Study finds that Chicxulub asteroid, which caused dinosaur extinction, originated from beyond Jupiter.

Posted on August 20, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

The asteroid, called the Chicxulub impactor, was a carbonaceous asteroid that formed outside the orbit of Jupiter. New Paper Published in the journal Science.

Ankylosaurus magniventrisA Tyrannosaurus, a type of large armored dinosaur, witnessed the impact of an asteroid that fell on the Yucatan Peninsula 66 million years ago. Image by Fabio Manucci.

About 66 million years ago, a 10-kilometer-wide asteroid struck Earth near what is now a small town called Chicxulub in Mexico.

This impact released incredible amounts of climate-changing gases into the atmosphere, setting off a chain of events that led to the extinction of the non-avian dinosaurs and 75% of life on Earth.

Evidence includes the presence of high concentrations of platinum group elements (PGE) in the Cretaceous-Paleogene boundary layer, including iridium, ruthenium, osmium, rhodium, platinum, and palladium, which are rare on Earth but common in meteorites.

These elevated PGE levels have been found worldwide, suggesting that the impact spread debris around the world.

Some have proposed large-scale volcanism in the Deccan Traps igneous province of India as an alternative source of PGEs, but the specific PGE ratios at the Cretaceous-Paleogene boundary are more consistent with an asteroid impact than volcanism.

However, little is known about the nature of the Chicxulub impactor, including its composition and extraterrestrial origin.

To answer these questions, Dr Mario Fischer-Gödde from the University of Cologne and his colleagues measured ruthenium isotopes in samples taken from three sites at the Cretaceous-Palaeogene boundary.

For comparison, the team also analysed samples from five other impacts that occurred between 36 million and 470 million years ago, an ancient impact spherule from 3.5 to 3.2 billion years ago, and two carbonaceous meteorites.

The researchers found that the ruthenium isotope signature of samples taken from the Cretaceous-Paleogene boundary was uniform and matched very closely to that of carbonaceous chondrites rather than those from Earth or other types of meteorites, suggesting that the Chicxulub impactor likely came from a carbonaceous-type asteroid that formed in the outer solar system.

The other five impact structures have isotopic signatures more consistent with silicic asteroids that formed closer to the Sun.

The ancient spherulitic samples are consistent with a carbonaceous asteroid impact during the final stages of Earth's accretion.

“The composition of this asteroid is consistent with that of carbonaceous asteroids that formed outside Jupiter's orbit during the formation of the solar system,” Dr Fischer-Gödde said.

“Asteroid impacts like Chicxulub turn out to be very rare and unique events in geological time,” said Professor Carsten Müncher from the University of Cologne.

“The fate of the dinosaurs and many other species was sealed by this object that came from the outer solar system.”

_____

Mario Fischer-Gedde others2024. Ruthenium isotopes indicate that the Chicxulub impactor was a carbonaceous asteroid. Science 385 (6710): 752-756; doi: 10.1126/science.adk4868

Source: www.sci.news

Potential Ocean’s Worth of Water Likely Hidden Beneath Mars’ Surface, Study Finds

Posted on August 13, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

Mars A recent study indicates that the Earth may be hiding a global ocean beneath its surface, with cracks in rocks potentially holding enough water to form it.

The report, released on Monday, highlights NASA’s Mars rover InSight. To date, more than 1,300 earthquakes have been detected on Mars. This study was closed two years ago.

Scientists believe that the water lies about seven to 12 miles (11.5 to 20 kilometers) deep in Mars’ crust, possibly originating from the planet’s ancient surface water sources such as rivers, lakes, and oceans billions of years ago, according to Vashan Wright, the lead scientist at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California, San Diego.

Despite the presence of water inside Mars, Wright noted that it does not necessarily mean that life exists there.

“However, our findings suggest the possibility of habitable environments,” he mentioned in an email.

The research team combined computer simulations with InSight data, including earthquake speeds, to suggest that groundwater is the most likely explanation. These results were published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences on Monday.

Wright remarked that if InSight’s observations near the equator of Mars at Elysium Planitia are representative of the entire planet, there could be enough groundwater to fill a terrestrial ocean approximately a mile (1 to 2 kilometers) deep.

Tools like drills will be required to verify the presence of water and search for signs of microbial life.

Despite the InSight lander no longer being in operation, scientists are still analyzing the data collected between 2018 and 2022 to gain more insights into Mars’ interior.

Over 3 billion years ago, Mars was mostly covered in water, but due to the thinning of its atmosphere, it lost its surface water, becoming the dry and dusty world we see today. It is believed by scientists that the ancient water either escaped into space or remains hidden underground.

Source: www.nbcnews.com

Study finds that extinct fin whales had narrow-band high-frequency hearing

Posted on July 30, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

Parapontoporia The common dolphin, an extinct genus of long-nosed dolphins that lived along the Pacific coast of North America from the late Miocene to the Pliocene, was likely able to hear in a narrow band of high-frequency sounds, a new analysis has found. Parapontoporia The bony labyrinth.

The last known Chinese river dolphin, Qiqi. Image by Roland Seitre / CC BY-SA 3.0.

“Whales, dolphins and porpoises (cetaceans) represent one of the most dramatic transitions in the history of mammals: a return from land to water,” said researchers Dr. Joyce Sanks of Vanderbilt University and Dr. Rachel Racicot of the Senckenberg Institute and the Natural History Museum.

“As a result, this group acquired a series of aquatic adaptations, such as moving their nostrils to the top of their heads and streamlining their bodies.”

“Echolocation developed early in the evolutionary history of Oligocene toothed whales (Odontoceti), and all modern toothed whales possess this ability.”

“The biosonar clicks produced by most extant toothed whales typically cover a wide frequency spectrum, from tens of kilohertz to 150-170 kHz.”

“Conversely, certain toothed whales emit characteristic biosonar clicks that have narrow bandwidth but high centroid frequencies.”

“These distinctive clicks have a peak frequency of 125-140 kHz and a bandwidth of 11-20 kHz.”

Using high-resolution x-ray CT scans, the authors examined the inner ears of three people. Parapontoporia Two specimens, Parapontoporia sternbergii and Parapontoporia pacifica From the collection of the San Diego Natural History Museum.

With the help of 3D models, the team was able to prove that these creatures already had narrow-band, high-frequency hearing during the Miocene epoch, about 5.3 million years ago.

“Echolocation, as used by animals, also developed quite early in evolutionary history,” Dr Racicot said.

“The animals emit sound waves that bounce off objects and send back echoes, providing information about the object's distance and size. All toothed whales currently use this natural sonar system.”

“Echolocation is a rational hunting and communication strategy, especially in the ocean, where sound travels five times faster than in air, and where visibility is often reduced.”

“What's particularly interesting is that these dolphins have once again changed habitat, leaving the marine environment to colonize rivers.”

There are still a few dolphins living in the river today, with all six species now extremely rare and endangered.

As a relative Chinese river dolphin (Lipotes vexilifer) Last recorded in 2002, Parapontoporia It provides insight into the transition from marine habitats to freshwater environments.

“We speculate that this early and widespread evolution of echolocation in the dolphins we studied was driven by selective pressure or ecological advantage,” Dr Racicot said.

“River systems are spatially complex habitats, and this form of orientation and communication would likely have been advantageous for long-nosed dolphins.”

“Further research into toothed whales' sensory organs could be an important tool for studying the influence of habitat on cetacean hearing and for understanding the evolutionary dynamics of marine mammals.”

of result Published in this month's journal Anatomy record.

_____

Joyce Sanks & Rachel Racicot. Biology and prediction of hyperacusis. Parapontoporia – The extinct fin whale. Anatomy record Published online July 15, 2024; doi: 10.1002/ar.25538

Source: www.sci.news

Finds from the Bronze Age indicate that market economics may have originated earlier than previously believed

Posted on July 29, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

Bronze Age metal hoard from Weisig, Germany

J. Lipták/Landesamt für Archäologie Sachsen

Bronze Age Europeans earned and spent money in much the same way we do today, indicating that the origins of the “market economy” are much older than expected.

That’s the controversial conclusion of a new study that challenges the view that elites were the dominant force in Bronze Age economies and suggests that human economic behaviour may not have changed much over the past 3,500 years or more.

“We tend to romanticize European prehistory, but the Bronze Age was not just a fantasy world where townsfolk and peasants served their needs as a backdrop for great lords,” he said. Nicola Ialongo “It was a very familiar world, with family, friends, social networks, markets, jobs, and ultimately having to figure out how to make ends meet,” says Professor at Aarhus University in Denmark.

Bronze Age Europeans, from 3300 to 800 BCE, were not meticulous bookkeepers like people in other ancient societies, such as those in Mesopotamia. But Ialongo and Giancarlo Lago Researchers at the University of Bologna in Italy suggest that the treasure trove of metal they left behind may hold important insights into their daily lives and the roots of modern economic behavior.

Lago and Ialongo analyzed more than 20,000 metal objects from Bronze Age burials in Italy, Switzerland, Austria, Slovenia and Germany. These metal objects came in many different forms, but around 1500 B.C. they began to be standardized by weight, which is how they were classified. Many experts These are distinguished as a type of pre-monetary currency.

“The discovery of widespread systems of measurement and weight allows us to model things that have been known for centuries in ways that have never been modeled before,” Ialongo says. “This not only gives us new answers to old questions, but it also gives us new questions that no one has asked before.”

The team found that the weight values in their vast sample followed the same statistical distribution as the daily expenses of a modern Western household: small everyday expenses, represented by lighter pieces, dominated the consumption pattern, while larger expenses, represented by heavier pieces, were relatively rare. This pattern is similar to that found in the average modern wallet, with many small bills and very few large bills.

Lago and Ialongo interpret their find as evidence that the Bronze Age economic system was regulated by market forces of supply and demand, with everyone participating in proportion to how much they earned. This hypothesis contrasts with the influential view put forward by anthropologist Karl Polanyi in the 1940s, who characterized the modern economy, based on monetary gain, as a new phenomenon distinct from ancient economies centered on barter, gift exchange, and social status.

Richard Brunton A researcher from Purdue University in Indiana called the study credible: “I think this argument will stimulate debate among archaeologists and economic anthropologists who have been based for decades on erroneous assumptions about the antiquity of market economies,” he said.

“I think this paper adds useful fuel to that criticism,” Brunton says, “and to me it sheds entirely new light on the function of bronze deposits and the potential use of bronze coins as a unit of exchange.”

but, Erica Schonberger Researchers at Johns Hopkins University in Maryland are skeptical of the team’s conclusions. “It’s dangerous to assume that ordinary people in premodern times used money in normal economic activities,” says Schonberger. “For example, medieval English peasants only got money for selling their produce when lords began to demand money in lieu of rents or taxes in kind. They gave most or all of that money directly to the lords. They sold to get money, but they didn’t use it to buy things they needed. We’re still a long way from modern economic behavior.” [in the Middle Ages].”

Lago and Ialongo hope that their work will inspire other experts to carry out similar studies on artefacts from different regions and cultures. They suggest that market economies are a natural development across time and cultures, and that such systems are not something new or unique that has emerged in Western societies over the past few centuries.

“Technically, we haven’t proven that the Bronze Age economy was a market economy,” Ialongo says, “we simply have no evidence that it wasn’t. And we’re just pointing out a contradiction: why is everyone so convinced that there wasn’t a market economy when everything we see can be explained by a market economy model? In other words, if the simplest explanation works well enough, why should we have to imagine a more complex one?”

topic:

Source: www.newscientist.com

Melting Ice Causing Earth’s Rotation to Slow and Axis to Shift, Research Finds

Posted on July 17, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

A recent study reveals that climate change is fundamentally reshaping the Earth, impacting its core. The melting of polar ice caps and glaciers due to global warming is causing a redistribution of water towards the equator, resulting in a shift in the Earth’s rotation and leading to increased daylight hours. This phenomenon is supported by new evidence suggesting that changes in the Earth’s ice could potentially affect its axis. These alterations create feedback loops within the Earth’s molten core, as highlighted in studies published in Nature Geoscience and the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

According to Benedict Soja, an assistant professor at ETH Zurich in Switzerland, human activities are significantly influencing the Earth’s rotation. Changes in the planet’s shape and mass distribution, influenced historically by forces like the moon’s gravitational pull and rebounding of crust after ice age glaciers disappeared, are now being accelerated by rapid ice melting caused by climate change. Soja warns that continued carbon emissions could make ice loss a more significant factor in Earth’s rotation than the moon.

In addition to external factors like gravity and ice loss, fluid movements in the Earth’s core also play a role in affecting the planet’s rotation. These movements can speed up or slow down the Earth’s rotation and are currently compensating for the slowdown caused by climate change. The new study suggests that climate change is leading to small variations in polar motion due to changes in mass distribution, estimated to be about one meter per decade.

An iceberg in Antarctica on February 8th.
Şebnem Coşkun / Anadolu via Getty Images File

These changes in rotation are expected to have implications for space missions, navigation, and timekeeping. Understanding how Earth’s rotation and axis are affected by climate change will be crucial for accurate space exploration and maintaining global time standards. The research emphasizes the interconnectedness of surface processes with the Earth’s core, shedding light on the complex relationship between human activities and the planet’s inner workings.

Source: www.nbcnews.com

Study finds ancient genome structure preserved in 52,000-year-old mammoth skin

Posted on July 12, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

Scientists from Baylor College of Medicine and other institutions have announced the discovery of ancient chromosome subfossils in a female mammoth fossil.Mammutus primigeniusThe mammoth, a species of mammoth known as the pygmy mammoth, died 52,000 years ago in what is now Siberia. The fossil preserves the structure of its ancient chromosomes down to the nanometer (billionth of a meter) scale. Researchers hypothesize that the cold of Siberia naturally freeze-dried the mammoth's skin, causing a glass transition that preserved the fossil.

Sandoval Velasco othersAssembled the genome and 3D chromosome structure of a 52,000-year-old woolly mammoth. Image courtesy of Sandoval Velasco. others., doi: 10.1016/j.cell.2024.06.002.

“This is a new type of fossil, one whose scale far exceeds that of individual ancient DNA fragments, with sequences a million times larger,” said Dr. Erez Lieberman Aiden, director of the Center for Genome Architecture at Baylor College of Medicine.

“This is also the first time that an ancient sample has been karyotyped.”

Knowing the three-dimensional structure of a genome gives us a lot of additional information beyond its sequence, but most ancient DNA specimens are made up of very small, jumbled up pieces of DNA.

