The Drift

Welcome to today's issue of Carolina Naturally

'Nuff Said!

Today is June 21, 2023

Today is: World Music Day

On This Day In History

In 1970CE: FIFA World Cup Final, Estadio Azteca, Mexico City: Brazil and Pelé become first team and player to win World Cup 3 times, beating Italy, 4-1 in front of 107,412

Ain't That The Truth

Oh, and while you're at it - check out our sister blog Come What May for off the cuff and off the wall seriousness. Heck, who are we kidding, it's just fun and hilarity.

Editorial Comment

Life is looking to get a bit smoother in the next few days ... we hope it works out as envisioned.

We do want to give a shout out to our readers in Kenya and Netherlands and say thanks for stopping by to read Carolina Naturally.

Remember to have fun and enjoy life.

Editorial Staff

When is a Beatles Song Really a Beatles Song?

Can a band produce a new song when they broke up more than 50 years ago and half of the band members are dead? In an interview with the BBC, Paul McCartney announced that a new Beatles song, which he referred to as a "final Beatles record" will be released later this year. There have been plenty of Beatles songs released since the band went their separate ways, but the catalog of previously unreleased recordings from rehearsals, concerts, and demos surely has a limit.

McCartney did not identify the song, but speculation is that it will be "Now and Then," which John Lennon wrote in 1978. He recorded it as a demo on a tape that was given to McCartney sometime after Lennon died in 1980. The three surviving Beatles worked on the song in 1995, but abandoned the effort because there was an annoying buzzing on Lennon's tape recording. And George Harrison didn't like the song. Harrison died in 2001.
But now we have artificial intelligence programs that can clean up the noise and distortion from an old cassette tape, and there are recordings of the 1995 session, so we can soon hear all four Beatles performing together on a song that was written after they broke up. But will it really be a Beatles song? The discussion at Metafilter 
But now we have artificial intelligence programs that can clean up the noise and distortion from an old cassette tape, and there are recordings of the 1995 session, so we can soon hear all four Beatles performing together on a song that was written after they broke up. But will it really be a Beatles song? The discussion at Metafilter brings up all sorts of questions, not only about the authenticity of this project, but the ethics involved. After all, half of the Beatles cannot approve of the release, nor even register an opinion on their own art. We haven't heard from Ringo Starr on the project, or how involved he is with it. What do you think?   

Chess Club

We’re cousins but also genetically brothers due to this rare phenomenon

No, you’re not seeing double!
Peter and Peter are cousins — but genetically, they are actually more like brothers.
The duo — who are known on TikTok as “The Peter Twins” — look nearly identical, but their matching curly hair and smiles come down to more than just dumb luck.
Taking to TikTok to talk more about their unique situation, they explained that not only are their fathers — Pedro and Peter — identical twins — but also their mothers, Sally and Chelsea.
”Because our moms are also identical twin sisters, that actually makes us full siblings, not half-siblings,” they revealed in a clip that’s been viewed more than 1.2 million times.
The pair, who live in the US, go by the term “twin cousins,” adding their parents got married and found out they were pregnant at the same time.
We’re cousins but also genetically brothers due to this rare phenomenon

Linguists have identified a new English dialect that’s emerging in South Florida

“We got down from the car and went inside.”
“I made the line to pay for groceries.”
“He made a party to celebrate his son’s birthday.”
These phrases might sound off to the ears of most English-speaking Americans.
In Miami, however, they’ve become part of the local parlance.
According to my recently published research, these expressions – along with a host of others – form part of a new dialect taking shape in South Florida.
This language variety came about through sustained contact between Spanish and English speakers, particularly when speakers translated directly from Spanish.
Linguists have identified a new English dialect that’s emerging in South Florida

How to make better decisions – using scoring systems

When faced with difficult choices, we often rank the alternatives to see how they stack up. This approach is ubiquitous, used from major business and policy decisions, through to personal choices such as the selection of a university course, place to live, or political voting preference.
Typically, criteria are identified and each one is “weighted” according to importance. The options are then scored against each criterion and the weightings applied. But this common approach is frequently flawed and not as rational as it first seems.
How to make better decisions – using scoring systems

