Gizmorama - June 4, 2014

Good Morning,

A new study has come to discover that humans are not get stronger as they evolve, but are getting smarter. I knew it!

Learn about this interesting story and more from the scientific community in today's issue.

Until Next Time,
Erin

P.S. Did you miss an issue? You can read every issue from the Gophercentral library of newsletters on our exhaustive archives page. Thousands of issues, all of your favorite publications in chronological order. You can read AND comment. Just click GopherArchives

***
*--- Humans traded muscle for smarts as they evolved ---*
SHANGHAI (UPI) - You don't need be a scientist to see that it's the brain that sets humans apart from the rest of the animal kingdom. Humans may not be the fastest or biggest, but they're the smartest, clever enough to populate the globe.

But just as there's no such thing as a free lunch, bigger brains don't come on the house. According to a new study, human intelligence came an evolutionary price. Modern humans sacrificed brawn for brains.

In analyzing more than 10,000 different metabolites -- intermediates and products of metabolism -- in tissue samples from humans, chimpanzees, macaques and mice, researchers found that the human brain evolved up to four times faster than that of chimps. Muscle evolved eight times more quickly.

But whereas the human brain became bigger and more capable, human muscle became less efficient.

"It's a rather drastic change in both brain and muscle," said Philipp Khaitovich, a researcher at the Shanghai Institutes for Biological Sciences. "Of course, muscle was the most surprising. It was the control tissue; [we thought] muscle should be the same. But it turned out to be even more dramatic."

"Even after so many years studying evolution, here's something that's still completely new, something that people didn't know about and something that's very fundamental," Khaitovich said.

The study helps explain why humans, even in peak physical shape, aren't nearly as strong as chimps and other monkeys of similar size.

"Amazingly, untrained chimps and macaques outperformed university-level basketball players and professional mountain climbers," Rolad Roberts, a scientist with the Public Library of Science, told National Geographic. "Weak muscles may be the price we pay for the metabolic demands of our amazing cognitive powers."

The study was published Tuesday in the journal PLOS Biology.


*-- Warming climate advantageous for light-colored butterflies and dragonflies --*
LONDON (UPI) - Global warming may not be so great for polar bears and ski bums, but the warming climate in Europe is lending a competitive advantage to light-colored butterflies and dragonflies.

A new study published this week in the journal Nature Communications by scientists from the Imperial College London, Philipps-University Marburg and University of Copenhagen suggests that as Europe's climate warms, lighter-colored species of butterflies and dragonflies are expanding their range.

The Southern Small White, for example, a species (Pieris mannii) partial to the Mediterranean, has become an increasingly common sight in Germany over the last decade.

Meanwhile, the scientists found, darker species are forging northward in efforts to escape the heat.

The scientists used imaging analysis to assign color values to butterfly and dragonfly wings and bodies. Comparing these values to geographic distribution info and temperature trends, they were able to show a correlation between shifting temperatures and species on the move.

The logic behind -- or reasoning for -- the phenomenon isn't exactly revelatory. Scientists already knew darker-hued animals are able to better absorb heat and stay warm in cool climes, while lighter-colored animals can reflect light and prevent overheating in warmer climes.

What's more important, the scientists say, is that their study is evidence that global warming is already having an affect on various species.

"We now know that lighter-colored butterflies and dragonflies are doing better in a warmer world," explained Carsten Rahbek, professor of life sciences at Imperial College London. "And we have also demonstrated that the effects of climate change on where species live are not something of the future, but that nature and its ecosystems are changing as we speak."

Missed an Issue? Visit the Gizmorama Archives