Building on their work mapping the 3D structure of the human genome, Dr Aiden and his colleagues reasoned that the same strategy could be used to assemble ancient genomes, provided suitable ancient DNA samples were found.

The researchers tested dozens of samples over a five-year period, eventually locating an unusually well-preserved woolly mammoth that was unearthed in September 2018 near Belaya Gora, in the Sakha Republic in northeastern Siberia.

“We believe that the freeze-drying occurred naturally shortly after death, and the nuclear structures in the dried samples can remain viable for an incredibly long period of time,” said Dr. Olga Dudchenko of the Center for Genome Structure at Baylor College of Medicine.

To reconstruct the mammoth's genome structure, the authors extracted DNA from skin samples taken from behind the mammoth's ears.

They are, High C This allows them to detect which parts of DNA are in spatial proximity and likely to interact in their natural state within the nucleus.

“Imagine having a puzzle with 3 billion pieces, but not having the final puzzle picture at hand,” said Professor Marc-Marty-Renom, a structural genomicist at the National Center for Genome Analysis and Genomic Regulation.

“Hi-C allows me to get a rough idea of what the picture looks like before I start putting the puzzle pieces together.”

They then combined the physical information from the Hi-C analysis with DNA sequences to identify interacting DNA sections and produced a neat map of the mammoth genome using the modern elephant genome as a template.

The analysis revealed that mammoths had 28 chromosomes, the same number as modern Asian and African elephants.

Remarkably, the fossilized mammoth chromosomes retained a great deal of physical integrity and detail, including the nanoscale loops that contact transcription factors with the genes they control.

By examining the compartmentalization of genes within the nucleus, the scientists were able to identify active and inactive genes in the mammoth skin cells, a proxy for epigenetics and transcriptomics.

Compared with skin cells from the mammoth's closest relative, the Asian elephant, the mammoth's skin cells showed different gene activation patterns, including genes that may be related to fur and cold tolerance.

“For the first time we have mammoth tissue where we can roughly tell which genes are on and which are off,” said Professor Martti Renom.

“This is a surprising new type of data, the first time we've measured cell-specific genetic activity of genes in ancient DNA samples.”

Team result Published in today's journal cell.

_____

Marcela Sandoval Velasco others2024. A 52,000-year-old mammoth skin sample contains 3D genome structure. cell 187(14):3541-3562; doi:10.1016/j.cell.2024.06.002

Source: www.sci.news

Webb finds hourglass-shaped molecular cloud surrounding protostar

Posted on July 4, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

Astronomers MIRI (mid-infrared measuring instrument) camera The NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope probe has captured striking new photos of molecular cloud L1527.

L1527, shown in this image from Webb's MIRI instrument, is a molecular cloud enveloping the IRAS 04368+2557 protostar. The more diffuse blue light and filamentary structures in the image come from organic compounds called polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), while the red in the center of the image is a thick layer of energetic gas and dust that surrounds the protostar. The white intermediate regions are a mix of PAHs, ionized gases, and other molecules. Image courtesy of NASA / ESA / CSA / STScI.

L1527, also known as LDN 1527, is located about 447 light-years from Earth in the constellation Taurus.

The young protostar, called IRAS 04368+2557, is embedded in a molecular cloud that is part of a star-forming region in the constellation Taurus.

IRAS 04368+2557 is a relatively young star, only 100,000 years old.

Given its age and brightness in the far-infrared, the star is likely a class 0 protostar, the earliest stage of star formation.

IRAS 04368+2557 has an edge-on disc with two misaligned parts.

The inner and outer parts of the disk have slightly different orbital planes and are connected at 40 to 60 AU (astronomical units) from the protostar, but the disk is point-symmetric with respect to the location of the protostar.

Webb's previous observations of L1527 showed that NIRCam (Near Infrared Camera)Astronomers were able to peer into the region, where the molecular cloud and protostar appeared in opaque, vibrant colors.

Both NIRCam and MIRI show the effects of outflows that shoot out in opposite directions along the protostar's rotation axis as the protostar consumes gas and dust from the surrounding cloud.

These outflows take the form of bow shock waves relative to the surrounding molecular cloud and appear as filament-like structures throughout the molecular cloud.

They also energize, or excite, the material around them, causing the areas above and below them to glow, imprinting bright hourglass structures in the molecular cloud.

“But unlike NIRCam, which primarily images light reflected from dust, MIRI will be able to probe how these outflows affect the thickest dust and gas in the region,” astronomer Webb said in a statement.

“The blue region that takes up most of the hourglass represents carbonaceous molecules called polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons.”

“The IRAS 04368+2557 protostar itself is shown in red, along with the dense mixture of dust and gas that surrounds it.”

“Meanwhile, MIRI revealed white regions just above and below the protostar, which are not as clearly visible in the NIRCam view.”

“This region is a mixture of hydrocarbons, ionized neon, and thick dust, indicating that the protostar is consuming material from the disk in a promiscuous manner, pushing this material over great distances.”

“As IRAS 04368+2557 continues to age and emits energetic jets, it will consume, destroy or push aside much of this molecular cloud, and much of the structure seen here will begin to disappear.”

“Eventually, when the accumulation of mass stops, this impressive spectacle will come to an end and the star itself will become more clearly visible to optical telescopes.”

“Combining both near-infrared and mid-infrared analyses will shed light on the overall behavior of this system, including how the central protostar is influencing the surrounding region.”

“Other stars in Taurus, the star-forming region in which L1527 resides, may form in exactly this way, which could lead to the disruption of other molecular clouds, either preventing the formation of new stars or promoting their development.”

Source: www.sci.news

Tegan Higginbotham Shares 10 Hilarious Internet Finds | Culture

Posted on July 3, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

IAs a producer of a morning radio show, I spend countless hours scouring the internet for comedy treasures. I wish I could say that outside of work I’m completely offline, happily pursuing real-world activities like jogging, baking, and not dreading the news, but that would be a total lie. No, this 21st century woman is addicted! And if there’s anything I’ve learned from putting together this list… it’s that I’m glued to the internet. very someday.

So, in tribute to my decades of drug addiction, here are some classics from the good old days of dial-up. Enjoy those good old modem sounds!

1. Charlie and friends go to the mysterious Candy Mountain

First off, here’s a video that YouTube says is 16 years old. 16! Who am I to hold on to my youth? It’s… Charlie the Unicorn. Remember that? My sister and I used to watch this almost every day in school and yell “avoid atheists” until my dad left the house. It was so much fun.

2. Jurassic Park Theme Song (Melodica Cover)

Another classic. This one takes something I love (great movies) and pokes fun at it by mixing melodica into it. PS: I know you’re probably worried about my sense of humor already. I understand, but bear with me.

3. May the people’s poet rest in peace

I love Rik Mayall. He is one of the British comedians who has shaped my sense of humour a lot. Dawn French, Jennifer Saunders, Rowan Atkinson, Hugh Laurie… you get the point. In this clip, a young Rik Mayall performs his poem “Theatre” in front of an audience. I love watching Rick’s character evolve over time. Watch it here Another rendition of the same performance. May the people’s poet rest in peace.

This is a Dan Brown-style review of Dan Brown’s book “Inferno.” It’s cruel, unnecessarily mean, and just awesome. My favorite lines include “The reviewer said his writing was poorly written, grammatically incorrect, and repetitive,” and “Famous author Dan Brown smiled, the corners of his mouth curling upwards in delight.” If you’ve never read Dan Brown’s books and therefore don’t understand these quotes, I envy you.

5. Liza Minnelli tries to turn off the lamp

Any list of internet comedy gold standard is bound to include a solid but overly long SNL sketch — that’s the rule — so in my case, I chose Kristen Wiig’s surprisingly funny “Liza Minnelli Tries to Turn Off the Lamp.”

Skip Newsletter Promotions

6. Woo Gu

Chris Fleming is an American comedian and actor. He does a lot of stuff online and I love all of it. But Wildly Unlikable Guy is especially great. Reading it has made me feel less bad about some of the conversations I have at parties (which is amazing, because most of the conversations I have at parties make me feel bad).

7. Don’t say no to a panda

I like seeing generally “good” things do bad things: the dog ripping up the whole couch; A little kid running with a knife“Never Say No to a Panda” is a series of commercials for Arab Dairy’s Panda Cheese. The commercials feature a giant, friendly panda who gets nauseated when people (politely) decide not to use his brand of cheese. Here are some of my favourites from the campaign:

8. Shooting Star

I’ll be honest, I watch a lot of AFL memes (particularly the ones on the Carlton Memes Instagram account, especially after they’ve won a game), but last season a player named Tom Hawkins got shoved to the ground and took a bit of a beating with his fall. You know what I mean? Almost instantly this video appeared online, and for some reason I found it funny and have been laughing at it ever since.

9. Rejected lyrics from the theme song of HBO’s Succession

Demi Adejuyigbe is a fantastic comedian and I first discovered him online through his hit show September Video Clips. He’s truly set a new standard for great online content. This clip is much more lo-fi but just as great. I can honestly say that once you watch the video, you won’t be able to stop singing this song. Intention It will ruin Success for you, but I think it will still be worth it.

10. Men and tampons…in a perfect world!

www.theguardian.com

Study finds that hippos can run so fast that they can leap into the air

Posted on July 3, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

If you struggle to picture a two-ton, wingless creature hovering, you’re not alone. However, a recent study shows that hippos (or hippopotamuses, to use the full name) can reach speeds that rival flying.

Although hippos are amphibious, they are some of the largest land animals, often weighing over 2,000 kg (2.2 tonnes). Due to their aquatic lifestyle, little is known about their terrestrial movement.

In a surprising discovery, researchers found that hippos can remain airborne for short periods, representing about 15 percent of their stride cycle, or approximately 0.3 seconds. This suggests that they move differently on land than previously thought.

In this image from the researchers’ footage, all four of the hippo’s legs are off the ground, giving the appearance of floating. – Image credit: Johan Vermeulen

While some animals like horses are known to leap into the air at high speeds, it’s rare for large animals like hippos to do so. This unique movement pattern sets them apart from elephants, which never lift all four legs off the ground simultaneously.

Prior studies were inconclusive about the hippo’s gait pattern, but recent research from the Royal Veterinary College reveals that hippos predominantly trot, regardless of their speed. This uniformity in movement is uncommon among land mammals and sheds light on how hippos navigate their environment.

Studying hippos is challenging due to their dangerous nature, making them elusive subjects for scientific research. Professor John Hutchinson, lead author of a study on hippos, emphasized the difficulty in studying these creatures due to their habitat and behavior.

To overcome these obstacles, researchers analyzed video footage of hippos at Flamingo Land Resort in Yorkshire, observing their movement patterns in detail. Their findings not only contribute to our understanding of terrestrial mammals but also have potential implications for veterinary medicine.

By uncovering how hippos walk and run, this study provides valuable insights into their behavior and capabilities. Hutchinson expressed admiration for the hippos’ surprising agility on land, highlighting the incredible nature of these animals.

Learn more:

Source: www.sciencefocus.com

Humans definitively responsible for extinction of large animals, study finds

Posted on July 3, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

Over the past 50,000 years, terrestrial vertebrate faunas have experienced severe declines in large species (megafauna), with most extinctions occurring during the Late Pleistocene and early to mid-Holocene. Importantly, this extinction event is unique in its strong size bias compared to other Cenozoic extinctions (past 66 million years). For example, of 57 species of large herbivores (weighing over 1,000 kg), only 11 have survived to the present day. Debate regarding the causes has continued for over two centuries.

Svenning othersGlobal extinction patterns, as well as fine-scale spatiotemporal and mechanistic evidence, show little evidence of a significant climate influence. Conversely, there is growing evidence of strong human pressure as the primary driver of these extinctions, with the initial onset linked to pre-global warming.Homo sapiens Hominins before the Late Pleistocene. Image courtesy of Svenning others., doi: 10.1017/ext.2024.4.

“The massive and selective disappearance of large animals over the past 50,000 years is unprecedented in the past 66 million years,” said Professor Jens Christian Svenning from Aarhus University.

“Past climate changes have not led to large-scale selective extinctions, arguing that climate played a major role in the extinction of large animals.”

“Another important pattern supporting the lack of a role for climate is that recent megafauna extinctions have hit climatically stable regions as hard as climatically unstable regions.”

Archaeologists have found traps designed to hunt very large animals, and isotope analysis of protein residues on ancient human bones and spear points reveals that they hunted and ate the largest mammals.

“Early modern humans were able to effectively hunt even the largest animal species and clearly had the capacity to reduce large animal populations,” Prof Svenning said.

“These large animals were and remain especially vulnerable to over-exploitation because they have long gestation periods, give birth to very small litters and take many years to reach sexual maturity.”

The analysis found that human hunting of large animals, such as mammoths, mastodons and giant sloths, was widespread and consistent around the world.

It also shows that the species went extinct at very different times and at different rates around the world.

In some areas it happened quickly, but in others it took more than 10,000 years.

But everywhere, it happened after the arrival of modern humans or, in the case of Africa, after human cultural advancement.

Species became extinct on every continent except Antarctica, and in every type of ecosystem, from tropical forests and savannas to Mediterranean and temperate forests and steppes, to Arctic ecosystems.

“Many extinct species could have thrived in a variety of environments,” Prof Svenning said.

“Therefore, their extinction cannot be explained by climate change that caused the disappearance of certain ecosystem types such as the Mammoth Steppe, which also contained only a few large animal species.”

“Most species live in temperate to tropical climates and would have actually benefited from the warming at the end of the last ice age.”

The researchers say the decline of large animals has serious ecological implications.

Macrofauna play a central role in ecosystems by influencing vegetation structure (e.g. the balance between dense forest and open areas), seed dispersal and nutrient cycling.

Their disappearance has led to major changes in ecosystem structure and function.

“Our findings highlight the need for active conservation and restoration efforts,” Professor Svenning said.

“Reintroducing large mammals can help restore ecological balance and maintain the biodiversity that evolved in ecosystems rich in large animals.”

of study Published in the journal Cambridge Prism: Extinction.

_____

Jens Christian Svenning others2024. Late Quaternary megafauna extinctions: patterns, causes, ecological impacts and implications for ecosystem management in the Anthropocene. Aarhus University. Cambridge Prism: Extinction 2: e5; doi: 10.1017/ext.2024.4

This article has been edited based on the original release from Aarhus University.

