Science news

12 October 2026

1. 1

   Scientists describe Jurassic-era semi-aquatic mammal ancestor that could chew and swallow

   University of Chicago scientists have described Megacauda sungei, a mammal ancestor from China that appears to be the earliest animal they have observed able to chew and swallow. The fossil, found in Inner Mongolia, shows bony throat structures that would have let it eat and swallow as modern mammals do, rather than gulping whole prey. Zhe-Xi Luo, the senior author of a study in the journal Nature, called the apparatus an incredibly important evolutionary innovation, arguing that it let early mammals develop specialized teeth and diversify into a wide range of diets. The team imaged the fossil with CT scanning and X-ray fluorescence photography, working during the COVID-19 pandemic.

   Key facts

   • Megacauda sungei, or 'big tail', is 165 million years old.
   • Its hind limbs resembled a platypus's, and its broad, flat tail resembled a river otter's.
   • The university said vertebrate bone fragments in its stomach may mean it preyed on small animals such as salamanders.
   • It measured 40 to 50 centimetres long and weighed one to two kilograms.

   Commentary

   The notable point is the lifestyle, not the age: a swimming animal already had the throat anatomy that lets mammals chew food in lumps, so the feeding apparatus was not tied to land-dwelling species. The claim to be the earliest such animal rests on what the team observed, so it reads as a strong lead rather than a settled ranking.

   Sources: CTV News

2. 2

   Study proposes four gentoo penguin species, one newly described from Kerguelen Islands

   Gentoo penguins have long been treated as a single species, and scientists have disputed how many to recognize for more than a century. An international team including researchers from Chile and UC Berkeley now argues in Communications Biology that their DNA reveals distinct evolutionary lineages, shaped by geographic isolation, limited movement and local environmental pressures. A 2020 study had proposed a similar split, describing a South Georgia population as a separate species; most researchers did not accept it. The new work places that population within the southern species as a subspecies. The researchers' climate models suggest the southern gentoo, the only one living in Antarctica, could be affected less than island relatives and might expand its range.

   Key facts

   • Researchers propose recognizing four gentoo penguin species rather than one.
   • The newly described southeastern gentoo lives on the Kerguelen Islands in the southern Indian Ocean.
   • The genomes of 64 gentoo penguins from 10 breeding colonies were sequenced.
   • Results suggest the four lineages began diverging 300,000 to 500,000 years ago.
   • Three island-dwelling species could lose suitable habitat by 2050 under a moderate warming scenario.

   Commentary

   The taxonomy matters less than what it makes visible: island populations that looked like one large species can now be counted separately. The island species would have few nearby alternatives if their habitat contracts, so a single gentoo count could hide the decline of the most exposed birds.

   Sources: ZME Science

3. 3

   Robert E. Hall and Michael Woodford win Nobel Memorial Prize in economics

   The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences said on Monday that American economists Robert E. Hall and Michael Woodford won the Nobel Memorial Prize in economics for models that help governments and central banks manage economic shocks such as energy crises and inflation. Their work provides the theoretical foundation for understanding how consumers decide whether to save or spend. For decades governments followed Keynes's prescription of cutting rates and taxes and raising spending, but the stagflation of the 1970s showed the simple trade-off between unemployment and inflation was too simplistic. Hall and Woodford improved the Keynesian model to account for how households and businesses actually make decisions, generating what the committee called a paradigm shift in stabilization policy.

   Key facts

   • Hall's 1982 paper with Fredric Mishkin found about 80% of households made spending decisions based on future expectations.
   • Woodford's research showed businesses set prices based on where they expect interest rates to go.
   • Woodford's model recommends higher interest rates to curb inflation after energy price shocks.
   • Hall is affiliated with Stanford University and Woodford with Columbia University in New York.
   • The prize money this year is 12 million Swedish kronor, about $1.2 million.

   Commentary

   The shift that matters is from simple trade-offs to expectations, which makes a central bank's own words a policy tool. That sits awkwardly with new Fed chair Kevin Warsh's effort to scale back central bank talk, all the more so when consumer spending is, as Hall found, virtually impossible to forecast.

   Sources: WGN Radio 720

4. 4

   Cattle trade group knew by 1989 that livestock contributed to global warming, records show

   A PLOS Climate study by University of Miami researchers Jennifer Jacquet and Loredana Loy finds that the National Cattlemen's Association knew by 1989 that livestock contributed to global warming. The researchers say the trade group treated communication about beef's methane emissions as a threat to consumer confidence, and its response focused on shaping what people heard and countering the idea that eating less beef could help. Its strategy called for recruiting experts, monitoring news and environmental groups, and influencing lawmakers and journalists. Jacquet said the records show the association knew options to reduce methane existed. The association's leadership disputes that account, and its chief executive, Colin Woodall, says eating less beef would make little difference.

   Key facts

   • An EPA workshop report estimated managed livestock, particularly cattle, produced 15 to 20 percent of global methane.
   • Researchers examined 154 internal association documents, 123 of them dated 1986 to 1996.
   • Association-commissioned research by Texas A&M's Floyd Byers claimed U.S. beef cattle produced under 0.5 percent of world methane.
   • Per Jacquet's study, halving US beef eating 1992 to 2023 could have avoided 4 to 13 billion metric tons CO2-equivalent.
   • Association CEO Colin Woodall cites an EPA estimate putting beef at 2.3 percent of US greenhouse gas emissions.

   Commentary

   The knowledge itself is the predictable part; the telling part is that the response aimed at consumers' sense that their own choices make no difference. That makes the dispute one over demand as much as data, so the outcome depends on whether shoppers come to think their diets matter.

   Sources: ZME Science

5. 5

   Mouse study links declining brain protein Menin to aging and finds amino acid D-serine improves memory

   Researchers led by Lige Leng of Xiamen University reported in PLOS Biology in March 2023 that the brain protein Menin declines with age in certain hypothalamic neurons. In mice, reduced Menin brought greater hypothalamic inflammation, thinner skin, weaker bones and poorer cognition, while restoring it in older mice reversed several aging signs. The team also found that Menin loss lowered D-serine, an amino acid involved in brain signaling, and that supplementing older mice with it improved cognition but did not reverse bone or skin losses. Later studies support the hypothalamus-aging link, yet human evidence for D-serine remains limited, and a 2025 Alzheimer's-model study, in contrast, found an early D-serine rise accompanied disrupted brain signaling.

   Key facts

   • Restoring Menin in older mice improved learning, memory, balance, bone mass and skin thickness within 30 days.
   • Mice receiving Menin treatment lived longer than untreated controls in a separate survival analysis.
   • A 2016 trial of 50 healthy older adults found D-serine improved only one of several cognitive tests.
   • High D-serine doses have raised kidney safety concerns in animal experiments.

   Commentary

   The amino acid is the weaker half of the result, not the lead, because a single downstream molecule cannot account for a protein with this broad reach. The protein itself is where any human relevance would have to be shown, and these mouse results do not yet justify supplement use.

   Sources: Science Daily