science news 25.3.2020

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

Small horses got smaller, big tapirs got bigger 47 million years ago



Exceptionally-well fossilized skeletons of the ancient tapir Lophiodon (top) and the ancestral horse Propalaeotherium (bottom) from the middle Eocene Geiseltal locality (Germany, Saxony-Anhalt).
Credit: Oliver Wings/MLU


Scientists investigate why females live longer than males
... based on 101 mammal species


nanoworld

Humans are not the first to repurpose CRISPR
We humans are far from the first to exploit the benefits of CRISPR. Groundbreaking research at the University of Copenhagen (UCPH) has helped to redefine what CRISPR is. UCPH Researchers have discovered that primitive bacterial parasites weaponize CRISPR to engage in battle against one another. This discovery opens up the possibility to reprogram CRISPR to combat multi-drug resistant bacteria.


biomedical

Singapore modelling study estimates impact of physical distancing on reducing spread of COVID-19

Wuhan study shows lying face down improves breathing in severe COVID-19

Mental health of health care workers in China in hospitals with patients with COVID-19


humans

Whole body ownership is not just the sum of each part of the body
Differences between whole body and body part ownership were clarified using scrambled body stimulation in a virtual environment, wherein the observer's hands and feet were presented in randomized spatial arrangements. While moving, the scrambled body stimulation produces a sense of possession of limbs (hands and feet), but possession of the whole body cannot be grasped. Spatial placement is important for the illusion of whole-body ownership. Bodily self-consciousness is thus affected by the body's spatial arrangement.



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From the news media:

The Guardian about that COVID-19 antibody test promised for the UK, which would be useful to allow people to go back to work when they have had the infection and developed antibodies . Not to be confused with the PCR test needed to check if somebody is currently carrying the virus.