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Categories: Paleontology: General, Physics: Optics

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The fossilized remains of a second gigantic jawbone measuring more than two meters long has been found on a beach in Somerset, UK.

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Marine communities migrated to Antarctica during the Earth's warmest period in 66 million years long before a mass-extinction event.

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Researchers have identified a variant in the gene TBX1 as key in the development of the unique morphology at the base of the skull. TBX1 is present at higher levels in humans than in closely related hominins. Low TBX1 also occurs in certain genetic conditions causing altered skull base morphology. This study provides a greater understanding of human disease and evolution.

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A team has constructed an improved mid-infrared microscope, enabling them to see the structures inside living bacteria at the nanometer scale. Mid-infrared microscopy is typically limited by its low resolution, especially when compared to other microscopy techniques. This latest development produced images at 120 nanometers, which the researchers say is a thirtyfold improvement on the resolution of typical mid-infrared microscopes. Being able to view samples more clearly at this smaller scale can aid multiple fields of research, including into infectious diseases, and opens the way for developing even more accurate mid-infrared-based imaging in the future.

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Competition between species played a major role in the rise and fall of hominins -- and produced a 'bizarre' evolutionary pattern for the Homo lineage -- according to a new study that revises the start and end dates for many of our early ancestors.

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According to a research team led by palaeontologists, the net-like leaf veining typical for today's flowering plants developed much earlier than previously thought, but died out again several times. Using new methods, the fossilized plant Furcula granulifer was identified as such an early forerunner. The leaves of this seed fern species already exhibited the net-like veining in the late Triassic (around 201 million years ago).

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Optical neural networks may provide the high-speed and large-capacity solution necessary to tackle challenging computing tasks. However, tapping their full potential will require further advances. One challenge is the reconfigurability of optical neural networks. A research team has now succeeded in laying the foundation for new reconfigurable neuromorphic building blocks by adding a new dimension to photonic machine learning: sound waves. The researchers use light to create temporary acoustic waves in an optical fiber. The sound waves generated in this way can for instance enable a recurrent functionality in a telecom optical fiber, which is essential to interpreting contextual information such as language.

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An international research team has demonstrated experimentally that electrons in naturally occurring double-layer graphene move like particles without any mass, in the same way that light travels. Furthermore, they have shown that the current can be 'switched' on and off, which has potential for developing tiny, energy-efficient transistors -- like the light switch in your house but at a nanoscale.

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Researchers have produced, stored, and retrieved quantum information for the first time, a critical step in quantum networking.

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Researchers have synthesized triarylborane (TAB) compounds that exhibit unusual optical responses upon binding to certain anions. They also synthesized thin polymer films that incorporate the TAB and retain the sensing as well as the light emission properties of the TAB. This work is an important advance in plastic research and has applications in analyte sensing as well as electronic display technologies.

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Palaeontologists have described three unusual new species of giant fossil kangaroo from Australia and New Guinea, finding them more diverse in shape, range and hopping method than previously thought. The three new species are of the extinct genus Protemnodon, which lived from around 5 million to 40,000 years ago -- with one about double the size of the largest red kangaroo living today.

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The potential of quantum technology is huge but is today largely limited to the extremely cold environments of laboratories. Now, researchers have succeeded in demonstrating for the very first time how laser light can induce quantum behavior at room temperature -- and make non-magnetic materials magnetic. The breakthrough is expected to pave the way for faster and more energy-efficient computers, information transfer and data storage.

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Early jawless fish were likely to have used bony projections surrounding their mouths to modify the mouth's shape while they collected food. Experts have used CT scanning techniques to build up the first 3D pictures of these creatures, which are some of the earliest vertebrates (animals with backbones) in which the mouth is fossilized. Their aim was to answer questions about feeding in early vertebrates without jaws in the early Devonian epoch -- sometimes called the Age of Fishes -- around 400 million years ago.

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Researchers have developed a digital display screen where the LEDs themselves react to touch, light, fingerprints and the user's pulse, among other things. Their results could be the start of a whole new generation of displays for phones, computers and tablets.

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A study that could help revolutionize wireless communication introduces a novel method to curve terahertz signals around an obstacle.

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Several similar large, fossilized bone fragments have been discovered in various regions across Western and Central Europe since the 19th century. The animal group to which they belonged is still the subject of much debate to this day. A study could now settle this dispute once and for all: The microstructure of the fossils indicates that they come from the lower jaw of a gigantic ichthyosaur. These animals could reach 25 to 30 meters in length, a similar size to the modern blue whale.

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Team successfully exerted electrical control over polaritons, hybridized light-matter particles, at room temperature.

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Researchers have fabricated a new four-terminal organic solar cell with a tandem configuration with a 16.94% power conversion efficiency (PCE). The new device is composed by a highly transparent front cell that incorporates a transparent ultrathin silver (Ag) electrode of only 7nm, which ensures its efficient operation.

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A new reconstruction of the 375-million-year-old fossil fish Tiktaalik -- a close relative of limbed vertebrates -- used micro-CT to reveal bones still embedded in matrix. The reconstruction shows that the fish's ribs likely attached to its pelvis, an innovation thought to be crucial to supporting the body and for the eventual evolution of walking.

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Engineers unlock the power of exceptional points (EPs) for advanced optical sensing. EPs -- specific conditions in systems where extraordinary optical phenomena can occur -- can be deployed on conventional sensors to achieve a striking sensitivity to environmental perturbations.