Welcome to the Overnight News Digest with a crew consisting of founder Magnifico, current leader Neon Vincent, regular editors side pocket, maggiejean, Chitown Kev, Doctor RJ, Magnifico, annetteboardman and Man Oh Man. Alumni editors include (but not limited to) wader, planter, JML9999, Patriot Daily News Clearinghouse, ek hornbeck, ScottyUrb, Interceptor7, BentLiberal, Oke and jlms qkw.
OND is a regular community feature on Daily Kos, consisting of news stories from around the world, sometimes coupled with a daily theme, original research or commentary. Editors of OND impart their own presentation styles and content choices, typically publishing each day near 12:00 AM Eastern Time.
Welcome to the Saturday Science Edition of the Overnight News Digest.
Biology and Medicine
Strange undertakings: Ant queens bury dead to prevent disease
Ant queens may bury other queens - a task normally performed by workers - to avoid infection when co-founding a new colony, according to a study published in the open access journal BMC Evolutionary Biology.
Researchers at the Institute of Science and Technology Austria found that in cases where two ant-queens founded a colony together and one of the queens died before the first workers arrived, the surviving queen performed "undertaking behaviors" - behaviors directed at dead individuals, such as biting and burying the corpse - possibly to prevent pathogen transmission. The authors found that biting and burial was associated with a seven-fold reduction in the odds of a queen dying.
Christopher Pull, corresponding author of the study said: "Ant queens usually focus on reproduction and do not engage in any risky or dangerous tasks. That's why we were surprised to find that while ant queens do not avoid founding new colonies with other, sick queens - due mainly to competition for suitable nest sites - they perform undertaking behaviors that may have an impact on their survival. We found that queens that perform these behaviors are actually less likely to contract infections from dead co-founders and are less likely to die compared to those that do not perform undertaking."
Namibia says anthrax could be to blame for deaths of more than 100 hippos
More than 100 hippos have died in Namibia in a remote national park in the past week, the country’s environment minister said on Monday, warning that anthrax could be to blame.
Images from the Bwabwata national park in north-east Namibia showed dozens of lifeless hippos, some flat on their backs, others with just their heads visible above murky water.
“Over 100 hippos died in the past week. The cause of death is unknown but the signs so far show that it could be anthrax,” Pohamba Shifeta told AFP.
He said the toll could be higher as crocodiles might have eaten some of the carcasses.
“Our veterinary services are currently working at the area to determine the cause of death. Once we have the results of the cause of death than we can decide on the way forward,” Shifeta said.
Anthrax is a bacterial disease commonly associated with arid climates like the African savannah, where it kills game, cattle and sometimes humans.
Long Sleeves on Doctors' White Coats May Spread Germs by Rachel Rettner
SAN DIEGO — Doctors may want to roll up their sleeves before work, literally. A new study suggests that long sleeves on a doctor's white coat may become contaminated with viruses or other pathogens that could then be transmitted to patients.
In the study, the researchers had 34 health care workers wear either long- or short-sleeved white coats while they examined a mannequin that had been contaminated with DNA from the "cauliflower mosaic virus." This virus infects plants and is harmless to humans, but it is transmitted in a way that is similar to that of other, harmful pathogens, such as Clostridium difficile, a bacteria that causes severe diarrhea, said Dr. Amrita John, an infectious disease specialist at University Hospitals Case Medical Center in Cleveland, who led the study. John presented the research here on Friday (Oct. 6) at an infectious disease conference called IDWeek 2017.
The health care workers wore gloves while they examined the mannequin, then removed the gloves, washed their hands and put on a new pair of gloves before examining a second, clean (non-contaminated) mannequin. After the health care workers had finished examining both mannequins, the researchers swabbed the workers' sleeves, wrists and hands, and tested the samples for DNA from the cauliflower mosaic virus. Each of the 34 participants completed the exam twice (once wearing short sleeves and once wearing long sleeves), for a total of 68 "simulations." [6 Superbugs to Watch Out For]
FDA advisers back gene therapy for rare form of blindness by Heidi Ledford
Advisers to the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) have paved the way for the agency’s first approval of a gene therapy to treat a disease caused by a genetic mutation.
On 12 October, a panel of external experts unanimously voted that the benefits of the therapy, which treats a form of hereditary blindness, outweigh its risks. The FDA is not required to follow the guidance of its advisers, but it often does. A final decision on the treatment, called voretigene neparvovec (Luxturna), is expected by 12 January.
An approval in the lucrative US drug market would be a validation that gene-therapy researchers have awaited for decades. “It’s the first of its kind,” says geneticist Mark Kay of Stanford University in California, of the treatment. “Things are beginning to look more promising for gene therapy.”
Luxturna is made by Spark Therapeutics of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and is designed to treat individuals who have two mutated copies of a gene called RPE65. The mutations impair the eye’s ability to respond to light, and ultimately lead to the destruction of photoreceptors in the retina.
