astrobiology
Clever new robot rover design conquers sand traps
Built with wheeled appendages that can be lifted, a new robot developed at Georgia Tech with US Army funding has complex locomotion techniques robust enough to allow it to climb sand covered hills and avoid getting stuck. The robot has NASA interested for potential surveying of a planet or the Moon.
evolution
The carnivorous plant lifestyle is gene costly
The genomes of three carnivorous plants -- the Venus flytrap, spoon-leaved sundew and the waterwheel plant -- have been decoded. The result has caused some surprises.
The genomes of the carnivorous plants Venus flytrap, spoon-leaved sundew and waterwheel (from left) are decoded.
(Picture: Dirk Becker and Sönke Scherzer / University of Würzburg)
conservation
Scientists report on crucial reduction of Indian lion genome diversity
Scientists analyzed the genomes of extinct and living lions. They managed to determine when the divergence took place, as well as come to several other conclusions on genetic diversity of the modern lion population in India.
biomedical
Further evidence does not support hydroxychloroquine for patients with COVID-19
sustainability
Ozone-depleting chemical alternatives getting into our food and water
An international environmental agreement to regulate the use of chemicals depleting the ozone layer may have inadvertently allowed higher levels of other harmful chemicals to flourish, new research co-led by York University and Environment and Climate Change Canada has found. These replacement compounds degrade into products that do not break down in the environment and have instead continually increased in the Arctic since about 1990.
humans
A lost world and extinct ecosystem
The field study site of Pinnacle Point, South Africa, sits at the center of the earliest evidence for symbolic behavior, complex pyrotechnology, projectile weapons, and the first use of foods from the sea, both geographically and scientifically, having contributed much on the evolutionary road to being a modern human. A special issue of Quaternary Science Review has compiled research on this pivotal location.
Archaeology: Fossilized footprints suggest ancient humans divided labor
The largest collection of footprints from the human fossil record in Africa is described in Scientific Reports this week. The findings, which further our understanding of human life during the Late Pleistocene period (126,000 to 11,700 years ago), suggest a division of labor in ancient human communities.
Ancient DNA reveals genetic history of China
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