#Most Interesting Science News articles of the Week From a melted road at Yellowstone to growling seahorses a medieval case of downs syndrome to Nikola Tesla's birthday here are some of the coolest stories in Science this week.
Earth's Magnetic field Is Weakening 10 Times Faster Now Why seahorses growl: Warning growls are for more than the likes of dogs and bears.
The tiny seahorse growls in response to stress as well. Full Story: Whoa! Seahorses Don't Neigh They Growl Celebrating Tesla's birthday:
The eccentric Nikola Tesla would have been 158-years-old this week. How better to celebrate than to debate Tesla versus Edison?
Full Story: Nikola Tesla vs. Thomas Edison: Who Was the Better Inventor? A strawberry cervix?!
and these organelles still carry primitive genomes from their days as prokaryotes. The emergence of eukaryotic life opened the door for all higher forms of life that would follow including humans.
Life evolved into evermore complex forms invertebrates vertebrates reptiles and so on with dinosaurs gaining dominance midway through the Mesozoic era several hundred million years ago.
and other effects that were devastating for most land plants and animals and much of life in the sea.
However many of the small furry mammals that burrowed underground survived. They had been living in the shadows of the dinosaurs all along
Eventually the mammalian lineage evolved into primates then apes then hominids and finally the Homo lineage that produced human beings.
By about 5 million years ago certain apes in Africa had mastered the art of upright walking these were the hominids.
People domesticated animals too as companions servants or food sources. By about 10000 years ago large permanent settlements like Jericho and Catalhoyuk appear in the archeological record.
Smartphones tablets and chimps On the other side of the world the Jane Goodall Institute an ape-conservation organization founded by renowned chimpanzee researcher Jane Goodall is leading a similar effort.
Video Jane Goodall's Wild Chimpanzees The monitors look for signs of human activity that could endanger wildlife
The villagers also document the presence of more than 20 species with a focus on chimpanzees for instance
if the forest monitors see an animal or its tracks they take photos with their smartphones he said.
Then through Google earth Engine and Google maps Engine the institute's researchers can visualize the multiple layers of data to model the suitability of chimpanzee habitat
and to predict the potential distribution of chimpanzees. Whereas traditional maps are limited to two dimensions Google earth's 3d high-resolution imagery makes it easier for the villagers to recognize the topography
Through this data-collection process the JGI has identified previously unknown threats to chimpanzees. Even in the first few weeks of a forest villager getting his smartphone he reported this trap designed to capture a live primate we think either a baboon
or a chimp and this trap had never been recorded before in Tanzania Pintea said. In the future Pintea hopes to use imagery of the region gathered over the years to track changes in the forests over time.
Eyes on the Forest Other endangered species like the tiger are threatened also by poaching and habitat destruction.
According to the World Wildlife Fund human activities have led to a 93 percent reduction in tigers'historic range.
WWF estimates that 97 percent of the world's tigers have been lost over the past century
and as few as 3200 remain in the wild. In 2011 cameras set up by WWF
and the Indonesian Ministry of Forestry captured images of 12 tigers in Sumatra in an area that was set for deforestation.
Concerned about the potential destruction of this tiger habitat WWF used Google earth to illustrate the effects of deforestation on the Bukit Tigapuluh region a critical tiger habitat.
ranges of animals such as the tiger elephant rhino and orangutan; and floral diversity according to a statement from Eyes on the Forest.
and if it overlaps with known tiger habitat. In addition the Google mapping project has helped WWF build public support to stop irresponsible logging companies that contribute to Sumatra's deforestation said Craig Kirkpatrick WWF's managing director for Borneo and Sumatra.
Although the long time between satellite images makes it difficult to actively search for threats to tigers he said Google technology has been helpful in illustrating the pace of deforestation in the region and its effects on tiger and elephant habitat.
and then gradually the forests will come back and with them tiger populations. Elephant tracks Despite many efforts to curb elephant poaching including a 1989 agreement among CITES (Convention on International Trade of Endangered Species of Wild Fauna
and Flora) members to ban ivory trading demand in Asia continues to fuel the illegal ivory trade.
since the 1980s when an estimated 100000 African elephants were killed each year by poachers these massive mammals face additional threats posed by human activities such as commercial logging
Save the Elephants a Kenya-based organization dedicated to elephant protection and research is using Google technologies to help protect elephants from some of these dangers.
The group uses GPS collars to track elephants in Africa providing the organization with live detailed information about the animals'location and movements.
