Thursday, September 05, 2019

science news 5.9.2019

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 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.

(Later than usual today as yahoo mail was down today which is where I normally get the EurekAlert email.)


astrobiology

Planetary collisions can reduce the internal pressures in planets
(I dropped the word "drop" from the headline as I didn't approve of the way it was used.)


evolution

Death march of segmented animal unravels critical evolutionary puzzle
The death march of a segmented bilaterian animal unearthed from ~550-million-year-old rocks in China shows that the oldest mobile and segmented animals evolved by the Ediacaran Period (635-539 million years ago). The research was conducted by an international research team from China and the US.


Prehistoric AC

Tyrannosaurus rex, one of the largest meat-eating dinosaurs on the planet, had an air conditioner in its head, suggest scientists from the University of Missouri, Ohio University and University of Florida, while challenging over a century of previous beliefs.



A graphic thermal image of a T. rex with its dorsotemporal fenestra glowing on the skull.
Credit: Illustration courtesy of Brian Engh.


ecology

Underwater soundscapes reveal differences in marine environments


genomes

Researchers move beyond sequencing and create a 3D genome





humans

Denisovan finger bone more closely resembles modern human digits than Neanderthals

Depression breakthrough
Major depressive disorder -- referred to colloquially as the 'black dog' -- has been identified as a genetic cause for 20 distinct diseases, providing vital information to help detect and manage high rates of physical illnesses in people diagnosed with depression.

How 'information gerrymandering' influences voters
Featured on the cover of today's issue of Nature.

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