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Categories: Anthropology: General, Geoscience: Earthquakes
Published Climate and human land use both play roles in Pacific island wildfires past and present
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source It’s long been understood that human settlement contributes to conditions that make Pacific Islands more susceptible to wildfires, such as the devastating Aug. 8 event that destroyed the Maui community of Lahaina. But a new study from fire scientist shows that climate is an undervalued part of the equation.
Published Insights into early snake evolution through brain analysis
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Recent study sheds new light on the enigmatic early evolution of snakes by examining an unexpected source: their brains. The results emphasize the significance of studying both the soft parts of animals’ bodies and their bones for understanding how animals evolved.
Published A turtle time capsule: DNA found in ancient shell
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Paleontologists discover possible DNA remains in fossil turtle that lived 6 million years ago in Panama, where continents collide.
Published Tree rings reveal a new kind of earthquake threat to the Pacific Northwest, US
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Tree rings reveal a new kind of earthquake threat to the Pacific Northwest. These findings could have implications for seismic preparedness measures in the region.
Published Exploring the effect of water on seismic wave attenuation in the upper mantle
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source The mechanism facilitating the smooth movement of the oceanic lithosphere over the underlying asthenosphere (upper mantle) remains poorly understood. Recently, researchers from Japan investigated the effect of water on the seismic properties of olivine rocks, finding that water retention in the asthenosphere can induce sharp drops in shear wave velocity. This also explained other seismic changes observed at the lithosphere-asthenosphere boundary. These findings provide invaluable insights into the diverse seismic activities on Earth.
Published Modelling of adhesive technology sheds new light on prehistoric cognition
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Studying prehistoric production processes of birch bark tar using computational modelling reveals what kinds of cognition were required for the materials produced by Neanderthal and early modern humans.
Published Pollen analysis suggests peopling of Siberia and Europe by modern humans occurred during a major Pleistocene warming spell
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source A new study appearing in Science Advances compares Pleistocene vegetation communities around Lake Baikal in Siberia, Russia, to the oldest archeological traces of Homo sapiens in the region. The researchers use the 'remarkable evidence' to tell a compelling story from 45,000-50,000 years ago with new detail: how the first humans migrated across Europe and Asia.
Published Probing the deep genetic structure of Africa
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Using ancestry decomposition techniques an international research team has revealed a deeply divergent ancestry among admixed populations from the Angolan Namib desert. This unique genetic heritage brings the researchers closer to understanding the distribution of genetic variation in the broader region of southern Africa before the spread of food production.
Published New study reveals a long history of violence in ancient hunter-gatherer societies
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Violence was a consistent part of life among ancient communities of hunter-gatherers, according to a new study that looked for signs of trauma on 10,000-year-old skeletal remains from burial sites in northern Chile.
Published Ritual use of human remains dating from the Neolithic
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source An international study has documented post-mortem bone modifications not linked to consumption.
Published Ancient Amazonians intentionally created fertile 'dark earth'
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source A new study suggests patches of fertile soil in the Amazon, known as dark earth, were intentionally produced by ancient Amazonians as a way to improve the soil and sustain large and complex societies.
Published Archaeologists discover world's oldest wooden structure
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Half a million years ago, earlier than was previously thought possible, humans were building structures made of wood, according to new research.
Published Slow growth in crocodile ancestors pre-dated their semi-aquatic lifestyle
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source A groundbreaking study is reshaping our understanding of crocodile evolution by pinpointing the onset of slow growth rates to the Late Triassic period, much earlier than the previously assumed Early Jurassic timeline. The research highlights newly discovered fossil crocodile ancestors (known as crocodylomorphs) that exhibited slow growth rates, similar to modern-day crocodilians. Intriguingly, these early crocodylomorphs were not the lethargic, semi-aquatic creatures we are familiar with today; they were small, active, and fully terrestrial. The study also suggests that this slow-growth strategy was not a mere evolutionary quirk but a survival mechanism, as only the slow-growing crocodylomorphs managed to survive the End-Triassic mass extinction. This stands in stark contrast to the fast-growing dinosaurs of the same era, setting the stage for the divergent evolutionary paths that would later define their modern descendants.
Published Prehistoric fish fills 100 million year gap in evolution of the skull
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source X-rays of an ancient jawless fish shows earliest-known example of internal cartilage skull, unlike that of any other known vertebrate.
Published Tiny sea creatures reveal the ancient origins of neurons
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source A new study sheds new light on the origins of modern brain cells. Researchers find evidence that specialized secretory cells found in placozoans, tiny sea creatures the size of a grain of sand, have many similarities to the neuron, such as the genes required to create a partial synapse. From an evolutionary point of view, early neurons might have started as something like these cells, eventually gaining the ability to create a complete synapse, form axons and dendrites and create ion channels that generate fast electrical signals -- innovations which gave rise to the neuron in more complex animals such as jellyfish. Though the complete story of how the first neuron appeared remains to be told, the study demonstrates that the basic building blocks for our brain cells were forming in the ancestors of placozoans grazing inconspicuously in the shallow seas of Earth around 800 million years ago.
Published Buried ancient Roman glass formed substance with modern applications
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Researchers discover how molecules in ancient glass rearrange and recombine with minerals over centuries to form a patina of photonic crystals -- ordered arrangements of atoms that filter and reflect light in very specific ways -- an analog of materials used in communications, lasers and solar cells.
Published Largest historic fire death toll belongs to aftermath of 1923 Japan Earthquake
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Fires that raged in the days following the 1 September 1923 magnitude 7.9 Kant earthquake killed roughly 90% of the 105,000 people who perished in and around Tokyo, making it one of the deadliest natural disasters in history -- comparable to the number of people killed in the World War II atomic bombing of Hiroshima. The story of the conflagration, not well-known outside of Japan, holds important lessons for earthquake scientists, emergency response teams and city planners, according to a new article.
Published Scientific ocean drilling discovers dynamic carbon cycling in the ultra-deep-water Japan Trench
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Hadal trenches, with their deepest locations situated in the so-called hadal zone, the deepest parts of the ocean in water depth >6km, are the least-explored environment on Earth, linking the Earth's surface and its deeper interior. An international team conducting deep-subsurface sampling in a hadal trench at high spatial resolution has revealed exciting insights on the carbon cycling in the trench sediment.
Published Study links epigenetic changes to historic trauma in Alaska Native communities
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Researchers investigated the relationship between historical traumatic events experienced by Alaska Native communities and epigenetic markers on genes that previous studies have linked to trauma. The new study found a similar pattern among Alaska Native participants, with specific epigenetic differences observed in those who reported experiencing the most intense symptoms of distress when reflecting on historic losses.
Published St Helena's 'liberated' Africans came from West Central Africa between northern Angola and Gabon
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Between 1840 and 1867, thousands of enslaved Africans who had been 'liberated' from slave ships intercepted by the British Royal Navy were taken to the South Atlantic island of St Helena. But little is written in history books or otherwise known about the lives of these individuals. Now, ancient DNA analyses offer the first direct evidence for the origins of St Helena's liberated Africans.