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    What makes the best sounding didgeridoo, according to science

    Didgeridoo players can use their vocal cord reverberations to manipulate the resonances produced by the woodKate Callas
    The traits that make the best didgeridoos have now been identified, and it has also given us a better understanding of how people use their vocal cords to make sounds with the instruments.
    Didgeridoos, used by the Indigenous peoples of northern Australia for at least 1500 years, are “the principal musical instrument of the world’s oldest continuous culture”, say John Smith and Joe Wolfe, both at the University of New South Wales in Australia.… More

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    How tiny red stars can test ideas about the origin of life

    A survey of small, cool stars is helping to narrow in on the conditions that might set the stage for life beyond our solar system.

    A look at about 200 ultracool dwarf stars shows that they lack sufficient ultraviolet light intensity to have the potential to jump-start life, researchers report December 1 in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. That may initially seem to be bad news for finding signs of alien life on distant planets. But the diminutive stars could instead serve as test beds to determine what other conditions can create the chemical foundations of life.

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    Compared with our sun, the dwarf stars in the new study are minuscule, roughly the size of Jupiter and weighing about a tenth as much as the sun. They’re also among the most common types of stars. And because they’re cool and comparatively dim, it’s often easier to spot planets orbiting them than it is in the glare of large bright stars. Astronomers studying the tiny red star TRAPPIST-1, for example, found that it hosts seven Earth-sized planets, including three that may be within the star’s habitable zone, where conditions are amenable to life (SN: 2/22/17).

    For life to exist on a habitable planet, though, it must start somehow. One possibility is that UV starlight provides the energy needed to link together the hydrogen, oxygen, carbon, nitrogen, sulfur and other atoms that make up the compounds that are precursors to life.

    With that in mind, space scientist Antígona Segura and colleagues used the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite to measure the amount of UV radiation — among other things — emitted from 208 comparatively nearby ultracool dwarfs within 130 light-years from Earth (SN: 4/12/18). The stars they studied do emit UV light, as our sun does, and many produce bursts of UV when they let off flares. But overall, the UV energy the small stars release is too low to forge the chemicals needed to kick-start life, the team found.

    The dearth of UV light doesn’t necessarily quash hopes of finding life around such stars. “UV is an energy source for prebiotic chemistry that we can measure, and that is why we focused on it,” says Segura, of the National Autonomous University of Mexico in Mexico City. “But there are many other energy sources, like cosmic and stellar particles, and particles, radiation and heat produced by radioactive decay, to name a few.”

    Ultracool stars might be useful to discover whether something other than UV light can get life going. “We should search for life on the planets that have the least [UV] activity, where we can know with confidence that UV-driven prebiotic chemistry cannot happen,” says Paul Rimmer, a University of Cambridge astrophysicist who was not involved in the study. “If we find evidence of life on these [types of] planets, this will show that there are other paths to life.”

    Also, Segura notes, sources of energy that could start life can also make planets less habitable for more complex life-forms. “We cannot currently say which [effects] would prevail. The best approach now is to study case by case and wait for more observational constraints, like for the case of the TRAPPIST-1 system.”

    If astronomers eventually find life on planets orbiting ultracool dwarfs, it will confirm the potential for UV-free origins of life. But, Rimmer says, if it turns out that there are no signs of habitability on planets around the many small, dim dwarf stars we see, that would lower estimates of the likelihood of finding life outside our solar system. Either way, future surveys of ultracool dwarf stars could give researchers a better handle on the possible prevalence of extraterrestrial life in the universe. More

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    The US needs to do more to preserve its ancient sites

    Elaine Knox
    IN OCTOBER, the US Department of Homeland Security made an urgent announcement. New barriers and roads were needed along the Texas-Mexico border – but construction was impeded by federally mandated surveys and permits. These protect the environment and archaeological sites. They also take time to complete. To speed construction, the Biden administration waived compliance with 26 federal laws, eight of which regulate archaeological and/or sacred Indigenous sites.
    In 1888, it was looters, not governments, who were barrelling through the past. Anthropologists Alice Fletcher and Matilda Stevenson knew the looters were winning. They proposed legislation to preserve US archaeological sites on… More

