Latest news with #UniversityofBonn
Yahoo
5 days ago
- Science
- Yahoo
Mammals Have Evolved Into Anteaters at Least 12 Times Since The Dinosaurs
If you want to get by in this world, you could do a lot worse than developing a predilection for ants. In fact, ant-eating may be a dramatically overlooked recipe for success. According to new research, relying on ants as a sole food source has evolved at least 12 times in mammals since the reign of the dinosaurs ended some 66 million years ago. But it's not the ant-exclusive diet itself that is the wonder: it's that it always follows a similar blueprint. "It's not necessarily surprising that mammals would specialize on ant-eating, as ecological niches almost inevitably get filled," biologist Thomas Vida of the University of Bonn in Germany told ScienceAlert, "but rather that we see the same, or at least very similar, morphological adaptations across so many unrelated groups." It's one of the most striking examples of convergent evolution, in which dramatically different organisms can come to evolve similar features to solve similar problems. Related: Evolution Keeps Making Crabs, And Nobody Knows Why There are a lot of ants on planet Earth. A recent study estimated the number of individual ants at around 20 quadrillion, for a combined biomass of 12 megatons of dry carbon. That's more than all the wild mammals and birds combined, and around 20 percent of the human biomass. It wasn't always this way; just after the dinosaurs went extinct, ants represented less than 1 percent of the insect population, exploding around 23 million years ago at the beginning of the Miocene. Many animals happily include insects as part of their diet, including mammals. It makes sense: insects are plentiful, and full of nutrition. However, a diet that revolves exclusively around ants – a strategy called obligate myrmecophagy – is a little more rare. "One of the things my lab focuses on is how social insects like ants and termites have reshaped the history of life on the planet," entomologist Phillip Barden of the New Jersey Institute of Technology told ScienceAlert. "Ants in particular have altered the trajectory of evolution in lots of insect and plant lineages, but a lingering question that I've had is just how much mammals have had to reckon with the rapid ascent of ants and termites over the last 100 million years. I also just love giant anteaters." To investigate, Vida, Barden, and their colleague Zachary Calamari of City University of New York undertook a painstaking review of more than 600 published scientific sources to compile a database of the dietary habits of 4,099 mammal species. The researchers divided these animals into five different categories based on their diets: insectivores, carnivores, omnivores, herbivores, and the obligate myrmecophages. These were then mapped onto an animal family tree to observe how these dietary adaptations emerged over tens of millions of years. Myrmecophagy, the researchers found, emerged at least 12 times, with 2 more tentative instances that could not be confirmed. This includes animals such as anteaters, pangolins, echidnas, numbats, and aardvarks – a diversity that the researchers did not expect – across all three major mammal groups: placental mammals, marsupials, and monotremes. These animals all developed similar traits to optimize eating ants. "There are a few obvious things: their skulls and tongues tend to elongate, their teeth often get reduced, and they usually have strong claws/forelimbs for tearing into insect nests," Vida explained. "There are also some less obvious things, like their low body temperatures/slow metabolisms and their enzymatic adaptations towards digesting chitin, both of which are adaptations for surviving off of abundant, but low-energy food." The finding is reminiscent of the famous phenomenon whereby crab body plans keep emerging, with at least five separate crab evolutions throughout evolutionary history. Well, crabs are cool and all, but apparently ants are where the real party is at. Related: "Ants really seem to be engineers of convergent evolution," Barden said. "There are twice as many origins of ant- and termite-eating in mammals as there are origins of crab body plans. And that's not even counting the over 10,000 species of arthropods that mimic ant and termite morphology, behavior, or chemical signaling to evade predation or get access to social insect resources." Their work, the researchers say, lays a solid foundation for future studies of mammalian dietary strategies. Vida notes that their database will allow further investigations of fascinating dietary specializations, and to drill down into the origins of individual myrmecophagous species. There may even be some interesting discoveries waiting in comparative studies of insectivorous birds, reptiles, and amphibians. "The history of life is full of crossovers. Even very distantly related lineages – social insects and mammals last shared a common ancestor more than 500 million years ago – interact in ways that can kick off striking specializations over tens of millions of years," Barden said. "As we rapidly reshape our planet, it's important to remember that the loss of any one species may have lots of unexpected consequences." The research has been published in Evolution. Related News A Gaping Hole Full of Milky Blue Water Has Appeared at Yellowstone Cuisine Fad Unleashes Invasive Threat Into The US Wilderness Fig Trees That Grow Rocks From Carbon Discovered in Africa Solve the daily Crossword
Time of India
05-07-2025
- Health
- Time of India
AI makes science easy, but is it getting it right? Study warns LLMs are oversimplifying critical research
