The London Blog

Over the past 10,000 years, there has been a dramatic reduction in the size of the domesticated cat's skull and brain.   Because cats have been living with people for thousands of years, new studies show that their brains have shrunk.   In a study published on January 26 in the journal Royal Society Open Science (Felis silvestris), researchers compared the cranial measures (an indicator of brain size) of modern housecats to those of their two closest wild predecessors, the African (Felis lybica) and European (Felis silvestris) wildcats. In the last 10,000 years, the size of cats' skulls and, by extension, the size of their brains have changed a lot compared to their wild relatives.   Because of this, your tabby may not be any more or less intelligent than a wildcat. However, it suggests that the development of the brains of domesticated animals may have been altered in favor of tameness, as suggested by the researchers. These alterations probably start during embryonic developm

The blood of a patient can be tested for several of these factors.   After the initial COVID-19 infection clears up, COVID symptoms can last for weeks or months. Scientists have found four risk factors that may help predict who will get persistent COVID.   Autoantibodies, immune molecules that target the body's proteins rather than viruses or bacteria, and a previous diagnosis of type 2 diabetes, the most common form of diabetes, in which cells are resistant to insulin, are all risk factors. Another is a high amount of SARS-CoV-2 genetic material in the blood early in infection.   This new study, published on January 24 in the journal Cell, suggests that prompt interventions may prevent some cases of protracted COVID because most of these risk factors can be pointed out when a patient is first diagnosed with COVID-19.   This research is, however, merely the first step. In an email to Live Science, the author, Yapeng Su, who was at the time a research scientist at the Institute of S

Penguins often pair up with members of the same sex.   Penguin parents who are genetically identical welcome a baby of the same gender. (Photo courtesy of Rosamond Gifford Zoo) They're doing a great job parenting their first chick, which they hatched at New York's Rosamond Gifford Zoo from a same-sex pair.   Elmer and Lima are two male Humboldt penguins (Spheniscus humboldti) that were given an egg to incubate because the parents of the egg frequently break their eggs. On January 1, a baby penguin came out of its egg, and its parents were the same gender.   The zoo director, Ted Fox, stated in a statement that "Elmer and Lima, who are doing a terrific job," are still caring for the baby.   Elmer and Lima started a family by constructing a nest for the coming breeding season. Although they didn't have any real eggs, zookeepers saw that they were acting like breeding penguins and decided to test their parenting skills using a fake egg.   In the presence of a dummy e

The archaeologists are baffled as to the motive behind the horse's beheading. An old cemetery in the southern German town of Knittlingen has yielded the skeleton remains of a man buried there 1,400 years ago, close to a headless horse. He likely rode and owned the horse when he was still alive. The burial took place during the height of the Merovingian dynasty (A.D. 476-750), which had control over a vast expanse of modern-day France and Central Europe. The individual probably worked for the kings of the dynasty during his lifetime. Archaeologist in charge of the site's research, Folke Damminger, told Live Science in an email that the individual "stood in a 'chain of command' with the Merovingian monarchs at its top," meaning he was obligated to take part in the king's conquests. Damminger hypothesized that this man, a member of the local elite, ran a farming operation with his family and a staff of servants. Damminger said that the man wasn't a farmer

Facts are the backbone of any good scientific theory.   A scientific theory is a well-organized framework for explaining a set of natural-world facts or events, and it frequently uses a scientific hypothesis and rules. The common usage of the word "theory" differs significantly from the scientific one.   Professor of biology at Boston's Emerson College Jaime Tanner remarked, "The way that scientists use the word 'theory' is a little different from the average layperson's use of the word." "The common understanding of the word "theory" is that it refers to an individual's speculations or hypotheses, whereas in science, the word "theory" refers to our explanations of observed phenomena."   Involvement in the development of a scientific hypothesis   The scientific process is the backbone of any accepted scientific notion. A scientist can notice something, form a hypothesis about what it means, and then experiment to see

Interestingly, SARS-CoV-2 appears to be evolving all the time. The letters alpha, beta, delta, lambda, mu, and omicron have all made headlines within the past two years. According to the World Health Organization, dozens of additional variants have been found, but they are not on this list since they are not a top priority.   Is the rapid development of this particular coronavirus exceptional, or do other viruses also have a wide variety of strains? We consulted with professionals to get the answer.   The virus population is ever-expanding. Suman Das, an associate professor of medicine at Vanderbilt University Medical Center who researches the evolution of viruses like SARS-CoV-2, has found that replication is not without its bumps. There is a chance for error when viruses use host cell machinery to replicate their DNA, leading to mutations. Moreover, whereas most changes have little effect or render the virus useless, some give it a good advantage. Perhaps specific changes render the