Tag Archives: evolution

Can wordplay drive human evolution through resourcefulness?

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You’ll never know who spoke the first sentence or what they said, but you can have fun guessing. Perhaps they came from the mouths of Stone Age men who wanted to defeat their rivals and win the affections of young women. He may have crept up to his girlfriend, surreptitiously pointing at his competitors and whispering words in her ear that translated into English to mean “fuck you.”

Is it ridiculous? Not so, if we are guided by the work of linguist Liljana Progovac. She points out that Charles Darwin described language as “half art, half instinct,” but most who study the evolution of language have ignored the creative element. Her research addresses this issue by focusing on the wordplay involved in compound words such as shit-head, skin-flint, and lily-livered, many of which are now written as single words. I’m starting to fix it. She believes these are language fossils that point to a key stage in the evolution of language, the moment when humans realized they could string two words together to create very short sentences.

Moreover, after collecting examples of such phrases, Progovac noticed that they had something surprising in common. “They’re usually dismissive,” she says. And there may be evolutionary reasons for that.

Language is central to the human experience, but its ancient roots are difficult to study because it leaves no archaeological trace, at least until the invention of writing. Nevertheless, judging by the communication systems of other animals, our ancestors could use simple sounds and…

Source: www.newscientist.com

Fresh research illuminates the evolution of lepidosaurs

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New research led by scientists at the University of Bristol shows how lepidosaurs, the most diverse clade of quadrupeds that includes lizards and snakes, evolved an astonishing variety of jaw shapes and He revealed what has brought him extraordinary success.

The rate of evolution of lepidosaur jaw morphology. Image credit: Ballell others., doi: 10.1098/rspb.2024.2052.

Lepidosauria is a clade of lizards, snakes, and tuataras with over 11,000 species, representing the most specialized group of today's tetrapods.

Since their origin over 240 million years ago, lepidosaurs have diversified into countless sizes and body shapes.

Among extant species, body size ranges over three orders of magnitude, typified by body lengths of approximately 1.7 cm. Sphaerodactylus Geckos and giant anacondas that are about 10 meters long.

The extreme size becomes even more dramatic when you consider extinct mosasaurs (up to 17 meters long).

Differences in body shape are reflected in different degrees of body elongation and reductions or modifications of limb elements in multiple lineages, and snake-like body shapes have evolved independently at least 25 times.

Similarly, lepidosaurs exhibit rich diversity in skull composition, shaped by the loss and gain of cranial bones over their evolutionary history and the acquisition of varying types and degrees of cranial motion.

As a result of this morphological diversification, Lepidosaurus conquered diverse ecological niches in most regions of the planet.

In a new study, University of Bristol researcher Antonio Barrel-Mayoral and his colleagues show that the evolution of jaw shape in lepidosaurs was influenced by ecological factors, including phylogeny (evolutionary relatedness) and allometry (scaling of shape with size). They found that it is influenced by a complex interaction of factors that go beyond science.

In terms of jaw shape, the snake was found to be a morphological outlier, exhibiting a unique jaw morphology. This is probably due to the snake's highly flexible skull and extreme mechanism that allows it to swallow prey many times larger than its head.

“Interestingly, we found that jaw shape evolves particularly rapidly in ecologically specialized groups, such as burrowing, aquatic, and herbivorous lizards. This may be due to evolutionary innovations in the lower jaw. “We suggest that this is the key to achieving these unique ecologies,” said Dr. Barrel-Mayoral. Said.

“Our research shows how lizards and snakes have evolved different jaw shapes to adapt to their wide range of ecology, diets and habitats, driving their extraordinary diversity. ”

This study highlights the important role of morphological innovations in promoting diversification in highly biodiverse groups such as lepidosaurs.

“The mandible, an important component of the vertebrate feeding apparatus, has been an important element in vertebrate ecological experimentation and adaptation.”

Looking ahead, the research team plans to further investigate the evolution of lepidosaur heads.

“The lower jaw is important because it works with the muscles that close the jaw to support important functions such as feeding and defense,” Dr. Barrel-Mayoral said.

“We are investigating the relationship between the shape of the skull and the placement of the jaw-closing musculature throughout evolution, and how this influenced the diversification of feeding mechanisms and habits.”

team's work Published today on Proceedings of the Royal Society B.

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antonio barrel others. 2024. Ecological factors in the evolution of jaw morphology in lepidosaurs. Procedure R. Soc. B 291 (2036): 20242052;doi: 10.1098/rspb.2024.2052

Source: www.sci.news

Darwinism can coexist with the evolving theory of evolution.

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Darwin’s ideas began with Alfred Russell Wallace, co-discoverer of natural selection, who disagreed with some aspects of Charles Darwin’s arguments but ultimately realized that most of them were wrong. It has been proven and challenged many times. American botanist Liberty Hyde Bailey published a paper in 1894 pondering whether the mainstream neo-Darwinist formulation of the theory of evolution needed to be extended (it was not). In the 1980s, paleontologist Stephen Jay Gould pursued a similar tack.

Evolutionary biologist Kevin Lara also questions what he calls traditional Darwinian thinking (see “The surprising ways species control their evolutionary destiny”). Some say this is a straw man argument, as it challenges old-fashioned ideas about evolutionary biology, but modern ideas are changing the way we think about developmental biology, cultural evolution, symbiotics, etc. It’s broad enough to encompass all the new aspects you’re learning. Different species coexist closely.

Over the years, the theory of evolution by natural selection has itself evolved, absorbing new discoveries about genes, DNA, population genetics, and epigenetics that did not exist in Darwin’s time. As we report on page 11, identifying evolutionary drivers is essential to understanding how species adapt to climate change, for example, ahead of an avian influenza pandemic. Whether we need to add to the rulebook already at the disposal of evolutionary biologists is debatable. There is a danger that a “God of the Gaps” argument will creep in, where the obvious shortcomings of evolution are exploited by those who point to unscientific explanations.

Obvious shortcomings create a danger that the “god of the gaps” theory creeps in

All theories need to be challenged, and evaluating modern evolutionary biology highlights many aspects of life that may be less appreciated. Darwin’s explanation has survived more than 160 years because it is broadly correct and robust enough to absorb new discoveries. So while the impact of Lara’s approach is not yet clear, Lara’s scrutiny of neglected aspects of life should be welcomed.

topic:

Source: www.newscientist.com

Evolution of trilobite body part functions

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Newly described trilobite genera and species alter one morphological character to overcome challenges and modify another character to fulfill the original function, presenting a unique example of functional change in an animal.

Silurian trilobites Waukesha Aspis Atonaefrom the Silurian Waukesha biota of Wisconsin, USA. Image credit: Kenneth Gass, specimen is University of Wisconsin Geology Museum.

of trilobite, Waukesha Aspis Atonaefrom marine strata. Silurian (437 meters) Waukesha biota of Wisconsin.

It is the only trilobite found in abundance in this biota and is primarily known for its diversity and exceptional state of conservation. arthropod and insect-like animals.

researcher Dr. Enrique Alberto Randolph and Kenneth C. Gass This trilobite is described in their book new paper in paleontology journal.

The family that includes this trilobite usually has a pair of spines (sexual spines), one on each side (left and right) of the head shield (head).

There is also a tail (pygidium) that usually reaches a point on the back and is usually extended to form the medial vertebrae (caudal vertebrae). This spine is very long and probably helps turn the animal over if necessary.

In contrast, Pygidium Waukesha Spis It lacks a caudal spine and has a depression (bay) in its place, which is highly unusual for Silurian members of this family.

Therefore, this depression does not serve to turn the animal over, but may have enhanced breathing while the animal was in the registration position by maintaining an opening for water to flow into the gills of the trilobite.

What is even more distinctive is that the genus spines of this species are extremely long, reaching up to the pygidium. These may have worked well to turn the animal over.

