Science News
Petite primate fossil could upend ideas about ape evolution
11.6-million-year-old fossil suggests a gibbonlike creature was modern apes’ common ancestor
By Bruce Bower
An ancient primate’s partial skeleton, discovered in northeastern Spain, is poised to downsize ape evolution in a big way.
This 11.6-million-year-old fossil find, nicknamed Laia by its discoverers, represents the first evidence that present-day African apes descended from a relatively small, somewhat gibbonlike common ancestor — not large-bodied African primates as previously thought, scientists report in the Oct. 30 Science. If that scenario holds up, Laia’s discovery also shows for the first time that ancient, small-bodied apes moved from Africa to Europe, says a team led by paleontologist David Alba of Catalan Institute of Paleontology in Barcelona.
Based on analysis of more than 300 teeth, skull and lower-body measurements, Alba and colleagues assign the partial skeleton to a new genus and species of ancient ape, Pliobates cataloniae.
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What Happens In Your Brain When You're Chased By An Axe-Murderer
Fear, screaming, and pain are our instincts kicking in.
Eliza Sankar-Gorton
"Don't go to the basement alone!"
It's the classic line you blurt out whenever you're watching a scary movie, and you know that one of the characters hasn't got long to live. But what if some of our favorite scary movie scenes were reality? How would the human body and brain respond to real-life terror?
A new video from the American Chemical Society's online series "Reactions" explains exactly what happens in the brain when you're being chased by an axe-murderer -- from why we scream to how pain works.
And it turns out that the way your body and brain react is all about self-preservation.
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Technology News
'Breathing Battery' Advance Holds Promise for Long-Range Electric Cars
New materials make prototype lithium–air batteries more durable
By Philip Ball and Nature magazine
If electric vehicles are ever going to match the range of cars that run on fossil fuels, their batteries will need to store a lot more energy. Lithium–air (or lithium–oxygen) batteries are among the best candidates, but have been held back by serious obstacles. But a more durable design unveiled by chemists at the University of Cambridge, UK, offers promise that these problems can be overcome.
The batteries devised by Clare Grey at Cambridge and her co-workers are small laboratory prototypes — a long way from a car battery pack — but their innovative combination of materials “addresses several major problems with the lithium–oxygen technology”, says Yury Gogotsi, a materials chemist at Drexel University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
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Sparks Light the Path to a STEM Career
By Casey Santos
I never felt a need to stick with the status quo—while growing up, I didn’t have many role models in technology, but being different didn’t discourage me. Without role models, women and minorities often choose not to go into the STEM fields (science, technology, engineering and math) and it is costing us in many ways. But I’ve found myself in a very rewarding, technologically oriented career. Maybe it’s been the ambition gene in me that made it possible. Maybe it’s been my good fortune to have seen a few encouraging sparks along the way.
Let me explain. I grew up in Iowa, the only kid in the area with a Hispanic last name. My fascination with math and science also seemed to be unusual. I was the only student in my high school class to take four years of both math and science courses. I may have been an outlier, but I never felt like one.
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Environmental News
Rising temperatures complicate efforts to manage cod fishery
Gulf of Maine waters warming more rapidly than most of ocean, study finds
By Chris Samoray
Warming waters in the Gulf of Maine have reduced Atlantic cod populations in that region and distorted estimates of how many fish were available to catch, a new study finds.
Cod stocks have decreased even though fishing quotas should have maintained a sustainable cod fishery. But those quotas relied on historical data without considering higher water temperatures, leading to incorrect assumptions of how big cod numbers could be and how fast these fish populations could rebuild.
The new finding sends a message that past sustainability levels for the cod fishery won’t necessarily work in managing future cod populations, says Ray Hilborn, a fisheries ecologist at the University of Washington in Seattle who was not involved in the study.
Based on ocean area, the Gulf of Maine — a productive fishing area in New England — heated faster than 99.9 percent of the global ocean over the last decade, the researchers report online October 29 in Science.
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Republican Frontrunners Avoid Climate Change
Only candidates trailing in the polls mentioned global warming
By Evan Lehmann and ClimateWire
Three Republican presidential candidates stated their belief in climate change last night during two debates that wandered from economic policies to sharp attacks on the media. The trio combined capture less than 5 percent of voters’ support in polling.
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie condemned Democratic efforts to curtail greenhouse gas emissions through regulations while pointing to his state’s success at installing solar systems on residential rooftops and businesses.
He expressed support for oil and gas production but also noted that solar and wind are cheap sources of electricity in some areas of the country. He claimed that in New Jersey, “we work with the private sector to make solar energy affordable.”
