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Inbreeding and population/demographic shifts could have led to Neanderthal extinction

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Small populations, inbreeding, and random demographic fluctuations could have been enough to cause Neanderthal extinction, according to a study published November 27, 2019 in the open-access journal PLOS ONE by Krist Vaesen from Eindhoven University of Technology, the Netherlands, and colleagues. Paleoanthropologists agree that Neanderthals disappeared around 40,000 years ago – about the same time that anatomically … Read more

Researchers study chickens, ostriches, penguins to learn how flight feathers evolved

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If you took a careful look at the feathers on a chicken, you’d find many different forms within the same bird – even within a single feather. The diversity of feather shapes and functions expands vastly when you consider the feathers of birds ranging from ostriches to penguins to hummingbirds. Now, researchers reporting in the … Read more

Material for safer football helmets may reduce head injuries

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Scientists at the University of California Santa Barbara, HRL Laboratories LLC, and the U.S. Army Research Laboratory have developed elastic microlattice pads that can withstand both single hits and a series of impacts better than existing state-of-the-art foams used in football helmets. Their research, publishing November 27 in the journal Matter, suggests that the material may … Read more

Molecular eraser enables better data storage and computers for AI

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Scientists have added a crucial tool to the atomic-scale manufacturing toolkit with major implications for today’s data driven–carbon intensive–world, according to new research from the University of Alberta in Canada. “Computers today are contributing one gigatonne of carbon emissions to the atmosphere, and we can eliminate that by enhancing the most power-hungry parts of conventional … Read more

Imaging uncovers secrets of medicine’s mysterious ivory manikins

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Little is known about the origins of manikins – small anatomical sculptures thought to be used by doctors four centuries ago – but now advanced imaging techniques have offered a revealing glimpse inside these captivating ivory dolls. Researchers using micro-CT successfully identified the material composition and components of several ancient ivory manikins, according to a … Read more

Cutting nanoparticles down to size – new study

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Scientists have been investigating how to make better use of nanoparticles in medicine for several decades. Significantly smaller than an average cell, nanoparticles are more similar in size to proteins. This makes them good at interacting with biomolecules and transporting drug molecules attached to their surface across cell membranes. To date, however, only a handful … Read more

Geochemical evidence for high volatile fluxes from the mantle at the end of the Archaean

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Gas and volatiles (water, carbon dioxide, halogens, nitrogen, noble gases etc.) locked away deep within the Earth are released to the atmosphere during volcanic eruptions. The build up of these gases over geological timescales has been crucial in forming and maintaining the Earth’s atmosphere and oceans, both of which have been crucial for the development … Read more