April 2020, ScientificAmerican.com 21I TA LY
New analysis suggests a fragment of
ancient glass may have formed from a
Herculaneum inhabitant’s brain, heated
by the a.d. 79 eruption of Mount Vesuvius.JAPAN
Researchers isolated and
grew an intriguing single-
celled microorganism in
the lab from sediment off
the coast of central Japan.
The tentacled Archaean
uses proteins common to
multicellular organisms
and might lend insight into
how the latter evolved.For more details, visit
http://www.ScientificAmerican.com/
apr2020/advances
BOLIVIA
A new study traces how
smoke plumes from heavy
Amazon burning in 2007
and 2010 deposited black
carbon and dust in the Andes,
speeding up melting of the
Bolivian Zongo Glacier by
boosting heat absorption.
FINLAND
Aurora chasers in Finland helped to identify
a new feature in the Northern Lights. Nicknamed
“the dunes,” it may reflect an elusive type of ripple
in Earth’s upper atmosphere.NEW GUINEA
Off the island of New Guinea and northern Australia, researchers
spotted four species of intricately patterned sharks that walk on
their fins to hunt during low tides. They average less than a meter
long and bring the total of known “walking” sharks to nine.IN THE NEWSQuick
Hits
By Sarah Lewin FrasierCAMEROON
Bones of children buried 3,000 and 8,000 years ago in
Cameroon grasslands provided the first ancient human
DNA from this region. The discovery illuminates early
genetic diversity and at least one long-gone population.
© 2020 Scientific American