Researchers have discovered the 70-million-year-old fossilized elbow of a dinosaur that shows evidence of septic arthritis. This makes it the oldest case of the painful condition to ever be found. Apparently, just like humans, dinosaurs suffered the pain of joint inflammation caused by an infection that settles in the joint. Only the two forearm bones were found, so it is uncertain what kind of dinosaur it was, but the researchers say it probably was a hadrosaur, a type of duck-billed dinosaur.

The findings were reported August 2 in Royal Society Open Science. The fossilized bones were covered with a growth resembling the texture of cauliflower. Underneath the growth, the elbow joint had completely disintegrated and then fused together.

Jennifer Anné, lead study author from the University of Manchester in Britain, said, “It probably had a partially bent arm with either little or no movement at the elbow. Kind of like Igor from Frankenstein. It also probably would have had a limp.

The bones were actually discovered over a decade ago, but at that time the appropriate tools did not exist to study them in enough depth to discover the arthritis. This is because the bones were affected by pyrite disease, which causes them to turn to dust when touched. A micro computed tomography (micro-CT) scanner at Harvard University enabled the team to look through the rock and bone and see what was inside. Once they got through the obstructions they compared what they found to symptoms seen in other animals, ultimately concluding that the dinosaur suffered from septic arthritis.

Unfortunately, the team cannot follow up with further studies since no other bones were found. However, Anné says she is betting the arthritis would at least have also affected the upper arm at the elbow joint as well.

Two new species of spiny ant have been discovered, and, since the scientists who found it are Game of Thrones fans, they knew that the ants resembled creatures from the series and have named them after Daenerys Targaryens dragons: Pheidole drogon and Pheidole viserion. The ants have revealed surprising information as to the purpose of the spines that poke up from their backs, a secret revealed in a paper published in the journal PLOS ONE last Wednesday.

Study author Dr. Eli Sarnat told the Christian Science Monitor that it has commonly been assumed that the spikes on spiny ants are for defense, making it difficult for predators to swallow them. Sarnat had a different idea though. Worker ants fall into two categories: major and minor workers. Most average ants are minor workers, but the major workers have huge heads, and Sarnat thought perhaps the spines had something to do with extra muscles that would support those giant heads.

The team used tiny CT scans, known as micro CT, to look at the internal structure of the bodies of the ants and made a three-dimensional model. The scans revealed that there was indeed extra muscle tissue in the shoulder spines of the major workers, who have the larger heads, but not in the minor workers. According to Providence College biologist James Waters (not involved in the study), “The micro CT scanning enabled the authors to test a controversial new idea that the incredible shapes of the spikes on these ants have evolved for biomechanical support of their behaviors.” He said perhaps this technology could help researchers examine evolutionary relationships between many other creatures based on the function of their anatomy, not just their form.

The new ants have spines which are more complex and elaborate than any other of the 15,000 an species worldwide. Evan Economo, another member of the research team, said that they routinely find new species of ant in tropical regions such as New Guinea, which is teeming with unknown creatures, but that does not mean this finding is insignificant.

According to Waters, scientists estimate that only a small fraction of Earth’s different life forms have been discovered, and every new species identified is a huge benefit to humanity. “Natural history is all about understanding who our neighbors are, what they’re doing, and how everything fits together, it’s an incredibly important set of questions, and it’s something we can all do just by taking a look at the ants, birds, and the great diversity of life crawling on the sidewalk or living in our backyards.”

Image credit: Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology

Black holes consume massive amounts of gas and stellar debris, and as millions of them eat they emit powerful bursts of X-rays that create what is known as a “cosmic choir” that fills the entire sky. Astrophysicists have known about these X-ray songs for a long time, but, until now, identifying the individual “singers” has not been possible. Now NASA has the Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array (NuSTAR), and it is helping scientists resolve the secrets of the black holes that emit these high-pitched X-rays.

NuSTAR is a space-based X-ray telescope that is enabling researchers at Caltech in Pasadena to resolve as much as 35 percent of the highest voices, where previously only 2 percent of the high-energy X-ray background was captured. Fiona Harrison, lead investigator of a recent study, says it is now possible to see the most obscured black holes, even those hidden by thick gas and dust.