Other features Waukesha Aspis Atonae Of note is the significant clustering of individuals, with some cases containing up to 49 partial or complete exoskeletons, likely due to physiological tolerance in the habitat and in the reserve. This may be due to classification and storage in storage locations. gastrointestinal (intestinal) tract occurring only in a few other trilobite species.

“This trilobite is important because it allows us to learn more about the functional morphology of the family (Dharmaceae), typically a conservative group,” Dr. Randolph said.

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E. Randolph and K. Gass. 2024. Waukesha Aspis Atonae n. generation. n. sp.: A specialized Dharmaniidae (trilobite) from the Terikians of southeastern Wisconsin. paleontology journalp. 1-9; doi: 10.1017/jpa.2024.32

Source: www.sci.news

New Insights into the Evolution of Flight from Microraptor Dinosaur Footprints

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Source: www.sci.news

Elon Musk: The Evolution from Humanitarian to Right-Wing Meme Poster

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ohOtherwise, it would be news that the CEO of one of the world's largest companies endorsed and shared a fabricated headline published by the leader of a fascist party. For Elon Musk, that happened just Thursday.

Unusually for Musk, his post was a retweet of a tweet by Britain First co-leader Ashley Simon, who shared a fake Telegraph headline about British rioters being held in the Falkland Islands, which he deleted shortly after sending it. The 30-minute livestream on X, the social media site formerly known as Twitter, which Musk bought in 2022, garnered almost 2 million views.

Musk's outspoken criticism of the government has surprised many since unrest began across the UK last week, but it is just the latest sign that the billionaire is heading down a path of radicalisation.

After making his fortune in the dot-com boom and then from his involvement in PayPal, Musk invested in Tesla in 2004 and eventually became its chief executive. For a while, he presented himself as you'd expect of a former software executive running an electric car company, speaking at length about the risks of climate change while also launching and investing in projects that fit a broad vision of improving the future of humanity, including SpaceX, OpenAI and The Boring Company.

But starting in 2020, Musk's public profile began to shift. He'd always been a fairly active user of Twitter, but when the pandemic hit, he began posting much more frequently and for the first time faced the world of fact-checking, as soft-spoken claims about the danger and duration of the pandemic led to calls for his account to be suspended for spreading misinformation.

In his personal life, Musk's relationship with his family has been turbulent: His relationship with Claire Boucher, better known as the musician Grimes, began to fall apart in 2021. Boucher, mother of at least three of his 12 children, ended up in court over custody.

Around this time, Musk began sending Grimes “right-wing memes and conspiracy theories,” according to biographer Walter Isaacson, to which Grimes responded, “Is this from 4chan or something? You're really starting to sound like a far-right person.”

At the same time, his daughter Vivian She came out as transgender and changed her name.She declared that she no longer wanted to have “any kind of association with my biological father.”

Musk himself has cited Vivienne as the reason for his political switch, telling pop psychologist Jordan Peterson: [his] son [sic]essentially,” and concludes that his son was “killed by the virus of the awakened mind.”

“Many people who are radicalized have a formative personal experience that serves as a cognitive catalyst for their radicalization journey,” said one radicalization expert, who spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of retribution. “For Musk, it appears that was his daughter's gender transition.”

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The expert also believes Musk is essentially a man with “few beliefs beyond those that enrich him, and a strong desire for attention and validation. Since beginning his right-wing radicalization, he has received a flood of the latter from the far right, building for himself the largest echo chamber in the world that will only continue to grow.”

The expert added: “What's remarkable is that he experiences little to no consequences for his actions and is successful in blackmailing reality to make people comply with his beliefs.”

In July, Musk announced the creation of a political action committee, America PAC, which will “largely but entirely” support the Republican Party because it supports “meritocracy and individual freedom.” Musk did not say how much he planned to donate to the PAC, but previous reports had suggested he was considering donating as much as $45 million a month.

The extent of Musk's political transformation has even led to concerns about his health. In March, he He said he was not drunk “almost all the time.” He claimed that his use of ketamine to treat depression during his X posting sessions was unrelated to his social media presence.

Source: www.theguardian.com

Research: Extinction of dinosaurs led to swift evolution of bird genomes

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About 66 million years ago, at the end of the Cretaceous period, a 10 km-wide asteroid struck Earth near what is now the town of Chicxulub in Mexico. The impact wiped out about 75% of Earth's animal and plant species, including groups such as non-avian dinosaurs and ammonites. A new study identifies key changes in bird genomes caused by the end-Cretaceous mass extinction that ultimately contributed to the remarkable diversity of modern birds.

This painting depicts an asteroid impact in the shallow tropical ocean of the sulfur-rich Yucatan Peninsula in what is now southeastern Mexico. The impact of this massive asteroid, which occurred about 65 million years ago, is believed to have wiped out the dinosaurs and many other species on Earth. The painting shows a Pterodactylus, a flying reptile with a wingspan of up to 50 feet, gliding above low tropical clouds. Image by Donald E. Davis/NASA.

“By studying the DNA of modern birds, we can detect patterns in gene sequences that changed shortly after one of the most significant events in Earth's history,” said Dr Jake Barb, from the University of Michigan.

“The signatures of these events appear to be imprinted in the genomes of survivors in ways that are detectable tens of millions of years later.”

An organism's genome is made up of four nucleotide molecules designated by the letters A, T, G, and C. The order of these nucleotides in the genome defines the blueprint of life.

The DNA code can evolve in ways that change the overall composition of DNA nucleotides across the genome.

These changes in composition are important in determining what genetic variations are possible and contribute to an organism's evolutionary potential, or ability to evolve.

Dr. Belf and his colleagues found that the mass extinction caused a change in nucleotide composition.

The researchers also found that these changes appear to be related to the birds' development as young birds, their adult size, and their metabolism.

For example, in the approximately 3 to 5 million years following the mass extinction at the end of the Cretaceous period, surviving bird lineages tended to decrease in body size.

The development of hatchlings has also changed, with more species becoming 'altricial'.

“This means that when they hatch they are still in a fetal state and need to be fed by their parents, and it may take several weeks for them to fledge,” Dr Barb said.

“Birds that are ready to fend for themselves immediately after hatching, like chickens and turkeys, are called 'precocious.'”

“We found that adult body size and pre-hatching developmental patterns are two important traits of bird biology that we can link to the genetic changes we are detecting.”

“One of the most important challenges in evolutionary biology and ornithology is unraveling the relationships between the major bird groups. The structure of the extant bird phylogenetic tree is difficult to determine.”

Over the past 15 years, researchers have been trying to solve this problem by applying increasingly large genomic datasets.

So far, they have used genomic data to study the evolution of bird genomes using statistical models based on strong assumptions.

These traditional models allow researchers to reconstruct the history of genetic change, but they typically assume that the makeup of DNA, i.e. the proportions of A, T, G and C nucleotides, remains constant throughout evolutionary history.

The study authors developed software tools to more closely track DNA composition over time and across different branches of the tree of life.

This tool allowed us to relax the assumption that DNA's composition is constant.

“This allows us to vary our models of DNA evolution across the evolutionary tree and identify places where there may have been changes in DNA makeup,” said Professor Steven Smith, from the University of Michigan.

“In this new study, these changes were clustered within about five million years of the end-Cretaceous mass extinction,” Dr Belff added.

This approach also allowed the team to estimate which bird traits are most closely associated with changes in DNA composition.

“This is an important type of genetic change that we think is associated with mass extinctions,” Dr Barb said.

“To our knowledge, changes in DNA composition have never before been so clearly linked to the end-Cretaceous mass extinction.”

“We know that mass extinctions can have dramatic effects on biodiversity, ecosystems and the forms of life,” said Professor Daniel Field, from the University of Cambridge.

“Our study highlights that these extinction events can have even larger effects on organismal biology by altering key aspects of genome evolution.”

“This study improves our understanding of the dramatic biological impact of mass extinction events and highlights that the mass extinction that wiped out the giant dinosaurs was one of the most biologically consequential events in the entire history of the Earth.”