Chemistry
Forgery of ancient silk leaves chemical footprint by Louisa Dalton
Chemists have pulled back the veil on suspected ancient silk forgeries by revealing telltale chemical traces in the fabric. They show that amino acid analysis can tell real ancient silk from fake, and their analysis method reveals the manner of deception: Amino acid measurements from forged silks match modern silks that have been soaked in hot base to artificially age them (Anal. Chem. 2017, DOI: 10.1021/acs.analchem.7b02854).
In 1924, archaeologists unearthed a small number of rare Persian silks from the Buyid period (A.D. 934-1062) at the burial site of the princess Bibi Shahrbanu in Iran. The silks quickly found their way to museums and private collections in the U.S. and Europe. Shortly afterward, in the 1930s, pieces of silk in over 50 additional designs appeared on the antiquities market, ostensibly from the same time period. After many museums and collections had acquired “Buyid silks,” curators and experts started to cast doubt on the authenticity of many of them. Careful study of weave patterns and design bolstered the suspicions—and, decades later, carbon-14 dating proved that at least some of the Buyid silks sold after 1930 are forgeries.
Geology
Is it gonna blow? Measuring volcanic emissions from space
Before volcanoes erupt, there are often warning signs. Tiny earthquakes rarely felt by humans but sensed by seismographs emanate from the volcano. Plumes of water vapor rise from the crater. When the volcano begins to emit gases like carbon dioxide and sulfur dioxide, eruption may be imminent.
But getting close to the top of a volcano is dangerous work. Using remote sensing to detect rising carbon dioxide and sulfur dioxide emissions without endangering people or equipment would greatly increase human understanding of volcanoes. Remote sensing emissions could prevent humanitarian disasters -- and false alarms.
Mount Agung hasn't erupted yet (at the time this article was written), but seismic activity remains intense. Balinese officials are beginning to wonder if an eruption truly is imminent; the people who were evacuated from the area want to return to their homes and tourism is down.
Researchers including Michigan Technological University volcanologist Simon Carn have published a collection of papers including "Spaceborne detection of localized carbon dioxide sources" in the journal Science; the article details the first-known measurement of localized anthropogenic and natural carbon dioxide sources from a satellite in low-Earth orbit.
When the Larsen C ice shelf broke, it exposed a hidden world by Carolyn Gramling
Teams of scientists are gearing up to race to the Antarctic Peninsula to find out what happens in the immediate aftermath of a massive ice calving event. In July, a Delaware-sized iceberg broke off from Antarctica’s Larsen C ice shelf (SN: 8/5/17, p. 6). Now, several research groups aim to assess the stability of the remaining ice shelf, map the region’s seafloor and study a newly exposed ecosystem that’s been hidden from the sun for up to 120,000 years.
First on the scene in November will be a team of scientists led by geophysicist Adam Booth of the University of Leeds in England and the U.K.-based Project MIDAS, which tracked the progress of the rifting from 2014 until the final break (SN: 7/25/15, p. 8). The researchers will conduct ground-penetrating radar and passive seismic surveys of the still-intact ice shelf, looking for shifts in the subsurface ice. They will also use GPS to monitor movements of the ice shelf.
The goal is to track the dynamic response of the ice to the calving event, both short-term and long-term. Computer simulations suggest that the central part of the shelf will speed up, now that a piece of its buttress has been removed, says glaciologist Adrian Luckman of Swansea University in Wales, who will analyze satellite data as part of the effort. “What we need to keep tabs on now is whether the speedup will in any way destabilize what’s left. It might take many months to play out.”
Meanwhile, another team of scientists, led by marine biologist Katrin Linse of the British Antarctic Survey, is preparing for its own voyage in February. Linse and her colleagues’ urgent mission is to study seafloor that was in the shadow of the ice before the ecosystem changes. Now that sunlight can penetrate those waters and more food will be available, new creatures will begin to colonize the seabed.
Physics
Researchers make progress toward solving the proton spin puzzle by Simone Ulmer
Scientists in a research group led by Constantia Alexandrou, professor of physics at the University of Cyprus and the Cyprus Institute, made a crucial step towards solving a three-decades-old puzzle: They have successfully deciphered the total angular momentum (spin) of the nucleon, determining how it's shared among its constituents. CSCS supercomputer Piz Daint provided the necessary computational resources.
Nucleons—protons and neutrons—are the principal constituents of atomic nuclei. Those particles in turn are made up of yet smaller elementary particles called quarks and gluons. Each nucleon has its own intrinsic angular momentum, or spin. Knowing the spin of elementary particles is important for understanding physical and chemical processes. Spin is responsible for a material's fundamental properties, for example, phase changes in non-conducting materials that suddenly turn them into superconductors at very low temperatures.
