science news 16.5.2019

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.


environment and sustainability


New whistle alerts bats to steer clear of wind turbines

Can sound protect eagles from wind turbine collisions?


When biodegradable plastic isn't
"Manufacturers offer biodegradable or compostable plastic bags, but in many cases, these claims have not been tested in natural environments. Now, researchers report in ACS' Environmental Science & Technology that the bags do not degrade in some environments any faster than regular polyethylene."


humans

Ancient fish ponds in the Bolivian savanna supported human settlement

Scientists suss out the secrets of human screams
"Screaming is well-studied in animals, but much less is known about how human screams function in communication, or how similar or different human screams are from those of other species. To help unlock the secrets of human screaming, researchers at Emory University have studied human vocal sounds, representing a broad acoustical range and array of emotional contexts, and studied what makes a sound a scream or not."
Shoutout to the Acoustics Society of America, they always have the most fascinating press releases when their annual meeting is on.
Also, this reminds me of the 1990s News and Views piece in Nature by Jared Diamond about why people scream when attacked - give or take a few duplicated letters, the title was Aaaaaarrrrrrgh, nooo! I found that quite inspiring in terms of what you can get away with in a scientific journal.


Chewing gums reveal the oldest Scandinavian human DNA
"The first humans who settled in Scandinavia more than 10,000 years ago left their DNA behind in ancient chewing gums, which are masticated lumps made from birch bark pitch."


languages

Bristol academic cracks Voynich code, solving century-old mystery of medieval text
According to a new analyisis, it is written in proto-Romance and there are 200 pages left to be translated. Oh and it is the only known document written in proto-Romance.



Vignette A illustrates the erupting volcano that prompted the rescue mission and the drawing of the map. It rose from the seabed to create a new island given the name Vulcanello, which later became joined to the island of Vulcano following another eruption in 1550. Vignette B depicts the volcano of Ischia, vignette C shows the islet of Castello Aragonese, and vignette D represents the island of Lipari. Each vignette includes a combination of naïvely drawn and somewhat stylized images along with annotations to explain and add detail. The other five vignettes describe further details of the story.
Credit: Voynich manuscript


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from the news media:

Just as I got really excited about the Voynich manuscript and the proto-Romance language, I found this piece in the Guardian, which quotes several experts who don't believe the claims. So, wait and see - would be amazing though.