Save the Elephants then uses Google earth to visualize all of the data: By leveraging the application's satellite imagery researchers can zoom in on certain regions to follow the elephants in real time.
We've been using Google earth as a very easy way to find out what our elephants are up to
and where they are going Save the Elephants founder Iain Douglas-Hamilton said in a video hosted on Google's Outreach page.
It links in perfectly to our remote tracking system so the information is a continuous stream of the elephants'whereabouts.
The real-time updates and alerts are delivered via Save the Elephants'ios and Android apps to researchers in the field or via Google earth to be viewed in more detail on a computer.
With knowledge of the elephants'routes the organization can better protect the animals from poachers
and other dangers and help take action if a threat is detected Douglas-Hamilton said. 12 Strangest Sights on Google earth
When an elephant stops moving we can then send a Google earth file indicating the place where the elephant is stopped he said.
Then the Kenyan Wildlife Service can send out a patrol to go out and investigate. We're at a crucial stage now where we can act
but the researchers were able to use the shape of the animal's vertebrae to determine that it was a new species. They dubbed the dinosaur Leinkupal laticauda.
The vertebrae suggest that L. laticauda had a very broad muscular tail which may have allowed it remarkable control
Unique discovery Diplodocids are famed for their long necks and long tails; the earliest discovered specimens came from the rich Jurassic fossil beds in Colorado.
#Gluten-Free Diet Reduces Risk of Type 1 Diabetes in Mice Exposure to a gluten-free diet prenatally
or very early in life in the womb or through a mother's milk may reduce the risk of type 1 diabetes at least in mice a new study suggests.
In the study researchers used a type of mouse that is prone to developing type 1 diabetes.
Mouse mothers were fed either a gluten-free diet or a regular diet during pregnancy and the time when they were nursing.
When the mouse pups were four weeks old the researchers transitioned them to a regular diet.
About 50 percent of the mouse pups whose mothers were fed a regular diet developed type 1 diabetes
whether the findings apply to humans as intriguing findings in mice don't always translate very well into recommendations for people said Dr. Victoria Hsiao an assistant professor of endocrinology
if the mice pups in the study that didn't develop type 1 diabetes by the time they were 30 weeks old would end up developing type 1 diabetes later in life;
To follow up on the mouse study a future study could look at information already collected from women who happened to followed a gluten-free diet in pregnancy
#Last Terrifying Moments of Baby Mammoths Revealed The frightening last moments of two baby mammoths that died thousands of years ago are now being revealed thanks to CT scanning.
The 1-and 2-month-old woolly mammoth calves which were discovered in different portions of Siberia choked on mud after falling into water more than 40000 years ago new research suggests.
See Images of the Baby Woolly mammoths Frozen beasts Woolly mammoths close relatives of modern-day elephants arose about 5. 1 million years ago in Africa
The 1-month-old calf mummy named Lyuba was discovered in 2007 by a reindeer herder on the banks of a frozen river on the Yamal Peninsula in Siberia.
and making her unappetizing to would-be scavengers Fisher said. A mammoth-ivory hunter found the second mummy which researchers named Khroma after the river in Yakutia in which she was found frozen upright in permafrost.
Scavengers possibly Arctic foxes and ravens devoured Khroma's heart and lungs as well as parts of the trunk and skull between the time she was discovered in 2008
Stunning Mammoths Unearthed Lyuba (which means love in Russian) was plump and healthy at death.
The baby mammoth was likely crossing a frozen lake with her mother when she crashed through the ice
For instance Khroma's brain was smaller than a newborn elephant's brain suggesting mammoths may have had a shorter gestational period than modern elephants Fisher said.
While Feeding Like an herbivorous Count Dracula a snakelike vine coils around its leafy victim punctures its stem
Symptoms, Treatment and Prevention A sesame seed-size parasite that feeds on human blood the head louse (Pediculus humanus capitis) is known a nuisance around the world.
These tiny insects infest human hair and can also sometimes be found in the eyebrows and eyelashes.
While school-age kids are believed to be those most commonly affected by lice it's possible for people of any age to become infested with these flightless pests.
However there are several telltale signs that the bugs are present on the scalp according to the Mayo Clinic.
The best way to confirm an active lice infestation is to find a live louse on the head according to the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP.
which some experts say slows the insects down. The most effective way to check for lice is to use a louse comb according to the AAP.
