science news 2.4.2020

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.



earth

Most of Earth's carbon was hidden in the core during its formative years



ecology

Traces of ancient rainforest in Antarctica point to a warmer prehistoric world
OK, we knew that it was warmer back then, but the surprising bit is that the rainforests could cope with the darkness in the polar winter.


About the distribution of biodiversity on our planet
Large open-water fish predators such as tunas or sharks hunt for prey more intensively in the temperate zone than near the equator. With this result, a study headed by Marius Roesti of the University of Bern is challenging a long-standing explanation for the distribution of biodiversity on our planet.


conservation

Ocean deoxygenation: A silent driver of coral reef demise?


Landmark study concludes marine life can be rebuilt by 2050

Vermont has conserved one third of the land needed for an ecologically functional future
In a new study, forest conservation experts at the University of Vermont (UVM) confirmed that the state has already protected 33%, or 1.3 million acres, of highest priority targeted lands needed to protect and connect valuable wildlife habitats and corridors.


humans

Skull scans reveal evolutionary secrets of fossil brains
Three-million-year old brain imprints in fossil skulls of the species Australopithecus afarensis (famous for 'Lucy' and 'Selam' from Ethiopia) shed new light on the evolution of brain growth and organization. In Science Advances, a new study reveals that while Lucy's species had an ape-like brain structure, the brain took longer to reach adult size. Australopithecus afarensis infants may have had a long dependence on caregivers, a human-like trait.


Oldest ever human genetic evidence clarifies dispute over our ancestors
The use of "genetic" in the title is misleading, as this is an analysis of the dental proteome of Homo antecessor, some 800k years old. Chances of sequencing DNA that old are slim, but then again, we thought that about the Neanderthal remains, 20 years ago.



Skeletal remains of Homo antecessor
Credit: Prof. José María Bermúdez de Castro


Modern humans, Neanderthals share a tangled genetic history, study affirms
Modern Eurasians have inherited Neanderthal genes from two distinct populations linked to those found at the Altai and the Vindija cave.

Study offers new insight into the impact of ancient migrations on the European landscape
Scientists from the University of Plymouth and the University of Copenhagen led research tracing how the two major human migrations recorded in Holocene Europe -- the northwestward movement of Anatolian farmer populations during the Neolithic and the westward movement of Yamnaya steppe peoples during the Bronze Age -- unfolded.


Prehistoric artifacts suggest a Neolithic era independently developed in New Guinea




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