science news 12.7.2019

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

'Moon-forming' circumplanetary disk discovered in distant star system


evolution

Oldest completely preserved lily discovered

Bird with unusually long toes found fossilized in amber


ecology

New species of lizard found in stomach of microraptor

Whispering southern right whale mums and calves seek refuge in surf
"How do southern right whale mothers protect their precious calves from killer whale attacks when the predators can listen out for their conversations? It turns out that the mothers and their offspring shelter in the noisy surf, stay in close proximity and effectively whisper, calling softly less than once per dive, to avoid attracting any unwanted attention."
Aaaah. love a bit of soundscape ecology!


plants

Scientists discover a novel perception mechanism regulating important plant processes
"perception" of peptide hormones, that is.


environment

Coral skeleton crystals record ocean acidification


pharma

Scientists opening the door to a new era of medicinal chemistry
"A new molecular descriptor estimates molecular complexity and defines the evolution of small molecules in medicinal chemistry."


humans

Ancient genomics pinpoint origin and rapid turnover of cattle in the Fertile Crescent
"Ancient DNA has revealed how the prehistory of the Near East's largest domestic animal, the cow, chimes with the emergence of the first complex economies, cities and the rise and fall of the world earliest human empires."



A zebu-shaped weight from Tel Beth-Shemesh.
Credit: A. Hay, courtesy of the Tel Beth-Shemesh Excavations exhibition.


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from the news media:

The Guardian about the trans-Sahara seaway