science news 29.8.2019

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 in italics in cases where the title alone doesn't reveal what the story is about. My own thoughts appear without italics if I have any.


astrobiology

Newly discovered giant planet slingshots around its star

Canadian astronomers determine Earth's fingerprint
which could be used to identify a planet beyond our Solar System capable of supporting life.


evolution

Paleontologists discovered diversity of insect pollinators in 99-million-year old amber



Buratina truncata, the new long-proboscid species of Paradoxosisyrinae from Burmese amber.
Credit: Alexander Khramov


A 3.8-million-year-old fossil from Ethiopia reveals the face of Lucy's ancestor


zoology

New insights into genetic basis of bird migration
A gene newly associated with the migratory patterns of golden-winged and blue-winged warblers could lend insight into the longstanding question of how birds migrate across such long distances.


climate change

Climate change affects floods in Europe


humans

After 10-year search, scientists find second 'short sleep' gene
After a decade of searching, the UC San Francisco scientists who identified the only human gene known to promote 'natural short sleep' -- lifelong, nightly sleep that lasts just four to six hours yet leaves individuals feeling fully rested -- have discovered a second.