science news 30.1.2020

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.


evolution

The 'firewalkers' of Karoo: Dinosaurs and other animals left tracks in a 'land of fire'

Blind as a bat? The genetic basis of echolocation in bats and whales


ecology

Microscopic partners could help plants survive stressful environments

Prescribed burns benefit bees

Drug lord's hippos make their mark on foreign ecosystem
Pablo Escobar's hippos making a mess in Colombia. Wild story.



At Pablo Escobar's former hacienda, tourists are warned about the dangerous presence of an expanding hippo population.
Credit: Courtesy of the Shurin Lab, UC San Diego


nanoworld

Biophysicists find 'extra' component in molecular motor
Researchers discovered an additional component in ATP synthase, a molecular machine that produces the energy-conserving compound. They obtained a first-ever high-resolution structure of the C ring from spinach chloroplasts. As the 3D computer model of it was taking shape, the biophysicists spotted additional circle-shaped elements inside the C ring. While the discovery is interesting in and of itself, researchers have yet to determine why the C ring hosts quinones and how they get there.


light and life

Guardian angel of the eye
The lens of the human eye comprises a highly concentrated protein solution, which lends the lens its great refractive power. Protective proteins prevent these proteins from clumping together throughout a lifetime. A team of scientists from the Technical University of Munich (TUM) has now uncovered the precise structure of the alpha-A-crystallin protein and, in the process, discovered an important additional function.


sustainability

New way of recycling plant-based plastics instead of letting them rot in landfill


valentine's science

Sex pheromone named for Jane Austen character alters brain in mouse courtship


humans

Ancient skulls tell new story about our first settlers
An analysis of four ancient skulls found in Mexico suggests that the first humans to settle in North America were more biologically diverse than scientists had previously believed. The skulls were from individuals who lived 9,000 to 13,000 years ago, in the late Pleistocene and early Holocene eras.


Cycling to work? You may live longer


dystopian futures

Siri, help me quit -- what does your smart device say when you ask for help with addiction?


---------------


From the news media:

Flow of Neanderthal genes back into Africa has been detected for the first time, reports The Guardian.