Page 21 - New Scientist

IN BRIEF

DUNCAN USHER/ALAMY STOCK PHOTO Giant ice cliffs dot
Martian surface

MARS is full of ice. Steep ice cliffs
have been spotted poking through
the Red Planet’s dust. These could
help us learn about the history of
the planet’s climate, as we do from
ice cores on Earth.
Colin Dundas at the US
Geological Survey in Flagstaff,
Arizona, and his colleagues
examined pictures from the
Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter and
found eight patches of ice, which
had formed over millions of years.
Erosion carved these icy blue
cliffs from sheets of ice just below
Mars’s layer of dust (Science, DOI:
10.1126/science/aao1619).
The team estimates that the
ice sheets, confirmed by radar
measurements, are at least
130 metres thick. Of that, less than
100 metres is exposed, while the
rest is below ground. Dundas says
that they probably formed when
When you’re just hanging some offspring. Bigger ones tended to be either a single layers of snow or frost built up on
around, size matters male with many females, or multiple males and females. the planet’s surface and became
compacted into ice over time.
Other patterns, such as lots of males and few females,
were rare. “The other thing that seems to be hard for
A SIMPLE rule governs a seemingly random phenomenon: primates to do is male and female pairs combined in a
the sizes of the groups in which primates live. It seems group,” says Shultz, even though this is common in birds. Sleep more to eat
our closest living relatives opt for social groupings that Primates reuse these strategies because they keep
aren’t as varied and flexible as you might think. facing the same challenges, Shultz says. “Ecology and less sugar
Susanne Shultz at the University of Manchester, UK, social relationships are tightly interconnected.”
and her colleagues compared group sizes in 215 primate For instance, species occupying open ground form the WANT to eat better? Try sleeping
species. The average number in a group varied between largest groups, perhaps to defend against predators. for longer.
species but was always clustered around five distinct Those that live in trees in dense forests prefer medium Wendy Hall at King’s College
sizes (Biology Letters, DOI: 10.1098/rsbl.2017.0490). groups, as big groups would be impossible to coordinate. London and her team enlisted
The preferred group sizes were, roughly: 2.5, 5, 15, In 2011, Shultz showed that primate group sizes also 42 volunteers to study the link
30 and 50. The smallest normally had two adults and evolved in leaps (Nature, doi.org/bpnncg). between sleep and diet. Half were
given advice on how to get more
sleep, such as avoiding caffeine
Robotic implant stretches bodily tubes atresia.“We’ve shown that it’s and trying not to go to bed hungry
not just stretching, there is or too full. The rest got no advice.
SOME children are born with their section of the oesophagus and actually new cell growth as well,” Of those given advice, 86 per
oesophagus in two segments, gently elongates it by moving says Pierre Dupont at Harvard cent spent more time in bed and
so the top part of the tube doesn’t the rings apart. Once the organ Medical School. around half slept for longer than
connect to their stomach. A new is long enough, the two segments The current best treatment they used to. These extended
robotic implant might help treat can be stitched together. requires children to be sedated sleep patterns were associated
oesophageal atresia, as this The researchers behind the and paralysed over several weeks with an average drop in sugar
serious condition is known. device have shown that it works in and costs around $1 million per intake of 10 grams a day (The
The robot consists of two pigs, lengthening the oesophagus child. With the robotic approach, American Journal of Clinical
steel rings, some sensors and a by 77 per cent over the course of the hope is that once the device is Nutrition, doi.org/ch77).
motor, all sealed in a protective eight to nine days. Equivalent implanted, the child won’t be in There were no significant
waterproof skin. The device is growth in a human would be pain and could remain awake changes in diet within the
attached to the outside of one enough to fix the oesophageal while it gets to work. control group.

20 January 2018 | NewScientist | 19