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Scientists Find a Mysterious 'Ghost Lineage' In the DNA of West Africans
Although modern humans are now the only surviving lineage of humanity, others once lived on Earth. Some made their way out of Africa before we did, including the familiar Neanderthals in Eurasia and the newfound Denisovan lineages in Asia and Oceania. It isn't completely clear whether these line…
For the First Time, Scientists Record the Slow Beat of a Blue Whale's Heart
This is the first heart rate recording of any wild large whale, and the biggest one to boot: Blue whales are the largest animals ever known to have lived on Earth. And the recordings might hint at a biological limit for heart size in mammals. Based on their recordings, the researchers believe bl…
Scientists Whittled Mammal Bones and Used Them to Fix Broken Pigeon Wings
This wouldn't be your go-to solution if you found an injured bird on the sidewalk, but rather a technique for veterinarians to implement into their practice when treating injured fowl. As stated by a team of Shiraz University veterinarians in a study published yesterday in the journal Heliyon, l…
Ancient Middle Eastern Astrologers Recorded the Oldest-Known Evidence of Auroras
Astronomers have watched sunspots come and go on the sun’s surface for at least 400 years. But to learn about the history of the sun’s activity before the time of telescopes, they have to turn to historical references to phenomena linked to solar activity, like the northern lights.
Now,…
Fungus-Farming Ants Might Hold the Secret to Fighting Drug-Resistant Microbes
In 2017, a woman in Nevada died from a fairly common bacterial infection, Klebsiella pneumoniae. Her death wasn’t the product of medical oversight or inattention; rather, it came despite it. Her infection proved resistant to every antibiotic drug doctors threw against it, NPR reports. They ultim…
New Compound Successfully Removes Uranium from Mouse Bones and Kidneys
If you’re a TV junkie, there’s a good chance you’ve seen Chernobyl, HBO’s show about the 1986 nuclear disaster of the same name. It shows, in horrifying detail, how the meltdown and explosion of part of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant spewed massive amounts of radiation from radioactive elemen…
Simbakubwa: Mega Carnivore Hiding In A Museum Drawer - Dead Things
Simbakubwa kutokaafrika, was the lion-like king of Kenya 22 million years ago. The enormous carnivore, not actually a feline, is known from recently rediscovered partial fossils, including most of its jaw and pieces of skull, that had been languishing in a museum drawer. (Credit: Mauricio Anton)…
Researchers Say They May Have Found the Cause of SIDS and Other Sudden Death Syndromes - D-brief
What’s so troubling about SIDS is that no one really understands why a seemingly healthy baby goes to sleep and never wakes up. But a new review paper suggests that SIDS and other forms of sudden death syndromes — which impact people of all ages and seem to strike without warning or cause — may …