Thursday, September 12, 2019

science news 12.9.2019

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

First water detected on potentially 'habitable' planet
This should be in today's issue of the Guardian as it appeared on their website yesterday afternoon.



evolution

Scientists identify rare evolutionary intermediates to understand the origin of eukaryotes
Took me a while to work out what this is really about, but it appears to be about ribosomal proteins in archaea.

Half-a-billion-year-old tiny predator unveils the rise of scorpions and spiders
Two palaeontologists working on the world-renowned Burgess Shale have revealed a new species, called Mollisonia plenovenatrix, which is presented as the oldest chelicerate. This discovery places the origin of this vast group of animals--of over 115,000 species, including horseshoe crabs, scorpions and spiders--to a time more than 500 million years ago.



Reconstruction of Mollisonia plenovenatrix, by Joanna Liang. Mollisonia was only about 2.5 cm long.
Credit: Illustration by Joanna Liang © Royal Ontario Museum


Ground-breaking method to reconstruct the evolution of all species
Researchers identified an almost complete set of proteins, a proteome, in the dental enamel of the now-extinct rhino and the resulting genetic information is one million years older than the oldest DNA sequenced from a 700,000-year-old horse.

Long before other fish, ancient sharks found an alternative way to feed


ecology

Aphid-stressed pines show different secondary organic aerosol formation

A precise chemical fingerprint of the Amazon
This novel drone-based chemical monitoring system tracks the health of the Amazon in the face of global climate change and human-caused deforestation and burning.

It's all a blur.....why stripes hide moving prey

Insects as food and feed: research and innovation drive growing field


humans

Discovering biological mechanisms enabling pianists to achieve skillful fingering


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