Predictably, online media go nuts over ‘Oumuamua and Harvard scientists
arstechnica.com – "Scientists are perfectly happy to publish an outlandish idea."
Source: Shmuel Bialy, Abraham Loeb. Could Solar Radiation Pressure Explain 'Oumuamua's Peculiar Acceleration?. arXiv, 2018.
‘Bionic mushroom’ can generate electricity without using fossil fuels
digitaltrends.com – Researchers at the Stevens Institute of Technology in New Jersey have come up with an unexpected way to produce electricity without fossil fuels: A mushroom covered with bacteria. The mushroom provides a safe environment for special cyanobacteria that generate electricity when light is shone on them.
Source: Sudeep Joshi, Ellexis Cook, Manu S. Mannoor. Bacterial Nanobionics via 3D Printing. Nano Letters, 2018.
Llama “nanobodies” might grant universal flu protection
arstechnica.com – Antibodies made in a llama protected mice from sixty flu strains.
Source: Nick S. Laursen, et al. Universal protection against influenza infection by a multidomain antibody to influenza hemagglutinin. Science, 2018.
Study finds link between brain activity and depressed mood
upi.com – Researchers have identified a common pattern of brain activity linked to feelings of low mood, particularly in people who have a tendency toward anxiety.
Source: Lowry A. Kirkby, et al. An Amygdala-Hippocampus Subnetwork that Encodes Variation in Human Mood. Cell, 2018.
Frogs regrow ‘paddle-like’ limbs when placed in a bioreactor
digitaltrends.com – Frogs have partially regrown amputated limbs thanks to a bioreactor developed by a team of researchers at Tufts University. By jump-starting tissue repair, the bioreactor was shown to help the amphibians regenerate a bigger, more complete appendage than they usually do in the wild.
Source: Celia Herrera-Rincon, et al. Brief Local Application of Progesterone via a Wearable Bioreactor Induces Long-Term Regenerative Response in Adult Xenopus Hindlimb. Cell Reports, 2018.
Study: Neanderthals No More Violent Than Modern Humans
geek.com – Neanderthals have gotten a bad rap. Having emerged some 400,000 years ago, in what is now Western Europe and Southwest and Central Asia, the hunter-gatherers weathered several glacial periods before going extinct about …
Source: Judith Beier, Nils Anthes, Joachim Wahl, Katerina Harvati. Similar cranial trauma prevalence among Neanderthals and Upper Palaeolithic modern humans. Nature, 2018.
Climate change may be dissolving the ocean floor
nbcnews.com – "Even at places on our planet where we have never set foot... there is a trace of human activity."
Source: Olivier Sulpis, et al. Current CaCO 3 dissolution at the seafloor caused by anthropogenic CO 2. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2018.
Global Warming May Be Damaging Sperm
science20.com – A new study in Nature Communications suggests that climate change could pose a threat to male fertility by increasing the number and severity of heat waves which damage sperm.The authors contend that climate change is already having an impact on species populations, including climate-related extinctions in recent years.
Source: Kris Sales, et al. Experimental heatwaves compromise sperm function and cause transgenerational damage in a model insect. Nature Communications, 2018.
Primates of the Caribbean: Ancient DNA reveals history of mystery monkey
sciencedaily.com – Analysis of ancient DNA of a mysterious extinct monkey named Xenothrix -- which displays bizarre body characteristics very different to any living monkey -- has revealed that it was in fact most closely related to South America's titi monkeys (Callicebinae). Having made their way overwater to Jamaica, probably on floating vegetation, their bones reveal they subsequently underwent remarkable evolutionary change.
Source: Roseina Woods, Samuel T. Turvey, Selina Brace, Ross D. E. MacPhee, Ian Barnes. Ancient DNA of the extinct Jamaican monkey Xenothrix reveals extreme insular change within a morphologically conservative radiation. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2018.
Exposure to pesticides makes bees less social, reduces colony size
upi.com – Exposure to pesticides can reduce the size of bee colonies and cause the insect to become less social.
Source: James D. Crall, et al. Neonicotinoid exposure disrupts bumblebee nest behavior, social networks, and thermoregulation. Science, 2018.