Garden Naked Together

Why Those Half-Dead Plants Are Actually a Good Deal

Amanda Blum writes:
I call it the “sad plant shelf” (or SPS for short), and I make a beeline to it at every nursery I visit. This is the place where nursery workers send the plants that don’t look as picture perfect as their potted brethren. They slap them with a discount sticker in the hopes of getting rid of them fast to make room for a new crop.
Most places don’t advertise the existence of this shelf, but the SPS isn’t hard to find if you know what to look for—usually, it’s a rack of mismatched plants in an out-of-the-way corner of the store. Ask an employee if there’s a plant clearance rack and they’ll usually point you in the right direction.
Discount perennials are an excellent buy
The reason these plants are a good buy is because at least some of them are going to be perennials, which means it doesn’t matter if they are already kaput for this year. All plants are either annuals (they bloom this year, then die, and don’t come back) or perennials (they come back yearly, or like a foxglove, every other year). I very rarely buy annuals off the discount shelf, but it’s a great place to pick up perennials, which may not look pretty now but which will come back find next year, at as much as 50% off.
Why Those Half-Dead Plants Are Actually a Good Deal

Weird Noises Your House Is Making and What They Mean

Visual signs can tell you when your house needs a repair, but you need to listen up too.

Most of us like our houses to be quiet, peaceful places, but we also accept that no house is perfectly silent. While a creaking floor or a noisy radiator might be part of the charm of an older home, sometimes a noisy house is trying to tell you something, and that something might be expensive to fix and dangerous to ignore.
If you hear the following noises coming from your house, it’s time to start paying attention—and maybe worrying 

9 Weird Noises Your House Is Making and What They Mean

How Beer Built an Underground City in Cincinnati

Cincinnati, Ohio, has always had beer breweries, but in the 1840s, there was an influx of German immigrants who brought lager with them, while existing breweries specialized in port or ale. They aged their lager at cooler temperatures. To achieve the required conditions, they built huge facilities underneath the surface of the city, which got larger and larger as the demand for their product increased. But it wasn't a perfect system, and innovations had to be made over time to make them safe- not from collapse, because they are pretty strong, but from carbon dioxide and ammonia, in addition to industrial accidents. The brewers dealt with all that, but they couldn't withstand the forces of discrimination against German descendants that came with World War I and with Prohibition that soon followed. These underground factories, warehouses, and tunnels are now close to 200 years old, and mostly empty. But Cincinnati is starting to regain its reputation for beer. 

How Beer Built an Underground City in Cincinnati

Strolling through the city ...

The First English Manual on Swimming Was Published in 1587

We should clarify that Everard Digby's book De Arte Natandi was English in the sense that it was published in England. Digby, a theologian at Cambridge University, wrote The Art of Swimming in Latin. A few years later, Christopher Middleton translated it into English, which you can read online here.
The Public Domain Review describes De Arte Natandi within the context of European swimming practices of the time. The crawl was seen as an uncivilized stroke, but Digby does provide practical help for people who wish to swim through other means, such as the sidestroke:

This kinde of swimming, though it be more laborious, yet is it swifter then any of the rest, for that lying vpon one side, striking with your feete as when you swimme on your bellie, but that the pulling in and thrusting out of his hand, which then did onely keepe him vp, doe now helpe to put him forward: for onely the lower hand supporteth his bodie, and the vpper hand roweth like an Dare, as in this example.

De Arte Natandi came with at least thirty illustrations, all of which evidence that the swimsuit is a rather recent invention. 

3,000-year-old Sword Looks Good as New

Archaeologists studying an excavation in Nördlingen, Germany, have uncovered a sword in a grave that contained a man, a woman, and a young boy. It was among other weapons and artifacts included in the burial, which is considered around 3,000 years old. But the sword has been uniquely preserved, and looks only a few years old. The sword is bronze, made by the applied bronze casting method, which is labor intensive and requires quite a bit of skill. Scientists don't know where it was made. But you might wonder how it was preserved so long in such a pristine condition. It's all about the cuprous salts.
You can read more about the chemistry involved in the Twitter thread. We don't know if the sword has been removed from the site yet, but there's a possibility that whoever lifted it from the rock after all this time is now the rightwise king born of somewhere. 

