Besides smell, our noses have another, more important function: They warm and humidify the air we breathe, helping prevent illness and damage in our airways and lungs. Because of this, scientists have long suspected that nose shape evolved partly in response to local climate conditions. A team led by scientists at Pennsylvania State University has found more evidence of the relationship between the noses we have now and the climates where our ancestors lived. In a study published in PLOS Genetics, the researchers found that nostril width differed significantly between populations from different regions around the world. Moreover, the higher the temperature and absolute humidity of the region, the wider the nostril, the researchers found.
Crustacean is named after Attenborough
Scientists have discovered the fossil remains of a 430-million-year-old crustacean previously unknown to science — a proto-shrimp that they're naming in honor of British naturalist and television personality David Attenborough. This proto-shrimp was tiny — the entire specimen is just 8.9 millimeters long; its widest point is its head shield, measuring 1.3 millimeters wide. This little critter had a long, segmented body with several "biramous" (or two-branched) limbs, which are typical of crustaceans today.
Bison quickly made homes on the range
When did North America become a home where the ancestors of buffalo roamed? Between 195,000 and 135,000 years ago, according to a new study. Researchers sequenced DNA from fossilized remains of two extinct bison species and then compared them with the genomes of about 40 other bison fossils from Siberia and North America. The buffalo first arrived more than 130,000 years ago, the analysis concluded, and then dispersed throughout the continent within about 20,000 years, much quicker than previously thought. During that time the bison evolved, rapidly giving rise to species like the extinct giant longhorn, which weighed two tons and stood 8 feet at the shoulders.
News services