The new information will eventually help astronomers understand how the feeding behavior of black holes changes over time, which is a key factor in the growth of the galaxies that host black holes, as well as the black holes themselves. A supermassive black hole is one with a large amount of fuel that gives off more high-energy X-rays, which NuSTAR is able to focus into sharp pictures for the first time.

The process of cosmic choirs happens when growing black holes pull matter toward them. The matter heats to extreme temperatures and particles move at nearly the speed of light, which causes the black hole surroundings to glow with X-rays. Harrison says that before NuStar, the X-ray backgrounds of black holes was just a blur. “To untangle what’s going on, you have to pinpoint and count up the individual sources of the X-rays.”

Co-author Daniel Stern said, “We knew this cosmic choir had a strong high-pitched component, but we still don’t know if it comes from a lot of smaller, quiet singers, of a few with loud voices. Now, thanks to NuSTAR, we’re gaining a better understanding of the black holes and starting to address these questions.”

The Milky Way’s signature gas halo spins at a relative speed of its host disk, according to a NASA-funded study. It was earlier surmised that the host gas reservoir surrounding the galaxy’s disk remained motionless. But astronomers from the College of Literature, Science and the Arts at the University of Michigan discovered otherwise. The study was published in the Astrophysical Journal. 

Scientists sourced archival data from the XMM-Newton, a European Space Agency (ESA) telescope. Astronomers used motion—which causes a shift in light’s wavelength—to exhibit the spinning gas halo in concert with the Milky Way’s disk. The halo whirls at 400,000 mph, the disk 540,000 mph.

“The rotation of the hot halo is an incredible clue to how the Milky Way formed. It tells us that this hot atmosphere is the original source of a lot of the matter in the disk,” said Edmund Hodges-Kluck, co-research scientist for the study.

This new knowledge will assist scientists’ efforts in trying to understand the genesis of the Milky Way and its eventual terminus. The visibility of the Milky Way is slowly disappearing. In fact, 80 percent of North America can longer view it. Western Europe, however, is most affected by a phenomenon known as light pollution; Spain, Scotland, Sweden, Norway, and Austria are, nonetheless, still dark enough to witness the galaxy.

Light pollution is present in other areas around the world. South Korea, Italy, and Saudi Arabia experience the most light pollution, whereas Germany and India have the blackest skies. The International Dark-Sky Association (IDA), though, says that light pollution is reversible. Energy-efficient light bulbs and drawing blinds at night to keep interior light from seeping out are ways to reduce added light pollution.

The association also advises to only use light when requisite. Instead, the organization suggests turning off lights when not being used and installing motion detectors and timers to avoid artificial lighting; cutoff lighting is also encouraged.

Light pollution obfuscates the night skies, but moreover, it interferes with the body’s circadian rhythm, which controls sleep patterns.

Source: TechTimes

An international crew of NASA astronauts has been training in an extreme environment since July 21, but that environment is literally the opposite of what might be expected for space training. The NASA Extreme Environment Mission Operations (NEEMO) is training underwater, on the floor of the Atlantic Ocean off the Florida Keys. The undersea Aquarius Reef Base will be their training station for 16 days, in which they will train for a future journey to Mars and other deep space missions.

The astronauts, now considered aquanauts, are assessing tools and mission operation techniques that will be needed on space missions. They are pioneering complex tasks that use the most advanced underwater science and navigation tools, carefully choreographed to simulate a Mars exploration traverse.

During these simulated spacewalks, the grew will be gathering samples for geology and marine biology studies, participate in coral restoration activities and test software for managing operations. Another big feature of the exercise is testing communications and learning to deal with the delay that is similar to what they will encounter on a mission to Mars. Working and moving in the ocean environment is simlar to life and work conditions in a spacecraft, and also offers microgravity conditions similar to that of the International Space Station.

According to NEEMO Project Lead Bill Todd, equipment can fail and tasks can take substantially longer than expected in space, while other tasks go as planned. All the experience is valuable in preparing the astronauts for the unexpected when they some day travel to Mars.

The team is spending the 16-day exercise living 60 feet below the ocean surface about 6.2 miles off the coast of Key Largo. They will be performing research both inside and outside the habitat.

Image credit: NASA/Karl Shreeves