps us identify where we want to look for our past life.”
read more:
The strange “squeak” in space is baffling scientists
We finally know how life on Earth began, the incredible new asteroid discovery suggests
Here’s how aliens actually get in touch with humanity
Illustrations of two types of traboa, or sledge, which may be used by ancient people in North America
Gabriel Uguet
Drugmarks and human footprints, composed up to 22,000 years ago, have been found at several sites in White Sands National Park in New Mexico. These are thought to have been made by people pulling long pieces of wood stacked with goods, and are the earliest evidence of such activities.
This type of primitive vehicle is known as the trabore. “It’s basically a wheelless wheel.” Matthew Bennett He is a member of a team studying track at Bournemouth University in the UK.
They were widely used all over the world, but this is the oldest evidence of their use, says Bennett. “Nothing is this old.”
There are many ancient animal footprints in the ancient arid lake of White Sands, but in 2017, human footprints were discovered. In 2019, the team found a long drug mark in connection with human footprints.
“They happen in many different regions, so it was widespread,” Bennett says. “It’s not just an original family using travois.”
Some of the drag marks are made up of a single row. The team believes this was made by a trabore made up of two long wood joined in the form of a triangle. One end of each piece is held in one hand, but there is only a single point of contact on the ground.
The other drag marks consist of two parallel lines. These were probably the result of a trabore where two wood intersected in an x-shape, providing two handles and two ground contact points, which would have been more stable.
Drugmarks often pass through the footsteps of people who are supposed to be pulling a travoy, as expected. In some cases, there are parallel tracks with footprints (often children’s footprints), indicating that others are walking together.
Drag marks created by ancient vehicles in White Sands National Park, New Mexico
Bournemouth University
Elsewhere in the world, Trabois was often pulled by dogs and horses, says Bennett, but there is no evidence that white sand people used animals.
Footprint dates, Announced in 2021 challenging the traditional idea that humans did not move to America until the ice sheet began retreating about 15,000 years ago.
“The people in the US debate are very controversial, but we’re pretty confident about the date,” says Bennett. “The traditional story is that the ice sheets have parted ways and they have come, but you can go through before the door closes.” Another recent discovery is that humans have 33,000 years ago. It suggests that they may have reached the Americas.
Bennett says it’s very likely that there are tracks around the world that are not aware of what they are. In fact, he says his team has already discovered similar markings elsewhere in the US.
Feedback is the latest science and technology news of new scientists, the sidelines of the latest science and technology news. You can email Feedback@newscientist.com to send items you believe readers can be fascinated by feedback.
It’s solved! or not
Feedback likes true crime as much as the next pathologically curious ghoul, so toe to the well of speculation about Whitechapel murders from 1888-91 and almost God’s Jack the Ryper I soaked it occasionally. Frankly, we weren’t far ahead of Alan Moore and Eddie Campbell. From hellwhich links the murders (spoilers!) to British institutions and Freemasonry. However, the field of “Ripperology” goes far beyond one quirky graphic novel.
It all depends on shawls that appear to have belonged to Edows. Edows was gathered by police officers at the time and remained in his family for over a century. The shawl came to auction in 2007 and was purchased by a lippelologist Russell Edwards. He arranged for shawl to have a DNA test; result It was released in 2019. Get it by geneticists Jari Louhelainen and David Miller Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) From the two of them. There is a genetic marker that is common to Karen Miller, suggesting that it came from Edows. The other matched with the distant relative of Aaron Kosminski, the barber who was the suspect at the time of the murder.
Feedback will definitely ring this story forever, but we want to add something – not one of the latest news articles. We looked at the 2019 survey and found that the editor added “.Expression of concern“August 2024.
It refers to the letter to the editor, “concerns raised by third parties after publication.” And then the bomb comes. “During the investigation, the publishers and editors made every effort to obtain the original raw data from MtDNA analysis from the authors. However, the authors have been advised that due to device data failures and other complications. He said the data is no longer available.”
Yes, you read it correctly – the evidence of important mtDNA can never be verified because the author lost it. Perhaps Moore was right about evil mental powers after all.
The author argues that romantic love is “a means to the end of what feels important and valuable.” Feedback isn’t sure about it, but let’s try it. This leads them to a “multiplied three-factor model” that determines the “possibility of an actor falling in love with his partner.”
Specifically, “Love for a partner depends on the actor’s perception that (1) the partner has merit traits. These two factors are the actor’s exploration of the importance of the actor. Suppose the size and multiple combinations will determine the likelihood that an actor will be engrossed in his partner.”
