Scientists are recruiting elephant seals to learn more about the oceans’ twilight zone

Below about 200 metres there’s still a lot going on in the ocean, but it’s tremendously hard to observe and understand even with modern technology. Scientists from the University of California, Santa Cruz have maintained a long-term monitoring study of elephant seals. The team, including PhD candidate Allison Payne, has discovered they can use the seals as scientific sentinels, to help humans better understand the conditions of the dark deep sea. The research was published in the journal Science.

A cave in Poland reveals a grisly history of stone-age cannibalism

A detailed study of the remains of ten individuals who lived — and died — 18,000 years ago in Poland has revealed that they were butchered and probably eaten as the final act in a prehistoric conflict. Characteristic cut marks on their skulls and bones show that they were systematically de-fleshed, before their fragmented remains were tossed aside. This research was led by Francesc Marginedas, a PhD candidate at the Catalan Institute of Human Palaeo-ecology and Social Evolution in Tarragona, Spain. Their research was published in Scientific Reports.

Our ears are weird. Is that just because they’re gills?

Evolution tends to repurpose things, even as it massively transforms organisms outwardly. A fascinating example is the new finding that the unique cartilage in our external ears seems to have once been gill tissue from our ancient fish ancestors. Gage Crump from the University of Southern California made the discovery using a series of gene-editing experiments on zebrafish. The research was published in the journal Nature.

Rabbits replenish their calcium by digesting their teeth

Rabbit teeth constantly grow during the life of the rodents, which means they need calcium to regrow them. A new study suggests that one of the ways rabbits supply calcium for their teeth is by ingesting and recycling the tooth material that grinds off as they chew. Dr. Johanna Mäkitaipale is a veterinary orthopedic surgeon and a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Helsinki, Finland. She led this research that was published in The Veterinary Journal.

Is dark energy dying? A new theory suggests that the universe has different time zones

For more than two decades, cosmologists have been invoking the idea of a mysterious dark energy to explain observations that appeared to show an acceleration in the expansion of the universe. But more recent observations are adding weight to a different theory that does away with the dark energy. Ryan Ridden, an astronomer from the University of Canterbury, said the “timescape theory” suggests time simply runs differently in the large empty regions of the universe. Their study is in the journal Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.

As soon as the last ice age glaciers melted, Indigenous people occupied this site

A recently discovered archaeological site in Saskatchewan, dated to just less than 11,000 years ago is the oldest settlement in the region by about 1,500 years. It also is evidence that Indigenous people settled there as soon as the environment could support them after the glaciers disappeared. Glenn Stuart, from the University of Saskatchewan, is one of the archaeologists working along with local Indigenous community members to preserve and study the site.

Just the right magnetic field will make sea turtles do a ‘happy dance’

Researchers investigating how sea turtles navigate the vast and trackless ocean have discovered just how sensitive the reptiles’ magnetic sense is, as they can even use it to identify the location of food resources. While feeding the loggerhead turtles in the lab, Kayla Goforth, a postdoctoral researcher at Texas A&M University noticed that the turtles would perform a ‘happy dance’ when they recognized the right magnetic signature. She led this research that was published in the journal Nature.

Intense exercise causes our bodies to belch out DNA that may reduce inflammation

Scientists were surprised to discover that the more intensely you exercise, the more certain immune cells belch out fragments of DNA that can form webs to trap pathogens, and lead to fewer pro-inflammatory immune cells circulating in our blood. Canadian researcher Stephen Montgomery, a professor of pathology at Stanford University, said their findings suggest that circulating cell-free DNA may play a role in how exercise lowers inflammation in the body. The study was published in the journal PNAS.

An ancient Antarctic duck lived at the time of T-Rex

Birds are the last surviving lineage of dinosaurs, but modern birds are surprisingly ancient – dating to before the extinction of the rest of their family. An extremely rare, nearly intact bird skull found in Antarctica and dated to about 69 million years ago confirms this. This waterfowl had similarities to ducks and loons. Chris Torres is an assistant professor at the University of the Pacific in Stockton California and was part of the team that analyzed this fossil. Their research was published in the journal Nature.

Science is being transformed by the AI revolution

The stunning advances in artificial intelligence that we see with internet AI apps are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to science. Researchers from almost every field are experimenting with this powerful new tool to diagnose disease, understand climate change, develop strategies for conservation and discover new kinds of materials. And AI is on the threshold of being able to make discoveries all by itself. Will it put scientists out of a job?

Producer Amanda Buckiewicz spoke with:

Jeff Clune, a professor of computer science at the University of British Columbia, a Canada CIFAR AI Chair at the Vector Institute, and a senior research advisor to DeepMind. He’s also a co-author of The AI Scientist.

Allison Noble, a Professor of Biomedical Engineering at the University of Oxford and a Foreign Secretary at the Royal Society, and chair of the Science in the Age of AI working group.

Elissa Strome, executive director of the Pan-Canadian Artificial Intelligence Strategy at CIFAR.

Cong Lu, postdoctoral research and teaching fellow at the University of British Columbia and the Vector Institute, and a co-author of The AI Scientist.

Fred Morstatter, a research assistant professor at the University of Southern California, and a principal scientist at USC's Information Sciences Institute.

A little bit of scratching can do some good, but too much can hurt

Scratching an itch can feel great, so scientists decided to dig into why that is the case since we know too much scratching isn’t good for us. Dr. Dan Kaplan, a professor of dermatology and immunology at the University of Pittsburgh, said they found that scratching drives inflammation to the skin, which, in light moderation, helps to fight bacterial skin infections. But he warns that continual or excessive scratching can prolong an itch and potentially damage the skin. Their study is in the journal Science.

Bear hazing goes high-tech with drones

A wildlife manager in the US has found that drones can be a safe and effective way to discourage problem bears from troubling human habitation and livestock. Wesley Sarmento started working in the prairies of Montana to prevent bear-human conflicts, but found the usual tricks of the trade were not as effective as he wanted them to be. Previously he tried to use noisemakers, dogs, trucks, and firearms, but buzzing bears with flying robots turned out to work much better. Now a PhD student at the University of Montana, he published an article about his hazing research in Frontiers in Conservation Science.

Ants can remember and hold grudges against those who trouble them

When ants fight with those from another nearby colony, it makes an impression. A new study has found the insects can remember the chemical signature of the aggressors, and will respond more vigorously and violently the next time they cross paths. Dr. Volker Nehring, a researcher at the University of Freiburg, Germany, describes the phenomenon as “the nasty neighbour" where ants are most aggressive to ant colonies closest to them, and says this is due to resource protection. Dr Nehring and his team’s research was published in the journal Current Biology.

Scientists on the front line of permafrost thaw describe changes in the Arctic

The acceleration of change in the Arctic due to global warming is transforming the landscape on a year-to-year basis, often in surprising ways. That’s according to scientists who’ve been studying the effects of climate change in the North.

One study found that lakes in Western Greenland shifted from pristine blue to dirty brown from one year to the next due to increased permafrost melting and runoff. Jasmine Saros, a lake ecologist from the University of Maine, said they were astonished by the magnitude of change they saw in all 10 lakes they studied and how quickly it happened. That study was published in the journal PNAS.

We also speak with William Quinton, a permafrost hydrologist from Wilfred Laurier University and the director of the Scotty Creek Research Station in southern Northwest Territories, an area he describes as “the frontline of permafrost thaw.” Quinton was part of a research team, led by Anna Virkkala from the Woodwell Climate Research Centre, that found that 34 per cent of the Arctic Boreal Zone — a region where carbon was safely locked up in the permafrost for thousands of years — has now become a carbon source. That study is in the journal Nature Climate Change.