Archaeology: Climate change may be accelerating ancient rock art degradation
2021-05-13
(Press-News.org) Climate change may be accelerating the degradation of ancient rock paintings in Indonesia, including the oldest known hand stencil in the world which dates back to 39,900 years ago, according to a study published in Scientific Reports.
Rock paintings made using red and mulberry-coloured pigments in the limestone caves and rock shelters of Maros-Pangkep, Indonesia have been dated to between 20,000 and 45,000 years old. Anecdotal evidence suggests that the paintings have been deteriorating at an accelerated rate in recent decades, but the reasons for this have been unclear.
Jillian Huntley and colleagues investigated the potential causes of accelerated rock art degradation at 11 cave art sites in Maros-Pangkep, by analysing flakes of rock that had begun to detach from cave surfaces. The authors found salts including calcium sulfate and sodium chloride in flakes of rock at three of the sites. These salts are known to form crystals on the rock surfaces, which cause the rocks to break apart. The authors also found high levels of sulphur, a component of several salts, at all 11 sites. The findings may indicate that the process of salt-related rock art degradation is widespread in Maros-Pangkep.
The authors suggest that repeated changes in temperature and humidity caused by alternating periods of seasonal rainfall and drought create conditions that promote salt crystal formation and rock art degradation. They propose that these changes may be accelerated by rising global temperatures and the increasing frequency and severity of extreme weather events due to climate change and El Niño events. Long-term monitoring and conservation efforts are needed to protect ancient rock art in tropical regions, the authors conclude.
INFORMATION:
Article details
The effects of climate change on the Pleistocene rock art of Sulawesi
DOI:
10.1038/s41598-021-87923-3
Corresponding Author:
Jillian Huntley
Griffith University, Gold Coast, Australia
Email: j.huntley@griffith.edu.au
Please link to the article in online versions of your report (the URL will go live after the embargo ends):
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-021-87923-3
ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:
2021-05-13
Radical changes to the food system are needed to safeguard our food supply and combat malnutrition in the face of climate change, environmental degradation and epidemics, says new report.
Researchers at the University of Cambridge say our future global food supply cannot be safeguarded by traditional approaches to improving food production. They suggest state-of-the-art, controlled-environment systems, producing novel foods, should be integrated into the food system to reduce vulnerability to environmental changes, pests and diseases. Their report is published today in the journal Nature Food.
The researchers say that global malnutrition could be eradicated by farming foods including spirulina, chlorella, larvae of insects such as the house fly, mycoprotein (protein derived ...
2021-05-13
A new study with zebrafish shows that a deadly form of skin cancer -- melanoma -- alters the metabolism of healthy tissues elsewhere in the body. The research from Washington University in St. Louis suggests that these other tissues could potentially be targeted to help treat cancer.
"Tumors rely on a constant supply of nutrients to grow. Instead of competing with tumors for nutrients, other tissues can reprogram their metabolism to be complementary. In some instances, this may even allow healthy tissues to feed the tumor," said Gary Patti, the Michael and Tana Powell Professor of Chemistry in Arts & Sciences at Washington University and a professor of chemistry and medicine at the School of Medicine.
Patti is the corresponding author of the study published May 13 in Cell Metabolism.
Cancer ...
2021-05-13
Scientists exploring the drivers of Antarctic climate change have discovered a new and more efficient pathway for the creation of natural aerosols and clouds which contribute significantly to temperature increases.
The Antarctic Peninsula has shown some of the largest global increases in near-surface air temperature over the last 50 years, but experts have struggled to predict temperatures because little was known about how natural aerosols and clouds affect the amount of sunlight absorbed by the Earth and energy radiated back into space.
Studying data from seas around the Peninsula, experts have discovered that most new particles are formed in air masses arriving from the partially ice-covered Weddell Sea - a significant source ...