In other words, the chances you might fall for someone are to find out how good they think they are, how grateful they think you are, and how you find the meaning of your life It’s a combination of how much you care about.
Feedback tried to extrapolate this to dating advice. If the amount of gratitude you show to your partner is a predictor of whether they will fall into you, if you show to your partner, if you show to your partner, then if you show to your partner, then the person will be Frequent suggestions that you should play hard seem counterproductive. Instead, they tend to fall in love, so it seems a good idea to find a partner who is desperately exploring the importance of life. However, this may have its own drawbacks. In particular, such partners may join the cult.
Good luck.
bite that hand
With news editor Jacob Aron Financial TimesFeedback learns that humanity in AI companies does not want potential employees to use AI when writing job applications. Their work ads stated: “We encourage people to use AI systems during their roles, but we want to assess your non-AS support communication skills.” But why is it artificial? mosquito? Are AI characters full of gaffs that are insurmountable to sift through?
This feedback learned it a few days after the news broke that Chinese AI company Deepseek was outperforming the US technology giant by curious coincidence. Openai complained quickly.review It shows that DeepSeek may have inappropriately distilled the model, that is, he is engaged in copyright theft.
In summary, these AI companies don’t like being attacked in AI writing slops and don’t like it if they use their work to train AI without permission. As a writer who has almost certainly been stripped down by AI companies and has never seen Penny in return, feedback can say “Bwahahaha, suck on you.”
Have you talked about feedback?
You can send stories to feedback by email at feedback@newscientist.com. Include your home address. This week and past feedback can be found on our website.
The Earth is about 4.5 billion years ago. When it was formed from rocks colliding around the dim young sun, it was probably not lively, and for a long time geologists thought life would not appear for more than a decade. The idea came from the analysis of Moonlock, brought back from Apollo Landings. This indicated that the Earth was hampered by space rocks from 4 billion to 3.8 billion years ago. The meaning was that, as we know, it must have started after that, since the previous creatures were getting faster.
“There are two problems with that.” Philip Donohue At the University of Bristol, UK. First, the model suggests that some life could have survived deep within the ocean. Even worse, it appears that the heavy late artillery fires did not actually occur now. The Apollo mission produced the impression of a large artillery over a short period of time, as all gathered rocks of similar age.
Early in the history of the Earth, we found that major effects had sporadically occurred over hundreds of millions of years. However, it is also known that a Mars-sized body collides shortly after the formation of Earth, evaporating the planet's surface. “If life had been born earlier, it would have been wiped out,” Donohue said.
The oldest rock on the earth
Life began when inerts were self-organised into a living system, but despite decades of research, how it happened remains a mystery. As the fossil record gets worse, it's also a big challenge to understand that it happened when it happened…
People report lower alcohol cravings when using semaglutide
ShutterStock/David MG
According to the first randomized clinical trials of drugs for this purpose, semaglutide appears to help people who are truly obsessed with alcohol reduce their intake.
Semaglutide, sold under brand names including Wegovy and Ozempic, uses the work by mimicking the intestinal hormone called glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1), so the technical term is GLP-1 receptor It's an agonist. This drug was first used to treat type 2 diabetes, but to reduce appetite, Wegovy is also approved for weight loss 8 countries. Semaglutide also offers tips to help with an extraordinary number of medical conditions.
Regarding alcohol use, there was a 2024 survey that 84,000 people injected Ozempic or Wegovy because of a lower risk of alcoholism. The results were promising and showed correlation rather than causality.
But now, Christian Hendershot The University of Southern California and his colleagues completed the first randomized clinical trial of the effects of semaglutide on alcohol use disorders.
Their trial involved 48 US people diagnosed with the condition, of which 34 were women and 14 were male. Half received a weekly low-dose injection of semaglutide for 9 weeks, and the rest received a placebo injection.
Semaglutide patients no longer consumed drinks per drinking session, reducing their weekly alcohol cravings compared to placebo drinks.
“There was no evidence of any significant adverse effects or safety concerns for drugs in this population. Overall, we found that it reduces the amount of alcohol people consume across several different drinking outcomes,” Hender said. Shot says.
“The results are promising.” Long Xu at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, Ohio. “Despite the small sample size, this randomized clinical trial highlights the therapeutic potential of semaglutide in the treatment of alcohol use disorders.”
ziyad al-aly At Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri, the study added ” yet another evidence of GLP-1RAS . [GLP-1 receptor agonists] It could help with addiction disorders.”
