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Categories: Engineering: Robotics Research, Paleontology: Fossils
Published DNA from preserved feces reveals ancient Japanese gut environment
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source DNA from ancient feces can offer archaeologists new clues about the life and health of Japanese people who lived thousands of years ago, according to a new study.
Published Ancient brown bear genomes sheds light on Ice Age losses and survival
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source The brown bear is one of the largest living terrestrial carnivores, and is widely distributed across the Northern Hemisphere. Unlike many other large carnivores that went extinct at the end of the last Ice Age (cave bear, sabretoothed cats, cave hyena), the brown bear is one of the lucky survivors that made it through to the present. The question has puzzled biologists for close to a century -- how was this so?
Published New pieces in the puzzle of first life on Earth
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Microorganisms were the first forms of life on our planet. The clues are written in 3.5 billion-year-old rocks by geochemical and morphological traces, such as chemical compounds or structures that these organisms left behind. However, it is still not clear when and where life originated on Earth and when a diversity of species developed in these early microbial communities. Evidence is scarce and often disputed. Now, researchers have uncovered key findings about the earliest forms of life. In rock samples from South Africa, they found evidence dating to around 3.42 billion years ago of an unprecedentedly diverse carbon cycle involving various microorganisms. This research shows that complex microbial communities already existed in the ecosystems during the Palaeoarchaean period.
Published Complex green organisms emerged a billion years ago
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Of all the organisms that photosynthesize, land plants have the most complex form. How did this morphology emerge? A team of scientists has taken a deep dive into the evolutionary history of morphological complexity in streptophytes, which include land plants and many green algae. Their research allowed them to go back in time to investigate lineages that emerged long before land plants existed.
Published Student discovers 200-million-year-old flying reptile
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Gliding winged-reptiles were amongst the ancient crocodile residents of the Mendip Hills in Somerset, England, researchers at the have revealed.
Published The megalodon was less mega than previously believed
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source A new study shows the Megalodon, a gigantic shark that went extinct 3.6 million years ago, was more slender than earlier studies suggested. This finding changes scientists' understanding of Megalodon behavior, ancient ocean life, and why the sharks went extinct.
Published Mini-robots modeled on insects may be smallest, lightest, fastest ever developed
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Two insect-like robots, a mini-bug and a water strider may be the smallest, lightest and fastest fully functional micro-robots ever known to be created. Such miniature robots could someday be used for work in areas such as artificial pollination, search and rescue, environmental monitoring, micro-fabrication or robotic-assisted surgery. Reporting on their work in the proceedings of the IEEE Robotics and Automation Society's International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems, the mini-bug weighs in at eight milligrams while the water strider weighs 55 milligrams. Both can move at about six millimeters a second.
Published Why animals shrink over time explained with new evolution theory
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source The new theoretical research proposes that animal size over time depends on two key ecological factors.
Published New technology for conducting deep-sea research on fragile organisms
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Scientists have successfully demonstrated new technologies that can obtain preserved tissue and high-resolution 3D images within minutes of encountering some of the most fragile animals in the deep ocean.
Published Woolly mammoth movements tied to earliest Alaska hunting camps
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Researchers have linked the travels of a 14,000-year-old woolly mammoth with the oldest known human settlements in Alaska, providing clues about the relationship between the iconic species and some of the earliest people to travel across the Bering Land Bridge. Isotopic data, along with DNA from other mammoths at the site and archaeological evidence, indicates that early Alaskans likely structured their settlements to overlap with areas where mammoths congregated. Those findings, highlighted in the new issue of the journal Science Advances, provide evidence that mammoths and early hunter-gatherers shared habitat in the region. The long-term predictable presence of woolly mammoths would have attracted humans to the area.
Published Pacific kelp forests are far older that we thought
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Fossils of kelp along the Pacific Coast are rare. Until now, the oldest fossil dated from 14 million years ago, leading to the view that today's denizens of the kelp forest -- marine mammals, urchins, sea birds -- coevolved with kelp. A recent amateur discovery pushes back the origin of kelp to 32 million years ago, long before these creatures appeared. A new analysis suggests the first kelp grazers were extinct, hippo-like animals called desmostylians.
Published 'Smart glove' can boost hand mobility of stroke patients
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source This month, a group of stroke survivors in British Columbia will test a new technology designed to aid their recovery, and ultimately restore use of their limbs and hands. Participants will wear a new groundbreaking 'smart glove' capable of tracking their hand and finger movements during rehabilitation exercises.
Published Squishy, metal-free magnets to power robots and guide medical implants
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source 'Soft robots,' medical devices and implants, and next-generation drug delivery methods could soon be guided with magnetism -- thanks to a metal-free magnetic gel developed by researchers. Carbon-based, magnetic molecules are chemically bonded to the molecular network of a gel, creating a flexible, long-lived magnet for soft robotics.
Published Key moment in the evolution of life on Earth captured in fossils
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source New research has precisely dated some of the oldest fossils of complex multicellular life in the world, helping to track a pivotal moment in the history of Earth when the seas began teeming with new lifeforms -- after four billion years of containing only single-celled microbes.
Published Even the oldest eukaryote fossils show dazzling diversity and complexity
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source The sun has just set on a quiet mudflat in Australia's Northern Territory; it'll set again in another 19 hours. A young moon looms large over the desolate landscape. No animals scurry in the waning light. No leaves rustle in the breeze. No lichens encrust the exposed rock. The only hint of life is some scum in a few puddles and ponds. And among it lives a diverse microbial community of our ancient ancestors.
Published Oldest known fossilized skin is 21 million years older than previous examples
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Researchers have identified a 3D fragment of fossilized skin that is at least 21 million years than previously described skin fossils. The skin, which belonged to an early species of Paleozoic reptile, has a pebbled surface and most closely resembles crocodile skin. It's the oldest example of preserved epidermis, the outermost layer of skin in terrestrial reptiles, birds, and mammals, which was an important evolutionary adaptation in the transition to life on land.
Published Artificial muscle device produces force 34 times its weight
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Scientists developed a soft fluidic switch using an ionic polymer artificial muscle that runs with ultra-low power to lift objects 34 times greater than its weight. Its light weight and small size make it applicable to various industrial fields such as soft electronics, smart textiles, and biomedical devices by controlling fluid flow with high precision, even in narrow spaces.
Published Prehistoric person with Turner syndrome identified from ancient DNA
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Researchers have developed a new technique to measure the number of chromosomes in ancient genomes more precisely, using it to identify the first prehistoric person with mosaic Turner syndrome (characterized by one X chromosome instead of two [XX]), who lived about 2500 years ago.
Published Artificial intelligence helps unlock advances in wireless communications
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source A new wave of communication technology is quickly approaching and researchers are now investigating ways to configure next-generation mobile networks.
Published New research sheds light on an old fossil solving an evolutionary mystery
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Picrodontids -- an extinct family of placental mammals that lived several million years after the extinction of the dinosaurs -- are not primates as previously believed.