The transition between the Middle and Later Stone Age is a controversial topic among archeologists. Recent findings offer a possible answer, suggesting that the shift occurred between 67,000 and 71,000 years ago, and has as its hallmark a sudden abundance … Continue reading
Journal Club
Highlighting recent, timely papers selected by Academy member labs
Small, sharp blades mark the change from Middle to Later Stone Age in coastal Kenya
Categories: Anthropology | Journal Club
Tagged archaeology, human evolution, Levallois cores, paleolithic, Panga ya Saidi, Prismatic blade, stone age, stone tools
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Venus flytrap mechanism could shed light on how plants sense touch
Labelled by Charles Darwin as a “most wonderful” plant, the Venus flytrap is more than a carnivorous curiosity. The rapid closing of its leaves when brushed by prey offers researchers a way to investigate how plants sense their environment through … Continue reading
Categories: Cell Biology | Journal Club | Plant Biology
Tagged calcium channel, FLYCATCHER1, ion channel, protein, sense of touch, venus flytrap
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Lab-cultured mouse embryos, grown for an extended period, offer a new window on fetal development
In a potential methods breakthrough, stem cell biologists grew mouse embryos for five-and-a-half days in vitro, longer than ever before. Appearing recently in Nature, the study unveils new protocols and equipment, including a temperature-and-pressure-controlled incubator that enabled the coauthors to … Continue reading
Categories: Developmental Biology | Journal Club
Tagged blastoid, embryos, fetal development, in vitro, mouse embryo, pre-implantation embryo, stem cell, Zika
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Massive study suggests chimp populations mixed more recently than previously reported
A recent study in Communications Biology reports results from the largest such survey of chimpanzee genetics so far. It suggests that animals from the different groups have mixed more recently than many researchers in the field previously believed. The findings … Continue reading
Categories: Evolution | Genetics | Journal Club | Population Biology
Tagged chimpanzee, gene flow, genome, microsatellite, SNP, subspecies
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Agricultural spray could quickly deliver advantageous genes to crops mid-growing season
Plant breeders are masters of genome tuning, spending years developing crops with the genes to resist disease, drought, and pests. Now, a team of industry and academic researchers in Germany and the United Kingdom has developed a viral vector technology … Continue reading
Categories: Agriculture | Genetics | Journal Club | Sustainability Science
Tagged agriculture, agrobacteria, crops, drought, GMO, pesticides, RNA plant virus, tobacco, tomato
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In Mesopotamia, early cities may have faltered before climate-driven collapse
Some of the earliest cities, now buried in the soil of Syria, Iraq, Turkey, and Lebanon, are thought to have collapsed because of rapid climatic change. Drought along with lower temperatures descended on these settlements some 4,200 years ago, forcing … Continue reading
Categories: Anthropology | Climate science | Journal Club
Tagged archaeology, climate change, climate science, collapse, Fertile Crescent, Mesopotamia, urbanization
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Noncoding DNA shown to underlie function, cause limb malformations
Genes that code for proteins make up only about 2% of the human genome. Many researchers once dismissed the other 98% of the genome as “junk DNA,” but geneticists now know these noncoding regions help to regulate the activity of … Continue reading
Categories: Biochemistry | Genetics | Journal Club
Tagged CRISPR, EN1, gene, junk DNA, lncRNA
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How an animal’s teeth can reveal where it’s been
A careful measurement of isotope ratios in animals’ teeth could offer a new way to closely track their movements, according to a recent study that showed how the approach would work in Mongolian sheep and goat herds. Tooth enamel … Continue reading
Categories: Agriculture | Animal Behavior | Anthropology | Chemistry | Ecology | Journal Club
Tagged archaeology, enamel, forensic science, isotopes, paleoecology, strontium, teeth
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To predict the success of tree-planting schemes, look to villagers’ involvement
Tree-planting projects are sprouting up worldwide in an effort to sequester carbon. Acres of saplings are quick to plant but don’t necessarily have staying power: many die or are cut down before the trees grow to maturity. A recent study … Continue reading