2021-05-13
Today, the rocks of the Hanna Formation in south-central Wyoming are hundreds of miles away from the nearest ocean. But around 58 million years ago, Wyoming was oceanfront property, with large hippo-like mammals traipsing through nearshore lagoons.
In a study published in Scientific Reports, geologist Anton Wroblewski, an adjunct associate professor in the Department of Geology and Geophysics, and applied biodiversity scientist Bonnie Gulas-Wroblewski of the Texas A&M Natural Resources Institute, report the discovery of several sets of ...
2021-05-13
What The Viewpoint Says: Questions regarding the safety of COVID-19 vaccination for patients with cancer are explored in this article.
Authors: Dimitrios P. Kontoyiannis, M.D., Sc.D.,Ph.D., of the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, is the corresponding author.
To access the embargoed study: Visit our For The Media website at this link https://media.jamanetwork.com/
(doi:10.1001/jamaoncol.2021.1218)
Editor's Note: The article includes conflicts of interest disclosures. Please see the article for additional information, including other authors, ...
2021-05-13
What The Study Did: This survey study examined differences between male and female physicians in the use of social media and reported career and professional benefits.
Authors: Shikha Jain, M.D., of the University of Illinois at Chicago, is the corresponding author.
To access the embargoed study: Visit our For The Media website at this link https://media.jamanetwork.com/
(doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2021.9834)
Editor's Note: The article includes conflict of interest disclosures. Please see the article for additional information, including other authors, ...
2021-05-13
What The Study Did: Advertisements on videos on made-for-kids channels on YouTube, as well as the frequency of age-inappropriate ads, were analyzed in this study.
Authors: Jenny S. Radesky, M.D., of the University of Michigan Medical School in Ann Arbor, is the corresponding author.
To access the embargoed study: Visit our For The Media website at this link https://media.jamanetwork.com/
(doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2021.9890)
Editor's Note: The article includes conflict of interest and funding/support disclosures. Please see the article for additional information, including other authors, author contributions ...
2021-05-13
Among other things, dams serve as reservoirs for drinking water, agricultural irrigation, or the operation of hydropower plants. Until now, it had been assumed that dams act as net carbon stores. Researchers from the Helmholtz Centre of Environmental Research (UFZ) together with Spanish scientists from the Catalan Institute for Water Research (ICRA) in Girona and the University of Barcelona showed that dams release twice as much carbon as they store. The study has been published in Nature Geosciences.
Whether leaves, branches, or algae - streams transport large amounts of carbon-containing material. If the water is dammed, the material gradually settles and accumulates at the bottom ...
2021-05-13
Cooperation as a successful strategy has evolved in both nature and human society, but understanding its emergence can be a difficult task. Researchers have to abstract interactions between individuals into mathematical formulas to be able to create a model that can be used for predictions and simulations.
In the field of evolutionary game theory, they often investigate strategies of players in a simple game of giving and receiving benefits. Such strategies tell players how to behave in a given interaction. The scientists' findings counter the narrative that only the strongest and most selfish flourish and survive. Instead, they show how cooperation can be a successful and stable strategy.
Researchers, spearheaded by Laura Schmid ...
2021-05-13
The majority of children infected with SARS-CoV-2 may not show typical symptoms such as fever, cough or shortness of breath, according to a study published in Scientific Reports, which examined data on 12,306 children with laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 across the United States.
Pakaj Arora and colleagues found that 18.8% of the children included in the study were recorded as having symptoms such as fever, malaise, muscle or joint pain, and disturbances of smell or taste. . 16.5% of children had respiratory symptoms including cough and shortness of breath, 13.9% had gastrointestinal symptoms such as nausea, vomiting and diarrhea, 8.1% had dermatological symptoms (rash), and 4.8% had headaches.
5.5% (672) of children included in the study were hospitalized. Of those, 118 (17.6%) and ...
LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:
[Press-News.org] Archaeology: Climate change may be accelerating ancient rock art degradation
