The diversity of present-day dogs seems to have emerged thousands of years ago. Plus, an artificial intelligence model taught itself basic physics and a tiny ‘robot’ that swims through blood vessels.
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Modern huskies have ancestral connections to early Arctic dogs.Credit: ventdusud/Panther Media Global via Alamy
The diversity of modern-day dog breeds might have emerged thousands of years ago. An analysis of ancient skulls reveals a distinctive dog skull shape — a shortened snout and widened face, compared to wolves — first seen in nearly 11,000-year-old fossils. Not long after, researchers say, there was a boom in the variety of dog skull shapes and sizes, capturing more than half of the diversity in today’s breeds. An analysis of the genomes of ancient dogs also suggests that ancient humans valued distinctive features, took their canine companions with them when they moved around and traded dogs with useful characteristics.
Nature | 5 min read
Reference: Science paper 1 and paper 2
A remote-controlled ‘robot’ the size of a grain of sand can swim through blood vessels to deliver drugs before dissolving into the body. The system uses tiny gelatine beads filled with a drug and nanoparticles of iron oxide, which allows its movement to be guided with a magnetic field. The ‘microrobots’, which have been tested in pigs and sheep, could allow doctors to deliver small doses of drugs to specific sites with less risk of toxic off-target effects.
Nature | 4 min read
Reference: Science paper
Credit: ETH Zürich
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