Clik here to view.
In this week’s haul of news about scientific discoveries, we found stories about a pregnant dinosaur, the oldest decoded “ancient human” DNA and how selfless driving could lead to fewer traffic jams. Take a look.
Scientists Find a “Pregnant” T-Rex
Clik here to view.
Top and above: T-Rex. Images credit: Getty Images
Researchers at North Carolina State University have found a Tyrannosaurus Rex in Montana with a medullary bone, which indicates that the predator was about to lay an egg. The remains, which are 68 million years old, could still hold DNA and help scientists better understand the evolution of birds and reptiles and also gender differences between dinosaurs. Could it also lead to a real-life Jurassic Park? “We have some evidence that fragments of DNA might be preserved in dinosaur fossils, but this remains to be further tested,” the university’s Dr. Lindsay Zanno told Discovery News. The paper was published in the journal Nature.
Good Luck to Future Fossil Hunters
Clik here to view.
Fossil fish. Image credit: Getty Images
Fossils are helping us piece together Earth’s past, but our descendants may come up empty-handed. According to a report in the journal Science, “most species that will disappear today will leave no fossil record.” Scientists estimate that some 500 vertebrate species have gone extinct over the last century. The research could help them gauge “how severe the current extinction crisis is.” “What they’ve done is to actually quantify it,” Seth Finnegan, a paleobiologist at UC Berkeley, told the journal. “And to show that the effect is potentially very big.”
Scientists Decode Oldest “Ancient Human” DNA
Clik here to view.
Human predecessors split from Neanderthals more than 430,000 years ago. Image credit: Getty Images
Biologists at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Germany have sequenced the oldest “ancient human” genome. The DNA comes from the 430,000-year-old bones of “early Neanderthals” found in a Spanish cave. The discovery “has pushed back estimates of the time at which the ancient predecessors of humans must have split from those of Neanderthals,” according to the journal Nature. “It’s wonderful news to have mitochondrial and nuclear DNA from something that is 430,000 years old,” Maria Martinón-Torres, a paleoanthropologist at University College London, told the journal. “It’s like science fiction. It’s an amazing opportunity.”
Scientists Develop Very-Early-Stage Human Stem Cells for the First Time
Clik here to view.
Naive pluripotent stem cell stem cells can develop into all human tissue other than the placenta. Illustration credit: Getty Images
Researchers at the University of Cambridge have developed for the first time so-called naive pluripotent stem cells from a human embryo. These “flexible” cells can develop into all human tissue other than the placenta. “Until now it hasn’t been possible to isolate these naive stem cells, even though we’ve had the technology to do it in mice for 30 years — leading some people to doubt it would be possible,” the study’s first author, Ge Guo, said in a news release. “But we’ve managed to extract the cells and grow them individually in culture. Naive stem cells have many potential applications, from regenerative medicine to modeling human disorders.”
“Selfless Driving” Could Reduce Rush Hour Jams
Clik here to view.
Take a detour from your routine to arrive on time. Image credit: Getty Images
Analysis of massive amounts of smartphone data collected during peak-hour travel suggests that “selfless driving” could lead to fewer traffic jams. The results reveal “how strategic route changes by a relatively small number of motorists could reduce the time lost to congestion by as much as 30 percent,” The Conversation reported.