By relaxing typical assumptions used in evolutionary biology, the researchers are developing more nuanced insights into the sequence of events in birds' early history.

“We haven't typically thought of changes in DNA configurations and models across the tree of life as changes that indicate something interesting happened at a particular time and place,” Prof Smith said.

“This study shows that we've probably missed something.”

of study Published in the journal Scientific advances.

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Jacob S. Belf others2024. Genomic and life-history evolution link bird diversification and the end-Cretaceous mass extinction. Scientific advances 10(31); doi: 10.1126/sciadv.adp0114

This article is a version of a press release provided by the University of Michigan.

Source: www.sci.news

Key gap in pterosaur evolution filled by fossil dating back 150 million years

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New genus and species of monophenestratan pterosaur named Propterodacillus frankellae It documents the transition from the older rhamphorhynchoid pterosaurs to pterodactyloids.

The holotype Propterodacillus frankellaeImage credit: Frederik Spindler, doi: 10.26879/1366.

Propterodacillus frankellae It lived about 150 million years ago, during the Kimmeridgian stage of the Late Jurassic Period.

This flying reptile had a moderately long skull, about 9 centimetres (3.5 inches) long, and an estimated wingspan of about 55 centimetres (21.7 inches).

This species also had a very short tail and a small but functional fifth finger with two phalanges.

Propterodacillus frankellae a kind of Monophenestratan (Monofenestrata) is a large group of pterosaurs that includes the family Turconopteridae and the suborder Pterodactyloidea.

“As the earliest actively flying vertebrate lineage, pterosaurs were highly successful in evolution throughout the Mesozoic Era.” Dr. Frederick Spindler “The dinosaur museum's Altmühlthal writes in the new paper:

“For most of the long history of research, every specimen could be classified as belonging to one of two major types: the more ancestral long-tailed Rhamphorhynchioidea and the derived short-tailed Pterodactyloidea.”

“The rare anurognathids, the only short-faced pterosaurs, have similarly short tails but otherwise look like rhamphorhynchids and are therefore generally thought to have been deep-nesting rhamphorhynchids.”

“True intermediate, and therefore plausible transitional, forms between the major types were unknown until the discovery of the Curculionoptera.”

The fossil, named the Painten protterosaur, was discovered beneath the Rigol limestone quarry near Painten in Bavaria, Germany.

The specimen consists of a complete and fully articulated skeleton with soft tissue remaining in the radial fibrils of the torso and wings.

“Propterodacillus frankellae It is contemporary with the oldest Archaeopteryx “It came from a nearby basin,” the paleontologists wrote in their paper.

According to Dr Spindler, the discovery fills one of the largest knowledge gaps in the evolution of pterosaur morphology.

“Propterodacillus frankellae “It's a near-perfect mix of rhamphorhynchoid, curcunopteroid and derived pterodactyloid pterosaur features,” he said.

“Similarities with the derived Pterodactyloidea include the shape of the skull and the short tail.”

“For example, the ancestral traits shared with the Turconogopteridae family are Propterodactyl The most distinctive features of this pterosauroidea animal are its functional fifth toe and long caudal snout.”

“Intermediate conditions apply for neck extension, metacarpal extension, and shortening of the fifth toe.”

of paper Published online in the journal Palenitrogy Electronica.

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Frederick Spindler. 2024. Pterosaur articulation from the Late Jurassic of Germany. Palenitrogy Electronica 27(2):a35; doi:10.26879/1366

Source: www.sci.news

How Fossils Are Reshaping our Understanding of Human Evolution

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Is it in the way we live, laugh, love? Or is it our aversion to clichés? Deep inside each of us, there must be something that makes us human. The problem is, after centuries of searching, we haven’t found it yet. Maybe it’s because we’ve been looking in the wrong places.

Ever since researchers began unearthing ancient hominin bones and stone tools, their work has held the tantalizing promise of pinpointing the long-ago moment when our ancestors transformed into humans. Two of the most important fossil discoveries in this quest reach an important milestone this year: 100 years since the first “near-human” was found. Australopithecus Fossils have been discovered in South Africa that have upended previous ideas about human origins, and it’s been 50 years since the most famous fossil was found. Australopithecus Lucy, also known as humanity’s grandmother, emerged from the dusty hills of Ethiopia, and the two fossils have led researchers to believe they can pinpoint humanity’s Big Bang, the period when a dramatic evolutionary wave led to the emergence of humans. Homo.

But today, the story of human origins is much more complicated. A series of discoveries over the past two decades has shown that the beginning of humanity is harder to pinpoint than we thought. So why did it once seem like we could define humanity and pinpoint its emergence, thanks to Lucy and her peers? Why are we now further away than ever from pinpointing exactly what it means to be human?

Source: www.newscientist.com

Recent study provides insights into the factors influencing human evolution in East Africa

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East Africa contains the world’s most complete record of human evolution, yet scientists know little about how long-term biogeographic dynamics in the region have influenced human diversity and distribution.

An artist’s depiction of early human habitation in Tanzania 1.8 million years ago. Image courtesy of M. Lopez-Herrera / Enrique Baquedano / Olduvai Paleoanthropology and Paleoecology Project.

In the new study, Dr. Ignacio Razaga-Baster from the National Center for Research on Human Evolution (CENIEH) and his colleagues focused on the mammal fossil record of the East African Rift Valley.

“The Late Cenozoic fossil beds of the East African Rift Valley provide the world’s richest, longest and most continuous record of human evolution and its environmental context,” the authors explained.

“As such, the human and faunal records of East Africa have been central to understanding the factors that shaped human evolutionary history.”

“Our study provides a new perspective on how climatic and environmental changes over the past six million years have influenced mammal and human evolution,” Dr Razaghabastar said.

“This study particularly highlights how biotic homogenization – the process by which the faunas of different regions become more similar in composition – has been an important factor in the evolution of ecosystems and the species that live in them.”

“Beta diversity analysis, which shows the relationships between regional and local biodiversity, allows us to trace how changes in vegetation and climate have driven patterns of dispersal and extinction over time.”

The team found that faunas from the Late Miocene and Pliocene (approximately 3 million to 6 million years ago) were primarily made up of endemic species.

The shift towards biotic homogenization, or faunal homogenization, began around 3 million years ago with the loss of endemic species within functional groups and an increase in the number of grazing species shared between regions.

This important biogeographic transition coincides closely with the regional expansion of ecosystems dominated by grasses and C4 grasslands that thrive better in warmer, drier climates.

These environmental changes directly affected the feeding and migration patterns of humans and animals that shared the habitat.

“We are certain that hominoids, like other East African mammals, were influenced by many factors. This study offers a new perspective on the link between environmental and human evolutionary change and, through an integrated approach, provides a framework for future research and to test the hypothesis that hominoids adapted to their environment,” Dr Razaghabastar said.

of study Published in the journal on July 15, 2024 Natural Ecology and Evolution.

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J. Rowan othersLong-term biotic homogenization in the East African Rift Valley during the past 6 million years of human evolution. Nat Ecol EvolPublished online July 15, 2024; doi: 10.1038/s41559-024-02462-0

Source: www.sci.news

Snake evolution is rewritten by 38-million-year-old fossil

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Paleontologists have described a new species of snake that lived during the Early Oligocene of Wyoming, based on four nearly complete, articulated specimens found curled together in a burrow.

Hibernophis Brighthaupti It lived 38 million years ago in what is now western Wyoming. Image courtesy of Jasmine Croghan.

Hibernophis Brighthaupti It lived in North America 38 million years ago (Early Oligocene Epoch).

The fossil has unique anatomical features, in part because the specimen is articulated, meaning that it was found all together with its bones in the proper order, which is unusual for a fossil snake.

Hibernophis Brighthaupti Probably an early member Boideia A group that includes modern boas and pythons.