The World's Oldest Museum

Have you ever thought about what archaeologists 1,000 years from now will think when they dig up artifacts of our lives? If civilization, or even mankind itself, can hold out that long, they may be quite confused. Imagine that they dug up a museum and dated the structure to the 21st century. The museum holds artifacts dating to, say, 1,000 BCE, but will the future archaeologists know that? It's happened already that archaeologists find collections of artifacts that are much older than their location would indicate. But one ancient collection stands out because it was a real museum with even more ancient artifacts properly labeled and dated. And it was run by a woman.

Ennigaldi-Nanna was a priestess and a princess of the Neo-Babylonian Empire. She was also an archaeologist and a museum curator, establishing her museum of artifacts around 530 BCE in Ur (modern Iraq). Her displays dated back as far as 2,000 BCE! The museum was discovered in 1925, and has yielded a treasure trove of ancient information. Ennigaldi, who was way ahead of her time, labeled her finds in three languages, including Sumerian, which modern language experts can translate. After the collapse of the Sumerian kingdom, the museum was lost and the practice of labeling artifacts fell out of use for another couple of thousand years. Read about Ennigaldi-Nanna's unique museum at Messy Nessy Chic.

Got to love those "B" movies ...

Or in this case maybe a "C" movie, anyway here's a still from When Dinosaurs Ruled The Earth.

Intriguing Correlation Found Between Earthquakes And Cosmic Radiation

A fascinating statistical correlation has been discovered between global seismic activity and changes in the intensity of cosmic radiation on Earth’s surface, potentially providing insights for earthquake prediction. Surprisingly, this correlation exhibits a periodicity that defies clear physical interpretation.
Earthquakes often result in significant human casualties and extensive material damage. The ability to predict the timing and location of such catastrophic events could substantially mitigate their impact. The CREDO project, initiated by the Institute of Nuclear Physics of the Polish Academy of Sciences, aims to investigate the hypothesis that changes in cosmic radiation could be an indicator of imminent earthquakes. Statistical analyses have revealed a correlation between these two phenomena, but the nature of the correlation presents unexpected characteristics.
The CREDO (Cosmic Ray Extremely Distributed Observatory) project is a virtual cosmic ray observatory that collects and analyzes data from various detectors, including smartphone CMOS sensors. By monitoring global changes in the flux of secondary cosmic radiation reaching Earth’s surface, the project seeks to identify patterns related to seismic activity. Secondary cosmic radiation is generated when primary cosmic radiation interacts with molecules in the Earth’s atmosphere, producing cascades of particles.
The concept behind the correlation lies in the understanding that eddy currents in Earth’s liquid core generate the planet’s magnetic field, which deflects charged particles of primary cosmic radiation. Disturbances in the flows of matter driving Earth’s dynamo, caused by large earthquakes, can alter the magnetic field, affecting the tracks of primary cosmic radiation particles. Ground-based detectors should observe corresponding changes in the numbers of secondary cosmic ray particles detected.
CREDO physicists analyzed cosmic ray intensity data from the Neutron Monitor Database project and the Pierre Auger Observatory, comparing it with data on solar activity and seismic activity. The analyses, using different statistical techniques, consistently revealed a clear correlation between changes in the intensity of secondary cosmic radiation and the summed magnitude of earthquakes with a magnitude greater than or equal to 4. Importantly, this correlation only became apparent when the cosmic ray data was shifted 15 days forward relative to the seismic data, suggesting the potential for early earthquake detection.
However, it remains unclear from the analyses whether it is possible to pinpoint the specific locations of these cataclysmic events. Location-specific analyses did not reveal clear correlations between changes in cosmic ray intensity and earthquakes. The correlation appears to be global in nature, suggesting that changes in cosmic ray intensity reflect a phenomenon that affects the planet as a whole.
The observed correlation has surpassed the statistical threshold of five sigma, indicating a chance of less than one in a billion that the correlation is due to chance. However, the unexpected periodicity of the correlation presents additional puzzles. The correlation occurs every 10-11 years, similar to the solar activity cycle, but does not coincide with the maximum activity of the Sun. Furthermore, other periodicities of unknown origin are observed in both cosmic ray and seismic data, including periodic changes in seismic activity and the intensity of secondary cosmic radiation over a cycle corresponding to Earth’s stellar day.
The lack of conventional explanations for these periodicities raises the possibility of alternative, less conventional phenomena. One hypothesis is that the correlation may be influenced by the passage of Earth through a dark matter stream modulated by the Sun and other massive bodies in the solar system. The large magnetic field of Earth, acting as an extremely sensitive particle detector, could respond to phenomena that are currently invisible to existing measuring devices.
Regardless of the source of the observed periodicities, the discovery of a link between cosmic radiation and seismic activity opens up new and exciting research opportunities. Further investigations into this intriguing correlation hold promise for understanding Earth’s dynamics and potentially advancing earthquake prediction.

