The evolution of human starch digestion A gene that allows modern human mouths to break down starch into sugar likely mutated hundreds of thousands of years ago, say two papers that track the evolution of the salivary amylase gene AMY1 in great detail. A study in Science estimates AMY1’s first duplication was 800,000 years ago […]
Jupiter’s Great Red Spot oscillates in time-lapse images Jupiter’s Great Red Spot squeezes in and out as its movement speeds and slows, surprising scientists with its oscillating size. The paper puts together time-lapse footage of three months of observations from NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope, and the insights could provide cosmic context for Earth’s hurricanes. Full […]
Storms’ mysterious gamma rays may trigger lightning Surging flashes of gamma rays emanating from tropical thunderstorms may initiate lightning strikes, a group of physicists writes in a pair of papers in Nature that describe a never-before-seen type of gamma radiation as well as two rarely observed kinds. They write about data, collected from instruments on […]
One-electron carbon bond observed for first time Chemists have observed for the first time covalent bonds between two carbon atoms with only one electron, a bonding behavior that deepens the understanding of chemical bonds. “We aim to clarify what a covalent bond is — specifically, at what point does a bond qualify as covalent, and […]
A strange seismological signal that persisted for nine days in 2023 explained Melting glacial ice set off a cascade of events in Greenland in September, ending in tsunami waves bouncing back and forth in a fjord for nine days, with waves reaching heights of 110 meters. The research describes the ice melt triggering a landslide […]
New dinosaur species’ traits hint at ceratopsian migration Scientists have identified a previously unknown dinosaur species, Sasayamagnomus saegusai, that weighed about 10 kilograms and reached about 0.8 meters in length, based on fossil remains from southwestern Japan. The primitive member of the herbivorous ceratopsian group lacks the frills and horns of triceratops and other later […]
Model shows dark matter’s role in black hole mergers A study in Physical Review Letters proposes that self-interacting dark matter aids the merger of supermassive black holes by resolving the final parsec problem. The study shows mathematical modeling that indicates dark matter particles clustered around black holes allow the holes to close the final distance […]
Jupiter spot’s decline may be due to fewer small storms Decreasing numbers of smaller storms that feed Jupiter’s Great Red Spot, the solar system’s largest windstorm, may be causing the spot to shrink, according to 3D simulations. Numerical simulations feeding the Great Red Spot a diet of smaller storms, as has been known to occur […]
Analysis amends human-Neanderthal genetic exchange Human genes may have been replacing Neanderthal genes as long ago as 250,000 years, accounting for the disappearance of the Neanderthal Y chromosome, according to a paper in Science that closely analyzes the gene flow from humans to Neanderthals instead of the reverse, as past research has done. The study […]
Denisovans, humans may have shared Tibetan Plateau A 40,000-year-old rib bone from a cave on the Tibetan Plateau adds to limited fossil evidence of Denisovans and suggests modern humans coexisted with these close cousins in the region at the time. The fossil is the youngest Denisovan bone found to date, and researchers say modern Tibetans […]