“Modern boas are widespread across the Americas, but their early evolution is poorly understood,” said researchers from the University of Alberta. Professor Michael Caldwell And my colleagues.

“These new and extremely complete fossils add important new information, especially about the evolution of the small burrowing boas known as rubber boas.”

“Traditionally, there has been a lot of discussion about the evolution of small burrowing bores.”

“Hibernophis Brighthaupti This suggests that northern and central North America may have been an important base for their development.”

According to the team: Hibernophis Brighthaupti Thanks to its location, the specimen has been remarkably well preserved for tens of millions of years.

“38 million years ago, these particular Hibernophis Brighthaupti “At the time the snakes lived, the Southern Basin-Range volcanic system was incredibly active, emitting huge amounts of volcanic ash,” said Professor Caldwell, lead author of the study.

“The ash settled and helped preserve the remains of the organisms found within the fine sandy mudstone matrix typical of the White River Formation.”

Paleontologists speculate that the animals may have fallen victim to a small flood.

“Geologically speaking, they were preserved in very unusual conditions,” Professor Caldwell said.

“Fossilization is a brutal process. You need exactly the right conditions to preserve something.”

Four discoveries Hibernophis Brighthaupti The curled-up sleeping arrangement also suggests that this may be the oldest evidence of communal hibernation, a behaviour we know today.

“Modern garter snakes are notorious for congregating in the thousands and hibernating together in burrows and holes,” Professor Caldwell said.

“They do this to take advantage of the ball effect created by hibernating animals to conserve heat.”

“It's fascinating to see evidence of this social behavior and hibernation going back 34 million years.”

of study Published in Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society.

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Jasmine A. Croghan othersMorphology and taxonomy of a new fossil snake from the early Rupelian (Oligocene) White River Formation, Wyoming. Zoological Journal of the Linnean SocietyPublished online June 19, 2024; doi: 10.1093/zoolinnean/zlae073

Source: www.sci.news

Roblox: The Evolution of Advergames as a Marketing Tool for Companies

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IBlocky World Chipotle Burrito BuilderIn Chipotle, players don the uniforms of the Tex-Mex restaurant chain and make burritos for virtual customers. Available toppings are taken from Chipotle’s real-world menu; shirts and caps feature the Chipotle logo. And when the game launched two years ago, the first 100,000 players earned “Burrito Bucks” to use in their burritos. Chipotle website.

after that Hyundai Mobility Adventure You can test drive models made by Korean manufacturers. Samsung Galaxy Station Here’s a mockup of the company’s latest smartphone designed to help travel to extraterrestrial worlds. Telefonica Town The challenge is to climb an assault course made from products featured in the telecommunications giant’s catalog. Vans World They just hand you a skateboard so you can do a few kickflips in a park plastered with shoe companies’ logos.

These are just a few of the corporate theme parks available. Robloxis one of the world’s most popular online video game platforms, with an average of 77 million players per day earlier this year, and is especially popular with children and younger players (58% of users self-reported as being under 16 years old). The end of last year), Roblox lets you explore fantastical virtual worlds, jumping over obstacles, finding hidden collectibles, and role-playing different tasks just like a kid would on the playground.

But the platform’s biggest selling point is its basic development tools, which allow anyone with little to no computer knowledge to create and share their own video games. Though this toolset is limited by design, it has attracted many people over the past few years, and not just aspiring game developers. This toolset has made Roblox a favorite playground for corporate advertisers, who use the development tools to create branded Roblox games to share with the game’s millions of players.

These advergames (advertisements presented in the form of video games) typically sprinkle corporate branding onto a set of game mechanics simple enough for Roblox’s younger player base. Broader suspicions Criticism that Roblox does not adequately protect children (which the company denies) has led to companies rushing to develop ad-supported games. Brands from Walmart to Wimbledon, McDonald’s to Gucci, Nike to the BBC have launched ad-supported games on the platform. Some have garnered hundreds of thousands of hits, others tens of millions. Seeking more brand involvement By promoting its large, young user base as a major attraction in a competitive advertising market.

An action shot from Vans World, where the company built a virtual skatepark in Roblox complete with footwear messaging. Photo: Vans / Roblox

“In the context of the attention economy, where consumers are exposed to hundreds, even thousands, of ads a day, capturing and maintaining attention is crucial,” says Yusuf Ochi, associate professor of marketing at Bayes Business School, City, University of London. “We are exposed to thousands of ads every day, many of which we don’t remember. Advagames circumvent these filters more effectively by integrating brand messaging into games.”

Öç’s own research has found that ads that utilize interactive features like touching, swiping, and tilting a phone screen can influence consumer preferences and purchase intent. Roblox allows brands to bring these interactive elements into a ready-made, engaging space.

“Roblox’s popularity with a younger demographic opens up new avenues for us to reach and engage the next generation of consumers in a sector where we’re already investing heavily,” said Robert Jan van Dormael, vice president of marketing for consumer audio at Samsung-owned Harman.

JBL, one of Harman’s hi-fi brands, released an official Roblox game in February, where players can collect audio snippets and arrange them into custom tracks, explore pastel-colored worlds and collect virtual currency to spend on cosmetic headphones and portable speakers, all accurately modeled after real-life JBL products. Since its release, it has attracted 1.4 million players, with average playtime over six minutes and engagement metrics orders of magnitude higher than other games. A few seconds A person typically spends an hour reading a social media post…

Source: www.theguardian.com

The Evolution of Human Brains: The Potential Consequences for Our Future

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No one doubts that Albert Einstein had a brilliant mind, but the Nobel Prize winner famous for his theories of special and general relativity wasn’t blessed with a big brain. “Jeremy DeSilva at Dartmouth College in New Hampshire.”

This seems surprising. Big brains are a defining feature of human anatomy, something we are proud of. Other species may be faster or stronger, but we thrive using the ingenuity that comes from our big brains. At least, that’s what we tell ourselves. Einstein’s brain suggests that the story is not so simple. And recent fossil discoveries bear this out. In the past two decades, we’ve learned that small-brained hominin species persisted on Earth long after species with larger brains emerged. Moreover, there is growing evidence that they were behaviorally sophisticated. For example, some of them made complex stone tools that could only have been made by humans with language.

These findings turn questions about the evolution of the human brain upside down: “Why would large brains be selected for when humans with small brains can survive in nature?” says DeSilva. Nervous tissue consumes a lot of energy, so large brains must have undoubtedly provided an advantage to the few species that evolved them. But what was the benefit?

The answer to this mystery is beginning to emerge. It appears that brain expansion began as an evolutionary accident that then led to changes that accelerated brain growth. Amazingly, the changes that drove this expansion also explain the recent 10 percent shrinkage of the human brain. What’s more, this suggests that our brains could shrink even further, potentially causing our demise.

There’s no denying that…

Source: www.newscientist.com

Snowball Earth’s harsh environmental conditions provided a competitive edge for the evolution of multicellular organisms

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Fossil and molecular evidence suggests that complex multicellular organisms arose and proliferated during the Neoproterozoic Era (1-541 million years ago). An extreme glacial period during the Cryogenian Period (720-635 million years ago), an event commonly referred to as Snowball Earth, led to dramatic changes in Earth's climate and oceans. New research suggests that Snowball Earth was an environmental trigger for the proliferation of complex multicellularity across multiple groups of eukaryotic organisms.

Artist's impression of “Snowball Earth.” Image courtesy of NASA.

Solving the mystery of why multicellular organisms emerged could help pinpoint life on other planets and explain the enormous diversity and complexity seen on Earth today, from marine sponges to redwoods to human societies.

The prevailing thinking is that oxygen levels must reach a certain threshold for a single cell to form a multicellular colony.

However, the oxygen story does not fully explain why the multicellular ancestors of animals, plants and fungi emerged simultaneously, or why the transition to multicellularity took more than a billion years.