He needs greater research to answer questions about whether people will increase their drinking, especially when they leave semaglutide, particularly what the long-term impact is, and whether people will increase their drinking. He says. Bone and muscle mass.
The study should be treated as a promising first evidence, says Hendershot, but more research is needed. People should not start taking semaglutide due to alcohol problems, he says.
“This is the first study like this and people are excited about it, but we have approved effective drugs for alcohol use disorders, so more research has been conducted. Until now, people are encouraged to pursue and approve the existing medicines there right now,” says Hendershot.
Anti-Japanese and Mongolian paleontologists have found the footprints of Hadrosaurus dinosaur fossils eating large plants from the Cretaceous.
A huge Hadrosaurus dinosaur footprint in the Gobi Western Desert in Mongolia. Image credit: Okayama Science University.
The newly discovered Hadrosaurus footprint dates back about 70 million years ago (Cretaceous).
One of them is about 92 cm in diameter (3 feet), one of the largest Hadrosaurus footprints found so far.
“It is thought that the biggest footprint belongs to the giant SaurolovsIt is estimated that the overall length of the whole body exceeds 15 m (50 feet), and evenly Tyrannosaurus and Turbo saurus Team leader of size Shinobu IshigakiOkayama Science University Dinosaur Museum Research Bureau, and his colleagues stated in a statement.
Saurolovs Is a large Hadrosaurus dinosaur known by the Canadian horseshoe canyon and the Mongolian Nemegut layer.
According to an old-fashioned scholar, it is one of the few dinosaur genus from multiple continents.
“Our discovery suggests that one of the largest bipedal behaviors known so far lived in Mongolia, and also enhances hope for the discovery of large-scale skeletal archeological sites. They say. “
In addition, researchers have found a 24 m (79-foot) trackway composed of about 85 cm (2.8 feet) fossils (2.8 feet).
“From June 1 to 15, 2024, we conducted a follow-up survey in the Nishi Gobi Desert,” he said.
“As a result, we discovered a new trackway, including three footprints of the largest Hadrosaurus discovered so far and 13 fossiled footprint sequences.”
“The identification of 14 trackways, including those found before 2018, enables analysis of posture, walking style, speed, and group movements. This is an unpredictable details.”
“So far, the largest known Hadrosaurus skeleton belongs. Shunton SaurusThey were found in Shandong Province, China. “
“However, the latest discovery in Mongolia suggests the possibility of clarifying large-scale skeletal archeological sites in this area.”
“Our next goal is to clarify a large full skeleton. Saurolovs I will be in charge of these footprints, “said Dr. Ishikawa.
A stone tablet with a sun motif discovered on the Danish island of Bornholm
Antiquity Publications/John Lee, National Museum of Denmark
Hundreds of mysterious carved “sun stones” excavated in Denmark may have been ritually buried after the sun disappeared in a volcanic eruption around 2900 BC.
A total of 614 stone tablets and fragments inscribed with decorative motifs of the sun and plants have been unearthed in recent years. Basagard West Ruins Located on the island of Bornholm in Denmark. They were discovered in geological formations dating back some 4,900 years, when Neolithic people were farming the region and building enclosures surrounded by earthworks of banks and ditches.
Most of the carved sun stones were found in ditches around these enclosures, which were covered with cobblestones containing pottery shards and other items. This pottery is typical of the Late Funnel Beaker culture, which existed in the area from about 2900 to 2800 BC.
It was originally proposed that the stone carving of the sun was buried to ensure a good harvest. They say the sun was central to early Nordic agricultural culture. Rune Iversen at the University of Copenhagen, Denmark.
“But why did they store all these images at the same time?” Iversen asks. “The last thing they basically did here was deposit these sun stones and cover them with animal bone fragments and all kinds of artifacts and stuff like that. And then it went from trench to trench. You can see it being repeated. So it's some kind of action or event.”
Now he and his colleagues have found the answer. They looked at data from ice cores taken in Greenland and Antarctica and found that high concentrations of sulfate were deposited in the years following volcanic eruptions around 2900 BC.
Researchers say the relative proportions of sulfate deposition in Greenland and Antarctica suggest the eruption was somewhere close to the equator, and its effects appear to have spread over a vast area. . Ash clouds may have blocked out the sun and cooled temperatures for years.
A severe cold period around 2900 B.C. is supported by sources such as preserved wood rings from the Main River Valley in Germany and long-lived rock pine tree rings from the western United States.
