science news 11.4.2019

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 (using quotation marks) in cases where the title alone doesn't reveal what the story is about. My own thoughts appear without quotation marks, if I have any.


ecology

Human activities shift dominant tree-fungi pairing in North America
See also my recent feature on the billion year history of plants and fungi - as of today, the magic link should still be active for another couple of weeks.


zoology

Long-lived bats could hold secrets to mammal longevity

Birds' surprising sound source
"Birds, although they have larynges, use a different organ to sing. Called a syrinx, it's a uniquely avian feature. Now, a team that brings together physics, biology, computation and engineering finds that the syrinx confers an advantage: by sitting so low in the airway, the syrinx can produce sound with very high efficiency."


environment & health

The Lancet Planetary Health: Traffic-related air pollution associated with 4 million new cases of childhood asthma every year

Reducing greenhouse gas emissions while balancing demand for meat

Diet rich in animal protein is associated with a greater risk of death


humans

New species of early human found in the Philippines

Researchers interpret Cherokee inscriptions in Alabama cave

Archaeologists identify first prehistoric figurative cave art in Balkans



Digital tracing of Bison featured in rock art.
Credit: Aitor Ruiz-Redondo

(there's also a drawing of an ibex here)

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from the news media:

The first image of a black hole is all over the news today, no wonder as I saw about 10 separate press releases for it. Here is the Guardian's take on it (with the picture).