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Categories: Mathematics: General, Paleontology: General
Published Ice Age saber-tooth cats and dire wolves suffered from diseased joints
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Ice Age saber-tooth cats and dire wolves experienced a high incidence of bone disease in their joints, according to new research.
Published Researcher turns one of the basic rules of construction upside down
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Structural engineers are familiar with seventeenth-century scientist Robert Hooke's theory that a hanging chain will mirror the shape of an upstanding rigid arch. However, new research now shows that this common-held belief is incorrect because, regardless of the similarities, the hanging chain and the arch are two incompatible mechanical systems.
Published Crawford Lake, Canada, chosen as the primary marker to identify the start of the Anthropocene epoch
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source An international team of researchers has chosen the location which best represents the beginnings of what could be a new geological epoch, the Anthropocene. The Anthropocene Working Group have put forward Crawford Lake, in Canada, as a Global Boundary Stratotype Section and Point (GSSP) for the Anthropocene. A GSSP is an internationally agreed-upon reference point to show the start of a new geological period or epoch in layers of rock that have built up through the ages.
Published Tiny scales reveal megalodon was not as fast as believed, but it had a mega-appetite explaining its gigantism
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source A new study reveals the iconic extinct Megalodon, or 'megatooth shark', was a rather slow cruiser that used its warm-bloodedness to facilitate digestion and absorption of nutrients.
Published Marine fossils are a reliable benchmark for degrading and collapsing ecosystems
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Humans began altering environments long before records were kept of the things that lived in them, making it difficult for scientists to determine what healthy ecosystems should look like. Researchers show the recent fossil record preserves a reliable snapshot of marine environments as they existed before humans.
Published Scientists discover 36-million-year geological cycle that drives biodiversity
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Movement in the Earth's tectonic plates indirectly triggers bursts of biodiversity in 36 million-year cycles by forcing sea levels to rise and fall, new research has shown.
Published Global cooling caused diversity of species in orchids, confirms study
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Research shows global cooling of the climate 10 million years ago led to an explosion of diversity in terrestrial orchids.
Published GPT detectors can be biased against non-native English writers
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Researchers show that computer programs commonly used to determine if a text was written by artificial intelligence tend to falsely label articles written by non-native language speakers as AI-generated. The researchers caution against the use of such AI text detectors for their unreliability, which could have negative impacts on individuals including students and those applying for jobs.
Published Madagascar hippos were forest dwellers
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Extinct dwarf hippos that once roamed Madagascar lived in forests rather than open grasslands preferred by common hippos on mainland Africa. The findings suggest grasslands that now cover much of the enormous island off the eastern coast of southern Africa were a relatively recent change facilitated by people rather than a natural habitat sustained in part by these famously large vegetarians.
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 Discovery of 500-million-year-old fossil reveals astonishing secrets of tunicate origins
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Researchers describe a 500 million-year-old tunicate fossil species. The study suggests that the modern tunicate body plan was already established soon after the Cambrian Explosion.
Published Number cruncher calculates whether whales are acting weirdly
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source We humans can be a scary acquaintance for whales in the wild. This includes marine biologists tagging them with measuring devices to understand them better. These experiences can make whales behave erratically for a while. Such behaviour can affect research quality and highlights an animal ethics dilemma. Now, researchers have figured out how to solve the problems with math.
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 Deciphering the thermodynamic arrow of time in large-scale complex networks
(via sciencedaily.com) A solution for temporal asymmetry -- or entropy production -- in thermodynamics has been developed to further our understanding of the behavior of biological systems, machine learning, and AI tools. The researchers worked on the time-irreversible Ising model dynamics caused by asymmetric connections between neurons.
Published Apex predator of the Cambrian likely sought soft over crunchy prey
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Biomechanical studies on the arachnid-like front 'legs' of an extinct apex predator show that the 2-foot (60-centimeter) marine animal Anomalocaris canadensis was likely much weaker than once assumed. One of the largest animals to live during the Cambrian, it was probably agile and fast, darting after soft prey in the open water rather than pursuing hard-shelled creatures on the ocean floor.
Published Combining maths with music leads to higher scores, suggests review of 50 years of research
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Children do better at maths when music is a key part of their lessons, an analysis of almost 50 years of research on the topic has revealed.
Published Evaluating cybersecurity methods
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Researchers created a generic framework that enables an engineer or scientist to evaluate the effectiveness of defense schemes that seek to limit a hacker's ability to learn secret information by observing the behavior of a victim computer program.
Published Researchers unearth the mysteries of how Turkey's East Anatolian fault formed
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source An international team has, for the first time, accurately determined the age of the East Anatolian fault, allowing geologists to learn more about its seismic history and tendency to produce earthquakes.
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 Newly discovered Jurassic fossils in Texas
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Scientists have filled a major gap in the state's fossil record -- describing the first known Jurassic vertebrate fossils in Texas. The weathered bone fragments are from the limbs and backbone of a plesiosaur, an extinct marine reptile.