New Scientist - USA (2019-06-15)

15 June 2019 | New Scientist | 19

Wildlife monitoring

Global warming Wound healing

Ocean plastic found

at every depth

A survey of the Pacific

Ocean has found far more

plastic particles drifting

below surface waters than

in them (Scientific Reports,

doi.org/c6wd). The highest

levels of microplastics

were seen at depths of

around 300 metres, and

the team also found plastic

particles inside larvaceans,

a type of filter feeder

(pictured above).

Ancient population

uncovered in Siberia

A genetic analysis of two

milk teeth from 31,000

years ago has revealed

a previously unknown

population of ancient

humans. They lived in

northern Siberia and were

genetically closer to the

people in western Eurasia

that those in the east

(Nature, doi.org/c6wf).

Stem cell patch

could repair hearts

Thumb-sized patches

made from stem cells

could help repair a heart

after a heart attack. Animal

experiments reported at

the British Cardiovascular

Society Conference in

Manchester found that

the patches started

beating and mimicking

mature heart tissue,

which helped recovery.

Animal-cams get an

on-board AI director

PUTTING cameras on animals has

allowed wildlife film-makers and

biologists to capture incredible

footage, from eagles soaring in

the skies to sperm whales hunting

in the depths. Now artificial

intelligence could help us capture

a lot more revealing footage.

A team in Japan has created

a low-power AI system for

recognising when animals are

doing something interesting and

switching on high-power systems

THUNDERSTORMS are most

common in the late afternoon,

when plenty of heat has built up,

but in years to come, a different

pattern might emerge. A simulation

suggests that climate change could

push the heaviest downpours into

the night or even the early morning.

Edmund Meredith of the Free

University of Berlin in Germany

and his colleagues simulated the

climate of Europe at a resolution of

12 kilometres, then focused in on a

smaller region of western Europe at

a resolution of 2.2 kilometres. This

was good enough to see individual

storms, which hasn’t been possible

in climate models until recently.

They did this for 1970 to 1999,

and then for 2070 to 2099

assuming lots of greenhouse

gases are emitted this century.

In the historical period, the

heaviest rainstorms happened in

the late afternoon. This is because

the sun warms the ground, heating

the air above it, causing it to rise

and form convective storm clouds.

But in the future climate,

compared with the historical period,

the strongest convection, and hence

downpours, shifted to overnight or

the morning (Geophysical Research

Letters, doi.org/c6xh). It is unclear

whether this would apply to other

regions. Michael Marshall

like videos only during those

moments. That means the devices

can keep working for far longer

before running out of power.

Takuya Maekawa at Osaka

University worked with biologists

using biologgers – devices that

have a camera, accelerometer and

GPS – to study black-tailed gulls.

The gadgets weigh just 27 grams

and can’t record video for long.

Maekawa trained an AI

to recognise when the birds

were feeding by analysing the

movements recorded by the

accelerometer. The AI checks

whether the bird is flying and

Slimy solution to a

medical problem

GOO from the skin of Chinese

giant salamanders, the largest

and longest-living amphibians

in the world, could be an ideal

glue to seal wounds.

When giant salamanders are

threatened or injured, their skin

oozes a protein-rich mucus. Shrike

Zhang at Harvard Medical School

and his colleagues used this

mucus to make glue for sticking

skin back together after surgery.

Currently, synthetic medical

glues are very strong, but not very

flexible and give off heat as they

bond with skin that can cause

damage, while natural versions are

more flexible and biocompatible,

but not nearly as strong.

To make their glue, Zhang and

his colleagues gently scratched

the backs of giant salamanders

to trigger mucus secretion. They

tested the strength of the goo

on pig skin and found that it was

slightly weaker than chemical

adhesive but far stronger than

and as flexible as the natural kind.

In rats, sealing a small wound

with salamander glue left almost

no scar and allowed hair to regrow

almost immediately. It caused

no significant inflammation

and degraded safely in the body

(Advanced Functional Materials,

doi.org/c6x4). Leah Crane

whether the patterns of

movement resemble those

associated with feeding, based

on previous recordings.

The team then put the system

to the test. Of 27 videos taken

without the AI, none showed

feeding. In fact, the birds were

stationary in 24 of them. Of the

185 taken with biologgers with AI,

the birds seemed to be foraging in

58, and were stationary in just 41.

This study even recorded some

previously unknown behaviour,

with several videos showing the

gulls catching insects out at sea

(bioRxiv, doi.org/c6x5). MLP

Time of thundery downpours

may shift with climate change

MB

AR
I^ A
ND

MO

NT

ER
EY
BA

Y^ A

QU

AR
IUM

SE

RK

AN

SE

NT

UR

K/G

ET

TY

Really brief

New Scientist Daily

Get the latest scientific discoveries in your inbox

newscientist.com/sign-up