The new study shows how the specific physical conditions of Snowball Earth, particularly the viscosity of the oceans and the depletion of resources, may have led eukaryotes to become multicellular.

“It seems almost counterintuitive that these extremely harsh conditions – this frozen planet – could actually select for larger, more complex organisms, rather than causing species to become extinct or shrink in size,” said William Crockett, a doctoral student at MIT.

Using scaling theory, Crockett and his colleagues found that a hypothetical ancestor of early animals, reminiscent of swimming algae that fed on prey instead of photosynthesizing, would have grown in size and complexity under Snowball Earth pressures.

In contrast, single-celled organisms that move and feed by diffusion, such as bacteria, will grow small.

“The world changed after Snowball Earth because new life forms emerged on the planet,” said Professor Christopher Kemps of the Santa Fe Institute.

“One of the central questions of evolution is: How did we evolve from nothing on Earth to beings and societies like us? Was it all by chance?”

“We don't think it's luck. There are ways to predict these big changes.”

The study shows how, during the Snowball Earth era, the oceans froze, blocking sunlight and reducing photosynthesis, which resulted in nutrient depletion in the oceans.

Larger organisms that could process more water were more likely to eat enough to survive.

As the glaciers melt, these large creatures could expand even further.

“Our study provides hypotheses about ancestral features to look for in the fossil record,” Crockett said.

of study Published in Proceedings of the Royal Society B.

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William W. Crockett others2024. Snowball Earth's physical constraints drive the evolution of multicellularity. Proc. R. Soc. B 291 (2025): 20232767; doi: 10.1098/rspb.2023.2767

This article is a version of a press release provided by the Santa Fe Institute.

Source: www.sci.news

The Significance of Happiness: Exploring the Evolution of Astro Bot, the Ultimate PlayStation 5 Game

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IEven though it’s the next big game for the PlayStation 5 and it’s in Sony’s DNA, there’s still something Nintendo about Astro Bot. That’s because it’s perfectly designed for the controller it’s played on, taking advantage of all the features of the DualSense controller. The spacey aesthetic, with different planets representing different colorful worlds to jump into, is reminiscent of Super Mario Galaxy, and it’s just pure joy to play. On a console where the most well-known hits are pretty serious (like God of War and The Last of Us), Astro Bot prioritizes fun.

“I think Sony’s product design is about cool, but it also embraces playfulness,” says Nicolas Doucet, studio director at Team Asobi, the Japanese studio behind Astro Bot. “The two are not mutually exclusive or antagonistic… [PlayStation] The hardware team loved it and no one cared less about it. These are highly crafted products, so you can imagine that designers wouldn’t want them tampered with. But we were looking at PSVR and turning it into a mothership.”

The first Astro Bot game, Rescue Mission, was the best thing ever made for PlayStation’s VR headset, a clever platformer brimming with original ideas. Astro’s Playroom was a treat that came packaged with the PS5 when it launched in 2020, designed to show off the capabilities of Sony’s new console and its controller. It did so brilliantly, with levels themed around the PS5’s super-fast SSD hard drive and a singing GPU soundtrack, taking full advantage of every little gimmick in the PS5 controller, from the microphone to the haptic triggers. But Astro’s Playroom was also, unexpectedly, an interactive museum of Sony’s gaming hardware. As I played, I collected consoles, peripherals, and other knickknacks, gradually filling the lab with PlayStation history. It was fun.

A cheeky idea that will never come again… Astro Bots. Photo: Sony/Team Asobi

During the development of Astro’s Playroom, Team Asobi worked very closely with the people making the PS5 and the controller. They were even running around the building with prototypes in paper bags, Doucet said. “They gave us prototype controllers that were twice the size of a normal controller, or they put two controllers together because they needed more power. You can see how much work went into miniaturizing all that and making a controller that looks and feels good. They came up with features like adaptive triggers and haptics because they Feeling Our job is to generate as many ideas as possible about how it might be used, and then validate and sometimes deny those intuitions. After all, we’re not selling technology, we’re selling an experience, a magical experience. come “From technology.”

Now, Team Asobi was given the freedom to create a bigger, longer game (12 hours or so) as an extended tech demo, without being tied to a single piece of PlayStation hardware. That said, it’s still a clear tribute to all things Sony. It incorporates many ideas that didn’t make it into the 2020 game. Astro Bot now flies between levels in a controller-shaped spaceship whose exhaust gases are made up of PlayStation button symbols. Running around several levels as this adorable robot, I slid down a waterslide with a bunch of beach balls, jumped off a high board into a pool, took down an angry giant octopus by slingshotting myself in the face with a retractable frog-face boxing glove, used a magnet to gather pieces of metal into a ball big enough to smash things, and blew up Astro like a balloon before sending him flying with the gas that erupted.

It’s super cute, funny and full of playful details. We discovered that the flames spewing from Astro’s jetpack can cut through wooden logs, but only because it’s fun; Astro struck a confident surfing pose when he hopped onto a turtle to see if he could ride on its back; and when we tickled a sad-looking anemone to discover a secret room, we were greeted with a chorus of “Secret!” These details are inconsequential, but as Doucet points out, “They’re important, because all these little things become memories.”

Hey! Don’t you remember me? … Astro Bot. Photo: Sony/Team Asobi

The levels are like a solar system that slowly expands outwards as the challenge increases. There’s the safest one towards the middle, where a 5-year-old can have fun kicking a football, jumping through water, and punching the occasional bad guy. And then there are the hardest levels towards the edge. There are over 150 little tributes to PlayStation games, from PaRappa the Rapper to Journey, in the form of cosplay robots that you can rescue. The challenge levels will test your 90s childhood 3D platforming skills, including precision jumps across platforms suspended in time and a miniature ice rink floating in space. This is the simplest fun I’ve had playing a game in a long time.

Team Asobi is relatively small, with about 65 people, and relatively international. According to Doucet, three-quarters of the team is Japanese, and the rest are from 16 countries. Some of them have worked on past PlayStation projects, such as Shadow of the Colossus and Gravity Daze, but some are newcomers. They are all focused on making Astro Bot a true mascot for PlayStation, Doucet says. “We want to develop Astro into a really strong franchise. We want to develop this little character even more,” he says. “There are a lot of expectations to meet at PlayStation, but we never forget that we are the underdogs. That’s part of the mindset of a successful person, you always want to be in pursuit of something. If you become too satisfied, the game starts to lose its soul.”

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Astro Bot certainly has a soul. It’s clear that the development team is having a lot of fun. “We’re geeky people, and I’m a PlayStation collector myself,” says Doucet. “It might sound a little corny, but it’s important that we’re happy so that our players are happy.”

Astro Bot will be available on PlayStation 5 on September 6th

This interview and play session took place at Summer Game Fest in Los Angeles. Keza MacDonald’s travel and accommodations were covered by Amazon Games.

Source: www.theguardian.com

478-Million-Year-Old Fossil Illuminates the Diversity and Evolution of Early Euchelidae

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Euchericherata A large group of arthropods that includes horseshoe crabs, scorpions, spiders, mites, ticks, and the extinct sea scorpions and snails. Abundant cetapedites The new species of Euchelycerate, which lived in what is now Morocco during the Early Ordovician period 478 million years ago, bridges the gap between modern and Cambrian species.

rebuilding the life of Abundant cetapedites. Image credit: Elissa Sorojsrisom.

“Modern scorpions, spiders, and horseshoe crabs belong to a vast lineage of arthropods that appeared on Earth about 540 million years ago,'' said Lorenzo Lustri, a paleontologist at the University of Lausanne. Ta.

“More precisely, they belong to the subphylum, chelicerates, which includes organisms equipped with pincers used specifically for biting, grasping prey, and injecting venom, and therefore chelicerates ( Euchelicerata+Pycnogonida). But what is the ancestor of this very special group?

“This question has puzzled paleontologists ever since the study of ancient fossils began.”