Source: www.sci.news

Ammonites did not decrease before end-Cretaceous extinction, study finds

Posted on June 29, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

A team of British and American paleontologists has analysed the fossil record of ammonites (marine mollusks best known as snails) from the Late Cretaceous period (105 to 66 million years ago), a period that some scientists characterise as a period of decline before their complete extinction at the Cretaceous-Paleogene boundary. The study suggests that, far from disappearing before this, ammonites were still going strong around the world during the Late Cretaceous.

An ammonite basking in the sun from the Late Cretaceous period. Image courtesy of Callum Pursall.

Ammonites thrived in the Earth’s oceans for more than 350 million years before becoming extinct in the same chance event that wiped out the dinosaurs 66 million years ago.

Some paleontologists argue that the extinction of ammonites (the last major lineage of ammonoids) was inevitable, and that ammonite diversity declined long before their extinction at the end of the Cretaceous.

But new research suggests that ammonites’ fate is not sealed; rather, the final chapter of their evolutionary history is more complicated.

“Understanding how and why biodiversity has changed over time is extremely difficult,” said Dr Joseph Flannery Sutherland, a palaeontologist from the Universities of Birmingham and Bristol.

“The fossil record tells us part of the story, but it’s often an unreliable narrator.”

“Patterns of diversity may simply reflect sampling patterns — essentially when and where new fossil species were discovered — rather than actual biological history.”

“Analysing the extant Late Cretaceous ammonite fossil record as if it were a complete global story is probably why previous researchers have thought of ammonites as being in a long-term ecological decline.”

To overcome this problem, Dr. Flannery Sutherland and his colleagues have built a new database of Late Cretaceous ammonite fossils to fill sample gaps in the record.

“We used museum collections to provide new sources of specimens rather than relying on what has already been published,” said researcher Cameron Crossan of the University of Bristol.

“By doing this, we’re confident that we’ll get a more accurate picture of the biodiversity before it went extinct.”

The paleontologists used the database to analyze how ammonite speciation and extinction rates changed in different regions of the planet.

If ammonites had declined throughout the Late Cretaceous, their extinction rate would have generally been higher than their speciation rate in every region the team studied.

What the researchers found instead was that the balance between speciation and extinction has shifted through geological time and between different geographic regions.

“These differences in ammonite diversification around the world are an important reason why the story of the Late Cretaceous has been misunderstood,” said Dr James Witts, a palaeontologist at the Natural History Museum in London.

“The fossil record in some parts of North America is very well-sampled, but looking at it alone it might seem like North America was struggling while other parts were thriving.”

“Their extinction was an accident, not a foreseeable event.”

To understand why ammonites continued to thrive throughout the Late Cretaceous, scientists investigated factors that may have changed ammonite diversity over time.

They were particularly interested in whether ammonite speciation and extinction rates were driven primarily by environmental conditions such as ocean temperature and sea level, or by biological processes such as pressure from predators and competition between ammonites themselves.

“We found that the causes of ammonite speciation and extinction were as geographically diverse as their rates,” said Dr. Colin Myers, a paleontologist at the University of New Mexico.

“You can’t look at the whole fossil record and say, for example, that diversity is entirely driven by changes in temperature.”

“In reality it was more complicated and it depended on where in the world they lived.”

Team result Published in a journal Nature Communications.

_____

JT Flannery Sutherland others2024. Late Cretaceous ammonites show regional heterogeneity in drivers of diversification. Nat Community 15, 5382; doi: 10.1038/s41467-024-49462-z

Source: www.sci.news

Webb finds early universe protoglobular cluster

Posted on June 24, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

Astronomers using the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope have discovered at least five young globular clusters within SPT 0615-JD1 (also known as the Cosmic Gems Arc), a strongly lensed galaxy that existed when the universe was 460 million years old.

These images show the galaxy cluster SPT-CL J0615-5746 (right) and part of this cluster (left), showing two clearly lensed galaxies. The Cosmic Gems arc is shown along with several galaxy clusters. Images courtesy of NASA / ESA / CSA / Webb / L. Bradley, STScI / A. Adamo, Stockholm University / Cosmic Spring Collaboration.

“These galaxies are thought to be the main source of intense radiation that reionized the early universe,” said Dr Angela Adamo, astronomer at Stockholm University and the Oskar Klein Centre.

“What’s special about the Cosmic Gems Ark is that thanks to gravitational lensing, we can actually resolve galaxies down to the parsec scale.”

SPT 0615-JD1 was originally discovered in Hubble Space Telescope images obtained by the RELICS (Reionizing Lensing Cluster Survey) program of the lensing galaxy cluster SPT-CL J0615-5746, located about 7.7 billion light-years away in the constellation of Scorpio.

The Webb telescope will enable Dr Adamo and his colleagues to see where stars are forming and how they are distributed, in a similar way that the Hubble telescope is used to study the local galaxy.

Webb’s observations provide a unique opportunity to study star formation and the internal structure of young galaxies at unprecedented distances.

“The combination of the Webb Telescope’s incredible sensitivity and angular resolution at near-infrared wavelengths, along with gravitational lensing by a large foreground galaxy cluster, made this discovery possible that would not have been possible with any other telescope,” said Dr. Larry Bradley, an astronomer at the Space Telescope Science Institute.

“The surprise and excitement I felt when I first opened the Webb images was overwhelming,” Dr. Adamo said.

“We saw a string of tiny bright dots projected from one side to the other. These cosmic gems are star clusters.”

“Without Webb, we would never have known we were observing star clusters in such a young galaxy.”

Astronomers say the discovery connects different scientific disciplines.

“These results provide direct evidence of the formation of protoglobular clusters in faint galaxies during periods of reionization and help us understand how these galaxies successfully reionized the Universe,” Dr Adamo said.

“This discovery also places important constraints on the formation of globular clusters and their early properties.”

“For example, the high stellar densities found in galaxy clusters provide the first indications of processes occurring within them and give new insights into the possible formation of very massive stars and black hole seeds that are important for the evolution of galaxies.”

In the future, the team hopes to construct a sample of galaxies that can achieve a similar resolution.

“I am convinced that there are more such systems in the early universe waiting to be discovered, which will improve our understanding of early galaxies even further,” said Dr Eros Vanzella, astronomer at the Bologna Observatory for Astrophysics and Space Sciences (INAF).

of Investigation result Published in today’s journal Nature.

_____

A. Adamo othersA bound star cluster observed in a lensed galaxy 460 million years after the Big Bang. NaturePublished online June 24, 2024, doi: 10.1038/s41586-024-07703-7

Source: www.sci.news

New study finds solid wood surfaces exhibit natural antiviral characteristics

Posted on June 20, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

In a recent study, researchers from the University of Jyväskylä and the University of Eastern Finland examined the antiviral properties of different types of wood, including coniferous and deciduous trees, against coronaviruses and enteroviruses.

Shroff othersScots pine and Norway spruce were found to have excellent antiviral activity, especially against enveloped viruses, with onset within 10-15 minutes. In contrast, other hardwoods showed mixed efficacy, and oak showed effectiveness against enteroviruses. Image courtesy of Schroff. others., doi: 10.1021/acsami.4c02156.

Since ancient times, wood has played a vital role in tools, utilities, and construction.

The 20th century witnessed a depletion of wood resources, prompting the emergence of alternatives like plastics and metals for interior surfaces and fixtures.

A growing concern for sustainability and the unique qualities of wood has led to a resurgence in its use across various applications.

The 21st century has brought new health challenges, including viral outbreaks like SARS and COVID-19, emphasizing the importance of surface hygiene.

Viruses can persist on surfaces as fomites, with enveloped viruses having shorter survival times compared to non-enveloped viruses.

Wood has been known for its antibacterial and antifungal properties, but its antiviral capabilities were not thoroughly explored until this study.

Researchers investigated how different types of wood affect the infectivity of enveloped and non-enveloped viruses.

The study found that certain types of wood could significantly reduce viral infectivity within hours, showcasing their potential as natural antiviral materials.

Their research paper was published in the journal ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces.

_____

Reference: Sailey Shroff et al. (2024). Inactivation of coronaviruses and enteroviruses on solid wood surfaces depending on wood species. ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces, 16(23), 29621-29633. doi:10.1021/acsami.4c02156

Source: www.sci.news

Study finds that Jupiter’s polar lows are driven by processes reminiscent of those on Earth

Posted on June 11, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

Planetary scientists first became aware of the connection between Earth and Jupiter in 2018, when they noticed striking similarities in images of Jupiter's giant cyclones and turbulent ocean currents. In 2022, they Analyzed High-resolution infrared image of a cyclone on Jupiter taken by NASA's Juno spacecraft. Analysis reveals that a type of convection similar to that seen on Earth helps sustain Jupiter's storms, which can be thousands of miles wide and last for years. The 2022 study focused directly on Jupiter's cyclones, but the authors also saw thin tendrils called filaments in the spaces between the vortices of gas. These filaments have analogues on Earth, and the authors used Juno's detailed images to study whether this similarity to Earth's oceanic and atmospheric processes is merely superficial.

This composite image, created from data collected by the JIRAM instrument on NASA's Juno spacecraft, shows a central cyclone at Jupiter's north pole and eight surrounding cyclones. JIRAM collects data in infrared, and the colors in this composite represent radiated heat. The yellow (thinnest) clouds have a brightness temperature of about -9 degrees Fahrenheit (-13 degrees Celsius), while the dark red (thickest) clouds have a brightness temperature of about -181 degrees Fahrenheit (83 degrees Celsius). Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / SwRI / ASI / INAF / JIRAM.

Fronts are often featured in weather forecasts (for example, cold fronts and storm fronts) and apply to both gases and liquids.

A front is a boundary between masses of gas or liquid that have different densities due to differences in properties such as temperature.

In the ocean, fronts can also form due to differences in salinity, which, along with temperature, affects the density of seawater.

The main characteristic of a front is that its leading edge is characterized by strong vertical speed and can generate wind and currents.

To understand the role of the filaments clearly visible during Jupiter's cyclones in the Juno images, Dr. Leah Siegelman of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography and Dr. Patrice Klein of the California Institute of Technology examined a series of infrared images from Juno.

The series of images was taken 30 seconds apart of Jupiter's north polar region.

Because the images were taken in infrared, the team was able to calculate the temperature, finding that brighter areas were warmer and darker areas were cooler.

On Jupiter, the hotter parts of the atmosphere correspond to thin clouds, while the cooler parts are covered by thicker clouds that block more of the heat emanating from Jupiter's superheated core.

The researchers then tracked the movement of the clouds and filaments over the 30-second intervals between photos to calculate horizontal wind speeds.

These two pieces of information allowed the scientists to apply methods from ocean and atmospheric science to Jupiter to calculate vertical wind speeds that correspond to the temperatures and horizontal wind speeds the researchers derived from the images.

Calculating vertical wind speeds, they found that Jupiter's filaments do in fact move like Earth's fronts.

The vertical wind speeds at the edges of Jupiter's fronts also mean that the fronts transport energy in the form of heat from the planet's hot interior to the upper atmosphere, potentially generating large cyclones.

Although convection is the primary driving force, fronts account for a quarter of the total kinetic energy powering Jupiter's cyclones and 40 percent of the vertical heat transport.

“These cyclones at Jupiter's poles have continued since they were first observed in 2016,” Dr Siegelman said.

“These filaments between the larger vortices are relatively small, but they are a key mechanism for maintaining cyclones.”

“It's intriguing that fronts and convection exist and influence Earth and Jupiter, suggesting that these processes may also exist on other turbulent fluid bodies in the universe.”

“Jupiter's enormous scale and Juno's high-resolution images allow us to more clearly visualize how small-scale phenomena like fronts connect with larger-scale phenomena like cyclones and the atmosphere. These connections are often difficult to observe on Earth because they are much smaller and more ephemeral.”

“But the long-awaited new satellite, SWOT, will make observing these ocean phenomena much easier.”

“There's a kind of cosmic beauty in knowing that these physical mechanisms on Earth exist on other planets far, far away.”

Team paper Published in the journal Natural Physics.

_____

L. Siegelman & P. Klein. Frontogenesis at high latitudes on Jupiter. National Physical SocietyPublished online June 6, 2024; doi: 10.1038/s41567-024-02516-x

Source: www.sci.news

Study finds that the Earth is warming at an unprecedented rate

Posted on June 6, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

Earth’s Speed It’s getting warmer 2023 is the highest on record, beating last year’s astonishing 92%. Record-breaking heatwave Leading scientists have calculated that the cause is human.

A group of 57 scientists from around the world used UN-approved methods to investigate what’s behind it. Last year’s heatwaveThey said that even if the rate of warming has increased, they found no evidence of a significant acceleration of human-induced climate change beyond increased burning of fossil fuels.

Last year’s record temperatures were so extraordinary that scientists have been debating what’s behind the spike, whether climate change is accelerating or if other factors are at play.

“When we see the world accelerating or going through a major tipping point, things aren’t happening,” said Piers Forster, a climate scientist at the University of Leeds and lead author of the study. “Temperatures are rising and things are getting worse exactly as we predicted.”

A person sprays water at passersby on a hot summer day in Karachi, Pakistan on May 30, 2024.
Asif Hassan/AFP via Getty Images

This can mostly be explained by the buildup of carbon dioxide from increased fossil fuel use, he and his co-authors said.

Last year’s warming rate was 0.26C (0.47F) per decade, up from 0.25C (0.45F) the year before. Forster said that’s not a huge difference, but this year’s rate is the highest on record.

Still, outside scientists said the report paints a more alarming picture than ever before.

“While whether or not to tackle climate is a politically contentious issue, this report should remind people that it is actually a fundamentally life-saving choice,” said Andrea Dutton, a climate scientist at the University of Wisconsin who was not part of the international research team. “To me, that’s something worth fighting for.”

Ocean Beach in San Francisco during a heat wave warning in California on June 4, 2024.
Tayfun Coskun/Anadolu via Getty Images

The authors, who formed to provide an annual scientific update between major UN scientific assessments every seven to eight years, concluded that last year’s temperature was 1.43 degrees Celsius higher than the 1850-1900 average, of which 1.31 degrees was due to human activities. The remaining 8 percent of warming was Mainly due to El NiñoThese include natural, temporary warming in the central Pacific Ocean that changes weather around the world, as well as unusual warming along the Atlantic Ocean and other weather randomness.

Looking at longer time frames — decade-by-decade, which scientists prefer over annual periods — the world has warmed about 1.19 degrees Celsius (2.14 degrees Fahrenheit) since pre-industrial times, the report said. Earth System Science Data Journal found.

