science news 18.6.2019

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.


astrobiology

NASA scientists find sun's history buried in moon's crust
"The Sun's rotation rate in its first billion years is unknown. Yet, this spin rate affected solar eruptions, influencing the evolution of life. A team of NASA scientists think they've figured it out by using the Moon as critical evidence."


evolution

Study reveals new genomic roots of ecological adaptation in polar bear evolution

The evolution of puppy dog eyes



The authors suggest that the inner eyebrow raising movement triggers a nurturing response in humans because it makes the dogs' eyes appear larger, more infant like and also resembles a movement humans produce when they are sad.
Credit: The University of Portsmouth


light and life

Dinoflagellate plankton glow so that their predators won't eat them


humans

Breakthrough in understanding how human eyes process 3D motion

9,000 years ago, a community with modern urban problems

New time-banking system utilizes blockchain tech to measure one's value to society
Once China combines this with the reward / punishment and big data systems they already have, it will be the complete dystopia ...