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Categories: Mathematics: Puzzles, Paleontology: Early Mammals and Birds
Published Evolutionary origins of the pygmy right whale
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Researchers have finally settled a decades-long dispute about the evolutionary origins of the pygmy right whale.
Published Board games are boosting math ability in young children
(via sciencedaily.com) Board games based on numbers, like Monopoly, Othello and Chutes and Ladders, make young children better at math, according to a comprehensive review of research published on the topic over the last 23 years.
Published Fossils reveal how ancient birds molted their feathers -- which could help explain why ancestors of modern birds survived when all the other dinosaurs died
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Birds are the only group of dinosaurs that survived the asteroid-induced mass extinction 66 million years ago. But not all the birds alive at the time made it. Why the ancestors of modern birds lived while so many of their relatives died has been a mystery that paleontologists have been trying to solve for decades. Two new studies point to one possible factor: the differences between how modern birds and their ancient cousins molt their feathers.
Published A jaw-dropping conundrum: Why do mammals have a stiff lower jaw?
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source The lower jaws of lizards, birds, fish and even dinosaurs are comprised of multiple bones per side. Yet mammals diverged from all other vertebrates and settled on just one bone, repurposing the extra bones into a more elaborate inner ear, perhaps the better to hear. The single bone per side, fused in primates into one jawbone, makes the jaw more rigid. A paleontologist asks, Did the stiffer, rigid jaw make mammals more successful?
Published How the brain processes numbers -- New procedure improves measurement of human brain activity
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Measuring human brain activity down to the cellular level: until now, this has been possible only to a limited extent. With a new approach it will now be much easier. The method relies on microelectrodes along with the support of brain tumor patients, who participate in studies while undergoing 'awake' brain surgery. This enabled the team to identify how our brain processes numbers.
Published Humans' ancestors survived the asteroid impact that killed the dinosaurs
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source A Cretaceous origin for placental mammals, the group that includes humans, dogs and bats, has been revealed by in-depth analysis of the fossil record, showing they co-existed with dinosaurs for a short time before the dinosaurs went extinct.
Published Mathematicians solve long-known problem
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Making history with 42 digits: Scientists have unlocked a decades-old mystery of mathematics with the so-called ninth Dedekind number. Experts worldwide have been searching for the value since 1991. Scientists arrived at the exact sequence of numbers with the help of the Noctua supercomputer.
Published Megalodon was no cold-blooded killer
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source How the megalodon, a shark that went extinct 3.6 million years ago, stayed warm was a matter of speculation among scientists. Using an analysis of tooth fossils from the megalodon and other sharks of the same period, a study suggests the animal was able to maintain a body temperature well above the temperature of the water in which it lived. The finding could help explain why the megalodon went extinct during the Pliocene Epoch.
Published Extinct warbler's genome sequenced from museum specimens
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source The Bachman's warbler, a songbird that was last seen in North America nearly 40 years ago, was a distinct species and not a hybrid of its two living sister species, according a new study in which the full genomes of seven museum specimens of the bird were sequenced.
Published Lost giants: New study reveals the abundance decline of African megafauna
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source A groundbreaking new paper focuses on the size and abundance of living and fossil African large mammals, shedding light on the ecological dynamics behind the decline of these iconic creatures. The findings challenge previous assumptions about the causes of megafaunal extinctions in Africa and provide new insights into the restructuring of ecosystems over millions of years.
Published Dinosaurs were the first to take the perspectives of others
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Understanding that others hold different viewpoints from your own is essential for human sociality. Adopting another person's visual perspective is a complex skill that emerges around the age of two. A new study suggests that this ability first arose in dinosaurs, at least 60 million years before it appeared in mammals. These findings challenge the idea that mammals were the originators of novel and superior forms of intelligence in the wake of the dinosaur extinction.
Published Fossils of a saber-toothed top predator reveal a scramble for dominance leading up to 'the Great Dying'
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source A tiger-sized saber-toothed creature called Inostrancevia has previously only been found in Russia. But scientists have discovered its fossils in South Africa, suggesting that it migrated 7,000 miles across the supercontinent Pangaea during the world's worst mass extinction 252 million years ago. Heading to South Africa allowed it to fill a gap in a faraway ecosystem that had lost its top predators.
Published Researcher uses mammal DNA to zoom into the human genome with unprecedented resolution
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Scientists have precisely identified base pairs of the human genome that remained consistent over millions of years of mammalian evolution, and which play a crucial role in human disease. The team analyzed the genomes of 240 mammals, including humans and identified base pairs that were 'constrained' -- meaning they remained generally consistent -- across mammal species over the course of evolution. The most constrained base pairs in mammals were over seven times more likely to be causal for human disease and complex trait, and over 11 times more likely when researchers looked at the most constrained base pairs in primates alone.
Published QuanÂtum comÂputer in reverse gear
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Large numbers can only be factorized with a great deal of computational effort. Physicists are now providing a blueprint for a new type of quantum computer to solve the factorization problem, which is a cornerstone of modern cryptography.
Published New tusk-analysis techniques reveal surging testosterone in male woolly mammoths
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Traces of sex hormones extracted from a woolly mammoth's tusk provide the first direct evidence that adult males experienced musth, a testosterone-driven episode of heightened aggression against rival males, according to a new study.
Published Researchers explore why some people get motion sick playing VR games while others don't
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source The way our senses adjust while playing high-intensity virtual reality games plays a critical role in understanding why some people experience severe cybersickness and others don't.
Published New research redefines mammalian tree of life
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Scientists from around the globe are using the largest mammalian genomic dataset in history to determine the evolutionary history of the human genome in the context of mammalian evolutionary history. Their ultimate goal is to better identify the genetic basis for traits and diseases in people and other species.
Published Information 'deleted' from the human genome may be what made us human
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source What the human genome is lacking compared with the genomes of other primates might have been as crucial to the development of humankind as what has been added during our evolutionary history, according to a new study led by researchers at Yale and the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard. The new findings, published April 28 in the journal Science, fill an important gap in what is known about historical changes to the human genome.
Published Mammalian evolution provides hints for understanding the origins of human disease
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Even though it is important to know where these variations are located in the genome, it's also useful to know how or why these genetic variations happened in the first place.
Published X-ray analysis sheds new light on prehistoric predator's last meal
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source We now know more about the diet of a prehistoric creature that grew up to two and a half meters long and lived in Australian waters during the time of the dinosaurs, thanks to the power of x-rays. Researchers used micro-CT scans to peer inside the fossilized stomach remains of a small marine reptile -- a plesiosaur nicknamed 'Eric' after a song from the comedy group Monty Python -- to determine what the creature ate in the lead up to its death.