In a world where AI tools have become daily companions—summarizing articles, simplifying medical research, and even drafting professional reports, a new study is raising red flags. As it turns out, some of the most popular large language models (LLMs), including ChatGPT, Llama, and DeepSeek, might be doing too good a job at being too simple—and not in a good way. According to a study published in the journal Royal Society Open Science and reported by Live Science, researchers discovered that newer versions of these AI models are not only more likely to oversimplify complex information but may also distort critical scientific findings. Their attempts to be concise are sometimes so sweeping that they risk misinforming healthcare professionals, policymakers, and the general public. From Summarizing to Misleading Led by Uwe Peters, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Bonn , the study evaluated over 4,900 summaries generated by ten of the most popular LLMs, including four versions of ChatGPT, three of Claude, two of Llama, and one of DeepSeek. These were compared against human-generated summaries of academic research. The results were stark: chatbot-generated summaries were nearly five times more likely than human ones to overgeneralize the findings. And when prompted to prioritize accuracy over simplicity, the chatbots didn't get better—they got worse. In fact, they were twice as likely to produce misleading summaries when specifically asked to be precise. 'Generalization can seem benign, or even helpful, until you realize it's changed the meaning of the original research,' Peters explained in an email to Live Science. What's more concerning is that the problem appears to be growing. The newer the model, the greater the risk of confidently delivered—but subtly incorrect—information. You Might Also Like: AI cannot replace all jobs, says expert: 3 types of careers that could survive the automation era When a Safe Study Becomes a Medical Directive In one striking example from the study, DeepSeek transformed a cautious phrase; 'was safe and could be performed successfully', into a bold and unqualified medical recommendation: 'is a safe and effective treatment option.' Another summary by Llama eliminated crucial qualifiers around the dosage and frequency of a diabetes drug, potentially leading to dangerous misinterpretations if used in real-world medical settings. Max Rollwage, vice president of AI and research at Limbic, a clinical mental health AI firm, warned that 'biases can also take more subtle forms, like the quiet inflation of a claim's scope.' He added that AI summaries are already integrated into healthcare workflows, making accuracy all the more critical. Why Are LLMs Getting This So Wrong? Part of the issue stems from how LLMs are trained. Patricia Thaine, co-founder and CEO of Private AI, points out that many models learn from simplified science journalism rather than from peer-reviewed academic papers. This means they inherit and replicate those oversimplifications especially when tasked with summarizing already simplified content. Even more critically, these models are often deployed across specialized domains like medicine and science without any expert supervision. 'That's a fundamental misuse of the technology,' Thaine told Live Science, emphasizing that task-specific training and oversight are essential to prevent real-world harm. You Might Also Like: Does ChatGPT suffer from hallucinations? OpenAI CEO Sam Altman admits surprise over users' blind trust in AI iStock Part of the issue stems from how LLMs are trained. Patricia Thaine, co-founder and CEO of Private AI, points out that many models learn from simplified science journalism rather than from peer-reviewed academic papers. (Image: iStock) The Bigger Problem with AI and Science Peters likens the issue to using a faulty photocopier each version of a copy loses a little more detail until what's left barely resembles the original. LLMs process information through complex computational layers, often trimming the nuanced limitations and context that are vital in scientific literature. Earlier versions of these models were more likely to refuse to answer difficult questions. Ironically, as newer models have become more capable and 'instructable,' they've also become more confidently wrong. 'As their usage continues to grow, this poses a real risk of large-scale misinterpretation of science at a moment when public trust and scientific literacy are already under pressure,' Peters cautioned. Guardrails, Not Guesswork While the study's authors acknowledge some limitations, including the need to expand testing to non-English texts and different types of scientific claims they insist the findings should be a wake-up call. Developers need to create workflow safeguards that flag oversimplifications and prevent incorrect summaries from being mistaken for vetted, expert-approved conclusions. In the end, the takeaway is clear: as impressive as AI chatbots may seem, their summaries are not infallible, and when it comes to science and medicine, there's little room for error masked as simplicity. Because in the world of AI-generated science, a few extra words, or missing ones, can mean the difference between informed progress and dangerous misinformation.
IOL News
15-06-2025
- Science
- IOL News
Satellite data shows South Africa rising 6mm: Here's why it matters
South Africa's landmass is slowly rising, and new research suggests the surprising cause may not be deep within the Earth but rather due to repeated droughts and water loss. A study from the University of Bonn, Germany, analysing over two decades of satellite data has found that the country experienced a vertical uplift of around 6 millimetres between 2012 and 2020. Scientists say this change is linked to the loss of surface water, with the land rising in response to the weight being lifted. The study used data from the Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) base stations across the country to track vertical land movement. Researchers originally considered that this might be due to geological forces such as mantle flow and dynamic topography, the slow, deep movements in the Earth's crust and mantle. However, they now say the evidence points to a different explanation. "Our evidence suggests that land water loss from multiple droughts is a major driver of the observed uplift," the researchers wrote. To reach this conclusion, the team analysed daily height records from Global Positioning System (GPS) stations between 2000 and 2021. They applied a method known as Singular Spectral Analysis (SSA) to separate long-term trends and seasonal variations from random noise in the data.