The report also says that if the world continues to burn coal, oil and natural gas, the planet is likely to reach a point within four and a half years where it will become unavoidable to cross internationally accepted warming thresholds. 1.5℃ (2.7℃) ).

Students experience extreme heat at an elementary school in Banda Aceh, Indonesia, on May 7, 2024.
Chaidir Mahyudin/AFP via Getty Images

This is consistent with previous studies that project that if emissions trajectory remains unchanged, the planet will reach at least 1.5 degrees Celsius of warming by early 2029. While reaching 1.5 degrees may be years away, it seems inevitable once all the carbon is used, Forster said.

Scientists say that going over 1.5 degrees won’t mean the end of the world or humanity, but it will be pretty dire. Past UN Studies Large-scale changes to Earth’s ecosystems are expected to become more likely with a warming of between 1.5 and 2 degrees Celsius, ultimately resulting in the loss of the planet’s coral reefs, Arctic sea ice, plant and animal species, as well as more extreme and life-threatening weather events.

Last year’s temperature rise wasn’t just a minor spike — September was particularly unusual, said study co-author Sonia Seneviratne, head of the land climate dynamics department at ETH Zurich in Switzerland.

A caged howler monkey receives treatment during a heatwave in Cunduacan, Mexico, on May 24, 2024. The heat was so severe that the monkey fell from a tree and died.
Jose Torres/Anadolu via Getty Images

Seneviratne said this year was at the higher end of the range but within expectations.

“If there was an acceleration, it would be even worse, perhaps a worst-case scenario, where the world would reach a tipping point,” Seneviratne said. “But what’s happening now is already very bad, and we’re already seeing big impacts. We’re in the middle of a crisis.”

Jonathan Overpeck, dean of the University of Michigan’s School of Environmental Studies, and Zeke Hausfather, a global climate scientist at the University of Berkeley, neither of whom worked on the study, said they still see an acceleration in warming, which Hausfather noted is much faster than the 0.18 degrees Celsius (0.32 degrees Fahrenheit) per decade that occurred from 1970 to 2010.

Medical workers treat a dehydrated patient in Austin, Texas, 2023.
Brandon Bell/Getty Images file

The scientists Big increase in SeptemberHausfather called that “staggering.” Wednesday’s report didn’t find enough warming from other potential causes. It said that while reduced sulfur pollution from ships had some cooling effect on the atmosphere, that was offset last year by carbon particles released into the atmosphere by Canadian wildfires.

The report also noted that undersea volcanoes, which released huge amounts of heat-trapping water vapor into the atmosphere, also spewed cooling particles, with the two forces roughly cancelling each other out.

“The future is in our hands,” said Katherine Hayhoe, a climate scientist at Texas Tech University and chief scientist at the Nature Conservancy. “It’s up to us, humans, not physicists, to decide how fast and how much the Earth will warm.”

Source: www.nbcnews.com

Study finds that Internet addiction alters brain chemistry in young people

Posted on June 5, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

Studies indicate that adolescents with internet addiction exhibit alterations in brain chemistry that can contribute to further addictive behaviors.

In a study published in PLOS Mental Health, researchers analyzed fMRI studies to explore how brain regions interact in individuals with internet addiction.

The findings revealed changes in neural network activity in the brains of young individuals, with increased activity during rest and reduced connectivity in areas involved in cognitive functions like memory and decision-making.

These alterations were linked to addictive behaviors, mental health issues, cognitive abilities, and physical coordination in adolescents.

The study reviewed 12 prior studies involving 237 young individuals diagnosed with internet addiction from 2013 to 2023.

Recent surveys show that nearly half of British teens feel addicted to social media platforms.

Lead researcher Max Zhang from the University of London emphasized the vulnerability of adolescents to internet addiction due to developmental changes during this crucial stage.

The study suggests that early intervention for internet addiction is essential to mitigate negative impacts on adolescent behavior and development.

Skip Newsletter Promotions

Experts recommend targeted treatments focused on specific brain regions or therapies to combat internet addiction symptoms.

Parental education plays a crucial role in preventing internet addiction, enabling better management of screen time and impulsive online behaviors.

Lead author Eileen Li from GOS ICH emphasizes the importance of setting boundaries on internet usage and being mindful of its effects on mental and social well-being.

Source: www.theguardian.com

MUSE finds peculiar star surrounded by a luminous protoplanetary disk

Posted on June 4, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

Astronomers Multi-unit spectroscopic probe The (MUSE) instrument on ESO’s Very Large Telescope (VLT) in Chile has imaged Propride, an externally illuminated protoplanetary disk around a young star, at 177-341 W. Orion Nebula.

This VLT/MUSE image shows propylid 177-341 W. Image courtesy of ESO / Aru others., doi: 10.1051/0004-6361/202349004.

Young stars are surrounded by a disk of gas and dust that gives rise to planets.

If another very bright and massive star is nearby, its light can heat up the young star’s disk and strip it of some of its material.

“Protoplanetary disks made of gas and dust emerge as a result of star formation processes and are the birth sites for planetary systems,” explained ESO astronomer Marie-Rees-Al and her colleagues.

“The evolutionary path of a protoplanetary disk and its ability to form planets depend on the surrounding environment, and we expect disks to undergo rapid changes in the presence of massive stars.”

“In massive clusters close to OB stars, ultraviolet (UV) radiation can cause the disk to photoevaporate externally, significantly reducing its size, mass, and lifetime.”

Astronomers used the MUSE instrument on ESO’s Very Large Telescope to observe 177-341W and 11 other dwarf stars in the Orion Nebula Cluster, about 400 parsecs away from the Sun.

“The stars encroaching on 177-341 W’s disk drop out of the frame after passing the upper right corner,” the researchers said.

“When that radiation collides with the material around the young star, it creates the bright bow-like structures we see in yellow.”

“The tail extending from the star toward the lower left corner is material being dragged away from 177-341 W by a star outside the field of view.”

“The colours displayed in this image represent different elements, including hydrogen, nitrogen, sulphur and oxygen,” the researchers added.

“But this is only a small part of the total data collected by MUSE. MUSE actually takes thousands of images simultaneously in different colors and wavelengths.”

a paper The findings have been published in the journal Astronomy and Astrophysics.

_____

M.-L. Al others2024. A kaleidoscope of irradiated disks: Propride MUSE observations of the Orion Nebula Cluster. I. Sample presentation and size of the ionization front. A&Ain press; doi: 10.1051/0004-6361/202349004

Source: www.sci.news

Webb finds the farthest galaxy ever recorded

Posted on June 1, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

Astronomers NIR Specs The NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope (Near-Infrared Spectrometer) instrument Obtained Spectrum of the record-breaking galaxy JADES-GS-z14-0, observed just 290 million years after the Big Bang. Redshift It’s about 14, a measure of how much the galaxy’s light has been stretched by the expansion of the universe.

This infrared image from Webb’s NIRCam shows the record-breaking galaxy JADES-GS-z14-0. Image credit: NASA / ESA / CSA / STScI / B. Robertson, UC Santa Cruz / B. Johnson, CfA / S. Tacchella, Cambridge / P. Cargile, CfA.

JADES-GS-z14-0, located in the constellation Fornax, JWST: Advanced Deep Extragalactic Exploration (Jade).

The galaxy is much brighter than expected, with a resolved radius of 260 parsecs (848 light years).

The discovery proves that luminous galaxies were already in existence 300 million years after the Big Bang, and that they are more common than expected before Webb.

“The Webb instrument is designed to discover and understand the oldest galaxies, and in its first year of observing as part of JADES, it has found hundreds of candidate galaxies spanning the first 650 million years after the Big Bang,” said Dr. Stefano Carniani of the École Normale Supérieure in Pisa, Italy, and Dr. Kevin Hainline of the University of Arizona, Tucson.

“Early in 2023, we discovered a galaxy in our data with strong evidence of being at a redshift greater than 14. This was very exciting, but some properties of its source made us wary.”

“The source was incredibly bright, something not expected in such a distant galaxy, and it was so close to another galaxy that the two appeared to be part of a single, larger object.”

“When Webb observed the source again in October 2023 as part of the JADES Origins Field, NIR Cam (Near-infrared camera) filters further supported the high-redshift hypothesis.”

“We knew we needed a spectrum, because anything we learn would be of immense scientific importance, either as a new milestone in Webb’s study of the early universe or as a mysterious outlier in a middle-aged galaxy.”

“In January 2024, NIRSpec observed JADES-GS-z14-0 for almost 10 hours, and when the spectrum was first processed, there was unequivocal evidence that the galaxy is indeed at redshift 14.32, breaking the previous record for the most distant galaxy, JADES-GS-z13-0.”

“Seeing this spectrum was very exciting for the whole team, given that its source remained a mystery.”

“This discovery was not just a new distance record for our team. The most important thing about JADES-GS-z14-0 is that it shows that at this distance, this galaxy must be intrinsically very luminous.”

“The images show that the source is more than 1,600 light-years in diameter, proving that the light we are seeing is coming primarily from young stars, and not from the vicinity of a growing supermassive black hole.”

“This much starlight suggests that the galaxy’s mass is hundreds of millions of times that of the Sun!”

“This raises the question: How could nature create such a bright, massive and large galaxy in less than 300 million years?”

“The data reveal other important aspects of this remarkable galaxy,” the astronomers said.

“We found that the galaxy’s color is not inherently blue, which indicates that even at its very earliest stages, some of its light is being reddened by dust.”

They also confirmed that JADES-GS-z14-0 was detected at Webb’s longer wavelengths. Milli (mid-infrared observation instrument), a remarkable achievement considering its distance.

MIRI’s observations cover wavelengths of light emitted in the visible range that are redshifted and cannot be seen by Webb’s near-infrared instrument.

According to the analysis, the brightness of the source suggested by the MIRI observations exceeds that estimated from measurements by other Webb instruments, indicating the presence of strong ionized gas emission in the galaxy in the form of bright emission lines from hydrogen and oxygen.

The presence of oxygen so early in the galaxy’s life was surprising, suggesting that several generations of very massive stars had already died before the galaxy was observed.

“Taken together, all these observations show that JADES-GS-z14-0 is different from the types of galaxy predicted to exist in the early universe by theoretical models and computer simulations,” the researchers said.

“Given the observed luminosity of a source, we can predict how it will grow over cosmic time. So far, we have not found a suitable analogue among the hundreds of other galaxies we have observed at high redshifts in our survey.”

“Because the region of sky we searched to find JADES-GS-z14-0 is relatively small, its discovery has a significant impact on the predicted number of luminous galaxies seen in the early universe, as discussed in a separate, concurrent JADES study.”

“Webb’s observations will enable astronomers to discover many more such luminous galaxies over the next decade, and perhaps sooner.”

“We’re excited to see the incredible diversity of galaxies present in Cosmic Dawn!”

_____

Stefano Carniani others2024. A shining cosmic dawn: spectroscopic confirmation of two luminous galaxies at z ∼ 14. arXiv:2405.18485

Source: www.sci.news

Hubble Space Telescope finds three-star system in Taurus

Posted on May 17, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

The Hubble team has released an astonishing image. NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope of the triple star system HP Tau.

About 550 light-years away in the constellation Taurus, three dazzling stars, HP Tau, shine brightly from the cavity of a reflection nebula in a new Hubble image. Image credit: NASA / ESA / G. Duchene, University of Grenoble I / Gladys Kober, NASA and Catholic University of America.

HP Tau is a triple star system located approximately 550 light-years away in the constellation Taurus.

The system, also known as EPIC 247592463, TIC 118521708, or IRAS 04328+2248, consists of the variable stars HP Tau, HP Tau G2, and HP Tau G3.

HP Tau is one of the stars. T Taurus a type of young variable star that has not yet begun nuclear fusion but is beginning to evolve into a hydrogen-fueled star similar to the Sun.

“T Tauri stars tend to be less than 10 million years old, compared to our Sun, which is about 4.6 billion years old, but they formed when they were shrouded in clouds of dust and gas. “They are often discovered as they are,” Hubble astronomers said.

“Like other variable stars, HP Tau's brightness changes over time.”

“The T Tauri star is known to have periodic and random fluctuations in brightness.”

“Random fluctuations can be caused by chaotic conditions in a developing young star, such as instability in the accretion disk of dust and gas around the star, material from that disk falling into the star and being consumed, and flares on the star's surface. It may be due to the nature of

“The periodic changes may be due to giant sunspots rotating in and out of view.”

“Clouds of gas and dust glow with reflected light as they orbit the star.”

“Reflection nebulae do not themselves emit visible light, but they shine when light from nearby stars reflects off gas and dust, much like fog illuminated by a car's headlights.”

Hubble studied the HP-tau system as part of its study of protoplanetary disks, disks of material around stars that coalesce into planets over millions of years.

Source: www.sci.news

Lung Association finds that 131 million Americans live in areas with unhealthy pollution levels

Posted on April 24, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

Nearly 40% of Americans live in areas with unhealthy levels of air pollution, and the U.S. is set to regress in air-cleaning progress as the effects of climate change intensify, according to a new report from the American Lung Association. It’s coming. The group’s report, its 25th annual analysis of the nation’s “state of the air,” estimates that between 2020 and 2022, 131 million people will live in areas with unhealthy levels of air pollution. It turned out that it was. This number is an increase of nearly 12 million people from the previous survey a year ago. The report also found that people in the United States are experiencing the most “very unhealthy” or “hazardous” air quality day in the study’s history. Katherine Pruitt, national senior director of clean air policy at the American Lung Association, said the process has been in place for decades through the Clean Air Act, a federal law passed in 1963 to regulate air pollution and set air quality standards. He said that the cleanup efforts that have been made are gradually being undermined by climate change.

“Climate change, including heat, drought and especially wildfires, is starting to undo some of the progress we’ve made,” Pruitt said. “It’s sad to know that so many people live with air quality that threatens their health.” Wildfires are a rapidly growing source of pollution that policymakers are struggling to address. Climate scientists predict that wildfire smoke will increase in the future as greenhouse gas emissions raise temperatures. The Lung Association’s analysis reached the same conclusion as a peer-reviewed study published last year in Nature. The study’s author, Marshall Burke, suggested that wildfire smoke has undone about 25% of the Clean Air Act’s progress.

