science news 7.6.2019

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.


evolution

Study shakes up sloth family tree
"A pair of studies published June 6, 2019 have shaken up the sloth family tree, overturning a longstanding consensus on how the major groups of sloths are related. According to the results, the three-toed sloth is more closely related to a large family that included ancient elephant-sized ground sloths; meanwhile, the two-toed sloth appears to be the last survivor of an ancient lineage previously thought extinct."


ecology

Just a phage? How bacteria's predators can shape the gut microbiome
"A phage can have a profound impact on the dynamics of the gut microbiome, not only affecting certain species directly but also having a cascading effect on others. Phage may also be impacting their human host by modulating metabolites, including chemical substances found in the brain."

Two new species of 'tweezer-beaked hopping rats' discovered in Philippines
looks like a rat to me:


This is a Rhynchomys labo illustration.
Credit: Original by Velizar Simeonovski, Field Museum


zoology

Bird personalities influenced by both age and experience, study shows
aren't we all?

Are penguins righties or lefties?
handedness that is, not political inclination ...


bio-inspired

A polar-bear-inspired material for heat insulation


humans

Decoding Beethoven's music style using data science
Analysis only covers his string quartets though - in the age of big data I would expect such an analysis to take in all of the composer's work ...