In a study published in 2001 in the journal Pediatric Dermatology researchers found that using a louse comb was four times more effective than simply doing a visual check of the scalp for lice
and that checks with the louse comb could be performed two times faster than visual checks. Dandruff dirt and other common debris found in the hair are confused commonly for lice according to the CDC.
Therefore the best person to perform a head check for lice may be trained someone to identify these parasites like a health care provider or school nurse.
or insecticides that kill lice as well as combing the hair with a louse comb that removes lice and nits.
The manual removal of lice recommended by the NPA can be performed using the same type of fine-toothed louse comb used to check the scalp for lice.
Louse combs can be used on wet or dry hair though some experts suggest that combing out lice
100 Most Threatened Species Poachers have been illegally killing African elephants for years bringing them to the brink of extinction Assemblyman Robert K. Sweeney chair of the committee said in a statement.
but elephant populations are still at risk as poachers continue to strip them of their ivory tusks to sell in domestic and lucrative black markets.
WCS estimates that 96 elephants are killed each day by poachers in Africa which is roughly one elephant death every 15 minutes.
These illicit killings have contributed to a 76 percent decline in elephant populations since 2002 according to WCS officials.
The New york seizure is evidence of a disturbing fact: There is a direct link between the illegal ivory trade in New york state
and the slaughter of elephants in Africa John Calvelli executive vice president for public affairs at the WCS said in a statement.
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#EU States Urged to Destroy Their Illegal Ivory To help combat elephant poaching the United states crushed its stockpile of illegal ivory for the first time last year.
and domestic sales of ivory to help fight the killing of rhinos elephants and other animals for profit.
which estimates that 35000 elephants were killed by poachers in Africa last year a rate equivalent to 96 elephants killed each day.
In order to protect elephants on the ground we must take steps to cut off the market for these products.
In animals cells change and break down over a lifetime eventually causing death. But trees seem free from this growth limit called senescence.
Instead only disease insects fire or accidents such as lightning will kill a tree Stephenson said.
so they contain more old trees would help trap more carbon (making the forest a carbon sink).
#Dive hole appropriations#by curious seals are more like total coups d'Ã tat once one squeezes its 1000-pound body up the blue hole and bobs
heaps of neon-pink sea stars glow-in-the-dark jellies floating spookily by yellow sea spiders breathing through holes in their bodies amphipods toothfish and yes hundreds of swirling seals.
These exotic polar animals are thought to be among the most vulnerable in the coming decades:
Furthermore while many species On earth#arnacles butterflies birds#re shifting their habitats poleward in search of cooler climates where are the Antarctic animals supposed to go?
On this trip the dive team gathered about 200 juvenile emerald rock cod primarily using little green fishing nets the kind you d use in a child s aquarium.
#Back at Crary Aquarium in Mcmurdo Station the science team moved the juvenile fish to their new aquarium quarters
She is also publicity director of Riverhead Books a division of Penguin Random House. The views expressed are those of the author
'Long Tail Feathers The largest four-winged dinosaur known has been found and this predator has the longest feathers yet outside of birds researchers say.
This new finding yields insights on how dinosaurs may have flown the scientists added. The 125-million-year-old feathered dinosaur named Changyuraptor yangi sported feathers over its body including its arms and legs
which made it look as if it had two pairs of wings. Its fossil was unearthed in 2012 in Liaoning province in northeastern China
The newfound dinosaur is a microraptorine a group of predatory feathered dinosaurs related to Velociraptor and other well-known raptor dinosaurs.
Microraptorines are thought to be very close cousins of birds sharing a common raptor ancestor Chiappe told Live Science.
or something the common ancestor of birds and microraptorines had that was lost later in the bird lineage.
The area was also home to a great diversity of birds and insects along with some very primitive mammals and some of the earliest flowering plants he said.
Lakes in the region held fish frogs and salamanders. It was uncertain what Changyuraptor ate
but other microraptorine fossils have been found with the bones of fish and birds in what used to be their guts.
We think Changyuraptor may have gone after small prey like birds lizards salamanders fish and mammals Chiappe said.
The fossil revealed Changyuraptor had extraordinarily long tail feathers. The tail is really the crown jewel of the specimen Chiappe said.
At about 12 inches (0. 3 m) long Changyuraptor had the longest feathers seen outside of birds.
Until now the longest known microraptorine tail feathers were only about 7 inches (0. 18 m) long Chiappe said.
