Discoveries

Good morning, Science Enthusiasts!

I’m back after a jam-packed week at the BIO International Convention 2024 in San Diego, exploring some of the major developments in life sciences and healthcare to look out for in the coming years. We’ll have some updates from that soon but first, scientists at the University of Bremen have discovered a secret ancient river hidden beneath Antarctica’s ice.

The 900-mile-long waterway is thought to have flowed roughly 44 to 34 million years ago, before the continent became covered in ice.

The discovery adds one more piece to the puzzle of Antarctica’s mysterious history and may help improve the accuracy of present day climate models.

And speaking of exciting discoveries, this morning we’ll be diving into a breakthrough in dementia diagnostics, the spread of a giant venomous flying spider across the U.S., and much more.

But before we get into that, our thoughts go out to the family and friends of celebrity science broadcaster and medic, Dr Michael Mosley, who passed away aged 67 while walking on the Greek Island of Symi.

Among his many accolades, the British doctor was famous for launching the 5:2 intermittent fasting diet, and tributes have poured in across social media as hundreds share how Mosley’s simple health tips and tricks changed their lives for the better.

We’ll see you on Wednesday but until then, stay curious 🚀

Pandora Dewan is a Senior Science Reporter at Newsweek based in London, UK. Her focus is reporting on science, health and technology. You can get in touch with Pandora by emailing [email protected], or on Instagram and X @PandoraDewan.

NEUROLOGICAL BREAKTHROUGH

Dementia prediction test

Dementia Breakthrough 'Vital' for Future Treatment

Scientists have developed a new, highly accurate test to predict whether a person will develop dementia. The method, created by researchers from Queen Mary University of London, can be used up to nine years before a diagnosis and can predict dementia with more than 80 percent accuracy. To create the predictive test, the team used functional MRI (fMRI) scanning—a non-invasive brain imaging technique—to detect changes in the brain's "default mode network," or DMN. Could this breakthrough signal the end of dementia as we know it? Find out here.

Want to learn more about dementia and Alzheimer’s? Here are some stories that you might like.

LAB NOTES

Top science news across disciplines

Mental Health: The use of MDMA as a treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) has been rejected by a U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) committee following recent trials. Here are the concerns raised about the treatment's safety and efficacy.
Health warnings: Researchers at the Mayo Clinic have warned that consuming energy drinks, which often contain high amounts of caffeine and other stimulating ingredients, can be dangerous for people with genetic heart diseases. See the findings.
Climate change: In a new satellite analysis, an international team of scientists found that methane emissions in the U.S. were higher in 2019 than previously estimated by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), according to the NASA Earth Observatory.
Archaeology: An innovative technique used in a study of Neanderthal hearths—places where fires were created—has been described by researchers as a "major" development in archaeology, one that could help shed light on prehistoric humans' behavior.
Environmental alert: The U.S. can expect to be invaded by giant, venomous flying spiders this summer. The good news is that the venom is not deadly to humans. The invasive species, the Joro spider, is expected to spread across the Eastern U.S., raising concerns about its potential impact on local ecosystems and residents. — compiled by Sonal Nain, newsletter producer

RARE FINDS

Exploring paleontology

Scientists Discover Smallest Great Ape, Find Unusual Lifestyle

Researchers have identified a new species of great ape that lived around 11 million years ago, finding that it had an unusual living situation. Named Buronius manfredschmidi, the extinct species is estimated to have weighed about 22 pounds, making it the smallest known great ape, according to a study published in the online journal PLOS One. The great apes, or hominids, are a family of primates that contains modern humans and our closest living relatives—bonobos, chimpanzees, gorillas and orangutans—as well as several extinct species. Find out if this tiny ancestor is the missing link we have been searching for.