Highlighting Mars with Enhanced Colors

The European Space Agency's Mars Express spacecraft has been mapping Mars for twenty years now. In honor of the occasion, the space agency has released a global color mosaic of the red planet that's more than just red. The High Resolution Stereo Camera (HRSC) science team has stitched together 90 images taken from 4000 to 10,000 kilometers above the surface to show the features of Mars in the clearest detail yet.
Mars look pretty much all red in the images we've seen before, because the planet has so much iron oxide. That's what we call rust. But Mars also has more dense, dark bluish-gray sand made of volcanic basalt that formed enormous dunes across the center of the planet from this angle. It also has clay and sulphates that formed from the contact of water with volcanic materials that show up as lighter colors. Read more about the image and how it was made at the German Aerospace Center.

The expansion of the universe could be a mirage, new theoretical study suggests

The expansion of the universe could be a mirage, a potentially controversial new study suggests. This rethinking of the cosmos also suggests solutions for the puzzles of dark energy and dark matter, which scientists believe account for around 95% of the universe's total energy and matter but remain shrouded in mystery.

The novel new approach is detailed in a paper published June 2 in the journal Classical and Quantum Gravity, by University of Geneva professor of theoretical physics Lucas Lombriser. 

The expansion of the universe could be a mirage, new theoretical study suggests

Swim

Scientists Study the Locomotion of Great Tits

Last year, researchers Els Atema, Arie van Noordwijk, and Simon Verhulst published the results of their study of Great Tits (Parus Major) in the journal Molecular Ecology. I bring it to your attention because I know that Neatorama readers take a great interest in this topic.
The scientists wanted to know if adding weight to a Great Tit, and thus increasing the physical workload it must endure while moving, would alter the telomere regions of its DNA sequence. They added a backpack weighing 0.9 grams to these birds and tracked their locomotion. At the end of their study, they found no significant changes to the attrition of the birds' telomeres. Perhaps the birds were physically stressed by the added weight, but they seemed to bounce back just fine.
Yeah, we know what you thought you knew what this post was about from the title ... surprise!

Blanket octopus

The photo is a finalist in the Aquatic Life category in the 10th BigPicture Natural World photography competition. Now enjoy the videos:

Video 1

Video 2

The "World's Largest Crocodile" Just Reached an Impressive New Milestone

This month, the world’s largest captive crocodile reportedly turned 120 years old. The croc, named Cassius, holds the Guinness World Record for its size — a whopping 17 feet, 11.75 inches long. The "birthday" is just an estimated milestone, according to researchers, as the crocodile was originally born in the wild.
"He was big and old when we caught him, and 38 years later, he's still alive," crocodile researcher Graeme Webb told the Australian Broadcast Corporation (ABC). "That's giving us serious knowledge on longevity." Webb was part of a team contracted to trap the crocodile back in 1984 by operators of La Belle Station, a pastoral lease in the Northern Territory of Australia that reported livestock losses. Cassius is also believed to have attacked boats in the area. His snout is slightly shorter, a common injury for crocodiles who attack outboard motors. 
By 1987, Cassius was sold to the MarineLand Crocodile Park in Green Island, Australia. According to the Department of Fisheries in Western Australia, crocodiles typically live up to 70 years in the wild and have been roaming this planet for around 200 million years. In captivity, crocodiles have been known to live up to 100 years.
"There is no way of knowing Cassius' actual age as he was born in the wild and the age is just an estimate," said Toody Scott, a crocodile keeper at Marineland Crocodile Park, in an email to Live Science. Scott admitted that Cassius’s birthday "was essentially made up a few years ago.”
The "World's Largest Crocodile" Just Reached an Impressive New Milestone