This eruption would have had a devastating impact on the Neolithic peoples of northern Europe. “If we don’t have a harvest and the crop is not accepted, we won’t be able to sow anything next year,” Iversen says. “They must have felt quite punished at the time, because endless catastrophe was just going to befall them.”
He and his colleagues say burying the sculptures may have been an attempt to bring back the sun, or a celebration after the skies finally cleared.
say “that's a good explanation” jens winter johansen At the Roskilde Museum in Denmark. “There is no doubt that our staunchly agricultural society must trust the sun.”
Lars Larsson Researchers from Sweden's Lund University asked why, if climate impacts are widespread, evidence of such behavior is only found on Bornholm and not elsewhere in southern Scandinavia. Ta.
That may be because the people there had an abundance of slate, a hard stone with which to carve statues of the sun, whereas much of the rest of southern Scandinavia is mostly clay and has fewer stones suitable for carving. The body, Iversen says. “They may have carved wood or leather from other locations,” he says, but these would not normally have been preserved.
Or it may reflect cultural differences, Johansen says. “These societies are not isolated, but they are more isolated on the islands. That may be why they developed their own customs and culture.”
Scientists of University of Bergen: The surprising diversity of behavior within the rosette-shaped colony has been revealed. Salpingoeca Rosetta is a rare species of choanoflagellates – the closest relatives of animals.
Artwork depicting calcium signaling in rosette colonies of choanoflagellates Salpingoeca Rosetta. Image credit: Davis Laundon & Kate Zvorykina, Ella MAR Studio, Inc.
“We discovered that communication takes place between the cells of the colony, which regulates the overall shape of the rosette and the beating of the ciliary body,” said Dr. Jeffrey Colgren, a researcher at the Michael Szasz Center at the University of Bergen. Ta.
“Before I put the cultures under the microscope, I didn’t really have any expectations of what I was going to see in the cultures, but once I saw them, I was really excited.”
Multicellularity is a defining feature of all animals, allowing animals to interact with their environment in unique ways by integrating input from highly specialized cell types such as neurons and muscle cells. make it possible.
In the case of choanoflagellates, flagellated bacterial organisms found in marine and aquatic environments around the world, the boundaries between unicellularity and multicellularity are less clear-cut.
including some species Salpingoeca Rosetta exhibiting a complex life cycle that includes a colonial period.
Colonies are formed by cell division, similar to the development of animal embryos, but they do not have specialized cell types and resemble groups of individual cells rather than cohesive organisms.
“Salpingoeca Rosetta “This is a powerful model to study the emergence of multicellularity in animal evolution,” said Dr. Pawel Burkhardt, also from the Michael Saas Center at the University of Bergen.
“Our study provides interesting insights into early sensorimotor systems, as it reveals that colonial flagellates coordinate their movements through a common signaling pathway.”
Using a newly developed genetic tool that can visualize calcium activity Salpingoeca Rosetta The authors found that the cells synchronize their behavior through voltage-gated calcium channels, the same type of channels used by neurons and muscle cells in animals.
“This evidence of how information flows between cells in a choanoflagellate colony points to cell-to-cell signaling at the apex of multicellularity,” Dr. Colgren said.
“Surprisingly, this discovery suggests that the ability to coordinate movement at the cellular level predates the first animals.”
The research team now plans to further investigate how signals are propagated between cells and whether similar mechanisms exist in other choanoflagellate species.
“The tools developed and the results of this study reveal many new and interesting questions,” said Dr. Colgren.
“We’re really looking forward to seeing what direction ourselves and others take this in the future.”
a paper A description of the discovery was published in a magazine scientific progress.
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Jeffrey Colgren and Pawel Burkhardt. 2025. Electrical signaling and cooperative behavior in animals’ closest relatives. scientific progress 11(2);doi: 10.1126/sciadv.adr7434
Microneedling may trigger a wound healing response that promotes collagen formation
Rick Eglinton/Toronto Star via Getty Images
This article is part of a special issue that explores important questions about skin care. Check out the entire series here.
As we age, our skin inevitably loses some elasticity. Once upon a time, the main weapon against wrinkles and sagging, for those who could afford it, was the use of a surgeon's knife. Today, there are a wealth of minimally invasive alternatives that promise to tighten and rejuvenate our skin. There's everything from Botox injections to devices that shine light or ultrasound waves on your skin, to “vampire” facials that inject blood extracts into your face. .
