New Delhi: An international team of anthropologists led by Mary E. Lewis of the University of Reading has found that the age of onset of puberty for ice age teens 25,000 years ago was similar to that of modern adolescents. The study, published 12 September in the Journal of Human Evolution, aimed to understand the social and health conditions of the ice age, a crucial development phase of human history, and how the factors impacted that era.
As part of the study, the researchers examined skeletal remains of 13 individuals, including five females and eight males, aged between 10 and 20 years, and analysed those parts for specific bone markers characteristic of different maturation stages in adolescent life.
They found that most individuals entered puberty by 13.5 years of age, with some variations owing to disease or nutritional deficiencies.
Thus, these observations indicate that much like modern humans, ancient human teenagers by and large experienced a healthy living environment with minor variability as is for adolescents today.
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Scientists move step closer to creating atomic quantum computers
A study led by Dutch scholars explored interactions between nucleus (an atom’s core) and electrons (structures in shells around nucleus), laying the groundwork for building atomic quantum computers that can process and store information in fundamentally new ways.
Published 11 September in the journal Nature Communications, the study showed how these subatomic particles interact with each other by using a scanning tunnelling microscope.
The authors on the paper applied a magnetic field of 1.5 Tesla—30,000 times stronger than the Earth’s magnetic field—on a single, slightly magnetic titanium atom (Ti47), and found that all the nuclear spins got strongly aligned due to the hyperfine movement of one of the electrons.
Thus, by understanding and controlling the spin dynamics of single atoms with such precision, scientists are a step closer to creating atomic quantum computers.
Mega tsunami in Greenland rocks entire Earth for 9 days
A team of researchers led by University College of London (UCL) has uncovered mysterious global seismic signals which lasted nine days due to a massive landslide in remote parts of Greenland.
Published 13 September in the journal Science, the study saw 68 scientists from 40 institutions and 15 countries collaborating to understand a 10.88 millihertz global seismic signal that resonated for nine days, and was recorded September last year as originating from East Greenland.
The authors on the paper found that the initial event, missed by the human eye, was triggered by the collapse of a 1.2-kilometre high mountain peak in a remote Dickson Fjord. This led to a 200-metre high tsunami, which travelled a distance of 10 kilometres across the fjord.
Using mathematical modelling, the team estimated that 25 million cubic metres of rock and ice crashed into the fjord (enough to fill 10,000 Olympic-sized swimming pools), and recorded a continuous back-and-forth movement of water every 90 seconds. This sent vibrations throughout the Earth’s crust for a sustained period of nine days.
The significance of the research is that the findings highlight the devastating impacts of an isolated event triggered by climate change-induced destabilisation of glacier ice in the cryosphere (frozen part of Earth’s surface). This, in turn, leads to a domino effect across water bodies in the hydrosphere and the Earth’s solid crust in the lithosphere.
Chinese researchers make safer & longer-lasting lithium-ion batteries
A team of Chinese scientists has now designed lithium-sulphur batteries coated with materials meant to increase the safety of these batteries and enhance their charge-discharge capacity. The study, published 13 September in the journal ACS Energy Letters, has found materials that can help reduce corrosion of the battery’s iron-sulphide cathode when it comes in contact with the carbonate-based electrolyte, which reduces the battery’s capacity. Meanwhile, the anode is made of lithium.
When the battery is in use, lithium ions move between these two electrodes through the electrolyte, generating electrical energy. However, the sulphide in the cathode tends to dissolve in the electrolyte, causing the battery to discharge quickly.
To counter this, the authors on the paper coated the iron-sulphide cathode with polyacrylic acid (PAA), and found that it enhanced the battery’s charge-discharge capacity by 300 times.
(Edited by Radifah Kabir)
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