New Scientist - USA (2021-11-20)

20 November 2021 | New Scientist | 23

Languages

FARMERS living 9000 years ago in

what is now north-east China may

have spoken a proto-Transeurasian

language that gave rise to Japanese,

Turkish and other modern tongues.

Until now, we assumed the origin

lay in the language spoken by

nomads in Mongolia 3000 years

ago, who didn’t farm crops.

However, Martine Robbeets

at the Max Planck Institute for

the Science of Human History in

Germany and her team used

linguistic, archaeological and

genetic evidence to conclude that it

was the onset of millet cultivation

(pictured) in what is now China that

led to the spread of the language.

The team used linguistic features

of the languages and computational

analysis to map their spread. This

allowed them to trace the proto-

Transeurasian tongue back to an

area of north-east China around

9000 years ago – the time and

place that millet was domesticated.

Genetic data and carbon-dating

of millet grains showed that the

proto-Transeurasian-speaking

population split into communities

that started adopting early forms of

Japanese, Korean and the Tungusic

languages to the east, early forms

of Mongolic languages to the north

and Turkic to the west (Nature,

doi.org/g5np). CW

Origin of many tongues traced

back to ancient millet farmers

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Strange barrier at

Milky Way’s centre

The very centre of the Milky

Way is devoid of cosmic

rays, high-energy particles

spewed out by supernovae.

Cosmic rays are charged,

so a strong magnetic field

may prevent them getting

close – a phenomenon

that happens on a smaller

scale in our solar system

(Nature Communications,

doi.org/g5nc).

New UK dinosaur

had a bulbous nose

A fresh analysis of dinosaur

fossils unearthed on the

Isle of Wight, UK, in the

1970s suggests they

belong to a new species.

This 8-metre-long

Brighstoneus simmondsi

was a close relative of

Iguanodon, but had a more

bulbous nose (Journal of

Systematic Palaeontology,

doi.org/g5nd).

Amazon river

dolphin vanishing

One of the last fully

freshwater dolphins is

disappearing rapidly.

A model of population

size based on survival and

reproductive rates suggests

the Amazon river dolphin

(Inia geoffrensis) will

decline 95 per cent in less

than 50 years, and may be

extinct in a century (Oryx,

doi.org/g5ng).

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Zoology

A FRENZIED alarm signal

produced by a type of Asian

honeybee when giant hornets

attack has been discovered.

It was identified by Heather

Mattila at Wellesley College,

Massachusetts, and her team after

recording nearly 30,000 Asian

honeybee (Apis cerana) signals

as their hives were attacked by

a species of giant hornet (Vespa

soror) or a smaller hornet (Vespa

velutina). Giant hornets are the

bees’ deadliest predators.

By analysing the sound

patterns, the team found that

the bees produce harsh, irregular

noises that change rapidly in

frequency when giant hornets

arrive at the hive. The scream-

like signals rally more bees to

the hive entrance, where they

place animal dung to deter the

hornets (Royal Society Open

Science, doi.org/g5nm).

The bees buzz their wings

to make the signals, which have

acoustic properties similar to

alarm shrieks made by primates

and birds, says Mattila.

These sounds can convey

particular types of threat to other

bees in the colony, which “hear”

the calls through vibrations in

their legs, supporting predator-

specific defences. CW

Asian honeybees

make alarm screams

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Medicine

A SELF-ASSEMBLING gel injected

at the site of spinal cord injuries in

paralysed mice has enabled them

to walk again after four weeks.

The gel mimics the matrix

that is normally found around

cells, providing a scaffold

that helps cells to grow. It also

provides signals that stimulate

nerve regeneration.

Samuel Stupp at Northwestern

University in Chicago and his

team created a material made of

protein units, called monomers,

that self-assemble into long

chains, called supramolecular

fibrils, in water.

When they were injected into

the spinal cords of mice that were

paralysed in the hind legs, these

fibrils formed a gel at the site

of the injury.

The researchers injected

76 paralysed mice with either the

fibrils or a sham treatment made

of salt solution a day after the

injury. They discovered that the

gel enabled paralysed mice to walk

by four weeks after the injection,

whereas mice given the placebo

didn’t regain the ability to walk.

The team found the gel helped

regenerate the severed ends of

neurons and reduced scar tissue at

the injury site, which usually forms

a barrier to regeneration. The

substance also enhanced blood

vessel growth, which provided

more nutrients to the spinal cord

cells (Science, doi.org/g5n2).

“It would be very exciting if this

finding could translate to humans,

though issues of scaling mouse

therapies to humans are not

trivial,” says Ann Rajnicek at

the University of Aberdeen, UK.

Carissa Wong

Gel allows paralysed

mice to walk again