In southern Africa, a group of people lived in partial isolation for hundreds of thousands of years. This is shown in a new study based on analyses of the genomes of 28 people who lived between 10,200 and 150 years ago in southern Africa. The researchers also found genetic adaptations that likely shaped Homo sapiens as a species.
A completely new order of marine sponges has been found by researchers at the Museum of Evolution, Uppsala University. The sponge order, named Vilesida, produces substances that could be used in drug development. The same substances support the hypothesis that sponges – and therefore animals – emerged 100 million years earlier than previously thought.
When males are forced to compete for females, new species form more rapidly. This has been shown when researchers compared beetles allowed to mate freely with groups of the same species where competition for mating was restricted. The experiments, which have been going on for 40 years, explain how important sexual selection is for the emergence of new species.
More than 100,000 people are estimated to have died as a result of extreme heat during the summers of 2022 and 2023 in Europe. A new study shows that it is possible to make accurate forecasts of heat-related mortality about a week in advance. The forecasts could be used in heat warnings to protect vulnerable groups.
Lakes have long been viewed as sources of carbon dioxide emissions, but new research suggests they may actually act as carbon sinks. A study led by Uppsala University reveals that lake shorelines store more carbon than previously believed, highlighting the need to include these littoral zones in calculations of the continental carbon balance.
Heatwaves, droughts and forest fires are some of the extreme climate-related events that are expected not only to become more frequent but also to increasingly strike at the same time. This finding emerges from a new study led by Uppsala University, in which researchers have mapped the impact of climate change in different regions of the world.
Newly discovered fossilised footprints with long toes and claws have been found in a rock slab from Australia. The discovery pushes the origin of reptiles back by 35 million years and overthrows the established evolutionary timeline of backboned land animals. The study, led by researchers at Uppsala University, has been published in the journal Nature.
The cells that make up the walls of the finest of all lymphatic vessels have a lobate, oak leaf-like shape that makes them particularly resilient to changes in fluid volume. A similar cell shape also supports mechanical stability in plants. This has been shown by researchers from Uppsala University in a new article published in the journal Nature.
Although fungi of the genus Piloderma are common, scientists have now discovered five previously unknown species. One of these is one of the most widely distributed species in Northern Europe, while another is found only in old-growth forests. The discoveries show that diversity in this genus is much greater than previously thought.
Professor Patrik Johansson is the new director of the flagship project Battery 2030+. He has led many large international research projects and was most recently director of the EU research programme the Graphene Flagship.
In an international collaboration, researchers at Uppsala University have been able to identify undigested food remains, plants and prey in the fossilised faeces of dinosaurs. These analyses of hundreds of samples provide clues about the role dinosaurs played in the ecosystem around 200 million years ago. The findings have been published in the journal Nature.
Different species of seabirds can coexist on small, isolated islands despite eating the same kind of fish. A researcher at Uppsala University has been involved in developing a mathematical model that can be used to better understand how this ecosystem works.
Krill in our northern waters show how key marine species can adapt genetically to cope with climate change. This is the discovery made by researchers at Uppsala University in collaboration with an international research group. According to the researchers, their study, published in Nature Communications, provides important knowledge that can help protect marine ecosystems when the climate changes.
Iceland’s most recent volcanic episode on the Reykjanes peninsula, set to last centuries, began with vast magma pooling just beneath the surface. This is the result of a new study by an international team of researchers from the United States, Sweden, and Iceland, published in the journal Nature.
Given the volcanic activity on Iceland over the last three years, researchers from six universities anticipate recurring, moderately sized eruptions of similar style in the coming years to decades. They therefore stress the need for preparedness in view of the risks posed to local populations and critical infrastructure. Their study was recently published in the scientific journal Terra Nova.
An international team of scientists has identified the oldest fossil of a sea-going reptile from the Southern Hemisphere – a nothosaur vertebra found on New Zealand’s South Island. 246 million years ago, at the beginning of the Age of Dinosaurs, New Zealand was located on the southern polar coast of a vast super-ocean called Panthalassa.
Blood relations and kinship were not all-important for the way hunter-gatherer communities lived during the Stone Age in Western Europe. A new genetic study, conducted at several well-known French Stone Age burial sites, shows that several distinct families lived together. This was probably a deliberate system for avoiding inbreeding.
About 350 million people across Africa speak one or more of the 500 Bantu languages. New genetic analysis of modern and ancient individuals suggests that these populations probably originated in western Africa and then moved south and east in several waves. The study has been published in the scientific journal Nature.
Hopfions, magnetic spin structures predicted decades ago, have become a hot and challenging research topic in recent years. In a study published in Nature today, the first experimental evidence is presented by a Swedish-German-Chinese research collaboration.
Researchers have identified a new neural circuit in the brain which produces a strong sense of discomfort when activated. The discovery also allows them to show for the first time that the subthalamic nucleus, a structure in the brain that controls voluntary movements, may also play a role in the development of depression. The results could lead to better treatments for Parkinson's disease.
