Tooth analysis reveals more about Neanderthals’ diet and why they went extinct
A new finding from researchers at George Washington University and The Smithsonian Institute have discovered new evidence that contradicts one major theory of the Neanderthals’ extinction. This earlier theory proposed that the extinction was caused in part by a deficient diet, that relied only on meat.
However, based on the study published in November 2010 in PNAS, scientists now believe that the Neanderthals were much more similar to early humans than was previously expected. The researchers found starch granules trapped in the dental calculus — which refers to the tartar removed at your typical dental check-up — therefore pointing to a more sophisticated and thoughtful diet among the Neanderthals. What’s more, the researchers also determined from alterations in the starch compounds, that the food was prepared and cooked in order to make it taste better and become easier to digest.
This discovery challenges the existing hypothesis that Neanderthals were outcompeted by early humans partly due to their primitive, deficient diet, which some scientists argue consisted only of meat. Instead, major climate swings are believed to have disfavoured the Neanderthals, who, unlike early humans, were believed incapable of incorporating other plant foods in their diet in order to survive. — Albert Razvan Gheorghita
Source: George Washington University
Astronomers discover new Jupiter-like exoplanet
Qatarian Scientist Dr. Al Subai, along with the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics and other institutions, have discovered a new alien world.
The scientists surveyed for exoplanets — which are planets from other solar systems — by searching for stars that “wink.” These stars become slightly dimmer every time an orbiting planet crosses in front of it, creating a “mini-eclipse.” Using wide-angle cameras, located in New Mexico, the scientists took photographs of the sky every clear night beginning in early 2010. The images then were transmitted to the UK for analysis, followed by spectroscopic observations with a 60-inch diameter telescope. This narrowed the field from thousands to a small fraction of candidate stars with detectable planets.
The newly discovered Qatar-1b planet is located 550 light-years from earth rotating 3.5 million kilometers away from it’s orange dwarf star. With a mass 10 per cent larger than Jupiter, and an average temperature of around 1,100°C, it belongs to the “hot Jupiter family. Qatar-1b also circles its star and spins on its axis once every 1.4 days, meaning that both its year and its day are just 34 hours long. — Kim Tran
Source: Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