“If you take a step back and think about what the root cause is, it’s the burning of fossil fuels,” says Dr. Lisa Patel, a pediatrician and clinical associate professor at Stanford Medicine Children’s Health. “We don’t have to be in this situation. We have the technology and the federal investment to harness renewable energy. What we need now is the political will.”

Each year, the “State of the Air” report analyzes air quality data from the past three years. This analysis focuses on ozone exposure and short-term and annual exposure to particulate pollution. The report issues a rating for each measure and summarizes the number of areas that passed or failed for each rating. According to the report, nearly 44 million people currently live in areas that do not meet all three criteria.Small particles are a serious concern because they can enter a person’s lungs, circulate in the bloodstream, and affect other organs. Although these particles are only a fraction of the size of a human hair, they have been shown to increase the risk of asthma, lung cancer, chronic lung disease, premature birth, and miscarriage. Patel, who is also executive director of the Medical Societies Consortium on Climate and Health, has noticed an increase in preterm births during wildfire seasons and is educating parents about how heat and smoke are risk factors during pregnancy. He said he has started giving advice.

“After several weeks of poor air quality, more people will become pregnant and give birth before 37 weeks,” Patel said, adding that parents may wonder whether their actions led to premature birth. He added that he often thinks about this. “When people ask me about the risk of premature birth, I say climate change. Heat and wildfires are both risk factors. They are not within your control.” Additionally, Patel said she has noticed that when wildfire smoke incidents occur in California, patients at her pediatric clinic often complain of nasal infections, eye irritation, and asthma exacerbations, among other ailments. Pruitt said concerns about particle pollution used to be concentrated in the industrial Midwest and Northeast. But in this report, for the first time, all 25 cities with the highest daily particle pollution are in the West. Most were in California.

“Early in our history, we had a lot of particulate pollution coming from coal-fired power plants, transportation sources, and industrial processes,” Pruitt said. “Particle pollution problems in the eastern United States are less severe because the Clean Air Act has cleaned up these sources. But Western countries, of course, have similar access to regulation and cleanup; We are also affected by climate change and wildfires.” Daniel Mendoza, an assistant professor of atmospheric science at the University of Utah, said many communities in Western states are dealing with acute, short-term pollution episodes rather than long-term chronic exposure. Scientists are still trying to figure out how much damage wildfire outbreaks cause compared to long-term exposure from industrial sources. “Not all bad air pollution is created equal,” Mendoza said. Pollution from traffic and industrial sources could continue to decline if the Environmental Protection Agency’s proposed stricter standards could be implemented.

Last year, the EPA proposed a rule that would require nearly all coal and large gas plants in the country to reduce or capture about 90% of their carbon emissions by 2038. In March this year, the agency introduced stricter rules to reduce tailpipe emissions from passenger cars. Another EPA policy aimed at curbing nitrogen oxide pollution that spreads across states was challenged in the U.S. Supreme Court. In 2022, the Supreme Court limited the government’s ability to use the Clean Air Act to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. There is one bright spot in this report. That means ozone pollution continues to improve dramatically. Compared to last year, about 2.4 million fewer people live in areas with unhealthy ozone pollution. Since this analysis was completed, wildfire smoke has gotten even worse.

Americans in 2023 inhaled more wildfire smoke than in any other year on record, Stanford University researchers found last year.

Source: www.nbcnews.com

Study finds that competition between species was a significant factor in the growth and fall of human populations

Posted on April 19, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

Traditionally, climate has been thought to be the cause of the emergence and extinction of human species. However, interspecific competition is known to play an important role in most vertebrates. A new study shows for the first time that competition has been the basis of speciation (the rate at which new species emerge) over five million years of human evolution.It also means that our speciation patterns homo The pedigree was different from most others.

a homo heidelbergensis, Neanderthals and Cro-Magnons. Image credit: SINC / Jose Antonio Peñas.

“We have ignored how competition between species has shaped our own evolutionary tree,” says Dr Laura van Holstein, an anthropologist at the University of Cambridge.

“The effects of climate on the human species are only part of the story.”

“In other vertebrates, species form to fill ecological niches. Darwin's finches, for example, have evolved large beaks for cracking nuts, while others have evolved large beaks for eating certain insects. Some have evolved small beaks to accommodate them. Once their respective resource niches are filled, competition ensues, no new finches emerge, and extinction takes over.”

Dr Van Holstein and Professor Robert Foley from the University of Cambridge used Bayesian modeling and phylogenetic analysis to show that, like other vertebrates, most species of humans formed when competition for resources and space was low. It was shown that

“The pattern seen in many early humans is similar to all other mammals,” van Holstein says.

“The speciation rate increases, then levels off, at which point the extinction rate begins to increase. This suggests that competition between species was a major evolutionary factor.”

However, when the authors analyzed our group, homothe findings were “bizarre.”

for homo The pattern of evolution of the lineage leading to modern humans suggests that interspecific competition actually led to the emergence of even newer species, a complete departure from trends seen in almost all other vertebrates. It's a reversal.

“The more types there are, the more homo The more there are, the higher the rate of speciation,” Dr. van Holstein said.

“So once those niches were filled, something caused more species to emerge. This is almost unprecedented in evolutionary science.”

The closest comparison she found was a species of beetle that lives on the island. On islands, confined ecosystems can produce unusual evolutionary trends.

“The evolutionary patterns we see across species are homo “The direct link to modern humans is more closely related to island beetles than to other primates or other mammals,” Dr van Holstein said.

www.sci.news

Study finds that astronauts possess extraordinary skills in orienting themselves and calculating distances while in space

Posted on March 29, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

New research has implications for crew safety in space and could give clues about how aging affects the balance systems of people on Earth.

horges other. We addressed the question of whether body posture influences humans' perception of self-motion and distance. They found that the same amount of optical flow can elicit the sensation of traveling farther when lying on one's back and when sitting upright; that is, optical flow We found evidence that it is more effective in eliciting the sensation of movement. This constitutes evidence that visual and nonvisual cues are at least partially integrated, even when self-movement is presented only visually. However, we found no significant differences in performance in microgravity on Earth and on the ISS, suggesting that vestibular stimulation is not important, if any, in estimating visually presented self-motion.

The study's lead author, Professor Lawrence Harris from the University of York, said: “The perception of gravity has been repeatedly shown to influence perceptual abilities.”

“The most profound way to study the effects of gravity is to remove it. That's why we brought our research into space.”

“We have had a steady presence in space for nearly a quarter of a century, but our efforts in space are ever-increasing as we plan to return to the moon and beyond, ensuring health and safety. It is becoming increasingly important to answer questions about

“Based on our findings, it appears that humans are surprisingly able to use vision to adequately compensate for the lack of Earth's normal environment.

For the study, Professor Harris and his colleagues surveyed more than a dozen astronauts aboard the International Space Station (ISS), which orbits about 400 kilometers above the Earth's surface.

“Here, Earth's gravity is almost canceled out by the centrifugal force generated by the station's orbit. In the resulting microgravity, the movement of people becomes close to flight,” Professor Harris said.

“People had previously reported anecdotally that they felt like they were traveling faster or farther than they were actually in space, so this actually motivated us to record this.”

The authors compared the performance of 12 astronauts (six men and six women) before, during, and after a year-long mission to the space station and found out how far they traveled. I discovered that my sense of what I had done was almost intact.

Space missions were hectic endeavors, and it took several days for researchers to make contact with the astronauts after arriving at the space station.

“Our study may not have captured early adaptations that may have occurred during the first few days. Because whatever adaptations occur, they occur very quickly. This remains a good news message,” Professor Harris said.

Space missions are not without risks. Because the ISS orbits around the Earth, small objects can occasionally collide with it and enter the ship, where astronauts must move to safety.

“During the experiment, the ISS had to take many evasive maneuvers,” Professor Harris said.

“Astronauts need to be able to get to safety or escape through a hatch on the ISS in an emergency. So to see that they were actually able to do this with great precision was very exciting. I felt relieved.”

“Our research shows that exposure to microgravity mimics the aging process primarily at a physiological level, including bone and muscle wasting, changes in hormonal function, and increased susceptibility to infections. However, this paper found that self-movement was largely unaffected, suggesting a balance problem.''The problem, which often comes from old age, may have nothing to do with the vestibular system. ”

“This suggests that the mechanisms of movement perception in older people should be relatively unaffected, and that the problems associated with falls are probably more to do with this than in terms of perception of distance traveled. How can they translate that into a balance reflex? ”

of study Published in npj magazine microgravity.

_____

B. Horges other. 2024. Effects of long-term exposure to microgravity and body orientation relative to gravity on perceived distance traveled. NPJ microgravity 10, 28; doi: 10.1038/s41526-024-00376-6

Source: www.sci.news

Research finds that consumption of cranberries enhances performance markers in well-trained runners

Posted on March 20, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

Cranberries have the highest polyphenol and antioxidant capacity of any fruit or vegetable, which may help prevent the production of free radicals during exercise, which in turn may improve performance. In a new study, scientists investigated the effects of polyphenol-rich cranberry extract on time trial performance and post-exercise lactic acid response.

Consuming cranberries for 28 days seemed to improve running speed as well as aerobic performance in trained runners. Image credit: Michael Reichelt.

Polyphenols, such as proanthocyanidins, anthocyanins, flavonols, and flavonols, are secondary plant compounds found in fruits and vegetables.

Cranberries have the highest total polyphenol content of the most consumed fruits in the American diet and the highest antioxidant capacity of any fruit and vegetable.

In addition, its polyphenol content is notable due to its high concentration of rare A-type proanthocyanidins, which are believed to be the main contributors to its beneficial effects.

The use of nutritional supplements is increasing among athletes, and many are turning to natural health products to improve athletic performance.

Intense exercise significantly increases the production of reactive oxygen species due to high oxidative metabolic demands.

As a result, polyphenols may provide a natural antioxidant defense against exercise-induced free radical production.

“For elite athletes, any advantage can make the difference between finishing fifth or reaching the podium,” said study lead author Dr. Andreas Bergdahl, a researcher at Concordia University.

For this study, Dr. Bergdahl and his colleagues recruited 14 high-level runners who did at least five hours of endurance training per week.

The athletes ran two time trials during their three visits, one running 1,500 meters and one running 400 meters.

The first visit was used as the baseline. The second time, they administered a single large dose of cranberry extract two hours before the run.

The athletes were then instructed to consume a small amount of cranberry extract every day for 28 days before repeating their third run.

“We chose these distances to test the effects of cranberry extract on different energy systems,” said Dr. Francis Parenteau, lead author of the study. candidate at Concordia University.

“The 400m is short and intense and requires an anaerobic system. The 1,500m uses an aerobic system, but is shorter than what athletes typically run.”

“They weren’t training to run that distance, so we were able to isolate the effect of training as a variable.”

In addition to running time, the researchers also measured post-exercise blood lactate levels, a marker of potential muscle fatigue and oxygen deprivation.

They also fitted the runners with a portable near-infrared spectroscopy device to measure muscle oxygenation levels before, during and after a run.

After analyzing the data, the scientists found that consuming cranberry extract for 28 days showed a trend towards increased speed in the 1,500 meter time trial, but not in the 400 meter.

However, compared to baseline, they found that lactic acid accumulation decreased after 400 meters, but not after 1,500 meters.

Data also showed that cranberry extract promoted better oxygen extraction by muscles, improved lactate clearance, and slowed muscle deoxygenation.

“The benefit of this is that it’s all natural,” Dr. Bergdahl said.

“It’s an ergogenic aid, meaning it enhances performance, but it’s not an anabolic steroid.”

“Athletes can significantly improve their performance simply by consuming more cranberries.”

of study It was published in the magazine physical activity and nutrition.

_____

Francis Parenteau other. 2023. Cranberry supplements improve physiological markers of performance in trained runners. physical activity and nutrition 27 (4): 8-14; doi: 10.20463/pan.2023.0032

Source: www.sci.news

New study finds bumblebees can acquire intricate skills through social learning

Posted on March 9, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

Culture refers to behaviors that are socially learned and persist within a group over long periods of time. Growing evidence suggests that animal culture, like human culture, may be cumulative. However, the accumulated culture of humans contains behaviors so complex that they exceed the ability of individuals to discover them independently over a lifetime. New research shows that the buff-tailed bumblebee (Western bumblebee) can learn how to open new two-step puzzle boxes and obtain food from trained conspecifics, even if they fail to open them independently.

Bufftail Bumblebee (Western bumblebee) socially learn behaviors that are too complex to innovate alone. Image credit: Ralphs Fotos.

“This groundbreaking research opens new avenues for understanding the evolution of intelligence and social learning in animals,” said study lead author Lars, a researcher at Queen Mary University of London. Professor Chitka said.

“This challenges long-held assumptions, paves the way to further explore the cognitive wonders hidden in the insect world, and even suggests the exciting possibility of accumulated culture among seemingly simple creatures. Masu.”

Professor Chitka and his colleagues designed a two-step puzzle box that required bumblebees to perform two different actions in sequence to access a sweet reward at the end.

Training bees to do this was no easy task, and we had to help them by adding additional rewards along the way.

This temporary reward was eventually taken away, and the bees were forced to open the entire box before getting the treat.

Surprisingly, while individual bees had difficulty solving the puzzle from the beginning, bees allowed to observe trained demonstration bees completed the entire sequence, including the first step. You just learned quickly and got rewarded at the end.

This study shows that bumblebees have a level of social learning that was previously thought to be unique to humans.

They can share and acquire behaviors that are beyond the cognitive capacity of individuals. This ability is thought to underpin the vast and complex nature of human culture, and was previously thought to be exclusive to us.

“This is a very difficult task for bees,” said study lead author Dr. Alice Bridges, a researcher at Queen Mary University of London and the University of Sheffield.

“They had to learn two steps to get the reward, and the first action in the sequence was not rewarded.”

“Initially, we had to train demonstration bees to include temporary rewards, which highlighted the complexity.”

“But other bees learned the sequence from the social observations of these trained bees, without ever experiencing the reward of the first step.”

“But when we tried to get other bees to open the box without a bee trained to show them the solution, they couldn't open it at all.”

This study opens up exciting possibilities for understanding the emergence of cumulative culture in the animal kingdom, beyond individual learning.

Cumulative culture refers to the gradual accumulation of knowledge and skills over generations, allowing increasingly complex behaviors to develop.

The ability of bees to learn such complex tasks from demonstrators suggests potential pathways for cultural transmission and innovation beyond the bees' individual learning abilities.

“This challenges the traditional view that only humans can learn socially complex behaviors beyond individual learning,” says Professor Chitka.