The long feathers seen on both the arms and legs of four-winged dinosaurs suggest they were capable of flying.
It's surprising to think of Changyuraptor flying because it's so large maybe the size of a peacock Chiappe said.
But the scientists'aerodynamic calculations suggest Changyuraptor's long tail feathers helped slow its fall assuring safe landings.
The tail tells us Changyuraptor could have generated a fair amount of lift to slow its flying
or gliding speed Chiappe said. That's certainly an advantage given Changyuraptor's size being fairly large it could easily injure itself during landing.
If more specimens are found in the future they may add to researchers understanding of the animal's flying capabilities Chiappe said.
And who knows maybe its forelimbs had even longer feathers than its hindlimbs. Chiappe and his colleagues detailed their findings online today (July 15) in the journal Nature Communications.
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#Medieval Italian Skeleton's Surprising Diagnosis: Livestock Disease A sip of unpasteurized sheep or goat's milk may have spelled doom for a medieval Italian man.
A new genetic analysis of bony nodules found in a 700-year-old skeleton from Italy reveal that the man had brucellosis a bacterial infection caught from livestock
One possibility is that the man caught the disease from direct contact with animals perhaps
Most notably it carries the kudzu bug#.#This foul-smelling insect is also an invasive species. Unfortunately the kudzu bugs'taste extends beyond its namesake plant
and includes other legumes such as beans grown for human consumption. This means kudzu s impact is not only native ecosystems but agricultural productivity as well.
and waste from plants and animals and a vast population of microbes. Together they are known as soil organic matter.
A couple of the stars of the constellation Cassiopeia would serve as rough pointer stars to the great messier object and the comet and scanning with my binoculars
and all kinds of animals mountain lions bears and the like roam the darkness of our neighborhood.
The sounds of owls and night birds filled the air. Shivering from the cold I scanned the sky with binoculars until BAM!
In one I thought I had captured a meteor intersecting the comet's tail I just could not tell in the field.
First stomach acid breaks off a protein that comes attached to Vitamin b12. Then the intrinsic factor is attached to the Vitamin b12 molecule.
#The Beauty of Millipedes (Op-Ed) This article was published originally at The Conversation. The publication contributed the article to Live Science's Expert Voices:
I came to collect millipedes the many-legged cousins of insects and spiders. My goal was to survey the state s species photographing
Ohio sits on the northwestern edge of Appalachia a hotspot of diversity for millipedes. The southern portion of the state is known for its rolling hills
Millipedes aren t particularly well known by the general public or even by most scientists for that matter.
They are not as showy as birds or butterflies and millipede identification can be tricky.
Despite this lack of recognition millipedes go about their daily routines as recycling machines on the forest floor.
They power through the undergrowth with their many legs two pairs on most segments but not quite the 1000 implied by their common name bulldozing through the dirt
Millipedes return nutrients to the ecosystem and keep dead leaves from piling up in the forest.
Though millipedes aren known t for their beauty perhaps they should be. Many of the species I searched for are in the family Xystodesmidae
Some species in that family called cherry millipedes can release hydrogen cyanide a poisonous chemical when disturbed by predators.
This chemical smells like cherries or almonds hence the name. Because it is released in small amounts it is mostly harmless to humans.
These millipedes sport bright colours paired with a dark brown or black to warn potential predators of their odorous defences.
The motivation for my research came partly from history and partly from hometown pride A previous study of Ohio s millipedes was published in 1928
but 86 years later is outdated. There are few introductory resources for identifying millipedes which stops amateurs from delving into researching these creatures.
My aim is to fix that so the tangible outcome of my work will be a guide to Ohio s millipede species complete with updated ranges colour photographs and characteristics useful for identification.
My hope is that a guide that s accessible to the general public will spark more interest in millipedes
and show people how neat the group truly is. As for hometown pride there are about 50 species of millipedes found in Ohio with more still to be discovered.
Some look like small furry pincushions. Others grow to be five inches long. Some are colourful screaming out with their contrasting blacks and yellows.
I collected more than 300 millipedes and most of the species I had set out to find.
and the attendees found more millipedes than I did. It reminded me of how important the public is to projects like mine I relied on many friends to identify good collecting sites
Interactions like that solidify my drive to introduce millipedes to a wider audience and prove how critical it is for scientists
Industrial farm-animal production getting animals from farms to our plates is inherently inefficient. According to the Food and agriculture organization of the united nations global animal agriculture produces vast amounts of crops to feed billions of farm animals long before they are consumed themselves.
