Chris Simms

Artistic rendering of the tattoo of the griffin attacking a stag by D. Riday

Here's an artistic rendering of the tattoo of the griffin attacking a stag by D. Riday

High-resolution near-infrared data reveal Pazyryk tattooing methods | Antiquity | Cambridge Core High-resolution near-infrared data reveal Pazyryk tattooing methods

Original research paper available here: www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

Now, using high-resolution, near-infrared photography, Gino Caspari, Aaron Deter-Wolf and their colleagues have uncovered an extraordinary array of hidden tattoos on her skin, including what seem to be tigers, leopards, a rooster and a griffin.

The woman was an Iron Age pastoralist from the Pazyryk culture in Siberia, who was aged about 50 when she died in the 3rd or 4th century BC. When her deep burial chamber was encased in permafrost, it turned her into an “ice mummy”, preserving her skin, but leaving it dark and desiccated

Ancient Siberian ice mummy is covered in 'really special' tattoos Tattoos may have been widespread in prehistory, with scientists discovering a plethora of body art on a pastoralist who died in the 3rd or 4th century BC

Elaborate tattoos of tigers, birds and fantastical animals have been revealed on an ice mummy from over 2000 years ago. 🧪⚒️ #Archaeology #archeology #art

www.newscientist.com/article/2490...

Steadfast lifestyle changes seem best to improve cognitive decline Healthy habits like exercising and eating well really do seem to improve cognitive decline, particularly if followed in a dedicated way

Aiming to ward off the seemingly inevitable cognitive decline of ageing?

A structured mix of exercise, diet, cognitive challenges and social engagement seems to be particularly effective at keeping brains functioning well. #health #ageing #aging 🧪

www.newscientist.com/article/2490...

Ammonites in a stone on Steep Holm beach

Ammonite in a stone on Steep Holm beach

Ammonites and other fossils in stones on Steep Holm beach

Sometimes you don't see a fossil for an age and then you come across a beach where there seem to be traces of ancient life everywhere #fossils #ammonites #science #palaeontology 🧪⚒️

Barnacles on a rock on the beach on Steep Holm island, in the Bristol Channel, UK

The clear outlines of these barnacles on Steep Holm island remind me of HR Giger art. Two types of aliens about to war for the rock?

My barnacle knowledge is limited, though. Are these two species? The ones on the right are more stellate than those on the left. 🦑 🧪 #marinelife #invertebrates #ocean

Jersey tiger moth (Euplagia quadripunctaria) on buddleia on Steep Holm island

Two Jersey tiger moths (Euplagia quadripunctaria) on buddleia on Steep Holm island

Lots of Jersey tiger moths (Euplagia quadripunctaria) on buddleia on Steep Holm island

Saw tons of these beautiful Jersey tiger moths (Euplagia quadripunctaria) on buddleia on Steep Holm island yesterday. 🪲🐝🧪🦋 #insects #nature #wildlife #moths #lepidoptera

Human evolution in just the past 2 million years contains Homo sapiens, H. erectus, H. neanderthalensis, H. naledi, H. floresiensis, H. heidelbergensis, H. antecessor, H. rudolfensis, H. habilis, Denisovans and probably more. Are they really all separate species? 🧪 #AskAnArchaeologist

However the blue colour is created by nanostructures within the feathers that selectively scatter light, rather than absorbing light to create the colour we see.

Because of this, the light-absorbing black below makes the blue look brighter.

And this isn't directly related to the colours.

It's because the red and yellow colouration is created by pigments, which are molecules that selectively absorb light to make colour. This means backscattering light from the white below makes them brighter. 🧪🪶

The science is also fascinating. The colours of the tanagers appear so bright because of an underlayer of white or black.

If it's red or yellow plumage, they have white layers hidden underneath. If it's blue plumage, they have black layers beneath. #birds 🧪🪶

The secret to what makes colours pop on dazzling songbirds Hidden layers of colour in the plumage of tanagers and some other songbirds explain what makes them so eye-catching

Loving the picture choice in this story I wrote for for @newscientist.com www.newscientist.com/article/2489...