Decapitated Dinosaurs

Fossil Evidence Confirms Predators Exploited Long Necks of Ancient Marine Reptiles
In the era of dinosaurs, certain marine reptiles possessed remarkably long necks compared to modern reptiles. While this adaptation was evidently advantageous, scientists have long suspected that their elongated necks made them vulnerable to predators. Now, after nearly two centuries of ongoing research, direct fossil evidence has finally confirmed this hypothesis in  a striking and graphic manner.
Researchers, in a study published in the journal Current Biology on June 19, examined the unique necks Of two Triassic species of Tanystropheus. These reptiles, distantly related to crocodiles, birds, and dinosaurs, had necks comprised of 13 extraordinarily elongated vertebrae and strut-like ribs. It is believed that these marine reptiles possessed stiffened necks and employed an ambush strategy to catch their prey. However, it appears that the predators of Tanystropheus also exploited their long necks for their own advantage.
Close examination of fossilized bones now reveals clear bite marks on the necks of two specimens representing different species. In one case, the bite marks are located precisely where the neck was broken. According to the researchers, these findings provide gruesome and exceedingly rare evidence of predator-prey interactions in the fossil record dating back over 240 million years.
Stephan Spiekman of the Staatliches Museum für Naturkunde Stuttgart, Germany, remarked, “Paleontologists speculated that these long necks formed an obvious weak spot for predation, as was already vividly depicted almost 200 years ago in a famous painting by Henry de la Beche from 1830. Nevertheless, there was no evidence of decapitation—or any other sort of attack targeting the neck—known from the abundant fossil record of long-necked marine reptiles until our present study on these two specimens of Tanystropheus.”
Spiekman, who conducted this research during his doctoral work at the Paleontological Museum of the University of Zurich, Switzerland, recognized that two species of Tanystropheus coexisted in the same environment. One species, measuring about a meter and a half in length, likely fed on soft-shelled animals such as shrimp, while the much larger species, reaching up to six meters in length, preyed on fish and squid. The shape of the skull provided clear evidence that Tanystropheus spent most of its time in the water.
It was widely known that two specimens of these species had well-preserved heads and necks that ended abruptly. Although it had been speculated that their necks were bitten off, no detailed study had been conducted on the matter. For the new study, Spiekman collaborated with Eudald Mujal of the Stuttgart Museum and a research associate at the Institut Català de Paleontologia Miquel Crusafont, Spain, who specializes in fossil preservation and predatory interactions based on bite traces on bones. After carefully examining the two specimens in Zurich, they concluded that the necks had indeed been bitten off.
Mujal explained, “Something that caught our attention is that the skull and portion of the neck preserved are undisturbed, only showing some disarticulation due to the typical decay of a carcass in a quiet environment. Only the neck and head are preserved; there is no evidence whatsoever of the rest of the animals. The necks end abruptly, indicating they were completely severed by another animal during a particularly violent event, as the presence of tooth traces evinces.”
He continued, “The fact that the head and neck are so undisturbed suggests that when they reached the place of their final burial, the bones were still covered by soft tissues like muscle and skin. They were clearly not fed on by the predator. Although this is speculative, it would make sense that the predators were less interested in the skinny neck and small head and instead focused on
the much meatier parts of the body. Taken together, these factors make it most likely that both individuals were decapitated during the hunt and not scavenged, although scavenging can never be fully excluded in fossils that are this old.”
Spiekman highlighted the intriguing similarity in the scenario surrounding the two specimens, which represent different Tanystropheus species. He stated, “Interestingly, the same scenario—although certainly executed by different predators—played out for both specimens, which remember, represent individuals of two different Tanystropheus species, which are very different in size and possibly lifestyle.”
The findings support previous interpretations that the elongated necks of these ancient reptiles represented a completely unique evolutionary structure that was narrower and stiffer than those of long-necked plesiosaurs. The researchers also note that evolving a long neck as a sea reptile came with potential disadvantages. However, elongated necks clearly served as a highly successful evolutionary strategy, observed in various marine reptiles over a span of 175 million years.
“In a very broad sense, our research once again shows that evolution is a game of trade-offs,” said Spiekman. “The advantage of having a long neck clearly outweighed the risk of being targeted by a predator for a very long time. Even Tanystropheus itself was quite successful in evolutionary terms, living for at least 10 million years and occurring in what is now Europe, the Middle East, China, North America, and possibly South America.”

