New Scientist Int 4.04.2020

(C. Jardin) #1
4 April 2020 | New Scientist | 21

Microbiome

Archaeology Locomotion

Marine life shifts
to cooler waters

Warming oceans are
changing where marine
animals live. A study of the
habitats of 305 marine
species found that, in
general, populations at the
poleward side of a species’
range have risen, while at
the warmer, equator side
of their ranges they have
dwindled (Current Biology,
doi.org/dqnt).

Velociraptor
relative found

A new species of
carnivorous dinosaur
related to velociraptors
has been identified from
20 fossils found in New
Mexico. The find supports
the idea that there was
greater species diversity
than previously thought
during the late Cretaceous
period (Scientific Reports,
doi.org/dqm3).

Neanderthals
ate a fishy diet

Neanderthals dined on
a menu of seafood with
a sprinkling of pine nuts,
an excavation of a coastal
site in Portugal reveals.
An analysis of fossil food
remains shows this group
of our extinct cousins were
fisher-hunter-gatherers
who consumed a diet
dominated by seafood
(Science, doi.org/dqmz).

Gut bacteria may cut
infant food allergy risk

IF A mother has certain microbes
in her gut, her baby appears less
likely to develop food allergies.
Prevotella copri is a bacterium
that ferments dietary fibre into
fatty acids, and it has been linked
to reduced allergic reactions in the
offspring of mice with a high-fibre
diet. Peter Vuillermin at Deakin
University in Australia and his
team wondered whether this
would also be the case in people, in
whom the fatty acids are thought

FARMING, arts and crafts and
complex tool-making emerged on
the island of New Guinea around
the same time as in Europe and Asia.
Agriculture began in different
parts of the world around 10,000
years ago. In Europe and Asia, this
led to complex cultures. We know
that people in New Guinea began
farming around the same time,
but there hasn’t been convincing
evidence that this kick-started an
equivalent cultural movement.
Now Ben Shaw at the University
of New South Wales in Australia
and his team have analysed
artefacts (pictured) found in Papua
New Guinea, the eastern half of the

island. These include part of a
stone carving of a face, stone pestle
fragments used to grind food, a
fire-lighting tool, an ochre-stained
rock that was a traditional tool for
dyeing organic fibres, and axe
fragments, all dating to between
4200 to 5050 years ago. Evidence
suggests all were made on-site
(Science Advances, doi.org/dqm9).
It is known that people from
South-East Asia migrated to
New Guinea but not until about
1000 years later. This means that
symbolic culture and sophisticated
craftwork developed of its own
accord in New Guinea, says Shaw.
Alice Klein

to help regulate inflammation.
They analysed data from a study
of Australian mothers and infants.
Faecal samples were gathered
from women when they were 36
weeks pregnant, and from infants
one, six and 12 months after birth.
DNA from the faecal samples of
58 infants with a diagnosed food
allergy were compared with those
of 236 infants without allergies.
The team found that around
20 per cent of babies without
any allergies had P. copri in their
samples, compared with 8 per cent
of those with allergies, including
to egg, peanut and cow’s milk.

Special shoes could
make you run faster

HIGH-TECH footwear is making
running more efficient and could
eventually help us run more than
50 per cent faster.
David Braun and Amanda
Sutrisno at Vanderbilt University
in Tennessee modelled the energy
used during running and factors
that can affect that, including air
resistance, the limited power of a
human leg and losses that occur
each time a foot hits the ground.
They found that the leg only
supplies energy about 20 per
cent of the time that the foot is
on the ground. To improve on
that, they have conceptualised a
spring-powered device that would
increase the amount of power
a person’s legs generate while
running. It would allow the leg to
supply energy 96 per cent of that
time, according to their analysis.
The device would store energy
created as the leg bends in the
air, compressing the spring, and
release it when the runner takes
a step. The researchers analysed
the running style of 100-metre
world record holder Usain Bolt,
who sprints at a top speed of
12.3 metres per second. The device
would in theory boost Bolt’s top
speed to 20.9 metres per second
(Science Advances, doi.org/dqnc).
Donna Lu

The presence and abundance of
P. copri in a mother’s stool was also
associated with a decreased risk
of allergy. In fact, only one mother
with an infant who had allergies
had more than 0.03 per cent of
the bacterium in her sample.
Analysis showed that when a
woman had twice as much P. copri
as another, it was associated with
an 8 per cent decrease in the risk
of food allergy in her child (Nature
Communications, doi.org/dqnj).
P. copri isn’t very prevalent in
rich countries due to a range of
factors, including greater use of
antibiotics. Gege Li

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Really brief


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