Green-headed tanagers are stunning #birds #photography 🧪🪶

Return of wolves to Yellowstone has led to a surge in aspen trees unseen for 80 years Gray wolves were reintroduced in Yellowstone National Park in 1995 to help control the numbers of elk that were eating young trees, and it is finally paying off for quaking aspen.

The second story of mine that went online today was about how reintroducing wolves in Yellowstone 30 years ago has finally allowed young aspen trees to grow into the forest canopy. It's amazing how long it takes some effects to show. 🧪 #ecology #wolves #rewilding
www.livescience.com/animals/land...

A peatland in the Amazon stopped absorbing carbon. What does it mean? Peatlands cover just a fraction of Earth's surface, but store huge amounts of carbon. In the Peruvian Amazon, one of these swamps has switched to carbon neutral.

A couple of stories I wrote went online today. The first was on a fascinating study about peatland in Peru that switched from being a big carbon sink to being almost carbon neutral. 🧪 #climatechange #peat #emissions

It was great to dig into what it means:
www.livescience.com/planet-earth...

That is what they are called on your side of the pond

A fallen plum, partly eaten by insects, with three ladybirds inside a cavity

Do ladybirds eat plums? I didn't think so 🧪🪲 #insects #photography #nature

Genomics reveals eleven obesity endotypes with distinct biological and phenotypic signatures Obesity, a leading global risk factor for cardiometabolic conditions, arises from multifaceted and biologically complex mechanisms[1][1],[2][2]. To elucidate the full-dimensional genetic architecture ...

The original work is in a preprint posted on medRxiv: www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1...

From this, they identified 743 genetic regions linked to obesity, 86 of which hadn’t been reported before.

And these genes fit into 11 clusters, each characterised by distinct biological pathways.

The finding comes from a genome-wide association study on more than 2 million people, with ancestries from all over the world, in which they looked for links between genes and BMI, as well as waist circumference, waist-to-hip ratio and hip circumference

Each of the 11 is an "endotype", which means there is a distinct biological pathway behind it that could lead to obesity.

Obesity may come in 11 different types, each with their own cause Obesity could exist in many forms, which may benefit from different treatments and prevention strategies

This paper really surprised me:

Obesity may come in 11 distinct types, each with its own cause. Not one type, or two, or even 5, but 11!

🧪 #health #obesity #science

www.newscientist.com/article/2488...

Three bumblebees on lavender

A big lavender bush in front of a house

Gotta love lavender. My front garden is basically one giant lavender bush and at this time of year there are about 50 bumblebees on it at any time #plants #bees #insects

Neanderthal groups had their own local food culture A comparison of cut marks on bones reveals that Neanderthal groups living fairly close to each other had their own distinct ways of butchering animals

Neanderthals may have had traditional ways of prepping food that were particular to each group. Discoveries from two caves in what is now northern Israel suggest that the residents there butchered the same prey in their own distinctive ways. 🧪 @newscientist.com
www.newscientist.com/article/2488...

Yep, very nice! It also seems a good time for it to resurface given how much doubt is being cast on science and scientists from certain political quarters

You jumped in before I could finish the thread. Depending on how you look at it is could be 61% or 80%.

Science is a strong-link problem OR: How to eat fewer asparagus beetles

For more on science being a strong-link problem, check out this blog by Adam Mastroianni
www.experimental-history.com/p/science-is... 🧪🧵10/10

Science, too, is a strong-link problem. A field doesn’t fall down because of the failings of even many papers. Science is built on the strongest results and works by disproving claims and refining knowledge, so much research will be invalidated in time and fall by the wayside anyway. 🧪🧵9/10

International football (soccer) is a strong-link problem. It doesn’t matter how bad a country’s worst players are because they won’t be picked to get on the plane (which has hopefully had its engine checked). It is the best players - the strong links - that will make a difference. 🧪🧵8/10