Animal Pictures

The Drift

Welcome to today's issue of Carolina Naturally

'Nuff Said!

Today is June 20, 2023

Today is: International Tennis Day

On This Day In History

In 2020CE:  Highest-ever temperature recorded in the Arctic circle, 38C (100F) in Verkhoyansk, Siberia

Ain't That The Truth

Oh, and while you're at it - check out our sister blog Come What May for off the cuff and off the wall seriousness. Heck, who are we kidding, it's just fun and hilarity.

Editorial Comment

Making new friends - naked friends - there is never a time now that almost everyone is naked around here ...just like at the old place which we had to leave due to a job transfer. Just had to repeat that first sentence again.

We know, we know it has been a hot minute since we posted but due to some of those aforementioned friends being FWB/NSA ... well, we've been playing around and having fun

We do want to give a shout out to our readers in Canada and Japan and say thanks for stopping by to read Carolina Naturally.

Remember to have fun and enjoy life.

Editorial Staff

Inside the Bitter Mind

Life doesn’t always go our way, and plenty of developments can leave us feeling angry, cheated, and bitter.  While these life experiences may vary, we can all relate to what other people are going through and feeling.  Someone asked, “What has caused you to become bitter?”. Here are some of the experiences that others have …

Inside the Bitter Mind: Unraveling the Surprising Factors That Poison Hearts

Thought To Be Lost Forever, Researchers Make Remarkable Discovery Under The Golden Gate Bridge

Since 1937, the Golden Gate Bridge has spanned the Golden Gate strait, connecting the San Francisco Bay to the Pacific Ocean. And while the structure is something to behold, there is more than one mystery lurking underneath it in the waters.
With the help of some underwater robots, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has made it their goal to uncover the ghostly secrets hidden underneath the Golden Gate Bridge. What they found is eerie in the most extraordinary way.
Thought To Be Lost Forever, Researchers Make Remarkable Discovery Under The Golden Gate Bridge

Urbain Le Verrier's Unseen Planets

Sir Isaac Newton's laws of gravity had profound meaning for astronomers, because the mass of the planets around us, their distance, and their orbits followed these laws and made sense of what they observed. But at the time, there were only six known planets besides earth, from Mercury to Uranus. Most of them followed Newton's laws to a T., as calculated by astronomer Alexis Bouvard in 1821. But then there was Uranus, which progressed more slowly than Newton's laws would predict. Were those laws of gravitation flawed? Or was there something different about Uranus? An assistant astronomer at the Paris Observatory, Urbain Le Verrier, recorded variations in the orbits of both Uranus and Mercury. Le Verrier figured there might be another planet on the other side of Uranus, which would explain those variations. Using his hypothesis and the Uranus's orbit to chart the position of the unseen planet, Le Verrier knew where it should be, but couldn't get permission to use Paris's biggest telescopes to take a look. A colleague he knew in Berlin had access to an observatory, though, and that's how Neptune was discovered.

Le Verrier was rightfully honored for his discovery of Neptune, the first planet to be tracked by indirect information before it was observed. So then he turned his attention to the variations in Mercury's orbit and the idea that there could be another planet beyond Mercury even closer to the sun. When amateur astronomer Dr. Edmond Lescarbault observed a disc racing across the surface of the sun, Le Verrier announced another discovery- the planet Vulcan.
Now, you probably only know the planet Vulcan from Star Trek, and not from your science classes. You know what happened to Neptune (it's still there), but what about Vulcan? Read that story at Damn Interesting.

