science news 9.8.2019

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

Control theory: Mother nature is an engineer
"In the last 150 years, engineers have developed and mastered ways to stabilize dynamic systems, without lag or overshoot, using what's known as control theory. Now, a team of University of Arizona researchers has shown that cells and organisms evolved complex biochemical circuits that follow the principles of control theory, millions of years before the first engineer put pencil to paper."


ecology

These sharks use unique molecules to glow green
A slightly belated PR as the story was already in the Guardian yesterday.


climate change

Over a century of Arctic sea ice volume reconstructed with help from historic ships' logs



The US Revenue Cutter Thetis moored to sea ice near King Island, Alaska, in 1903.
Credit: Coast Guard Museum Northwest



Stony corals: Limits of adaption
"Corals have been dominant framework builders of reef structures for millions of years. Ocean acidification, which is intensifying as climate change progresses, is increasingly affecting coral growth. Scientists from the GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel and the University of California have now answered some questions regarding whether and how corals can adapt to these changes by having gained important insights into the regulatory processes of coral calcification."


sustainable tech

Installing solar panels on agricultural lands maximizes their efficiency, new study shows


humans

Ethiopian rock shelter earliest evidence of high-altitude prehistoric life

Decoding touch
"Study in mice reveals several distinct molecular mechanisms underlying abnormal touch sensitivity in autism spectrum disorders. Gene mutations in the peripheral nervous system lead to touch aversion and interfere with normal brain development in young mice, underscoring importance of early intervention. Treatment with an old experimental compound that selectively targets the peripheral nervous system without entering the brain reduces abnormal touch sensitivity, normalized certain social behaviors."

Great Scots! 'it's' a unique linguistic phenomenon
"A new study reveals that in a number of varieties of English spoken in Scotland, the rules of contraction (it's for it is) seem to differ unexpectedly, and asserts that such differences may shed new light on our understanding of language."

Positive effect of music and dance on dementia proven by New Zealand study