Penny Higgins - Storyteller • Artist • Scientist
Combining Science and Joyful Creativity
#365papers for March 10, 2017
What’s it about?
The authors use isotopes of carbon, oxygen, and strontium, plus relative abundances of strontium and calcium in lake deposits to interpret water sources, connectivity of lakes, and general environmental parameters for the Uinta Basin during the Eocene (~55-~43 million years ago).Continue reading “Lakes Come and Go, 50 Million Years Ago – #365papers – 2017 – 69”
#365papers for March 9, 2017
What’s it about?
Autism is often accompanied with sensory hyper- or hyposensitivity. Synaesthesia (the perception of one type of sensory input from a different type of stimulus, like colors for text) is also a sensory sensitivity. Studies have shown that many autistic people are also synaesthetic, but the two sensory experiences so not always co-occur.
This paper assesses the degree of similarity between autistic individuals and non-autistic synasthetes compared to neurotypical, non-synastheic controls.
It turns out that synaesthetes and autistic individuals are most similar in “attention to detail” which is in part related to why many autistic individuals also possess savant characteristics like amazing memories.Continue reading “Synaesthesia and Autism Aren’t So Different… – #365papers – 2017 – 68”
#365papers for March 8, 2017
What’s it about?
This paper like others I’ve read recently discusses the abundance of single-celled organisms in the ocean called foraminifera (forams). The overall abundance of different species plus isotopic analysis of the fossils themselves can provide insights about climate during the middle Eocene. Continue reading “The Middle Eocene Climatic Optimum in the Northern Hemisphere – #365papers – 2017 – 67”
#365papers for March 7, 2017
What’s it about?
These are the published results of an ocean drilling cruise that took place in Antarctica in the late 1980’s. A core from the ocean floor was drilled and various parts of it were studied. This paper discusses geochemical results from the skeletons (tests) of single-celled organisms called foraminifera (forams) found throughout the core. From these results, the authors discuss deep ocean currents from millions of years ago.Continue reading “Paleogene Antarctic ocean circulation from isotopes – #365papers – 2017 – 66”
#365papers for March 6, 2017
What’s it about?
This paper examines the abundance and geochemistry of single-celled organisms called foraminiferans (forams) that were living in the oceans around 55 million years ago. Forams are still present today worldwide. They make little tiny calcite skeletons (called tests) that can be used to identify the species and then can be analyzed.
Using these foram skeletons, the authors identified the many species that lived in the ocean before and after the Paleocene-Eocene boundary and recognized some extinctions associated with the boundary. With geochemical analysis, they showed that there are some significant anomalies (rapid, unexpected changes) at the Paleocene-Eocene boundary.Continue reading “The Paleocene-Eocene boundary in deep ocean foraminifera – #365papers – 2017 – 65”
#365papers for March 5, 2017
What’s it about?
This paper uses the anonymous results from over 770 thousand AncestryDNA genomes to examine the clustering of certain genomes (ancestries) in different regions of North America. It supports empirically what we already knew: That scandinavians are all over Minnesota and North and South Dakota; that there’s an Appalachian population that was unique and isolated; and that Utahns are… special.Continue reading “Population Structure and Cheek Swabs – #365papers – 2017 – 64”
#365papers for March 4, 2017
What’s it about?
The researchers here used statistical tests and models to determine which factors of climate (temperature, precipitation, and potential evapotranspiration [PET]) correlated to adaptive changes (such as changes in shape) of organisms. They looked at this for species in one area over time, and also for the same species in many areas at the same time. Continue reading “How Climate Can Drive Evolution – #365papers – 2017 – 63”
#365papers for March 3, 2017
What’s it about?
This paper discusses the use of carbon isotopes in the shells of land snails to interpret what the snails were eating. To do this, they studied wild snails for which they could also measure the carbon isotopes of potential food sources.Continue reading “Knowing a Snail’s Diet from the Chemistry of its Shell – #3650papers – 2017 – 62”
#365papers for February 2, 2017
What’s it about?
This paper describes structures in a rock that lies somewhere in age between 4.28 billion years old and ~3.76 billion years old. (That’s a big range, but it’s an old rock!). The rock was almost certainly deposited in the ocean near hydrothermal activity. The structures appear to be very, very similar to those found in areas where life blossoms around deep-ocean hydrothermal vents. Continue reading “The World’s Oldest Fossils? – #365papers – 2017 – 61”
#365papers for March 1, 2017
What’s it about?
When researchers try to understand species diversity in marine systems, they often are not able to actually count all the different species present. They pick an easy-to-count group (like molluscs), and use that as a representative of the whole community. But is this legit?
Furthermore, oftentimes fossil assemblages are used for estimating diversity. But this requires only looking at species that fossilize well. Does that matter?Continue reading “Can One Type of Animal Represent Diversity for All Members of a Community? – #365papers – 2017 – 60”
Penny Higgins - Storyteller • Artist • Scientist