Theoretical models originally assumed that the spin of the nucleon came only from its constituent quarks. But in 1987, high-energy physics experiments conducted by the European Muon Collaboration precipitated what came to be known as the "proton spin crisis." Experiments performed at CERN, DESY and SLAC showed that quarks contribute only 30 percent of the proton spin. Since then, it has been unclear what other effects contribute to the spin, and to what extent. The high-energy physics studies suggested that quark-antiquark pairs with their short-lived intermediate states might be in play here—in other words, purely relativistic quantum effects.
Astronomy
Global networks of small telescopes will chase companion signals of gravitational waves by Davide Castelvecchi
A cottage industry of small observatories is springing up around the globe to take advantage of astronomers' new ability to capture the gravitational waves from major cosmic events. These new facilities will enable researchers to match up those gravitational waves with electromagnetic signals and perhaps one day even particles of matter from some of the cataclysms that send measurable ripples through space-time.
The main goal is to look for flares of light originating from the same spot as any gravitational waves detected by the US-based Advanced Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO), or the Virgo observatory near Pisa, Italy. These smaller telescopes, often built on a shoestring budget, will serve as first-line responders, filling the gap between gravitational-wave detectors and the major facilities of conventional astronomy. “Once you know where to look, you can swing the whole world’s telescopes at it,” says Danny Steeghs, an astronomer at the University of Warwick, UK.
Moving quickly is key. It’s tricky to pinpoint the source of gravitational waves — astronomers can typically narrow it down to a region of the Universe that could contain thousands of galaxies — and observatories may have only a few days before any promising flares of light dissipate. “You need to look at a lot of sky,” says Steeghs, “and you don’t have a lot of time for it.”
Image: Geology of the Victoria Quadrangle on Mercury
Mercury, the innermost planet of our solar system is a grey, barren world to our human eyes. In stark contrast, this map shows a portion of the surface in a patchwork of colour, each shade corresponding to a different type of geological feature.
The image is an excerpt from a detailed geological map that is the first complete geological survey of this region made using data from NASA's Messenger mission, which orbited Mercury from 2011 to 2015. It covers a section in the planet's northern hemisphere known to planetary geologists as the Victoria Quadrangle, and is centred on about 45ºW / 45ºN.
From impact craters in various states of degradation (dark red/green/yellow/beige) to smooth volcanic plains (pink/peach) and rougher plains materials (browns), the scene captures billions of years of rich geological history. For scale, the large crater just right of centre is about 150 km wide.
In total, 867 craters larger than 5 km are mapped in this image – the full Victoria Quadrangle contains 1789. Of those, 519 are larger than 20 km (268 in this particular section), and for those the pattern of the ejected material is mapped and classified as well. Mapping the density and characteristics of craters helps to determine the relative age of a surface: in general, the more craters, the older the surface.
The first pixel of a galactic selfie by Jake Parks
We cannot see the Milky Way like we do other galaxies, and that’s because we live inside of it. Although we can peer along its edge while embedded in its disk, we cannot see what it looks like face-on. This is really annoying to astronomers, and akin to a cartographer who wants to make a map of their neighborhood, but is stuck in their house.
In a study published today in Science, a team of researchers directly measured the distance to a star-forming region on the far side of the Milky Way, shattering the previous record for a direct distance measurement within our galaxy. According to the study’s lead author, Alberto Sanna of the Max-Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy (MPIfr), “This means that, using the VLBA, we now can accurately map the whole extent of our galaxy.”
Previous attempts to observe and accurately map the opposite side of the Milky Way have mainly failed because of interloping interstellar dust in the galactic plane, which blocks optical light from reaching us. But, unlike optical light, radio waves can pass unimpeded through the interstellar dust.
Archaeology
5,000 year old toy chariot discovered in ancient city of Soğmatar
A 5,000-year-old toy chariot and wheels made for children is among the findings from ongoing excavations in the ancient city of Soğmatar in the southeastern Turkish province of Şanlıurfa.
Soğmatar, located in the Eyyübiye district’s Yağmurlu neighborhood, is 80 kilometers away from the Şanlıurfa and is among the world’s oldest settlements. It is believed to be the place where the Prophet Moses lived after escaping from Egypt.
Archaeological excavations started in the region this year in May with the participation of Harran University Archaeology Department staff member Assistant Professor Yusuf Albayrak.
A number of rock tombs were unearthed in the region, with one of them revealing the toy horse carriage and a rattle.
Şanlıurfa Museum Director Celal Uludağ, the head of the Soğmatar excavations, spoke about the historical importance of the city, saying there were many artifacts in different spots of the city.
We have so far obtained important findings in the excavation field. In a tomb in the necropolis area we found an earthenware toy horse carriage and its wheels. The toy dates back to the Bronze Age and is thought to have been produced for the children of kings or administrators in the city. It shows us the sense of art and children’s sense of play 5,000 years ago. This finding is very important to us and will be displayed at Turkey’s largest museum complex, the Şanlıurfa Archaeology Museum. We think we will get more important findings as long as the excavations continue,” Uludağ said.
Everyone have a good evening!