MEXICO
Small freshwater fish called sulfur moths synchronously clapping their tails create waves, and scientists have demonstrated that this strategy can scare away hungry birds. The researchers started the process of creating a wave with slingshots and found that the birds waited twice as long between attacks.
CHILE
A study of the nuclei of sedimentary rocks has shown this a large, previously unconfirmed tsunami struck the coast of Chile in 1737. The discovery suggests that tsunamis hit the country’s coastline more often than previously thought, and that both geological and historical records should be considered when assessing the danger.
CANADA
Scientists have found evidence bacteria “extract” silver in the ancient underwater feces of a worm. Microscopic analysis of fossilized feces revealed specks of metal that probably accumulated about 500 million years ago when bacteria inhabiting manure extracted it from the surrounding water.
GREENLAND
Computer simulation believe that climate change was one of the reasons The Vikings left Greenland in the 15th century. Expansion of the ice cover would depress the land and pull seawater ashore, flooding coastal settlements up to five meters of water.
Great Britain
Researchers in the north-east of England have unearthed a fragment of the exoskeleton the largest of the arthropods ever foundin the genus called Arthropleura. Referring to the body proportions of the fossils, the team estimates that this centipede weighs 50 kilograms and would be 2.6 meters long.
TANZANIA
The new work suggests there may be traces of 3.66 million years a hominin who was walking strangely, spreading, crossing one leg in front of the other. Tracks are different from Australopithecus afar-knowable species of hominids in this area – suggesting that early humans with very different steps could coexist.
This article was originally published under the title “Quick Hits” in Scientific American 326, 3, 23 (March 2022)
DOI: 10.1038 / scientificamerican0322-23
Scientific news from around the world: March 2022
Source link Scientific news from around the world: March 2022