“Many of the most remarkable achievements of social insects, such as the nesting structures of honey bees and wasps and the agricultural habits of ants that farm aphids and fungi, may have first been spread by imitation by clever innovators, and then spread. , which is increasingly likely.'' They eventually became part of the species-specific behavioral repertoire. ”

Regarding this research, paper Published in the Journal on March 6, 2024 Nature.

_____

AD bridge other. Bumblebees socially learn behaviors that are too complex to innovate alone. Nature, published online March 6, 2024. doi: 10.1038/s41586-024-07126-4

Source: www.sci.news

Pentagon report finds no evidence of US cover-up of UFO existence

Posted on March 8, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

According to a recent Pentagon report, there is no reliable evidence to support the belief that U.S. authorities have hidden extraterrestrial life in the form of unidentified flying objects, despite the strong beliefs of some Americans.

The report provides various explanations for UFO sightings. Over 40% of Americans believe that life forms from another galaxy have visited Earth.

The report, which spans 63 pages and focuses on Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena (UAP), concludes that most sightings are due to misidentification of ordinary objects or phenomena.

Pentagon spokesman Maj. Gen. Patrick S. Rider stated that there is no verifiable evidence to support claims that the U.S. government and private companies are accessing or reverse engineering extraterrestrial technology.

The report lists various satellites and data-gathering vehicles developed by governments or private companies that could be mistaken for UFOs. It also highlights unclassified aircraft from companies like Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman as possible sources of false UAP reporting.

Despite the findings of the report, Americans’ beliefs in UFOs are unlikely to change due to the prevalence of misinformation and disinformation, as well as confirmation bias facilitated by modern technology.

The report’s conclusions seem to contradict some elements of a previous House Oversight Subcommittee hearing last July that had firmly established UAP in the public consciousness.

Former US intelligence official David Groush claimed during the hearing that he knew colleagues who had been injured by a drone and had recovered “inhumane biological products” from a downed drone. The Pentagon had previously denied these claims.

Source: www.nbcnews.com

Study finds that ancient whale Percetus was no heavier than today’s blue whales

Posted on March 4, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

Paleontologists at the University of California, Davis and the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of Natural History estimate that: Colossus of PercetusA gigantic basilosaur whale that lived in the Eocene of Peru and was 17 meters long and weighed between 60 and 70 tons.

reconstruction of Colossus of Percetus in coastal habitats. related sawfish, Pristis, recovered from the same unit in the East Pisco Basin, Yumac, Paracas Formation, Peru. Image credit: A. Gennari.

Colossus of Percetus They lived in what is now Peru about 39 million years ago (Eocene epoch).

This species was first described in 2023. Basilosauridaean extinct cetacean family that lived in the Eocene and is known on all continents, including Antarctica.

“Colossus of Percetus“The bones are unusually dense,” said Ryosuke Motani, a professor at the University of California, Davis, and Dr. Nicholas Pienson of the Smithsonian Institution.

“Mammal bones are usually solid on the outside and spongy or hollow in the center. In some animals, much of the center is filled with solid bone, which makes it denser and heavier. There are some that are.”

“In aquatic animals, heavy bones offset the buoyancy of body fat and fat, allowing them to maintain neutral buoyancy underwater or, in the case of hippos, to walk on riverbeds.”

“Fossil whale bones have an extensively filled interior and an overgrowth of bone on the outside. A condition called pachyostosis is also found in some modern aquatic mammals, such as manatees. .”

In 2023, paleontologists estimated the weight of the following people: Colossus of Percetus 180 metric tons (range from 85 to 340 metric tons).

This results in Colossus of Percetus Despite being much shorter at 17 meters (17 meters) compared to the 30 meters (30 meters) of the blue whale, it weighs as much or more than the largest known blue whale.

“These estimates indicate that Colossus of Percetus It's incredibly dense,” Professor Motani said.

“It would have been a whale's job to stay on the surface and get out of the ocean. To do anything underwater, it would have had to keep swimming against gravity.”

The authors reviewed the assumptions used to make these estimates.

“The first problem is that the original study used fossil bones to estimate skeletal weight, and assumed that skeletal and non-skeletal mass increases at the same rate as body size increases, which increases the total animal weight. “It's an extrapolation,” they said.

“But measurements in other animals show that this is not the case.”

“Initial estimates also overestimated how much overall weight would increase as a result of hypertrophy.”

“However, the evidence for manatees shows that their bodies are relatively light compared to their skeletal mass.”

Professor Motani and Dr Pienson estimate the total length to be 17 meters. Colossus of Percetus It weighs between 60 and 70 tons, much lighter than any known blue whale.

individuals of Colossus of Percetus A whale that grows to 20 meters can weigh more than 110 tons, but that's still a long way off the 270 tons of the largest blue whale.

“Thanks to the new weight, the whale, like most whales, is able to rise to the surface and remain there while breathing and recovering from the dive,” Professor Motani said.

of result Published in an online magazine Peer J.

_____

R. Motani and N.D. Pienson. 2024. Downsizing in the heavy class: Factors and methods for revising mass estimates of giant fossil whales. Colossus of Percetus. Peer J 12: e16978; doi: 10.7717/peerj.16978

Source: www.sci.news

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

Posted on February 27, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

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.”

_____

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

New Study Finds Surprising Similarities in Brain Development Between Sea Lampreys and Humans

Posted on February 22, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

The lamprey and human hindbrains are built using very similar molecular and genetic toolkits, according to a new study led by the Stowers Institute for Medical Research.

These images show an adult lamprey (top and left) and a developing lamprey embryo. Image credit: Stowers Medical Research Institute.

“Our research on the hindbrain (the part of the brain that controls important functions such as blood pressure and heart rate) is essentially a window into the distant past and can serve as a model for understanding the evolution of complexity. “, said Dr. Hugo Parker. Researcher at Stowers Medical Research Institute.

Like other vertebrates, sea lampreys have a backbone and skeleton, but they noticeably lack a jaw, a characteristic feature of the head.

Most vertebrates, including humans, have jaws, so this striking difference in sea lampreys makes it a valuable model for understanding the evolution of vertebrate traits.

“About 500 million years ago, at the origin of vertebrates, there was a split between jawless and jawed animals,” said Dr. Alice Bedois, also of the Stowers Institute for Medical Research.

“We wanted to know how vertebrate brains evolved and whether there is something unique to jawed vertebrates that jawless vertebrates don't.”

Previous research had identified genes that structure and subdivide the sea lamprey's hindbrain as identical to genes in jawed vertebrates, including humans.

However, these genes are part of an interconnected network or circuit that needs to be initiated and directed to properly build the hindbrain.

In a new study, the authors identify common molecular cues known to direct head-to-tail patterning in a variety of animals as part of a genetic circuit that guides hindbrain patterning in the lamprey. .

“We found that the same genes, as well as the same cues, are involved in hindbrain development in sea lampreys. This suggests that this process is ancestral to all vertebrates. ,” Dr. Bedwa said.

“This signal is called retinoic acid, commonly known as vitamin A.”

Researchers have known that retinoic acid signals the genetic circuits that build the hindbrains of complex species, but they believe it is involved in more primitive animals like sea lampreys. was not considered.

Surprisingly, they discovered that the lamprey's core hindbrain circuit is also initiated by retinoic acid, providing evidence that these sea monsters and humans are much more closely related than expected.

“People thought that because lampreys don't have jaws, their hindbrains don't form like other vertebrates,” says Dr. Rob Krumlauf, a researcher at the Stowers Institute for Medical Research.

“We showed that this fundamental part of the brain is built exactly the same way as in mice, and even in humans.”

Signaling molecules that signal cell fate during development are well known.

Now, researchers have discovered that retinoic acid plays another key role in signaling important steps in development, such as the formation of the brainstem.

Furthermore, if hindbrain formation is a conserved feature in all vertebrates, other mechanisms must be involved to explain its incredible diversity.

“We all come from a common ancestor,” Dr. Bedwa said.

“The lamprey provided further clues.”

“We now need to go further back in evolutionary time to discover when the genetic circuits controlling hindbrain formation first evolved.”

of study It was published in the magazine nature communications.

_____

AMH Bedwa other. 2024. Lamprey reveals the origins of retinoic acid signaling and its coupling to vertebrate hindbrain segments. Nat Commune 15, 1538. doi: 10.1038/s41467-024-45911-x

Source: www.sci.news

The Top 10 Most Hilarious Internet Finds According to Enoch Mailangi | Culture

Posted on February 21, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

TThe internet is a place rife with drug addicts and scammers. It has become a completely godless organization, with only a narcissistic malevolent actor at its helm. Honest people come here to lie, but liars come here to be honest. We have to go off-grid and destroy what has become man’s fifth limb because we fear our children will become mentally fragile. They adore skividi toilets,
Rachel Finally, we confirmed that idolatry is an unforgivable sin.

Actually, I don’t care. And I just changed my mind too.

Look, you can do that on the internet. You can also share your lived experiences on the internet. How wonderful! And the thing about lived experience is that you can completely make it up – how beautiful. today? I’m Irish and Italian. I’m a DJ. And I’m a total vibe terrorist. tomorrow? A farmer with a missing child. A loving father who lives secretly in Ozempic. Revolutionary. yesterday? broken. lost.
club girl hyena. Rabbit rabbit.

So bring your beautiful beluga blue eyes here, hold my hand, and let’s walk together.

1. Who cleans your toilet?

At the kick-on, you say something you think is genius, everyone goes completely silent, breakout rooms form, and suddenly you chain-smoker an entire box of Double Happiness and consider quitting drinking. You’ll know when you’re doing it. Is it really a big way? This video is like that. This captures the experience of saying something completely out of line and immediately falling victim to the reaction. I titled this my Monday monologue after an eventful weekend and waking up in the morning to receive several essay messages about my actions. Homework for therapists.

2. Ed Hardy Fashion Show, Sydney, 2009

Before Uber came along and ruined that, we were horseback riding. And Sydney was once the place where risk-taking kings were crowned. All we know now is a nude beach and a new airport next to the Art Gallery of New South Wales. Oh, how empires fall! At 5:30, a group of models will dance to Sydney Samson’s Riverside.
black jesus amen fashion!

Source: www.theguardian.com

Miski Omar’s Top 10 Most Hilarious Internet Finds | Cultural Comedy

Posted on February 15, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

I I experience existential fear in three situations. The first is when I meet people. “Fat penguin,” I blurted out. It breaks the ice. The second situation is when someone asks me to name the 10 funniest things he's seen on the Internet. Third, we must recognize that by 2030, climate change will be irreversible and more than 1 million species will be at risk of extinction. In other words, it's not just fat penguins that break the ice even when they're alive.

But that doesn't matter now. The key is to edit the content that loops endlessly in your head. This is where I bring up existential fear number two. have fun.

1. Notice, Senpai, notice!

This guy certainly wants attention, but it's not clear from whom.

You say, “It will be or it won't be,'' but I say, “I hope his eyes look at me and my loyalty is recognized. Realize, Senpai, realize.'' This monologue is, Better than anything Shakespeare could have come up with. It's also a great reference for anyone looking to write science fiction dialogue.

2. Who brings the baby into the mosh pit?

It takes a village to raise a child and it is said that strangers went to great lengths to bring this child to THE Flo Rida. There are many questions, including why the baby was in the mosh in the first place. Why didn't I know the words? What is that retrograde? I can't believe this random baby accomplished one of my bucket list goals before me.

3. Triumph Skating Academy Dance Class

www.theguardian.com

Study finds that low carbon dioxide emissions from volcanoes may have caused the Sturtian ‘Snowball Earth’ ice age.

Posted on February 8, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

of Sturtian “Snowball Earth” Ice Age (717 million to 661 million years ago) is considered the most extreme icehouse period in Earth’s history. In a new study, geologists from the University of Sydney and the University of Adelaide used plate tectonics modeling to identify the most likely cause of the Staats Ice Age.

Artist’s impression of “Snowball Earth”. Image credit: Oleg Kuznetsov, http://3depix.com / CC BY-SA 4.0.

“Imagine if the Earth almost completely froze over, which is exactly what happened about 700 million years ago,” said lead author Dr. Adriana Dutkiewicz, a researcher at the University of Sydney. .

“The Earth was covered in ice from the poles to the equator, and temperatures plummeted. But what caused this to happen is an open question.”

“We think we have now solved the mystery. Historically, volcanic carbon dioxide emissions have been low, driven by the weathering of large volcanic rock mountains in what is now Canada. It’s a process that absorbs carbon dioxide.”

Named after Charles Sturt, a 19th-century European colonial explorer of central Australia, the Sturtsian Ice Age spanned 717 million to 660 million years, long before dinosaurs and complex plants existed on land. It continued until ten thousand years ago.

“There are many possible causes for the trigger and end of this extreme ice age, but the most mysterious one is why it lasted 57 million years. It’s hard for humans to imagine,” Dr. Dutkiewicz said.

Dr. Dutkiewicz and his colleagues used a plate tectonics model that simultaneously shows the evolution of continents and ocean basins after the breakup of the ancient supercontinent Rodina.

They connected it to a computer model that calculates the outgassing of carbon dioxide from submarine volcanoes along mid-ocean ridges, where plates diverge and new oceanic crust is born.

They soon realized that the beginning of the Starch Ice Age correlated precisely with the lowest ever levels of volcanic carbon dioxide emissions.

Additionally, carbon dioxide flux remained relatively low throughout the ice age.

“At that time, there were no multicellular animals or land plants on Earth,” Dr. Dutkiewicz said.

“Greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere were determined almost entirely by carbon dioxide emitted by volcanoes and by the weathering processes of silicate rocks that consume carbon dioxide.”

“At that time, geology ruled the climate,” said co-author Professor Dietmar Müller, a researcher at the University of Sydney.

“We think the Staats Ice Age began with a double whammy: plate tectonics realigned to minimize volcanic degassing, while at the same time Canada’s continental volcanic belt began to erode, removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Consumed.”

“As a result, atmospheric carbon dioxide has fallen to levels that could begin an ice age. This is estimated to be less than 200 parts per million, less than half of today’s levels.”

The team’s current research raises interesting questions about the long-term future of the planet.

Recent theories suggest that over the next 250 million years, Earth will evolve toward Pangea Ultima, a supercontinent hot enough to wipe out mammals.

However, the Earth is currently on a trajectory where volcanic carbon dioxide emissions decrease as continental collisions increase and plate velocities decrease.

So perhaps Pangea Ultima will snowball again.