“Among early arthropods, it has been impossible to identify with certainty which forms share enough similarities with modern species to be considered ancestral.”

“The mystery is further complicated by the dearth of available fossils from the critical period between 505 million and 430 million years ago. This has made genealogical research easier. must.”

Abundant cetapedites. Image credit: Lustri other., doi: 10.1038/s41467-024-48013-w.

Dr. Rustri and his co-authors collected fossils of euchelicerate from the 478-million-year-old Fezouata Shale in Morocco, and found that the modern-day euchelicerate and the Cambrian (505 million-year-old) We identified a new species that binds the eucheris cerate.

with scientific name Abundant cetapeditesthe body length of this species was 0.5-1 cm.

“This animal makes it possible for the first time to trace the entire lineage of Euchelicerates, from the appearance of early arthropods to modern spiders, scorpions and horseshoe crabs,” Dr Rustri said.

“Initially, we just wanted to describe this fossil and give it a name.”

“I had no idea it would hold so many secrets.”

“It was therefore an exciting surprise to discover, after careful observation and analysis, that it also fills an important gap in the evolutionary tree of life.”

“Yet, this fossil has not yet revealed all its secrets,” he added.

“Indeed, some of its anatomical features allow for a deeper understanding of the early evolution of the eucherycerate group and perhaps link other fossil forms to this group, the similarities of which are still hotly debated. It is even possible.”

of result appear in the diary nature communications.

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L. Rustri other. 2024. Late Ordovician syndiphosrines reveal the diversity and evolution of early euchelicerates. Nat Commune 15, 3808; doi: 10.1038/s41467-024-48013-w

Source: www.sci.news

The Evolution of Traffic Lights

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Red, yellow, and green are now the colors of traffic lights, but that wasn’t always the case. The first (and disastrous) attempt to install a traffic light occurred on December 10, 1868, which also marks the official date of the installation of the world’s first traffic light. It was located in front of the British Parliament in London and consisted of two movable signs mounted on lever-operated arms, illuminated at the top for visibility at night. Unfortunately, the unlucky scoreboard didn’t last long, as it exploded less than two months later, killing the police officer who was putting up the sign.

Traffic lights started to be installed worldwide with the advent of electricity in cities. Cleveland (USA) was home to the first two-color traffic light operating on electricity. Detroit and New York added yellow between red and green in 1920. In Europe, Paris saw the first traffic lights in 1923, followed by other major cities. A year later, Berlin, Milan, Rome, London, Prague, and Barcelona also installed traffic lights.

The first treaty on the unification of road signals was signed in Geneva in 1931 with the goal of enhancing road traffic safety and facilitating international traffic on roads with standardized traffic lights. Most of the signs seen on streets today were established by this agreement, making the three colors of red, yellow, and green the standard for traffic lights. The choice of colors for traffic lights was inspired by railway traffic conditions, where red indicated stopping, white indicated moving, and green indicated caution. The introduction of yellow was to address the confusion caused by white, which could easily be mistaken for starlight at night.

When it comes to color perception, red has the longest wavelength, followed by yellow and green. Longer wavelengths travel farther, which is why colors with longer wavelengths are chosen for signal transmission. As a result, red light can travel the farthest, making it visible even in conditions like rain or fog.

sauce: dnevnik.hr

Source: hitechub.com

Discovery of a previously unknown Jurassic Shuotheriid species illuminates early mammalian evolution

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In a new study, a team of paleontologists examined the structure of teeth. Feredkodon Chowi aims to better understand the phylogenetic relationships and evolutionary paths of a new species of Xuozalaid mammal that lived in what is now China during the Jurassic period.

rebuilding the life of Feredkodon Chowi (right) and Dianoconodon Yonggi (left). Image credit: Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, Chinese Academy of Sciences.

Professor Patricia Vickers-Rich, a researcher at Monash University and Museums Victoria, said: “Our study challenges current theory and provides a new perspective on the evolutionary history of mammals.”

“By describing the complex tooth shapes and occlusal patterns, we provide important insights into the phylogenetic relationships and evolutionary trajectory of the family Xenodiaceae, which was largely unknown until its recent discovery in China. ”

Shoeteraid a mammal-like animal from the Jurassic period, has baffled scientists because of its unique dental features.

These creatures have so-called pseudoclaws (basin-like structures) located in front of the triangular teeth of the mandibular molars, and the claws seen in modern therian mammals are similar to the triangular teeth of the lower molars. It is different from the claw-like pattern located at the back.

“This unique tooth pattern hinders our understanding of schootelid relationships and the first steps in the evolution of mammalian species,” Professor Vickersrich said.

Professor Vickers Rich and her colleagues examined the pseudotribosphene tooth of a new Jurassic schiotelid. Feredkodon Chowi represented by two skeletal specimens.

They were able to more completely dissect the tooth structure using a variety of analyses, and the results suggested that the tooth structure of schootherids is very similar to that of docodontans. Ta.

This study suggests that there are no true trigonids present in the basal teeth of Xuozalidae, indicating that they are more closely related to Docodontans than previously thought.

This reassessment of tooth structure not only resolves outstanding interpretations but also triggers a reconsideration of evolutionary connections within mammals.

“In 1982, a single small Jurassic mandible with four teeth was placed at a single point in the mammal family tree,” said Dr Thomas Rich, also from Monash University and Museums Victoria.

“We now have two virtually complete specimens analyzed in different ways, all of which place them in very different positions on the mammal family tree.”

“Additional specimens and different methods suggest different interpretations. Science often works like this.”

Based on new data, the Xuozidae appears to belong to a separate clade, the Docodontiformes, separate from the Auscutolibospheniformes, and are therefore grouped as follows: docodontance.

This finding highlights the importance of pseudotribosphenic characters in elucidating the initial diversification of mammals.

“This study highlights the presence of a huge variety of tooth morphologies in early mammals, demonstrating unique ecomorphological adaptations throughout the evolutionary development of mammals,” Professor Vickersrich said. Ta.

of findings Published in today's diary Nature.

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F. Mao other. The Jurassic family Xenotheliidae represents the earliest dental diversification of mammals. Nature, published online on April 3, 2024. doi: 10.1038/s41586-024-07258-7

Source: www.sci.news

What impact will wearable AI have on the future of smartphones?

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Please try to imagine. I remember being on the bus or walking in the park and having an important task slip out of my mind. Maybe you were planning to send an email, catch up on a meeting, or have lunch with a friend. Without missing a beat, just say out loud what you forgot, and a small device strapped to your chest or placed on the bridge of your nose will send you a message, summarize a meeting, or remind a friend to go to lunch. Send invitations. No need to poke at your smartphone screen and the job is done.

This is the kind of utopian convenience that a growing wave of technology companies are trying to achieve through artificial intelligence. Generative AI chatbots such as ChatGPT exploded in popularity last year as search engines like Google, messaging apps like Slack, and social media services like Snapchat raced to integrate the technology into their systems.

AI add-ons have become commonplace across apps and software, but as the first AI-powered consumer devices launch and compete for space with smartphones, the same generation technology is poised to enter the hardware realm.

One of the first people out of the gate was eye pin California startup Humane. It’s a wearable device that’s only slightly larger than a can of Vaseline and attaches to your shirt via a magnet. You can send texts, make calls, take photos, and play music. However, there is no app support and no screen. Instead, it uses a laser to project a simple interface onto your outstretched palm. The built-in AI chatbot can be instructed through voice commands to search the web or answer queries in much the same way you’d expect from ChatGPT.

“I plan to train Ai Pin to be my personal assistant to facilitate my writing and creative work,” said the Virginia-based company, which pre-ordered the device ahead of its initial U.S. launch in April, says Tiffany Jana, a consultant with Since she travels a lot, she thinks it would be nice to have a photographer and translator to accompany her. “I don’t have all the assistants and large teams that supported me in the past. I’ve always been a tech guy and enjoy ChatGPT.”

