Women Perform Better In Warm Offices, Study Says
medicaldaily.com – A new study claims women perform better in warm offices.
Source: Tom Y. Chang, Agne Kajackaite, Valerio Capraro. Battle for the thermostat: Gender and the effect of temperature on cognitive performance. PLOS ONE, 2019.
Billion-Year-Old Fossil Fungi, Oldest Known, Revises Broader Evolution Timeline
discovermagazine.com – Microfossils from the Canadian Arctic, earliest known fungus, point to a much earlier evolutionary timeline not just for fungi, but for animals as well.
Source: Corentin C. Loron, et al. Early fungi from the Proterozoic era in Arctic Canada. Nature, 2019.
Study: Bonobo Mothers Play Strong Role in Helping Adult Sons Find Mate
sci-news.com – A new study, published in the journal Current Biology, shows that adult bonobo males have higher paternity success when their mother is living in the group.
Source: Martin Surbeck, et al. Males with a mother living in their group have higher paternity success in bonobos but not chimpanzees. Current Biology, 2019.
Sea levels could rise by up to 2 metres by 2100, new study finds
cbc.ca – Sea levels could rise by as much as two metres by 2100 in a worst-case scenario involving melting ice caps and high CO2 emissions, new research suggests.
Source: Jonathan L. Bamber, Michael Oppenheimer, Robert E. Kopp, Willy P. Aspinall, Roger M. Cooke. Ice sheet contributions to future sea-level rise from structured expert judgment. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2019.
Seeing Red in the Fossil Record
nytimes.com – A discovery in a fossilized mouse could help scientists work out the true colors of dinosaurs and other creatures from prehistory.
Source: Phillip L. Manning, et al. Pheomelanin pigment remnants mapped in fossils of an extinct mammal. Nature Communications, 2019.
Thin Insulation Layer May Prevent Pluto's Underground Ocean From Freezing
discovermagazine.com – New research suggests Pluto hides an ocean beneath a thin insulating layer that keeps its ocean wet and its ice crust cold.
Source: Shunichi Kamata, et al. Pluto’s ocean is capped and insulated by gas hydrates. Nature Geoscience, 2019.
Processed Foods, Regardless Of Nutrition, Still Cause Weight Gain
discovermagazine.com – A diet of ultra-processed food causes weight gain even when it doesn't have more sugar, fat, or carbs, according to a new intensive study at the NIH.
Source: Kevin D. Hall, et al. Ultra-Processed Diets Cause Excess Calorie Intake and Weight Gain: An Inpatient Randomized Controlled Trial of Ad Libitum Food Intake. Cell Metabolism, 2019.
China's Lunar Rover Finds Ancient Rocks in Moon's Biggest Crater
discovermagazine.com – China’s Yutu-2 lunar rover found material dug up from deep under the moon’s surface that could help explain our satellite's origins.
Source: Chunlai Li, et al. Chang’E-4 initial spectroscopic identification of lunar far-side mantle-derived materials. Nature, 2019.
Humans Broke Up with Neanderthals Much Longer Ago Than We Thought
popularmechanics.com – A big study analyzes dental records and finds a surprisingly early split in Europe.
Source: Aida Gómez-Robles. Dental evolutionary rates and its implications for the Neanderthal–modern human divergence. Science Advances, 2019.
Bedbugs survived the impact event that wiped out the dinosaurs
upi.com – Bedbugs are notoriously difficult to eradicate. Not even the fiery asteroid impact that wiped out the dinosaurs could rid Earth of its bedbug infestation.
Source: Steffen Roth, et al. Bedbugs Evolved before Their Bat Hosts and Did Not Co-speciate with Ancient Humans. Current Biology, 2019.