“Whatever the future holds, it is important to remember that geological climate changes of the type studied here occur very slowly,” Dr. Dutkiewicz said.

“According to NASA, human-induced climate change is occurring 10 times faster than ever before.”

of study appear in the diary geology.

_____

Adriana Dutkiewicz other. The period of the Sturtian “Snowball Earth” ice age is associated with unusually low gas emissions at mid-ocean ridges. geology, published online on February 7, 2024. doi: 10.1130/G51669.1

Source: www.sci.news

Brendan Hancock’s List of the 10 Most Hilarious Internet Finds | Comedy

Posted on February 7, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

L
Last year, I was punched in the nose by a lesbian during a Monday night coed football game. It was Tim Winton’s dreamy evening. The jacarandas were fresh and blooming, and at the end of the year, that manicured fist touched my face squarely, if only by chance. People laughed, as millennials naturally do at violence that made sense to the first internet generation, who grew up on a diet of Australia’s funniest home videos and Mad TV music parodies (unfortunately, none of these make the list).

As a silly gay clown, laughter is my currency. I look forward to walking you through the order of neuroses that have plagued me for millennia. So let’s get in my brain, his broken 1993 Honda Civic, and drive around the old internet guy’s lane.

1. Actress

Every gay man has a ride-or-die diva, and mine is unashamedly Emma Stone. This SNL sketch, written by famous homos Bowen Yang and Julio Torres, is pristine. You can imagine a beautiful world by thinking about other points of view. And yes, that includes wives being cheated on with gay porn. Bravo.

2. The struggle of Amsterdam housewives

Beast. Let’s talk about her husband. These aren’t punch lines, but very well executed takedowns. The building and building drama of this scene is perfect. Private has become public. Do you realize I still have Hecs debt for my communications degree and haven’t started paying it off yet?

3. George Michaels Outside

Forget about the handsome guy in the Senate. Because George Michael’s Outside music video has the most cheek. Camp has its own unique sense of humor, and this is a masterclass in applause. Nineties outings aside, there’s a punch line that says, “I want to serve my community, and I’m already doing that,” and there’s also a bathroom disco cruising show and Tom of Finland drag. There’s no doubt that one of my favorite videos of his is about going outside.

4. Mama Makes Me Milo

I often say that tragedy and time are comedies, but it’s boring, and I don’t like being bored. I’m more of a comedy equivalent of Hot Department mixed with childhood nostalgia. If I’m laughing out loud alone in my house, most of the time it’s because of this devil. I couldn’t ask for a higher compliment. Check out this sketch to see your good constitution.

5. Kim Cattrall cheated on her husband

Not to beg, borrow, or steal from another funny list (looking at you, Madeleine Gray), but on the same day we both sat in the backyard of a gay bar in Santa Monica drinking margaritas. When I was there, I was asked to write this column. Immediately after the match, we both knew this was going to be a winner. Seriousness. “scat”. All I know is that her husband can play me like an upright bass any day. What a fuss!

6. Caleb Hearon performs the sacred art of stand-up comedy

If you follow any stand-up comedian on any platform these days, you’re likely inundated with crowd work clips. It seems like an easy way to generate content without wasting material constantly trying to exploit algorithms. They’re controversial in the community, but we’re all just shouting into the void for attention, so give them all the power. This clip by Caleb Hearon ignores all that and is just classic stand-up. Get out.

Skip past newsletter promotions

Research Finds Out Which Dog Breeds Have the Longest Lifespans

Posted on February 1, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

The Shiba Inu is one of the longest-lived dogs.

Ammu Photography/Getty Images

An analysis of more than 580,000 dogs in the UK found that small dogs with long noses, such as miniature dachshunds and Shiba Inu dogs, lived the longest. On the other hand, medium-sized dogs such as English bulldogs and Shih Tzus have the shortest lifespans.

“Despite the UK being a nation of dog lovers, we don't have a good handle on the dog population in general and the expected lifespan of dogs in particular,” he says. Kirsten McMillan At the British welfare charity Dogs Trust.

To create a comprehensive analysis of dog lifespans, McMillan and his colleagues collected data from a variety of sources, including veterinarians, pet insurance companies, and animal welfare charities. The data included 584,734 dogs belonging to 155 breeds, of which 284,734 died.

The average lifespan of dogs was 12.5 years. Female dogs had a slightly longer life expectancy at 12.7 years compared to 12.4 years for male dogs.

When the researchers divided dogs into categories based on size and facial shape, they found that small, long-nosed dogs had the highest life expectancy of both sexes, living an average of 13.3 years. Male and female medium-sized flat dogs fared worst, with expected lifespans of just 9.1 and 9.6 years, respectively.

“Many flat-faced breeds, both small and large, such as French bulldogs, St. Bernards, and Presa Canarios, do not perform well,” says McMillan.

Flat-faced dogs are known to face a variety of health problems, including breathing, digestion, and even sleeping problems, which may explain their short lifespans. there is.

One of the most surprising findings was that purebreds had a longer life expectancy than mutts: 12.7 years compared to just 12 years.

“Due to the concept of hybrid vigor, it has long been believed that mixed-breed dogs live longer than purebred dogs,” he says. audrey rule from Virginia Tech was not involved in the study. This refers to the idea that hybrid animals and plants may be healthier because of their genetic diversity, but Lupul says this needs to be investigated further.

“We hope that this study will spur further research into the exact reasons why some breeds die at a young age, ultimately improving the lifespans of our dogs.” McMillan he says.

topic:

Source: www.newscientist.com

“Harry Jun’s Top 10 Hilarious Internet Finds” | Comedy

Posted on January 24, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

MThe most memorable examples of the internet are the piracy from LimeWire and Kazaa. It felt so cool to download Guido Hatzis albums and Adam Sandler CD rips. some shitty car But I wanted more. A friend warned me that LimeWire has some crazy porn and that I should be careful because I could get into a lot of trouble if I downloaded it stupidly. I hated being patronized. I still do. That’s why I decided the next day to stake my claim and fearlessly pirate a TV show just to brag to my friends.

I snuck into my family computer, opened LimeWire, and searched for a random sitcom starring Ryan Reynolds, Two Guys, a Girl and a Pizza Place. By then I had become an Internet pro, so I only typed the first half of the title. two men and one woman. I clicked on download. Long story short, my friends were right.

The internet is cool, funny, and scary. Here’s a list of other cool, funny, and scary things:

1. K’s Cooking

I’ve never seen anyone cook so badly. Every video is a work of art as well as a treasure trove of comedy. Either Kay is blissfully unaware that she’s a bad cook, or she’s an Andy Kaufman-level comedic genius. It’s another thing to have rice that’s too dry or too sticky, but Kei managed to burn the risotto black. Finally, she lets her son Lee judge her own food, and the way he munches on this risotto makes me chuckle every time.

2. He looks like Bella Ramsey

The more I look at the photo this tweet refers to, the more I laugh. Doesn’t add anything to the social commentary the original image is clearly trying to encourage, but at the same time makes a bit of an impact? In a diagonal sense? i dunno. Let’s not dissect this frog. I think she looks like Bella Ramsey.

3. Graham Barrett

Graham Barrett is a very good character comedian. You can tell he’s spent hundreds of hours with people like the ones he painted. I also love how much effort he puts into these sketches. I have nothing against low-effort, uproarious comedy. I have a lot of friends who have made careers out of it. Please do what you have to do. On the other hand, it’s always great when you come across an account like Barrett’s that is a little bit more exciting, whatever that means.

4. Beebo

Do you allow TikTok content?

This article contains content provided by TikTok. We may use cookies and other technologies, so we ask for your permission before loading anything. To view this content, Click “Allow and continue”.

Vivo always makes me laugh. Firstly, he’s a British food influencer and that’s already hilarious. Also, he basically eats the same thing. He’s British, so his meals almost always come with chips. Another thing I like is his catchphrase. He keeps saying, “Make your ______ bigger.” He tries to give props about the country of origin of the food, but is either too broad or just wrong.

For example, he eats any dish with rice and says, “Good luck Asians.” Or you might say “Good luck Asians” while eating Nando’s. My favorite of his catchphrases is, “You know the rules. If you don’t, make sure you know them.” The genius is that Beavo never states the rules, so it’s fun to watch the comments and watch people try to guess the rules. Something like:

Rule 1: Don’t bite. Swallow food quickly.

Rule 2: Ketchup on everything.

Rule 3: No matter what you’re eating, hot chips should be part of your diet.

Rule 4: Make everything bigger.

Anyway, cheer up Beavo and cheer up Asians.

5. Redfern Electrical

John Cruikshank and Luke Smith are at it again. Their mockumentary Redfern Electrical depicts a semi-fictional version of Cruickshank, a stand-up comedian turned electrician. He’s a little thin, but he has a genius plan to make money. Cruikshank has an entertaining and enviable comedic brain and I can’t wait for the next episode.

6. Wheels that are not destiny

www.theguardian.com

China finds new species of toothless pterosaur

Posted on December 26, 2023 by Igor Mitreski

Chinese and Brazilian paleontologists identify new species of Chaoyangpteri pterosaurs from two specimens, one of which is the most complete and well-preserved Chaoyangpteri pterosaur ever recorded. It was announced that.

rebuilding the life of Meilifeilong Youhao. Image credit: Maurilio Oliveira.

This new species of pterosaur lived in what is now China during the Early Cretaceous period, between 125 and 113 million years ago.

Flying reptiles belong to Chamopteraa family of medium-sized and high-crowned pterosaurs known primarily from Asia.

dubbing Meilifeilong Youhaothis species was part of the Jehor biota, a terrestrial and freshwater ecosystem preserved within multilayered rock formations in northeastern China.

“Pterosaurs are an important and enigmatic group of flying reptiles of the Mesozoic Era that were among the first vertebrates to evolve active flight, and have filled every aerial environmental niche for almost 160 million years.” said Dr. Xiaolin Wang of the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, Chinese Academy of Sciences. Academy of Sciences and its colleagues.

“Despite being a completely extinct group, they acquired a wide variety of morphologies during the period from the Late Triassic to the end of the Cretaceous.”

“Despite being found on every continent, China stands out by providing several new specimens that reveal not only different species, but also entire new clades, such as the azhdarchoid Chrysoptera.”

“This Cretaceous group of medium-sized and high-crowned pterosaurs is particularly well known from the Jehol biota. Chaoyangopterus zangi and Shenjoupterus chaoyangensis (At the time of description, the posterior region of the skull of Chaoyanptidae was the only one preserved, revealing that these toothless pterosaurs formed a new clade).

holotype of Meilifeilong Youhao; arrow indicates preserved soft tissue.Image credit: Wang other., doi: 10.1038/s41598-023-48076-7.

Two fossilized bodies Meilifeilong Youhao It was discovered in the Jiufutang Formation in Wuludao City, Liaoning Province, China.

“This holotype is particularly well preserved and represents an individual with a wingspan of up to approximately 2.16 meters (7.1 feet),” the paleontologists said.

“It consists of essentially all bones except for most of the tail, making it the most complete and well-preserved Chaoyanputid skeleton ever discovered.”

“The specimen mentioned consists only of the premaxilla and maxilla and anterior part of the palate and represents a smaller individual.”

size Meilifeilong Youhao basically the same as Meilifeiron Sanyainus (with a wingspan of 2.18 meters, or 7.2 feet), which, along with other characteristics, suggests that they represent different species of the same genus.

“This new species provides some new information about these rather enigmatic flying reptiles. palatal area” said the researchers.

“Additionally, it shows a stapes preserved in place, a rare phenomenon among pterosaurs.”

team’s paper Published in the Journal on December 21, 2023 scientific report.

_____

X-One other. 2023. A new toothless pterosaur from the Early Cretaceous Jehol biota. With comments on Chaoyoptera. science officer 13, 22642; doi: 10.1038/s41598-023-48076-7

Source: www.sci.news

New Study Finds Human Insulin is Less Sensitive to Temperature Than Previously Believed

Posted on December 24, 2023 by Igor Mitreski

A Cochrane review has shown that certain types of insulin can remain effective when stored at room temperature for several months, offering a practical solution for diabetes treatment in areas without stable refrigeration. This finding is particularly crucial for people with diabetes in low- and middle-income countries, as well as those affected by conflict, natural disasters, and environmental challenges.

Insulin storage options have been highlighted in the review, which summarizes the results of various studies investigating the effects of storing insulin outside the refrigerator. It was found that unopened vials and cartridges of certain types of human insulin can be stored for extended periods at temperatures up to 25°C and 37°C without any clinical consequences or loss of insulin activity. This has significant implications for people living in areas where access to refrigeration is limited.

Dr. Bernd Richter led a research team that conducted a comprehensive study on insulin stability under different storage conditions. The review analyzed 17 studies and found consistent insulin efficacy at temperatures ranging from 4°C to 37°C, providing reassurance that alternatives to powered cooling of insulin are possible without compromising its stability.

The study also identified areas for future research, such as better understanding the efficacy of insulin after storage under different conditions, studies of mixed insulin, effects of movement on insulin pumps, contamination of opened vials and cartridges, and cold environmental conditions.

The study was funded by the World Health Organization.

Source: scitechdaily.com

New Study Finds COVID-19 Vaccination Does Not Increase Risk of Miscarriage

Posted on December 22, 2023 by Igor Mitreski

A study by Boston University researchers found no increased risk of miscarriage associated with the COVID-19 vaccine among individuals planning a pregnancy. This encouraging evidence supports the safety of preconception vaccination and is consistent with health authorities’ recommendations for vaccination of people planning pregnancy.

The new study is the first to prospectively assess the relationship between bias and bias. COVID-19 (new coronavirus infection) We found that vaccinating both partners and having a miscarriage slightly reduced the risk of miscarriage among vaccinated partners trying to conceive.

In many studies, It is shown COVID-19 vaccines do not cause infertility or increase the risk of pregnancy-related problems, including miscarriage.Despite this evidence, people still on guard About the potential negative effects of vaccines on pregnancy.

A recent study conducted by researchers at the Boston University School of Public Health (BUSPH) provided more comprehensive information about the safety of COVID-19 vaccines for individuals considering pregnancy.

It was published in the magazine human reproductionthe study found no increased risk of early or late miscarriage as a result of either the man or the woman’s partner receiving the COVID-19 vaccine before pregnancy.

