https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/02/200206184332.htm
SNEAK PEEK
1. Back in 1972, NASA sent their last team of astronauts to the Moon in the Apollo 17 mission. These astronauts brought some of the Moon back to Earth so scientists could continue to study lunar soil in their labs. Since we haven\’t returned to the Moon in almost 50 years, every lunar sample is precious. We need to make them count for researchers now and in the future. In a new study in Meteoritics & Planetary Science, scientists found a new way to analyze the chemistry of the Moon\’s soil using a single grain of dust. Their technique can help us learn more about conditions on the surface of the Moon and formation of precious resources like water and helium there.
\”We\’re analyzing rocks from space, atom by atom,\” says Jennika Greer, the paper\’s first author and a PhD student at the Field Museum and University of Chicago. \” It\’s the first time a lunar sample has been studied like this. We\’re using a technique many geologists haven\’t even heard of.
2.
Analysis of the fossilized dental plaque of a medieval woman reveals lapis lazuli, suggesting she was an accomplished painter of illuminated manuscripts
During the European Middle Ages, literacy and written texts were largely the province of religious institutions. Richly illustrated manuscripts were created in monasteries for use by members of religious institutions and by the nobility. Some of these illuminated manuscripts were embellished with luxurious paints and pigments, including gold leaf and ultramarine, a rare and expensive blue pigment made from lapis lazuli stone.k Institute for the Science of Human History
Summary:
Researchers have revealed direct evidence of medieval women\’s involvement in the production of illuminated manuscripts. Lapis lazuli in the dental calculus of a woman buried at a 12th-century German monastery suggests that she created richly illustrated religious texts.
women\’s role in the creation of medieval manuscripts: Analysis of the fossilized dental plaque of a medieval woman reveals lapis lazuli, suggesting she was an accomplished painter of illuminated manuscripts.
Anita Radini of the University of York. C
3.
For decades, an ancient Egyptian known as Merit Ptah has been celebrated as the first female physician and a role model for women entering medicine. Yet a researcher from the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus now says she never existed
Jakub Kwiecinski, PhD, an instructor in the Dept. of Immunology and Microbiology at the CU School of Medicine and a medical historian.
University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus
most striking part of the story is not the mistake but the determination of generations of women historians to recover the forgotten history of female healers, proving that science and medicine have never been exclusively male.
\”So even though Merit Ptah is not an authentic ancient Egyptian woman healer,\” he said. \”She is a very real symbol of the 20th century feministic struggle to write women back into the history books, and to open medicine and STEM to women.\”
4. The fossilized tail of a young dinosaur that lived on a prairie in southern Alberta, Canada, is home to the remains of a 60-million-year-old tumor.
Researchers at Tel Aviv University, led by Dr. Hila May of the Department of Anatomy and Anthropology at TAU\’s Sackler Faculty of Medicine and Dan David Center for Human Evolution and Biohistory Research, have identified this benign tumor as part of the pathology of LCH (Langerhans cell histiocytosis), a rare and sometimes painful disease that still afflicts humans, particularly children under the age of 10.
A study on the TAU discovery was published on February 10 in Scientific Reports. Prof. Bruce Rothschild of Indiana University, Prof. Frank Rühli of the University of Zurich and Mr. Darren Tanke of the Royal Museum of Paleontology also contributed to the research.
\”Prof. Rothschild and Tanke spotted an unusual finding in the vertebrae of a tail of a young dinosaur of the grass-eating herbivore species, common in the world 66-80 million years ago,\” Dr. May explains. \”There were large cavities in two of the vertebrae segments, which were unearthed at the Dinosaur Provincial Park in southern Alberta, Canada.\”
It was the specific shape of the cavities that attracted the attention of researchers.
\”They were extremely similar to the cavities produced by tumors associated with the rare disease LCH that still exists today in humans,\” adds Dr. May. \”Most of the LCH-related tumors, which can be very painful, suddenly appear in the bones of children aged 2-10 years. Thankfully, these tumors disappear without intervention in many cases.\”
The dinosaur tail vertebrae were sent for on-site advanced micro-CT scanning to the Shmunis Family Anthropology Institute at TAU\’s Dan David Center for Human Evolution and Biohistory Research, Sackler Faculty of Medicine, which is located at the Steinhardt Museum of Natural History.
\”The micro-CT produces very high-resolution imaging, up to a few microns,\” Dr. May says. \”We scanned the dinosaur vertebrae and created a computerized 3D reconstruction of the tumor and the blood vessels that fed it. The micro and macro analyses confirmed that it was, in fact, LCH. This is the first time this disease has been identified in a dinosaur.\”
5. They don\’t go alone
\”Some species th
at are rare or hard to detect may be declining so quickly that we might not ever know that we\’re losing them,\” said Elise Zipkin, MSU integrative biologist and the study\’s lead author. \”In fact, this study is less about snakes and more about the general loss of biodiversity and its consequences.\”
The snakes in question reside in a protected area near El Copé, Panama.
6.
deciphering a person\’s intent goes beyond their facial expression,
Everyone makes different facial expressions based on context and cultural background,\” Martinez said. \”And it\’s important to realize that not everyone who smiles is happy. Not everyone who is happy smiles. I would even go to the extreme of saying most people who do not smile are not necessarily unhappy. And if you are happy for a whole day, you don\’t go walking down the street with a smile on your face. You\’re just happy.\”
said Aleix Martinez, a professor of electrical and computer engineering at The Ohio State University.