Given that healthy skin has a wide range of health benefits, do these “tweaks” rejuvenate you from the outside in? “The question is, is this just vanity, or is it more important to your future self?” “Are you doing something useful?'' says the dermatologist. clare keeley At Guy's and St Thomas' Hospital, London. “It depends on the type of treatment.”
lost elasticity
Aging involves many changes, but the main cause of wrinkles is the loss of collagen and elastin, proteins that provide firmness and elasticity. Treatments such as Botox (an injection of botulinum toxin to prevent muscle contraction) cannot stop these changes, but when injected into specific facial muscles, it can be an effective way to prevent frown lines. There is a gender. Similarly, gel-like substances called dermal fillers, injected under the skin, can smooth wrinkles and add volume to sagging tissue, but they do not address underlying structural changes and are associated with risks. Masu.
Scientists from Tel Aviv University conducted geochemical surveys at two smelting camps dating back to the 10th century BC, the time of the Biblical kings David and Solomon. Timna Valley It is located in southern Israel, in the southern Arabah. They found that environmental pollution resulting from copper production is minimal, spatially limited, and poses no danger to residents of the area, past or present.
Aerial view of Site 201, north of the center of the Timna Valley on the western outskirts of Wadi Araba, Israel. Image credit: Yagel others., doi: 10.1038/s41598-024-80939-5.
“We toured two major copper production sites in the Timna Valley: one from the Iron Age; King Solomon's time Professor Erez Ben Yosef of Tel Aviv University said:
“Our research was very extensive. We took hundreds of soil samples from both locations for chemical analysis and created high-resolution maps of the presence of heavy metals in the area.”
“We found that contamination levels at the Timna copper mining site were very low and confined to the site of an ancient smelting furnace.”
“For example, the concentration of lead, a major pollutant in the metal industry, drops to less than 200 ppm just a few meters away from the furnace.”
“By comparison, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency defines industrial areas as safe for workers at 1,200 ppm and residential areas as safe for children at 200 ppm.”
The new study contradicts a series of papers published since the 1990s about pollution allegedly caused by the ancient copper industry.
“We are proving that this is not true,” Professor Ben Yosef said.
“Timna's contamination is very spatially localized, with the only people probably working directly at the furnaces suffering from inhalation of toxic gases, and just a short distance away, the soil is completely destroyed. It’s safe.”
“Furthermore, the agreement in the spatial distribution of copper and lead concentrations in the soil that we found indicates that the metal is ‘locked up’ in slag and other industrial wastes, so that the metal can leach into the soil. It has no effect on plants or humans.”
“Our findings are consistent with several recent studies conducted in the Wadi Faynan region of Jordan, which also show very low levels of pollution.”
“Timna and Feynan are ideal locations for this kind of research because they are undisturbed by modern mining, as happened for example in Cyprus, and thanks to their dry climate metals in the soil are not washed away. .”
“In Feynan, scientists from Hebrew University examined the skeletons of 36 people who lived at the mining site during the Iron Age and found that only three had evidence of contamination in their teeth. The rest It was completely beautiful. We are now presenting a similar picture for Timna.”
In addition to the geochemical study, the authors also reviewed existing literature and found that the hypothesis of global pollution before Roman times lacked solid evidence.
“In the 1990s, there was a tendency to attribute ancient copper production to the first example of industrial pollution,” said Dr. Omri Jagel of Tel Aviv University.
“Such statements make headlines and attract research funding, but they unnecessarily project contemporary pollution problems into the past.”
“Furthermore, research literature tends to use the term 'contamination' to describe traces of ancient metallurgical activity, leading to the erroneous assumption that the metal industry was harmful to humanity from its earliest days. They are connected, but this is clearly false.”
“Even when metal production became large-scale and essential to human civilization, it was the toxic lead industry that caused global pollution, not necessarily other metals.”
“Studies in the 1990s argued that trace amounts of copper found in Greenland ice cores migrated through the atmosphere from places like Timna.”
“However, this claim has not been supported by subsequent research.”
“As researchers facing today's tough environmental challenges, such as climate change, we often look for similar problems in the past or think that environmental degradation is an inevitable consequence of human activity since the agricultural revolution. There is a tendency to
“But we have to be careful. We might call some slag falling on the ground 'pollution', but we can't treat this local waste as regional or global environmental pollution.” should not be confused with. ”
Regarding this research, paper Published in a magazine on November 29th scientific report.
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O. Jagel others. 2024. The pre-Roman copper industry had no polluting impact on the global environment. science officer 14, 29675; doi: 10.1038/s41598-024-80939-5
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.
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