Insights from new research on pre-pregnancy vaccine safety

This study is the first to assess the risk of early miscarriage (<8 weeks gestation) following preconception COVID-19 vaccination, and the first to assess vaccination and miscarriage in men. The researchers hope these results will be useful information for individuals planning pregnancy and health care providers.

“These findings should be replicated in other populations, but are reassuring for couples planning pregnancy,” says lead author Jennifer Eland, an epidemiology doctoral student at BUSPH at the time of the study. .

Study details and results

For this study, Yland and colleagues analyzed survey data on COVID-19 vaccination and miscarriage among male and female participants of the BUSPH-based Online Pregnancy Study (PRESTO). National Institutes of Health– A funded study that enrolls women who wish to become pregnant and follows them from before pregnancy until 6 months after giving birth. Participants in this new analysis included 1,815 women in the United States and Canada who were followed in the study from December 2020 to November 2022. They were observed from the first positive pregnancy test until miscarriage or other event (e.g. induced abortion, ectopic pregnancy) occurred. , or 20 weeks of pregnancy)—whichever comes first.

Among female participants, 75% had received at least one dose of a coronavirus vaccine before becoming pregnant. Almost a quarter of pregnancies led to miscarriage, 75% of which occurred before 8 weeks of pregnancy, but there was no increased risk.

The risk of miscarriage was 26.6% for unvaccinated female participants, 23.9% for female participants who received one dose of vaccine before pregnancy, and 24.5% for female participants who completed the full first dose before pregnancy. and 22.1% among female participants who completed the vaccination series. 20.1% of women received only one dose of the two-dose vaccine three months before pregnancy.

“The miscarriage rate among vaccinated people was not only comparable to that among PRESTO participants who became pregnant before the pandemic, but also that the risk of miscarriage among vaccinated people was higher than that of unvaccinated people. “Our data showed that it was slightly lower than the previous year,” Yland said.

Federal health officials continue to recommend COVID-19 vaccination for people planning pregnancy, emphasizing that the benefits of COVID-19 vaccination outweigh the potential risks of vaccination before or during pregnancy. ing.

Reference: “Prospective Cohort Study of Preconception COVID-19 Vaccination and Miscarriage” Jennifer J Yland, Amelia K Wesselink, Annette K Regan, Elizabeth E Hatch, Kenneth J Rothman, David A Savitz, Tanran R Wang, Krista By F Huybrechts, Sonia Hernández-Diaz, Michael L. Eisenberg, Lauren A. Wise, October 20, 2023. human reproduction.
DOI: 10.1093/hamrep/dead211

The study was funded by the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, and the National Science Foundation.

Source: scitechdaily.com

Consumer Reports Finds Tesla’s Autopilot Recall Fix to be ‘Inadequate’

Posted on December 20, 2023 by Igor Mitreski

Tesla’s fix for Autopilot recall of more than 2 million vehicles criticized as ‘insufficient’ consumer reportfollowing a preliminary test.

Kelly Fankhauser, associate director of vehicle technology at the nonprofit organization, told TechCrunch that they’ve discovered it’s possible to cover the interior camera while using Autopilot. That means it could disable one of the two main ways cars monitor whether you’re paying attention to the road.

Additionally, Funkhouser said that when activating or using Autosteer, Autopilot’s flagship feature, outside of access-controlled highways, where Tesla claims the software is designed to said that they did not notice any difference.

The test was not comprehensive, but it showed that questions remain about Tesla’s approach to driver monitoring, the technology at the heart of the recall.

The group has a long history of critically evaluating both Tesla technology and vehicles, and plans to conduct more extensive testing in the coming weeks. Fankhauser said Consumer Reports has only received over-the-air software updates for the Model S sedan, so it has not yet evaluated other changes, such as more prominent visual warnings in the Model 3 sedan and Model Y SUV. .

Tesla has also added a suspension policy that disables Autopilot for a week if “inappropriate use” is detected, but Funkhouser said such a suspension policy did not occur for two drives lasting 15 to 20 miles each. He said he had not encountered any such situation.

The recall, announced last week, affects more than 2 million vehicles in the U.S. and Canada and comes amid a two-year investigation by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). This product focuses on an autosteer feature designed to keep your car centered in its lane on access-controlled highways, even around curves.

Tesla tells drivers to keep their eyes on the road and keep their hands on the wheel while using Autosteer, and it monitors this through a combination of a torque sensor on the steering wheel and, in newer cars, an interior camera. But NHTSA said in a document released last week that it considers these checks “insufficient to prevent abuse.”

However, Tesla does not limit the use of Autosteer to access-controlled highways. Instead, drivers can activate Autosteer on other roads as long as certain basic conditions are met (such as visible lane markers). NHTSA said that as part of the recall, Tesla will add “additional checks when Autosteer is activated, when using the feature outside of controlled access highways, and when approaching traffic stops.” Ta.

Some owners feared this would mean Tesla would limit autosteer and limit it to controlled-access highways. Just like Ford and General Motors do with their Blue Cruise and Super Cruise systems. As the update began rolling out over the weekend, several opinions were shared in online forums. how to avoid it By disconnecting your Tesla’s cell phone or Wi-Fi radio.

But Funkhouser’s tests show that such drastic measures are clearly not necessary. In the release notes for the latest software update, Tesla says the camera “can determine driver inattention and issue an audio warning to remind you to keep your eyes on the road when Autopilot is engaged. “Now we can do that,” the company says, but the wording is the same as the company’s.Used to enable driver monitoring with interior cameras for the first time in 2021she points out. And dDespite what Tesla says, Release notes it is”[i]”Driver attentiveness requirements have been increased when using Autosteer and when approaching traffic lights and stop signs off-highway,” Funkhouser said, adding that these changes were not noticeable in preliminary testing. Ta. Part of the reason is that it’s hard to know exactly what Tesla means in the first place.

All of this makes it unclear whether or to what extent Tesla has changed the functionality of the driver’s attentiveness camera in the update. (NHTSA declined to comment, instead directing questions to Tesla, which disbanded its media department several years ago.)

“None of this is very prescriptive or explicit in terms of what they’re trying to do.” [change]”Funkhouser says.

Source: techcrunch.com

Webb finds small, free-floating brown dwarf in star-forming cluster IC 348

Posted on December 18, 2023 by Igor Mitreski

The newly discovered brown dwarf is estimated to have a mass three to four times that of Jupiter, making it a strong candidate for the lowest mass free-floating brown dwarf ever directly imaged.

This image from Webb’s NIRCam instrument shows the central portion of star cluster IC 348. Image credits: NASA / ESA / CSA / STScI / K. Luhman, Pennsylvania State University / C. Alves de Oliveira, ESA.

Brown dwarfs are cold, dark objects that are between the size of gas giant planets and Sun-like stars.

These objects, also known as failed stars, have star-like properties even though they are too small to sustain hydrogen fusion reactions in their cores.

Typically, their masses are between 11 and 16 Jupiter (the approximate mass that can sustain deuterium fusion) and 75 and 80 Jupiter (the approximate mass that can sustain hydrogen fusion).

“One of the basic questions you’ll find in any astronomy textbook is: What is the smallest star? That’s what we’re trying to answer,” said Kevin, an astronomer at Penn State University.・Dr. Luman said.

The newly discovered brown dwarf resides in IC 348, a star cluster 1,000 light-years away in the constellation Perseus.

The cluster, also known as Collinder 41, Gingrich 1, and Theia 17, contains nearly 400 stars and is about 5 million years old.

IC 348 is part of the larger Perseus star-forming region, and although it is normally invisible to the naked eye, it shines brightly when viewed at infrared wavelengths.

Dr. Luhmann and his colleagues used the following method to image the center of the star cluster. Webb’s NIRCam device Identify brown dwarf candidates based on their brightness and color.

They followed up on the most promising targets using: Webb’s NIRSpec microshutter array.

This process created three interesting targets with masses between three and eight Jupiters and surface temperatures between 830 and 1,500 degrees Celsius.

Computer models suggest that the smallest of these weighs just three to four times as much as Jupiter.

ESA astronomer Dr Catalina Alves de Oliveira said: “With current models, it is very easy to create a giant planet in a disk around a star.”

“But in this cluster, the object is unlikely to form as a disc, but instead as a star, with three Jupiters having a mass 300 times less than the Sun.”

“Then we have to ask how the star formation process takes place at such a very small mass.”

Two of the brown dwarfs identified by the research team exhibit spectral signatures of unidentified hydrocarbons, molecules that contain both hydrogen and carbon atoms.

The same infrared signature was detected in the atmospheres of Saturn and its moon Titan by NASA’s Cassini mission.

It has also been observed in the interstellar medium, the gas between stars.

“This is the first time this molecule has been detected in the atmosphere of an object outside our solar system,” Dr de Oliveira said.

“Models for brown dwarf atmospheres do not predict their existence. We are observing objects that are younger and have lower masses than ever before, and we are seeing something new and unexpected.” .”

a paper Regarding the survey results, astronomy magazine.

_____

KL Luman other. 2023. JWST survey of planetary mass brown dwarfs in IC 348. A.J. 167, 19; doi: 10.3847/1538-3881/ad00b7

Source: www.sci.news

Neanderthals May Have Been Early Risers, New Study Finds

Posted on December 18, 2023 by Igor Mitreski

When the ancestors of modern Eurasians migrated from Africa and interbred with the archaic humans of Eurasia, namely Neanderthals and Denisovans, the DNA of the archaic ancestors became anatomically integrated into the genomes of modern humans. homo sapiens. This process could accelerate adaptation to Eurasian environmental factors, such as reduced UV radiation and increased seasonal variation. In a new study, scientists from Vanderbilt University, the University of Pennsylvania, and the University of California, San Francisco have discovered lineage-specific genetic differences in circadian genes and their regulatory elements between humans and Neanderthals. They found that the introgressed genetic variants were enriched with effects on circadian regulation and consistently increased morningness tendencies in Europeans. The results expand our understanding of how the genomes of humans and our closest relatives responded to environments with different light-dark cycles.

Velasquez Alsuley other. They found that genetic material from Neanderthal ancestors may contribute to the tendency of some people today to be early risers, the type of people who wake up early and go to bed more easily. Image credit: Holger Neumann / Neanderthal Museum.

All anatomically modern humans trace their origins to the African continent about 300,000 years ago, where environmental factors shaped many of their biological characteristics.

They arrived in Eurasia 70,000 years ago, but other humans, Neanderthals and Denisovans, lived there for more than 400,000 years.

These archaic humans diverged from anatomically modern humans about 700,000 years ago, and as a result, humans and archaic hominid ancestors evolved under different environmental conditions.

“Although there was considerable variation in the latitudinal range of each group, Eurasian hominids primarily lived at consistently high latitudes and were therefore exposed to larger amplitude seasonal fluctuations in photoperiod,” said the University of California. said the San Francisco school. Dr. John Capra and his colleagues.

“Given the influence of environmental cues on circadian biology, we hypothesized that these separate evolutionary histories produced differences in circadian traits adapted to different environments.”

Although previous studies have shown that many of the archaic ancestors of modern humans are not beneficial and have been removed by natural selection, some archaic hominin variants that remain in human populations has shown evidence of adaptation.

For example, archaic genetic variation is thought to be associated with differences in hemoglobin levels, immune resistance to new pathogens, levels of skin pigmentation, and fat composition among Tibetans at high altitudes.

Changes in patterns and levels of light exposure have biological and behavioral effects that lead to evolutionary adaptations.

Scientists have extensively studied the evolution of circadian adaptations in insects, plants, and fish, but humans have been less well studied.

The Eurasian environment where Neanderthals and Denisovans lived for hundreds of thousands of years is located at higher latitudes and has more variable daylight hours than where modern humans evolved before leaving Africa.

Dr. Capra and his co-authors therefore investigated whether there was genetic evidence for differences in circadian clocks between Neanderthals and modern humans.

Using a combination of literature searches and expert knowledge, they defined a set of 246 circadian genes.

They found hundreds of genetic variations unique to each strain that can affect genes involved in the circadian clock.

Using artificial intelligence techniques, they identified 28 circadian genes that contain mutations that could alter splicing in archaic humans and that may be differentially regulated between modern and archaic humans. identified 16 circadian genes.

This indicates that there may be functional differences between the circadian clocks of ancient and modern humans.

Eurasian modern humans and Neanderthal ancestors interbred, so some humans may have acquired circadian variation from Neanderthals.

To test this, researchers investigated whether introgressed genetic variants were associated with the body’s preferences for wakefulness and sleep in a large cohort of hundreds of thousands of people at UK Biobank. did.

They found a number of introgressed mutants that affected sleep preferences, and most surprisingly, they found that these mutants consistently increased morningness, or the tendency to rise early.

This suggests a directional influence on this trait and is consistent with adaptations to high latitudes observed in other animals.

Increased morning time in humans is associated with a shortened circadian clock period. This may be beneficial at high latitudes, as it has been shown that sleep and wakefulness can be coordinated more quickly with external timing cues.

Shortening of the circadian period is required to synchronize the long summer light period at high latitudes in Drosophila, and selection for a shorter circadian period results in a latitudinal shift with increasing latitude in natural Drosophila populations. There is a latitudinal gradient in which the period decreases.

Therefore, the bias toward morningness in introgressed mutants may indicate selection for shortened circadian periods in populations living at high latitudes.

The tendency to be a morning person may have been evolutionarily beneficial to our ancestors who lived in the high latitudes of Europe, and would have been a Neanderthal genetic trait worth preserving.

“By combining ancient DNA, extensive genetic studies in modern humans, and artificial intelligence, we discovered substantial genetic differences in the circadian systems of Neanderthals and modern humans,” Dr. Capra said. .

“And by analyzing fragments of Neanderthal DNA that remain in the genomes of modern humans, we discovered surprising trends, many of which influence the regulation of circadian genes in modern humans. These effects are primarily in the consistent direction of increasing Neanderthal tendencies.” Morning people. ”

“This change is consistent with the effects of living at high latitudes on animals’ circadian clocks, and changes in seasonal light patterns may allow them to adjust their circadian clocks more quickly. ”

“Our next steps include applying these analyzes to more diverse modern human populations and investigating the effects of the Neanderthal variants we identified on circadian clocks in model systems. and applying similar analyzes to other potentially adaptive traits.”

of the team paper It was published in the magazine Genome biology and evolution.

_____

Kayla Velasquez-Arsley other. 2023. Archaic genetic introgression shaped human circadian characteristics. Genome biology and evolution 15 (12): evad203; doi: 10.1093/gbe/evad203

Source: www.sci.news

Exit mobile version