Ancient genes pinpoint when humans and Neanderthals mixed and mingled
Neanderthals and humans likely mixed and mingled during a narrow time frame 45,000 years ago, scientists reported Thursday......»»
Saturday Citations: M87* lashes out; a deep sleep discovery; proposal to build a digital cell
I love it when researchers observe an extra-weird particle, and this week, scientists reported the observation of a particle that only has mass when it's moving in a single direction. Good enough! An ancient DNA analysis suggests that Neanderthals an.....»»
The secret to living to 110? Bad record-keeping, researcher says
Most of what we know about humans living to very old age is based on faulty data, including the science behind the "blue zones" famous for having a high proportion of people over 100, according to one researcher......»»
Genetic method leverages bacterial transfer mechanism to produce new active ingredients
Microorganisms produce a wide variety of natural products that can be used as active ingredients to treat diseases such as infections or cancer. The blueprints for these molecules can be found in the microbes' genes, but often remain inactive under l.....»»
Buried landforms reveal North Sea"s ancient glacial past
An international team of researchers, including a glaciologist at Newcastle University, UK, has discovered remarkably well-preserved glacial landforms buried almost 1 km beneath the North Sea......»»
Ancient Roman harbor wooden structures analyzed with MRI technology
In a recent study, rare wooden structures from the Roman Empire were investigated in a wide range of ways using NMR methods. These methods, widely known for their use in hospital MRI scans to produce detailed images of the human body, have proven equ.....»»
Video: A biologist explains how animals move
For millennia, humans have observed and have been inspired by the ways that animals move. Some researchers theorize that paintings in famous caves like Chauvet and Lascaux, made more than 30,000 years ago, were designed to show the ways a horse might.....»»
How Australia"s ancient forests became an arid zone
I didn't plan to become a botanist, I just pursued activities that made me happy. Studying subjects that make you light up can guide you towards a career that doesn't really feel like work because you find it fascinating......»»
Do animals get jealous like people? Researchers say it"s complicated
It's a question that has puzzled thinkers for centuries: Are we humans alone in our pursuit of fairness and the frustration we feel when others get what we want?.....»»
Southern states brace for water changes, report finds
Water is everywhere. It falls freely from the sky and flows across the earth. Humans are inextricably connected to water and to forests. Changes in land use, forest conditions, and climate affect water – with consequences for drinking water treatme.....»»
Neanderthal-human interbreeding lasted 7,000 years, new study reveals
A new analysis of DNA from ancient modern humans (Homo sapiens) in Europe and Asia has determined, more precisely than ever, the time period during which Neanderthals interbred with modern humans, starting about 50,500 years ago and lasting about 7,0.....»»
Ancient genomes link early Europeans to Neanderthal ancestry
After modern humans left Africa, they met and interbred with Neanderthals, resulting in around 2–3% Neanderthal DNA that can be found in the genomes of all people outside Africa today. However, little is known about the genetics of these first pion.....»»
Studies pin down exactly when humans and Neanderthals swapped DNA
We may owe our tiny sliver of Neanderthal DNA to just a couple of hundred Neanderthals. Two recent studies suggest that the gene flow (as the young people call it these days) betw.....»»
How soil bacteria contribute to the growing global issue of antibiotic resistance
Soil plays a much bigger role in the spread of antibiotic resistance than one might imagine. Surprisingly, the ground beneath us is packed with antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs)—tiny codes that allow bacteria to resist antibiotics. Human activitie.....»»
Human settlement of Mars isn"t as far off as you might think
Could humans expand out beyond their homeworld and establish settlements on the planet Mars? The idea of settling the red planet has been around for decades. However, it has been seen by skeptics as a delusion at best and mere bluster at worst......»»
Stone Age insights: Life, death and fire in ancient Ukraine
A research group led by Johannes Müller at the Institute of Prehistoric and Protohistoric Archaeology, at Kiel University, Germany, have shed light on the lives of people who lived over 5,600 years ago near Kosenivka, Ukraine......»»
AI company trolls San Francisco with billboards saying “stop hiring humans”
Company boasts "AI workers" that never complain about work-life balance. Since the dawn of the generative AI era a few years ago, the march of technology—toward what tech compan.....»»
The Talos Principle: Reawakened adds new engine, looks, and content to a classic
The game that was asking lots of questions about AI ethics 10 years ago is back. Are humans just squishy machines? Can an artificially intelligent robot create a true moral compas.....»»
Saturday citations: The "donut effect"; basically immortal batteries; Neanderthals and H. sapiens
This week, researchers studying data from NASA's Dawn mission reported the identification of 11 sites on Ceres that suggest an internal reservoir of organic materials. A multidisciplinary team published an analysis of the dazzle camouflage patterns d.....»»
Lizards and snakes are 35 million years older than we thought
Reanalysis of a fossil finds that reptiles' traits go back earlier than we thought. Lizards are ancient creatures. They were around before the dinosaurs and persisted long after d.....»»
A nature conservation paradox: Invasive species are often threatened in their native habitat
Non-native species introduced by humans are among the main causes of global species decline—they were partly responsible for 60% of the species that have become extinct worldwide in recent decades. Non-native mammals in Central Europe include speci.....»»