These Newly Discovered 12,000-Year-Old Instruments Had An Extremely Unusual Purpose

A collection of prehistoric flutes once used by the ancient Natufians has been unearthed in Israel, and, when played, they mimic the calls of birds of prey. Carved – somewhat ironically – from bird bones, the diminutive flutes date back 12,000 years and are among the smallest prehistoric instruments ever found. They're far from playable, but researchers constructed replicas using computer software and found that they emitted a sound similar to that of the Eurasian sparrowhawk or common kestrel, likely for music-making and use during hunting.

These Newly Discovered 12,000-Year-Old Instruments Had An Extremely Unusual Purpose

Friend showing how ...

Why Do We Yawn and Why Is It Contagious?

Unravel the intriguing phenomenon of yawning in our exploration of its mysterious triggers and contagious nature. We dissect the theories behind yawning, from brain cooling to shifting states of consciousness, and delve into the connection between empathy and contagious yawning.

Why Do We Yawn and Why Is It Contagious?

The relationship between your genes and the food you eat

Did you know that our genes play an important role in how we process nutrients? Equally, different nutrients have different effects on our genes. But can we use this information to our advantage? Is it possible to determine whether or not we're generically predisposed to certain conditions? And if so, how can we adjust our diets for better health? Enter the field of nutrigenomics.
In this post, you'll get to know more about this scientific branch that looks at the relationship between genes and nutrients, and the impact it may have on our health.
The relationship between your genes and the food you eat

Half The Gut Microbes In Our Primate Ancestors Abandoned Us

There are all kinds of bacteria living in our gut, contributing to the healthy (or unhealthy) processes going on inside our bodies, but it turns out that we've lost a lot of the microbes that we once shared with our ancient primate ancestors.
Looking at genetic material in the guts of modern-day chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes troglodytes and P. t. schweinfurthii) and bonobos (P. paniscus), researchers traced back the lineages of their gut bacteria millions of years, before comparing them with the microbes that now live in human beings and African apes (our closest evolutionary relatives).
The analysis showed that many types of primate gut bacteria have evolved over that time, including in humans, but that a significant number of the bacteria that have evolved (or "co-diversified") with their hosts have been lost in Homo sapiens.
"This is the first microbiome-wide study showing that there are a great number of ancestral co-diversifying bacteria that have been co-living within primates and humans for millions of years," says evolutionary biologist Andrew Moeller from Cornell University in New York.
Half The Gut Microbes In Our Primate Ancestors Abandoned Us

“Viking Disease” Might Have Actually Come From This Ancient Human Cousin

When the Vikings raided the isles of Northern Europe, they left in their wake a crippling hand condition. Officially called Dupuytren’s contracture after the French surgeon who discovered it in 1831, it's often dubbed the “Viking disease” after the infamous Scandinavians who introduced it. But new genetic evidence suggests the real culprit is a far more distant cousin — our kissing cousins, the Neanderthals.
In a study published Wednesday in the journal Molecular Biology and Evolution, researchers at the Karolinska Institutet in Sweden combed through over 7,800 individual genomes collected from three biobanks in the US, UK, and Finland. They found 61 genes associated with Dupuytren’s contracture, three of which appeared Neanderthal in origin and may be involved in disease susceptibility.
“This is a case where the meeting with Neanderthals has affected who suffers from [the] illness,” Hugo Zeberg, study lead and assistant professor at the Karolinska Institutet, said in a press release.
Dupuytren’s contracture results in a build-up of scar tissue in the hand from inflammation, which causes the fingers to bend permanently. The condition is largely considered genetic — more common in people of Northern European descent — but other factors like alcohol and tobacco use, diabetes, age, and sex (men being three times more likely) also appear to contribute to one’s chance of developing the disease.
“Viking Disease” Might Have Actually Come From This Ancient Human Cousin

Neanderthal genes still influence modern humans

Recent studies have found that Neanderthal genes comprise between one and four percent of the genome of present-day humans. However, how much those genes are still actively influencing human traits has largely remained a mystery. 
Now, a multi-institutional team of researchers led by Cornell University has developed a set of computational genetic tools to clarify the genetic traces of interbreeding between humans of non-African ancestry and Neanderthals that occurred about 50,000 years ago. 
The analysis revealed that, although some Neanderthal genes are responsible for certain traits in modern humans - including several with a substantial influence on the immune system - modern human genes seem to be winning out over successive generations.
Neanderthal genes still influence modern humans