The animals eat this food for months sometimes even years before being slaughtered they are the world's most under-recognized middle men.
Raising animals for food also includes feed-crop production which requires extensive water energy and chemical use as well as energy for transporting that feed live animals and animal products.
The total process for bringing such vast quantities of meat egg and dairy products to our plates comes at a substantial cost to the environment.
About a half-billion fewer animals are now being raised for food than just several years ago reducing animal agriculture's global impact.
while refining diets (switching to products from sources that adhere to higher animal-welfare standards).
With more than nine billion animals currently being raised for food in the United states each year if we all eschewed meat even one day a week
whether it s a Meatless Monday or any other day we'd spare more than one billion animals from the horrors of factory farms
Protecting endangered elephants Rampant ivory poaching is placing elephant populations at risk and the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) estimates that 96 elephants are killed each day by poachers in Africa.
These killings have contributed to a precipitous 76 percent decline in elephant populations since 2002 said Elizabeth Bennett vice president of species conservation at the WCS.
Furthermore funds from the sale of illegal ivory an estimated $10 billion industry have been used to fuel a range of other illicit activities including organized crime
In African nations where elephants are slaughtered for their ivory tusks the illegal ivory trade is exacerbated by a potent cocktail of poverty poor governance
Manongi said elephants which are being driven to the brink of extinction have become the latest conflict resource
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Goat Enthusiastically Completes Cognitive Tests The goats'ability to retrieve food from the box may mean that the animals are generally good at problem solving Mcelligott said a skill that could come handy
And the animals still remembered how to retrieve the food at the later date. The findings may help researchers understand why goats adapt easily to extreme environments.
#oebiodiversity offsetting#protecting animals and plants in one area to make up for negative impacts in another is used increasingly by companies such as mining firms as a way to boost their corporate responsibility
The problem with just looking at the number of hectares involved is that this simplistic measure reveals nothing about the true benefits of the offset how the project helps to conserve Madagascar s lemurs plants
Here s another potential pitfall. Even if there is a net conservation benefit to the area where the offset project is carried out these gains could be wiped out
Should we look at mammals birds reptiles or plants? What if the two sites have different biodiversity?
or bird diversity lost as a result of mining our estimate of the damage done by the mining was twice as large as the company s estimate.
#Heart Cells Transformed Into'Biological Pacemaker'Electronic pacemakers can be lifesaving for people with abnormal
or slow heart rhythms but not everyone who needs a pacemaker is able to have implanted an electronic device in their heart.
Now in experiments in pigs researchers have come up with a new method for making a biological pacemaker that might one day serve as an alternative to electronic ones the researchers said.
Making this pacemaker involves injecting a gene into heart muscle cells which transforms these normal heart cells into special cells that can initiate a heartbeat.
7 Things to Know About Your Ticker This method could be useful for certain patients such as those who develop infections from electronic pacemakers
or fetuses with life-threatening heart disorders who cannot have an electronic pacemaker implanted the researchers said.
Babies still in the womb cannot have a pacemaker study researcher Dr. Eugenio Cingolani director of the Cardiogenetics-Familial Arrhythmia Clinic at Cedars-Sinai Heart Institute in Los angeles said in a statement.
The researchers previously showed that this method worked in rodents but pig hearts are similar to human hearts in their size
or integrate into the genome the pig experiments showed that a small amount of virus did end up in other organs in the animals besides the heart according to the study published today (July 16) in the journal Science Translational Medicine.
New biological pacemaker In healthy people a small region of the heart called the sinoatrial node fires the electrical impulses that determine heart rate.
Such patients may have electronic pacemakers put in to monitor the heart rhythm which sends electrical pulses to keep the heart beating normally.
The newly created node then takes over as a functional pacemaker bypassing the need for implanted electronics and hardware.
In addition the hearts of pigs with the biological pacemaker were able to speed up during exercise
and slow down during rest much better than the hearts of pigs without the biological pacemaker.
and provide an encouraging indication that a biological pacemaker might eventually be ready for human translation Dr. Nikhil Munshi
In addition it could be problematic if the virus ends up in multiple places in the heart and forms more than one biological pacemaker.
If multiple pacemaker foci were to form there would be the potential for'competition'between the foci
and the concern would be that competing pacemakers would be less efficient in setting a consistent heart rate Munshi told Live Science.
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