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    Stonehenge science: How archaeology reveals the stone circle’s secrets

    Stonehenge was built between 3000 and 2000 BC and is one of the world’s most famous prehistoric monuments. Each year, the site attracts thousands of visitors during the summer and winter solstices. Whether used for ceremonial, astronomical or spiritual events, Stonehenge remains a subject of intrigue. Now, using the latest scientific technologies such as radiocarbon dating and 3D laser scanning, archaeologists are understanding how this colossal stone circle was built and what its purpose was, as well as gaining new insight into how our Stone Age human ancestors lived. New studies even suggest some of the stones could align with the moon during rare lunar events.
    Read more: We’ve finally figured out where Stonehenge’s giant boulders came from

    Topics: More

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    Vaping vs edibles: How does the way we use cannabis alter its effects?

    Cannabis edibles offer a different way to consume the drugShutterstock/Brian Goodman
    For people who want their cannabis without the smoke, edibles provide an increasingly popular alternative. And it isn’t just pot brownies, either. Gummies, tinctures and other products can be laced with the drug.
    “The availability of different types of products makes it so that there’s something for everyone,” says Jibran Khokhar at Western University in Canada.
    [special_article_unit title=”The science of cannabis” description=”As the use of marijuana and its compounds rises around the world, New Scientist… More

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    Traces of cannabis found in pre-modern human bones for the first time

    A femur, one of the bones that held traces of cannabisGaia Giordano, Mirko Mattia, Michele Boracchi, et al.
    The first evidence of cannabis discovered in archaeological skeletal remains comes from bones of people buried under a hospital in Milan, Italy, in the 17th century.
    “Molecules of medicinal plants can be detected by toxicological analysis even centuries after the death of an individual,” says Gaia Giordano at the University of Milan in Italy.
    She and her colleagues discovered molecules of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) and cannabidiol (CBD) – the psychoactive components of cannabis – within the thigh bones of a young man and middle-aged woman who had been buried between 1638 and 1697. Such molecules can be trapped and preserved after being absorbed into the bloodstream and travelling through blood vessels into bone tissue.Advertisement
    Giordano and her colleagues extracted bone samples from the remains of nine people. The individuals were buried in a crypt at Milan’s Ca’ Granda hospital in the 17th century, and the researchers confirmed this using radiocarbon dating.
    They then performed toxicology analyses by powdering and preparing the bone samples so that individual chemical compounds could be separated and purified within a liquid solution. This let them use mass spectrometry to identify the chemical components.

    The science of cannabis

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    The researchers did not find any mention of cannabis in the Ca’ Granda hospital’s records of medicinal compounds. So, Giordano says the people may have been self-medicating or using the cannabis recreationally, instead of receiving it as a prescribed treatment.
    The study is unique in using this toxicology method to analyse human remains at an archaeological site, says Yimin Yang at the University of Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing. “I think their study will open a new window for researching cannabis consumption in ancient times,” he says.

    Yang’s own research previously found chemical traces of cannabis on wooden braziers in tombs dating back 2500 years ago. And cannabis has an even longer history of becoming humanity’s favourite weed, starting with its domestication around 12,000 years ago.
    Meanwhile, Giordano and her colleagues are expanding their toxicological search to other substances, such as cocaine, in more modern human remains.

    Topics:archaeology/Cannabis More

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    Cannabis probably doesn’t help you sleep better

    Many people think cannabis products help them sleepShutterstock/Aiman Dairabaeva
    Forget counting sheep and warm bubble baths. For millions of people who have problems falling and staying asleep, cannabis has become an increasingly popular sleep aid. But the evidence that the drug can help is limited.
    “The hype surrounding cannabis has definitely outpaced the science behind it,” says Karim Ladha at the University of Toronto.
    For instance, in a 2022 survey of more than 27,000 adults living in the US and Canada, scientists found that 46 per cent of respondents said they… More