Wild elephants’ ages are often roughly estimated based on their sex and size, but a new technique that analyses chemical changes in DNA could tell their age with 97 per cent accuracy Source: https://www.newscientist.com/article/2255870-a-drop-of-blood-could-reveal-how-old-wild-elephants-are/?utm_campaign=RSS%7CNSNS&utm_source=NSNS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_content=home…
Tag: DNA
Hydroxychloroquine Advocate Angry Donald Trump Took ‘Experimental Antibody Stupidness’
“A doctor notorious for claiming hydroxychloroquine is a ‘cure’ for COVID-19 has denounced White House doctors for not giving President Donald Trump the drug to treat his infection…” reports Newsweek. “Other unsubstantiated claims from Immanuel include declarations that fasting can cure those affected by ‘witchcraft,’ that having sex with demons while dreaming can cause gynecological problems and that certain medications contain…
13 Scientists Troll Scientific Journal With a Bogus Paper about Earth’s Black Hole
“They’re trolling us… we think. But how the hell did this get published?” asks Popular Mechanics. Slashdot reader worldofsimulacra shares their report: Scientists have uncovered a bizarre, indefensible paper that squeaked through peer review at what appears at first pass to be a legitimate medical journal… 13 listed authors from wildly different fields throw together a series of escalating falsehoods. “Recently,…
Searching for habitable exoplanets? Look for phosphorus
Scientists develop a new way to search for potentially habitable exoplanets by measuring the amount of phosphorus in their stars. Such planets should also have abundant phosphorus – necessary for life on Earth – increasing the chances for life. Source: https://earthsky.org/space/phosphorus-in-stars-and-biomarker-habitable-exoplanets…
Trump Pushes To Reap Biometric Data From Immigrants, Americans
Six million would-be U.S. immigrants face expanded collection of their biometric data, including iris scans, palm-, and voice-prints, facial recognition images, and DNA, under a proposed federal rule. The Department of Homeland Security also for the first time would gather that data from American citizens sponsoring or benefiting from a visa application. Bloomberg Law reports: Years in the making, the biometrics…
Vikings may not have been blonde, or Scandinavian
Researchers analyzed DNA from more than 400 skeletons to understand who the Vikings really were. Source: https://www.livescience.com/vikings-were-not-always-blonde-or-scandinavian.html
UK Mathematician Wins Richest Prize in Academia For His Work On Stochastic Analysis
Lanodonal writes: A mathematician who tamed a nightmarish family of equations that behave so badly they make no sense has won the most lucrative prize in academia. Martin Hairer, an Austrian-British researcher at Imperial College London, is the winner of the 2021 Breakthrough prize for mathematics, an annual $3m award that has come to rival the Nobels in terms of kudos…
Australian labradoodle is more poodle than Labrador, according to DNA
The Australian labradoodle is a cross between a Labrador and a poodle, but after 30 years of breeding it’s the poodle DNA that dominates the labradoodle genome Source: https://www.newscientist.com/article/2254295-australian-labradoodle-is-more-poodle-than-labrador-according-to-dna/?utm_campaign=RSS%7CNSNS&utm_source=NSNS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_content=home…
How ancient proteins are untangling humanity’s family tree
We can’t extract DNA from some of the most perplexing ancient human fossils. But ancient proteins sometimes survive better, and they are finally starting to give up their secrets Source: https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg24732990-700-how-ancient-proteins-are-untangling-humanitys-family-tree/?utm_campaign=RSS%7CNSNS&utm_source=NSNS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_content=home…
Coronavirus may dice heart muscle fibers into tiny snippets, remove cells’ DNA
The finding is unlike anything researchers have seen before. Source: https://www.livescience.com/coronavirus-may-dice-heart-muscle-fibers-cells.html