science news 19.3.2019

Today's selection of science news. Links are normally to press releases on EurekAlert (at the bottom end I may also add a couple of newspaper stories). I include quotes from the summary (using quotation marks) in cases where the title alone doesn't reveal what the story is about. My own thoughts appear without quotation marks, if I have any.




evolution

Mammals' unique arms started evolving before the dinosaurs existed

Alligator study supports convergent evolution of spatial hearing



American alligator (A. mississippiensis), hiding. At Rockefeller Wildlife Refuge. The ears of Alligators are hidden under skin flaps right behind the eyes. Alligators use sounds for communication and to locate prey. The neural mechanisms underlying sound localization are an evolutionary stable feature across archosaurs, which include birds, the closest living relatives to crocodilians.
Credit: Ruth Elsey, Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries


ecology

Microbes can grow on nitric oxide


humans

Evidence for ancient magnetic sense in humans
Now that would be surprising and interesting.

Research into aphasia reveals new interactions between language and thought