Saba Yemen
02-06-2025
- Science
- Saba Yemen
Scientists Reveal South Africa Is Floating on Ocean
Washington - (Saba): As climate change intensifies, South Africa is not only becoming hotter and drier; it is also warming by up to 2 millimeters per year, according to a new study. Scientists knew this rise was occurring, but the prevailing explanation was that it was caused by mantle flow within the Earth's crust. The new study, published in the Journal of Geophysical Research, suggests that this rise is due to the recent drought and the resulting water loss, a trend linked to global climate change. This discovery was made possible thanks to a network of Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) stations in South Africa. This network is used primarily for atmospheric research and provides accurate elevation data for various locations across the country. "These data showed an average rise of 6 millimeters between 2012 and 2020," says geodesist McCann Carrigar of the University of Bonn. Experts have attributed this phenomenon to the Kwathlamba hotspot. A localized bulge in the Earth's crust likely resulted from the upwelling of material from a mantle plume suspected of lying beneath the region, which triggered the recent uplift. However, we have now tested another hypothesis, says Karigar. "We believe that the loss of groundwater and surface water is also likely responsible for the land-level rise." To explore this possibility, Karigar and his colleagues analyzed Global Positioning System (GNSS) elevation data along with rainfall patterns and other hydrological variables across southern Africa. A strong correlation emerged. Areas that had experienced severe drought in recent years experienced significant land-level rise. The rise was most pronounced during the drought that lasted from 2015 to 2019, a period when Cape Town faced the imminent threat of "Day Zero"—a day without water. The study also examined data from the GRACE satellite mission, a joint effort between NASA and the German Aerospace Center to measure Earth's gravity field and changes in water distribution. 'These results can be used to calculate, among other things, the change in the total mass of the water reserve, including the sum of surface water, soil moisture, and groundwater,' says Christian Mielke, a geodesist at the University of Bonn. 'However, the spatial resolution of these measurements is very low, only a few hundred kilometers.' Despite this low resolution, the GRACE satellite data supported the hypothesis: places with less water mass had higher elevations at nearby GNSS stations. The team used hydrological models to gain a more accurate view of how drought affects the water cycle. 'These data also showed that the uplift of the land can be primarily explained by drought and the associated loss of water mass,' says Mielke. The researchers suggest that, in addition to upward pressure from the mantle plume, the loss of moisture in the Earth's crust may also be causing it to bulge. Given the serious threat posed by droughts in South Africa, as well as many other parts of the world, this discovery may provide a valuable insight into water availability. Whatsapp Telegram Email Print
Yahoo
28-05-2025
- General
- Yahoo
The Big Bang's Glowing 'Echo' May Be Something Else Entirely
Part of the reason scientists have settled on the Big Bang theory as the best explanation of how the Universe came into being is because of an 'afterglow' it emits – but a new study suggests we may need to rethink the source of this faint radiation. Technically, this afterglow is known as Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) radiation, and it's been traveling through space for more than 13 billion years, since soon after the Big Bang first went bang. It can be picked up by our most advanced telescopes. Now, researchers from Nanjing University in China and the University of Bonn in Germany have run calculations suggesting we've overestimated the strength of the CMB. In fact, it might not even be there at all. The rocking of the cosmological boat, as it were, is driven by new evidence of early-type galaxies (ETGs). Recent data from the James Webb Space Telescope suggests these ETGs might account for some or even all of the CMB, depending on the simulation used. "Our results are a problem for the standard model of cosmology," says physicist Pavel Kroupa, from the University of Bonn. "It might be necessary to rewrite the history of the Universe, at least in part." Scientists already know plenty about ETGs, which are usually elliptical in shape. What's new is that recent studies, and this latest interpretation of them, point to these types of galaxies having formed even earlier than previous models accounted for. If that timeline shifts, then so does the pattern of radiation spreading out across the Universe. In simple terms, the Universe may have moved through its initial phase of gas surges and galaxy formation quicker than we imagined. "The Universe has been expanding since the Big Bang, like dough that is rising," says Kroupa. "This means that the distance between galaxies is increasing constantly." "We have measured how far apart elliptical galaxies are from one another today. Using this data and taking into account the characteristics of this group of galaxies, we were then able to use the speed of expansion to determine when they first formed." This earlier estimate for the formation of these ETGs means that their brightness could emerge "as a non-negligible source of CMB foreground contamination", the researchers write. We should bear in mind that this research is still in its preliminary stages. It's not time yet to start pulping scientific textbooks – or whatever the modern equivalent is. Rewriting Wikipedia, perhaps? But this research certainly raises some big questions. Given the almost unimaginable timescales and distances involved, it's difficult for astrophysicists to always be precise. The researchers suggest anywhere from 1.4 percent to 100 percent of the CMB could be explained by their new models. What's certain is that as our space telescopes and analysis systems get more sophisticated, we're learning more about the surrounding Universe than ever before – and that in turn means some previous assumptions may have to be readjusted, including those about the very formation of the Universe itself. "In the view of the results documented here, it may become necessary to consider [other] cosmological models," write the researchers in their published paper. The research has been published in Nuclear Physics B. A Serious Threat May Be Lurking in The Orbit of Venus, Says Study We Now Know What Switched The Lights on at The Dawn of Time Light Travels Across The Universe Without Losing Energy. But How?
