News in Brief
- Anthropology
Butchered rhino bones place hominids in the Philippines 700,000 years ago
Stone tools and butchery marks point to an ancient hominid presence on islands in the Philippines.
- Animals
Defenseless moths do flying impressions of scary bees and wasps
Faking that erratic bee flight or no-nonsense wasp zoom might save a moth’s life.
- Planetary Science
Last year’s solar eclipse set off a wave in the upper atmosphere
The August 2017 solar eclipse launched a wave in the upper atmosphere that was detected from Brazil after the eclipse ended.
- Plants
New genetic details may help roses come up smelling like, well, roses
A detailed genetic look at China roses and an old European species shows that there’s a built-in trade-off between color and scent.
- Archaeology
Footprints prove humans hunted giant sloths during the Ice Age
Footprints of humans and giant sloths show a dramatic chase sequence from more than 10,000 years ago.
- Astronomy
The latest star map from the Gaia spacecraft plots 1.7 billion stars
The Gaia spacecraft’s latest data release brings the number of stars with precisely measured motions up from 2 million to more than 1.3 billion.
- Plants
Genetically modified plant may boost supply of a powerful malaria drug
Using a DNA study and genetic engineering, researchers tripled the amount of an antimalarial compound naturally produced by sweet wormwood plants.
- Planetary Science
Uranus smells like rotten eggs
Planetary scientists detected hydrogen sulfide in Uranus’ upper clouds — the same compound that gives rotten eggs their terrible smell.
- Astronomy
Young galaxies are flat, but old ones are more blobby
A survey of hundreds of star systems precisely links the shape of a galaxy to the ages of its stars.
- Life
Larger spleens may help ‘sea nomads’ stay underwater longer
The Bajau people of Southeast Asia have a gene variant associated with larger spleens, boosting their oxygen while breath-hold diving, researchers say.
- Animals
Male fruit flies enjoy ejaculation
Red light exposure made some genetically engineered fruit flies ejaculate, spurring a surge of a brain reward compound — and less desire for booze.
- Anthropology
A hole in an ancient cow’s skull could have been surgery practice
Before performing skull operations on people, ancient surgeons may have rehearsed on cows.
