Ice-age camels (Science News)
Everyone knows about the giant, furry elephants of prehistory - mammoths and mastadons. Turns out the camels of that time were giant and wooly too.
Desert horses (BBC)
Archeologists have found artifacts on the Arabian peninsula from a previously unknown culture, dating back 9000 years, including elegant, impressionistic sculptures of horses. Horse domestication is known to go back 6000 years; this might be evidence that it goes back further.
Pre-human genealogy (New Scientist)
Trace all the lines of paternal descent back and they converge in one theoretical man called "Y-chromosomal Adam." He was reckoned to live 140,000 years ago. Now, thanks to one genetic sample, that has been push back to 338,000 years ago. But that is older than modern humans, so this is genealogy back to before the dawn of Homo sapiens, so far as we presently know.
Lost continent (New Scientist, ScienceNOW)
One of the main reasons for not believing in sunken continents is, well, where are they? We've got pretty good maps of the sea floors now, and there aren't any continents down there. But they've managed to find pieces of one, scattered about the bottom of the Indian Ocean. It sank 2 billion years ago. They call it "Mauritia," after the island of Mauritius nearby.
Tipping back (Discover, Trends in Ecology & Evolution)
Global warming is clearly happening, and the case is good that it's our own fault, but the icing on the anxiety cake is that we may be reaching a "tipping point," after which the changes will accelerate irreversibly into some hellish future. Pleasantly, a recent paper in Trends in Ecology and Evolution argues against this idea. Don't get complacent, but don't despair.
Upcoming experiments (New Scientist)
Physics theory has reached great heights of abstract fantasy, but is going nowhere for lack of data. This article lists seven upcoming experiments to get that data: tests of supersymmetry, detailed examination of the cosmic background radiation, searches for gravity waves, and hunts for dark matter, among other things.
Dragon flight (SpaceX, Discover)
After a successful launch and a rocky trip, the Dragon capsule launched by SpaceX has docked with the international space station - the only private spacecraft to do so, and not for the first time, either.
AIDS cure (ScienceNOW)
An anonymous toddler in Mississippi appears to have been cured of AIDS. She was born with it, but quickly put on anti-virals. Normally, she would have stayed on them, but circumstances meant she was off the meds for months. When the doctors caught up with her family, they found no sign of AIDS. And, yes, they checked back to make sure she had had it before.
Comments