Scientific news in small doses

A few milligrams of all the scientific news of the week

Mathieu Perreault
The Press

A providential drought

A 3400-year-old city could be examined twice due to a drought in Iraq. The ruins of Kemune, the only urban center of the Mittani Empire, were engulfed by a reservoir in the 1980s. Archaeologists from the universities of Tubingen and Freiburg, Germany, realized during a drought in 2018 that Kemune had emerged waters and mapped its ruins. The water level reengulfed Kemune after a few months, only to drop and reveal it again last January to allow further excavation. German archaeologists and their Iraqi colleagues then discovered Assyrian tablets testifying to the fall of the Mittani Empire, which lasted three or four centuries during a period of weakening of the Babylonian and Assyrian empires. When the waters rose in March, the researchers covered their excavations to protect them from the waters. They are now waiting for the next drought. Kemune had been discovered in 2010, when the water level had dropped, but there had been no excavations then.

Quiz

Why are mice afraid of bananas?

Because this fruit emits the same molecule as the urine of pregnant female mice or those with young mice. This molecule signals to male mice that the female is ready to defend her offspring, according to a study from McGill University. Males then have a high level of stress and insensitivity to pain, in the face of potential danger from an aggressive female. Females are not afraid of bananas or the urine of their pregnant sisters because they are not used to attacking them. The Montreal researchers, who published their results at the end of May in Science Advances, point out that this is one of the rare cases of olfactory signaling from the female to the males, a more frequent means of communication from the male to the female. Moreover, the few cases of female-to-male olfactory signaling occur in sexual interactions, which is not the case here.

The number

70,000

This is the number of inhabitants of the underground city of Midyat, in southeastern Turkey, where 2000 years ago Christians took refuge to escape Roman persecution. Researchers from the Mardin Regional Museum discovered the hidden complex two years ago, during rehabilitation works in the old village center of Midyat, a town of 60,000 inhabitants, according to the Turkish Anadolu agency.

Giraffe fights

It was thought that giraffes owe their long necks to their arboreal diet. Chinese researchers argue that it is rather the legacy of head-fighting, from the discovery of a direct ancestor of giraffes. In Science from the beginning of June, paleontologists from the Chinese Academy of Sciences describe the robustness of the skull and the anatomical connection of the neck of Discokeryx xiezhi, discovered in northern China, with the giraffe. This fossil is 17 million years old, while the modern giraffe appeared 5 million years ago.

A worm instead of coring

This summer, researchers from Polytechnique Montréal will test a robot using the earthworm technique to sink into the ground. They hope it can replace coring on the Moon and in the Far North. The rocket-shaped robot has motors that make it vibrate longitudinally and laterally at very high frequencies. The frequency is adjusted according to the nature of the ground, determined by sensors located on the robot.