Meanwhile, Facebook’s parent company Meta has already Smart glasses equipped with AI Partnering with Ray-Ban and Chinese companies TCL and Oppo Companies followed suit with their own AI glasses. All of these have pretty much the same functionality as Ai Pin and are sold in a way that connects to an AI chatbot that responds to voice commands.

It’s a way to curb smartphone overuse by providing the same essential functionality without addictive apps.

If all of this sounds a lot like what your smartphone’s voice assistant or your living room’s Alexa already does, that’s because that’s essentially what it does. “Using AI in new devices is still the norm today,” says David Lindlbauer, an assistant professor at the Human-Computer Interaction Institute at Carnegie Mellon University in Pennsylvania. “Everyone uses Google Suggestions, Apple Siri to navigate their phones, or smart suggestions in apps on their phones.” The difference, he says, is that these new and upcoming devices will, which aims to embed AI capabilities in a “less obtrusive and more ubiquitous way.”

Its design intent is most evident in future products pendant From US startup Rewind and software developer Tab AI Avi Shiffman. These small devices hang around your neck and passively record everything you hear and say during the day, then transcribe the most important parts so you can read them back at your convenience later. Designed to summarize. These are essentially productivity tools that bundle the kinds of generative AI capabilities found elsewhere into standalone devices.

But why would you want a device that does more than what your smartphone already has? Partly to free yourself from the less-than-welcome elements. Humane is pitching Ai Pin as a way to curb smartphone overuse by offering the same important functionality without the addictive apps that make you scroll compulsively. “An alcoholic is not dependent on the bottle, but on the contents,” says Christian Montag, chair of molecular psychology at the University of Ulm in Germany, by analogy. He says social media platforms in particular are often interested in intentionally extending screen time in order to show more ads or collect personal data. say. Experiments show that when you use your smartphone in grayscale mode, Reduce user retentionremoving the screen completely can have even more severe effects.

While this may seem counterintuitive to the tech industry’s ever-increasing appetite for new features and gadgets, it’s probably not as alien as it first seems. “Many people wear headphones all day long,” says Lindlbauer. “Therefore, it is entirely possible to move away from the temptation of scrolling through doom and move towards technology that allows us to access the digital world constantly, but unobtrusively.”

However, discussions about their broader applications are beginning to take place. For some, the future of this technology lies not in how it can be integrated into existing platforms, but in whether it can fundamentally change the way platforms are accessed. “There will be no need to use different apps for different tasks,” former Microsoft CEO Bill Gates said in an article. Blog post outlining his vision. “Simply tell your device, in everyday language, what you want to do.” Then, leave it to your device to figure out what apps, platforms, and information it needs to complete the task you set.

This is an idea that will be put into preliminary practice in the next stage. R1. Developed by Rabbit, a Californian AI startup, the R1 is a handheld device that looks a bit like a portable gaming console and operates like a powerful voice assistant. However, it is designed to interact directly with an app on your phone on your behalf, rather than simply connecting to an AI chatbot that generates passive responses to your commands (like other wearable gadgets). Masu. The idea is that R1 acts as an all-in-one interface for your device, a kind of central app that can control everything else.

“We’re not building products for new use cases. We’re developing better, more intuitive ways to address existing use cases.” said Jesse Lyu, Chief Executive Officer of Rabbit. He describes the R1 as a “digital companion” that doesn’t replace your smartphone, but makes it easier to use.

The value of that approach will become clear when R1 launches later this year. However, similar experimental devices are expected to follow. Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, which developed ChatGPT, is reportedly already in talks with former Apple chief designer Jony Ive to explore hardware ideas. And a group of startups and Silicon Valley powerhouses are now racing to develop the chips and processors these new devices will need to power their AI models.

Whatever form these AI devices end up taking, they will be hard to compete with the globally connected, highly capable, and intuitively controlled glass rectangles that are in most of our pockets. You’re going to have to work. However, as ubiquitous as smartphones seem, they too have an expiration date. “Smartphones have only been with us for about 15 years,” says Lindlbauer. “I don’t want to believe that smartphones are the pinnacle of technology or that we’ll ever use them the way we do now. [another] 15 years.”

Source: www.theguardian.com

Study finds that butterfly and moth genomes have remained remarkably stable over 250 million years of evolution

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This stability exists despite the incredible diversity in wing patterns, sizes, and caterpillar morphology across more than 160,000 species worldwide today, according to one study. new paper It was published in the magazine natural ecology and evolution.

lissandra belargas. Image credit: Eric Silvestre.

Butterflies and moths (in order) Lepidoptera) make up 10% of all described animal species and are extremely important pollinators and herbivores in many ecosystems.

In a new study, Professor Mark Blaxter and colleagues from the Wellcome Sanger Institute set out to understand the processes driving the evolution of chromosomes in this highly diverse group.

They analyzed and compared more than 200 high-quality chromosome-level genomes of butterflies and moths.

They identified 32 ancestral chromosomal components; Merian element Thanks to the work of pioneering 17th century entomologist Maria Sibylla Merian, most butterfly and moth species have remained intact since their last common ancestor more than 250 million years ago.

With the exception of a single ancient fusion event between two chromosomes that led to the 31 chromosomes found in most species today, the chromosomes of most modern species correspond directly to these ancestral Merian elements.

Researchers discovered that not only are chromosomes incredibly stable, but the order of genes within them is also stable.

They discovered several species with small changes, mainly involving the fusion of small autosomes and sex chromosomes. This highlights the role of chromosome length as a driver of evolutionary change.

However, scientists believe that the blue butterfly (lissandra) and the group containing cabbage butterflies (Pieris) ignored these genomic structure constraints.

These groups underwent large-scale chromosomal reshuffling, including large-scale chromosome reshuffling through chromosome breakage and fission and fusion.

This study improves our understanding of the factors that lead to genetic diversity in these insects. This will guide efforts to protect and conserve specific species facing unique challenges and environmental changes related to climate change.

“The chromosomes of most butterflies and moths living today can be directly traced back to 32 ancestral Merian elements that existed 250 million years ago,” said Dr. Charlotte Wright, researcher at the Wellcome Sanger Institute. said.

“It is surprising that even though the species has diversified extensively, its chromosomes have remained surprisingly intact.”

“This calls into question the idea that stable chromosomes may limit species diversification. Indeed, this feature may be the basis for building diversity. We We hope to find clues about rare groups that have circumvented these rules.”

“Studies like this that allow us to delve into these evolutionary processes are only possible through efforts like the Darwin Tree of Life Project, which generate high-quality, publicly available genome assemblies,” Blaxter said. the professor said.

“We are stepping up these efforts with Project Psyche, where we aim to sequence all 11,000 butterfly and moth species in Europe in collaboration with collaborators across the continent.”

“As important pollinators, herbivores, and food sources in a variety of ecosystems, and as powerful indicators of ecosystem health, a deeper understanding of the biology of butterflies and moths through Project Psyche will This will be useful for future research on adaptation and speciation for biodiversity conservation.”

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CJ light other. Comparative genomics reveals the dynamics of chromosome evolution in Lepidoptera. Nat Ecole Evol, published online on February 21, 2024. doi: 10.1038/s41559-024-02329-4

Source: www.sci.news

Fossils dating back 1.75 billion years shed new light on the evolution of photosynthesis

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Microscopic image of a modern cyanobacterium called Oscillatoria

Shutterstock / Ekki Ilham

Researchers have identified photosynthetic structures inside a 1.75 billion-year-old cyanobacteria fossil. This discovery is the oldest evidence yet of these structures and provides clues to how photosynthesis evolved.

Emmanuel Javeau Researchers from the University of Liège in Belgium analyzed fossils collected from rocks at three locations. The oldest site is the approximately 1.75 billion-year-old McDermott Formation in Australia, the other two are the billion-year-old Grassy Bay Formation in Canada and the Bllc6 Formation in the Democratic Republic of Congo. was.