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Medical News
Itch-busting nerve cells could block urge to scratch
Mice studies show how brain deals with irritation of light touch on hairy skin
By Laura Sanders
A fly tickling your arm hair can spark a maddening itch. Now, scientists have spotted nerve cells in mice that curb this light twiddling sensation. If humans possess similar itch-busters, the results, published in the Oct. 30 Science, could lead to treatments for the millions of people who suffer from intractable, chronic itch.
For many of these people, there are currently no good options. “This is a major problem,” says clinician Gil Yosipovitch of Temple University School of Medicine in Philadelphia and director of the Temple Itch Center. The new study shows that mice handle an itch caused by a fluttery touch differently than other kinds of itch. This distinction “seems to have clinical applications that clearly open our field,” Yosipovitch says.
In recent years, scientists have made progress teasing apart the pathways that carry itchy signals from skin to spinal cord to brain (SN: 11/22/2008, p. 16). But those itch signals often originate from chemicals, such as those delivered by mosquitoes. All that’s needed to spark a different sort of itch, called mechanical itch, is a light touch on the skin. The existence of this kind of itch is no surprise, Yosipovitch says. Mechanical itch may help explain why clothes or even dry, scaly skin can be itchy.
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Got allergies? Blame parasites
By Kai Kupferschmidt
Why are millions of people allergic to peanuts or pollen, but hardly anyone seems to have a reaction to rice or raisins? Because only some of these things carry molecules similar to those found in parasites that send our immune systems into hyperdrive, according to a new study. The advance could help researchers predict what other foods might cause allergies.
Allergies begin when a type of antibody known as Immunoglobulin E (IgE) recognizes a so-called allergen—a peanut protein, for example—and binds to it. In some cases, this causes the immune system to overreact, ultimately leading to symptoms ranging from a runny nose to life-threatening anaphylactic shock.
Scientists have long argued that this mechanism originally evolved to defend humans and animals against parasites like certain worms. In developed countries, where people’s immune systems are hardly ever confronted by such parasites, the immune system may begin targeting other molecules by mistake, causing allergic reactions.
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Space News
Oxygen discovered on Rosetta comet, stunning scientists
By Michael Casey
Scientists have for the first time detected oxygen on a comet, a finding that could upend theories about how the solar system was formed.
Reporting their findings in the journal Nature on Wednesday, an international team said that they detected “a lot” of molecular oxygen in the cloud of gas, or coma, surrounding the nucleus of comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko.
While molecular oxygen has been found in Jupiter and Saturn, it’s never been found on a comet. The neutral gas comas of most comets are composed largely of water, carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide.
“It is the most surprising discovery we have made so far in 67P because oxygen was not among the molecules suspected in a cometary comas,” Kathrin Altwegg, one of the co-authors on the paper from the University of Bern, told reporters during a press conference Tuesday.
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Cassini probe sweeps over Saturn's moon Enceladus
By Jonathan Amos
The Cassini probe has made a daring close flyby of Enceladus, an ice-rich moon of Saturn.
The Nasa craft swept just 50km above the moon's surface in a final attempt to "taste" the chemistry of water jets spewing from its south pole.
Enceladus has produced a series of major discoveries that mean it is now considered one of the most promising places to find life beyond Earth.
Scientists say it has an ocean beneath its icy crust.
What is more, the conditions in this global body of liquid water could be benign enough to support microbial organisms.
"Enceladus is not just an ocean world - it's a world that might provide a habitable environment for life as we know it," said Cassini program scientist Curt Niebur, in a media briefing on Monday.
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Odd News
Fake Blood Made Scientific
Slow-flowing physics project from Science Buddies
By Science Buddies
Introduction
With Halloween just around the corner, pretend-bloody scenes are just a block away. Whether it is dripping vampire teeth or a leaky bandage, fake blood is sure to bring characters to life—so to speak.
Although chocolate syrup might make convincing fake blood in black-and-white pictures, it is not so believable in full color—or in real-life encounters. In this activity science helps you engineer your latest product: good-looking (and tasty!) fake blood.
Background
Several physical quantities, including the viscosity and color, determine the look of a fluid. Viscosity is a measure of the thickness and stickiness of a fluid. It quantifies its resistance to flow. Together with its density, the viscosity of blood determines how blood flows through blood vessels—or out of your finger after a paper cut. At normal body temperature (37 degrees Celsius), blood is four times more viscous than water but only slightly denser. As a result, it flows more slowly and it is stickier than water. Corn syrup or honey, on the other hand, are far more viscous (more than thousand times) than blood. They are also denser. Diluting these with water will reduce their viscosity.
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