Notices by Flipboard Science Desk (sciencedesk@flipboard.social), page 42

Genetic analysis has shed light on a long-standing mystery surrounding the fates of President George Washington’s younger brother Samuel and his kin. Two of Samuel’s descendants and their mother were recently identified from skeletal remains found in unmarked burials dating back to the 1880s, CNN Reports:
https://www.cnn.com/2024/03/28/us/george-washington-descendants-dna-study-scn/index.html

#dna #georgewashington #president #genetics

Meet ANYmal, a four-legged dog-like robot designed by researchers at ETH Zürich in Switzerland, in hopes of using such robots for search-and-rescue on building sites or disaster areas, among other applications. Now ANYmal has been upgraded to perform rudimentary parkour moves, aka "free running", Ars Technica reports:
https://arstechnica.com/science/2024/03/these-swiss-scientists-taught-their-four-legged-robot-to-do-parkour/

#robot #anymal #parkour

A recently developed cancer vaccine for dogs is showing promising results in clinical trials, which have been running since 2016, and there's hope that some of the benefits of the vaccine could be translated into human cancer treatments, ScienceAlert reports:
https://www.sciencealert.com/breakthrough-cancer-vaccine-for-dogs-is-truly-revolutionary-scientist-says

#dogs #cancer #vaccine #dog

How to photograph the North American solar eclipse, according to NASA.

@popsci reports: "You're gonna need some protection for your smartphone and camera lenses." The eclipse will occur on April 8.

https://flip.it/ETPVBA

#Eclipse #SolarEclipse #NASA #Astronomy #Photography

The ancient Romans had an alternative to daylight savings time.

BBC News reports: "Twice a year, around a third of the world's countries perform a hotly-debated ritual: meddling with time to create longer summer evenings and brighter winter mornings."

https://flip.it/I6Vk9R

#Time #DaylightSavingTime #History #DaylightSavingsTime

"Our world is increasingly plastic. Back in the 1950s, humanity produced just 5 million metric tons of plastic per year; today it’s 400 million metric tons."

@KnowableMag reports on the 175 nations that are working on an international agreement that would tackle the vast amounts of plastic waste in the environment.

https://flip.it/HBNCvi

#Plastic #Environment #Pollution #Waste #Science

AI already uses as much energy as a small country. It’s only the beginning.

@voxrss reports: "The energy needed to support data storage is expected to double by 2026. You can do something to stop it."

https://flip.it/pfX6qx

#AI #ArtificialIntelligence #Energy #ClimateChange #Tech

@KrajciTom @popsci Very cool! Thanks for sharing

A new image reveals magnetic fields around our galaxy’s central black hole.

Science News reports: "Event Horizon Telescope observations show the orientation of light around Sagittarius A*."

Registration may be required: https://flip.it/3Hrrfd

#Space #Astronomy #BlackHole #Horizon

Ancient teeth rarely have a cavity-causing bacteria commonly seen today. A new study reveals why.

CNN reports on the new research from Molecular Biology and Evolution journal: https://flip.it/6eqoQs

Here's the original study: https://academic.oup.com/mbe/article/41/3/msae017/7617356?login=false

#Anthropology #Teeth #Evolution #Dentistry #Science

"Nearly three months into the new year, 2024 is carrying on where 2023 ended, with a litany of broken weather records that include higher air temperatures, warmer oceans and higher tides."

USA Today reports on what's puzzling and alarming scientists: https://flip.it/wTTQLl

#ClimateChange #GlobalWarming #Climate #Heat #Environment #Science

"Many people assume that horses first came to the Americas when Spanish explorers brought them here about 500 years ago. In fact, recent research has confirmed a European origin for horses associated with humans in the American Southwest and Great Plains."

@TheConversationUS reports: "The fossil record reveals horse origins here more than 50 million years ago, as well as their extinction throughout the Americas during the last Ice Age about 10,000 years ago."

https://flip.it/PB41w7

#Horses #Animals #Fossils #Paleontology #Science

People are selling chunks of SpaceX's exploded Starship on eBay.

Futurism reports that recovered ceramic heat shield tiles are being offered for thousands of dollars.

https://flip.it/19rdMR

#SpaceX #Starship #Space #ElonMusk #eBay

Don’t miss your chance to see the cryovolcanic "devil comet."

@popsci has the details on Comet 12P/Pons-Brooks, which won’t be visible again until 2097.

https://flip.it/eU5aap

#Comet #Space #Astronomy #Science

Think your smartphone camera is fast? A group of scientists have made a camera that can shoot 156 trillion frames per second. The swept-coded aperture real-time femtophotography, or SCARF, is designed for experiments where events happen too fast for most sensors to detect, paving the way for scientific breakthroughs in engineering and medicine. Read more from Engadget about the device.

https://flip.it/ydtCY9

#Photography #Camera #Engineering

Archaeologists in Britain have unearthed a “remarkable” Roman villa while working on a housing development. The area near Wantage, Oxfordshire, is described as “artifact-rich,” and the group of scientists have found the remnants of a structure that dates from the first century along with coins, jewelry, axes, and even a floor-heating system. Read more about the find from the BBC.

https://flip.it/AF_yd9

#Archaeology #Rome #BronzeAge

Endangered primates heard "singing together" after rare birth in captivity.

Futurism reports on the siamang gibbons at The Virginia Zoo in the U.S.: https://flip.it/D6_ioW

#Primates #Animals #Endangered #Zoo

Lyme disease cases have gone up in the U.S.

Yahoo! explores the reasons for the increase and offers tips for protection: https://flip.it/_e9pY_

#LymeDisease #Disease #PublicHealth #ClimateChange #Insects

AI learned how to sway humans by watching a cooperative cooking game.

Science News reports: "Offline reinforcement learning could teach bots to collaborate, or manipulate."

Registration may be required: https://flip.it/LPYSzB

#AI #ArtificialIntelligence #Psychology #Tech

Could a supervolcano wipe humans out?

@Mashable reports: "A new study shows that after an especially powerful supervolcano eruption some 74,000 years ago (the largest in the last 2 million years), foraging humans in modern-day Ethiopia survived."

https://flip.it/QDAfVp

#Volcano #Humanity #Geology #History #Science #Anthropology