7.
A study inspired by street performers making gigantic soap bubbles led to a discovery in fluid mechanics: Mixing different molecular sizes of polymers within a solution increases the ability of a thin film to stretch without breaking.
The journal Physical Review Fluids published the results of the study by physicists at Emory University. The findings could potentially lead to improving processes such as the flow of oils through industrial pipes and the clearance of polluting foams in streams and rivers.
The results also hold implications for backyard bubble-blowing enthusiasts.
\”This study definitely puts the fun into fundamental science,\” says Justin Burton, associate professor of physics at Emory University and senior author of the paper.
\”We did the physics to explain why and how polymers can make a fluid film stretch as far as 100 square meters without breaking,\” Burton says.
8.
[ANSWERS]
1. Dr Lois James (WSU College of Nursing)
2. Ellen Brennan (University of Michigan) / \’The Little Neuron That Could\’
3. UZH anthropologist Marcia Ponce de León.
4. Kristie Garza (Lab of Annabelle Singer, Georgia Tech)
5. Elsa Helen Kaltvedt (University of Stavanger)
6. UW Speech & Hearing expert Patricia Katherine Kuhl
7. Dr Giorgio Quer (Scripps Research Translational Institute)
8. UC Davis neurobiologist Stacey A. Combes
9. Dr Matae Ahn (Duke-NUS Medical School)
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QUIZ No. 941
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1. Reliance on smartphone predicts greater loneliness and depression. Who said it?
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Readiness potential (RP) is a signal of brain activity that occurs not only before voluntary muscle movement but also before a person becomes aware of his/her intention to move. This special nature could posit RP as an argument against free will because the brain commits to a decision (wanting to reach for chocolate) even before we are consciously aware of having made that decision. However, if we take on the view that our conscious decisions arise from a cascade of firing neurons, it will potentially put free will back into our command, or so say the findings of Olaf Blanke and Hyeong-Dong Park (EPFL, Switzerland). These researchers propose that the origin of RP is linked to breathing. This makes things more tangible. The breathing pattern may be used to predict when would people begin voluntary action and it can help patients with deficits in voluntary action control. One interesting detail of this perspective is that we are more likely to take voluntary movements as we exhale. (Did you reach for that piece of chocolate during an exhale?)
1. Threat in prisons
Prison workers are under a nearly constant state of threat to their safety. Almost half of them have seen co-workers being seriously injured by inmates. Who observed that they experience PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder) on par with Iraq/Afghanistan war veterans?
1. Dr Lois James (WSU College of Nursing)
2. A tenacious neuron
It\’s important for your brain to know when you change direction, but it\’s not good if this is the only thing that all your brain detects. A compass always has to know which way is north. Who identified a neuron that serves the purpose, and what is the fancy name given to it?
2. Ellen Brennan (University of Michigan) / \’The Little Neuron That Could\’
3. All roots in Africa
The bony labyrinth of the inner ear houses our hearing and balance system. The variation in its shape within a population is greater than the variation between populations. Who explored it to show that \”all humans are very closely related and have their roots in Africa\”?
3. UZH anthropologist Marcia Ponce de León.
4. Pulsing at 40 hertz
Baffling experiments using flickering light have shown promise. One study indicates that exposure to light pulsing at 40 hertz (40 beats per second) causes brains to release a surge of signalling chemicals that may help fight Alzheimer\’s disease. Who led the study?
4. Kristie Garza (Lab of Annabelle Singer, Georgia Tech)
5. Potty performance
The biggest difference between boys and girls is when they get out of nappies. Among two-and-a-half-year-olds, up to 67.8% of girls take an interest in using a potty/toilet compared to 42.1% of boys. And girls outperform boys in circle time. Who found it in a survey?
5. Elsa Helen Kaltvedt (University of Stavanger)
6. It is a social hook
Parentese is not just \”baby talk\” — a mash-up of silly sounds and nonsense words. Far otherwise, it is fully grammatical speech that involves real words, elongated vowels and exaggerated tones of voice. Who suggested that \”it\’s a social hook for the baby brain\”?
6. UW Speech & Hearing expert Patricia Katherine Kuhl
7. Up to 70 beats
A person\’s normal heart rate when at rest is fairly consistent over time, but it may vary from others\’ by up to 70 beats per minute. Who analysed the data and commented that \”Day-to-day changes in resting heart rate could be the first true, individualized digital vital sign\”?
7. Dr Giorgio Quer (Scripps Research Translational Institute)
8. Getting economical
Flying bumblebees can carry 60%, 70% or 80% of their body weight. There is one thing about them that \”doesn\’t make any sense in terms of energetics\”. They could actually use less energy per unit load when they are more heavily laden. Who made this great discovery?
8. UC Davis neurobiologist Stacey A. Combes
9. Getting away with it
Bats live very long and they carry numerous viruses without suffering from diseases caused by them. This is because they do not react to infection with the typical inflammatory response that often leads to pathological damage in humans. Who reported this feat?
9. Dr Matae Ahn (Duke-NUS Medical School)
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