First rocks returned from Moon’s far side reveal ancient volcanic activity

Two groups of researchers have taken the first-ever look at samples brought back from the Moon’s far side — and revealed a history of volcanic activity that spans billions of years. Nearly two kilograms of lunar soil was retrieved by the China National Space Administration mission Chang’e-6 and then dropped down to Earth in a re-entry capsule. Scientists found grains of dust in the sample that originated from lava that erupted to the surface as long as 4.2 billion years ago.

Fossil sheds light on early bird brains

A remarkably well-preserved three-dimensional fossil has allowed researchers to digitally reconstruct the brain of an ancient bird species, the newly designated Navaornis hestiae. The starling-sized bird lived around 80 million years ago, a period from which 3D bird skulls have been difficult to find. The reconstruction gives researchers a glimpse of a stage of avian brain evolution between the earliest known birds and those alive today, partially filling in what was a knowledge gap of 70 million years.

First DNA from Pompeii body casts illuminates who victims were

Remains recovered from plaster casts of five people who died in the eruption of Mount Vesuvius have overturned some old assumptions about who they were. For example, a victim wearing an intricate golden bracelet had been described as a mother who died while holding their child. In fact, the adult was male and the two people were not related. Many of these narratives were designed to boost public interest in the site, notes archaeologist Steven Ellis. DNA evidence confirmed more scholarly interpretations, based on cultural artefacts, that Pompeii had a genetically diverse population descended from immigrants from the eastern Mediterranean.

Smashing atomic nuclei together reveals their elusive shapes

A new imaging method takes snapshots of atomic nuclei smashing together in high-energy collisions to help physicists better understand their shapes. Nuclei can take on a variety of forms, which can be tricky to predict: some are rigid and some fluctuate between several. The new method tracks the momentum of thousands of particles that result from collisions and matches the results with models to “roll back the clock to infer the shape of the nuclei”, says physicist Jiangyong Jia.

Cylinder symbols hint to origins of writing

Symbols engraved on cylinders that were used by traders to print motifs on clay tablets might have influenced the earliest-known form of writing. Researchers examined some of these cylinders from Mesopotamia, now southern Iraq, dating back to 4400 BC, around 1,000 years before the known invention of writing. They identified several symbols they think later developed into signs in ‘proto-cuneiform’, the precursor to the earliest version of written script. The findings support a theory first suggested in the 1990s by archaeologist Holly Pittman, but other experts caution that although some symbols on the cylinders might resemble those in proto-cuneiform, there is no obvious causal relationship linking them.

The world’s oldest tree? Genetic analysis traces evolution of iconic Pando forest

DNA from ‘Pando’ — a vast forest made up of a single root system sprouting nearly 50,000 cloned quaking aspen trees — seems to confirm that it is one of the oldest organisms on Earth. Researchers sequenced hundreds of samples from the Populus tremuloides and found that it is between 16,000 and 80,000 years old. They were also able to track patterns of genetic variation spread throughout the tree, offering clues about how it has adapted and evolved over the course of its lifetime.

Chemical swaps give parrots their colours

Dusky lory parrots (Pseudeos fuscata) have a unique genetic change that allows them to sport a rainbow of colours. Pigments in their feathers called psittacofulvins, which are only found in parrots, are made up of carbon chains of varying lengths. These chains have an aldehyde group at one end by default when they’re synthesised, which makes the pigment red. Researchers found a gene in the dusky lory’s genome that encodes an enzyme that can modify the aldehyde into a carboxyl group, which changes the pigment’s colour to yellow.

The ineffable quality of the human brain

Our brains allow us to do all sorts of things unique to humans: use sarcasm, solve crossword puzzles, envision our future. Their complexity also leaves us susceptible to conditions we don’t see in animals, such as bipolar disorder and schizophrenia. An avalanche of data has started to reveal key differences between human and animal brains, but exactly what gives rise to our unique cognitive skills still isn’t totally clear.

Blogger Comments:

From the perspective of Systemic Functional Linguistic Theory, the meaning potential of language is the 'elephant in the room' that gives rise to our unique cognitive skills. Semiotic phenomena require semiotic explanations. Material models of the brain are severely limited to explaining its material phenomena, such as the locations of its processes.