From these rocks, the researchers extracted fossilized cyanobacteria that produce energy through photosynthesis. “They're so small, less than a millimeter, that you can't see them with the eye,” Java says. She and her colleagues placed the fossils in resin, sliced ​​them into sections 60 to 70 nanometers thick using a diamond-bladed knife, and analyzed their internal structures using an electron microscope.

They discovered that cyanobacteria in Australia and Canada contain thylakoids, membrane-enclosed sacs in which photosynthesis occurs. “These are the oldest fossilized thylakoids that we know of today,” Java says. Previously, the oldest thylakoid fossils were around 550 million years old. “So we delayed the fossil record by 1.2 billion years,” she says.

This is important because not all cyanobacteria have thylakoids and it is unclear when these structures, which make photosynthesis more efficient, first evolved, they said. Kevin Boyce at Stanford University in California. The origins of this diversification can now be traced back at least 1.75 billion years, he says. The oldest fossils of cyanobacteria are about 2 billion years old, but other evidence, such as geochemical signatures, indicate that photosynthesis has been around even longer than that.

It is widely believed that cyanobacteria helped build up oxygen in Earth's atmosphere 2.4 billion years ago. “The idea is that perhaps during this time they invented thylakoids, which increased the amount of oxygen on Earth,” Java says. “Now that we have discovered very old thylakoids and found them preserved in very old rocks, we think we might be able to test this hypothesis even further back in time,” she says. .

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Source: www.newscientist.com

How does living in space impact evolution?

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How will our species evolve in space? If humans were suddenly forced to board a fleet of space arks and abandon Earth, evolution by natural selection would force our bodies to adapt to the new environment. Humans will probably become extinct before we change anything.

Even assuming that air, food, and water are all synthesized and infinitely recyclable, the microgravity environment currently makes it difficult for astronauts on the International Space Station to undergo daily strenuous exercise. Bone density decreases by about 1 percent every month.

If this situation continues for several years, everyone will suffer from serious illness. Osteoporosis. If our voyage were to go into deep space, we would also have to worry about radiation. Galactic cosmic rays We will be exposed to approximately 250 times the normal background radiation we receive on Earth, and a single solar flare can be strong enough to cause radiation sickness.

Surviving this situation for decades at a time would require a spacecraft with an environment more similar to Earth than our current spacecraft. A large-diameter rotating habitat to simulate gravity and thick shielding to block radiation would be the minimum requirements. But if the conditions inside the spacecraft were exactly the same as on Earth, there would be no evolutionary pressure for our bodies to adapt.

Society will definitely evolve. Surrounded by danger and heavily dependent on technology, we are becoming more authoritative, with each person fulfilling their assigned role without question, ready to sacrifice themselves for the good of the species. It is possible to develop a principled society. This is too important to be left to the unpredictability of democratic, free-market capitalism, so a rigid hierarchy akin to the sailing ship regime of the 19th century will likely emerge.

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Asked by: Sophie via email

Source: www.sciencefocus.com

NASA’s Infrared Telescope: A Remarkable Evolution

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For the past 40 years, scientists have been using infrared space telescopes to study the universe, including NASA missions such as the Infrared Astronomy Satellite (IRAS) launched in 1983, the Spitzer Space Telescope launched in 2003, and the James Webb Space Telescope launched in 2021. Although the Webb Telescope has opened a new window to the universe, it builds on missions from 40 years ago, including Spitzer and the Infrared Astronomy Satellite. The James Webb Space Telescope is the largest and most powerful space observatory in history, celebrating its second anniversary since its launch. Its clarity of images has inspired the world, and scientists are just beginning to study its scientific benefits.

The success of Webb builds on four decades of work with space telescopes that also detect infrared light. Telescopes such as the IRAS and the Spitzer Space Telescope provide crucial insights into star formation, cosmic gas and dust clouds, and the existence of exoplanets. These telescopes have contributed to groundbreaking discoveries about the universe and have paved the way for future infrared missions, such as NASA’s upcoming SPHEREx and Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope.

The legacy of these infrared space telescopes is reflected in the images of star-forming regions, such as Rho Ophiuchus and Fomalhaut, which have revealed previously hidden features and provided insight into the formation of stars and planets. Infrared light has become an essential tool for understanding the universe on various scales, from the study of galaxy evolution to the detection of exoplanets and the investigation of dark energy.

The Webb Telescope is paving the way for complex and diverse scientific questions by building upon the knowledge gained from previous infrared telescopes such as IRAS and Spitzer. Its success is fueling the anticipation of future infrared missions that will continue to expand our understanding of the universe.

Source: scitechdaily.com

The Absence of Flightless Bats: Unraveling the Mystery of Evolution

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Vampire bats are not only masters of flight, but also skillful walkers

Joel Sartor/Photo Arc/naturepl.com

Something begins to stir in the undergrowth of a New Zealand forest. Small furry animals run around on tree roots and in fallen leaves, looking for insects and fruit. He runs with a strange gait, as if he were on stilts. Is it a rat? bird? No, it’s a bat. The New Zealand brown bat, or more precisely, the Pekapeka toupoto.

Bats first took to the skies about 52 million years ago and have remained there ever since. There are approximately 1,300 species in the world, but not one of them is flightless. Most bats can’t even walk well. That’s why many of us are surprised by the behavior of Pekapekatupoto, a bat that is comfortable both in the air and on the ground.

However, why flightless bats do not exist is an evolutionary mystery. Birds, another great group of flying vertebrates, have evolved into flightless animals many times around the world. They frequent remote islands such as New Zealand, where there is little danger from ground-based predation (at least until humans show up, anyone else grilling dodos?). In such situations, flightlessness is a good adaptation because flight is energetically costly.

The world’s most land-dwelling bat, the pekapekatoupoto, has long been thought to hold the key to explaining the strange absence of flightless bats. But research over the past two decades has revealed the surprising fact that many other species of bats can walk, too. Inside…

Source: www.newscientist.com

Behavior and evolution illuminated by 312-million-year-old fossil

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Department of Biological and Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University
December 15, 2023

Scientists at Harvard University’s Department of Biological and Evolutionary Biology have made an incredible discovery in the 312-million-year-old fossil of an insect. This discovery has pushed back the presumed origins of leaf mining behavior by 70 million years and provided new insights into the evolution of early insects. Their study shows that this behavior is linked to the evolution of early insects. The study was published on October 5, 2023, in New Phytologist.

The delicacy of prehistoric insects’ soft bodies makes them difficult to preserve as fossils. Due to this fragility, the bodies of these insects are often fragmented or incomplete, making scientific study difficult. As a result, paleontologists often rely on trace fossils to learn about these ancient insects, but they are almost exclusively found as traces of fossil plants. According to Dr. Richard J. Knecht, a candidate in the Department of Biological and Evolutionary Biology at Harvard University, the excellent preservation of fossil plants provides valuable insights into insect evolution and behavior.

In their study, researchers discovered endoparasitic trace fossils from the leaves of 312-million-year-old Carboniferous seed ferns. These trace fossils show the earliest signs of internal feeding within leaves, known as leaf mining. This discovery pushes the age of leaf mining behavior about 70 million years earlier than once believed.

The study also sheds light on the process and importance of internal nutrition in early insects. Feeding on plants internally is common in holometamorphic insects such as Lepidoptera (moths), Coleoptera (beetles), Diptera (flies), and Hymenoptera (wasps and sawflies), as the larvae make holes in the leaves and feed on the internal tissue, leaving a distinct trail. This behavior, identified in the Rhode Island Formation of the Carboniferous Period, shows how the exceptional preservation of this site allows for valuable insights into the behavior of ancient insects.

The study, led by Knecht and his team, highlights the significance of this discovery in furthering our understanding of early insect evolution and behavior and provides new insights into the origins of leaf mining by linking it to the evolution of early insects.

Source: scitechdaily.com