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IN BRIEF JOHN WATKINS/FLPA/CORBIS Migrating birds arrive in the UKearlierandleavelater SOME common migrating birds – including the blackcap, (pictured above) – are staying in the UK for two weeks or more longer than half a century ago. “We knew that birds were arriving earlier in spring, but this is the first study I know of in Europe that has also tracked when they leave in autumn,” says Stuart Newson of the British Trust for Ornithology. Newson has tapped into amateur observations of bird migrations collected over more than 50 years, starting with paper files in the 1960s and ending with 800,000 records from BirdTrack, an internet-based volunteer Ghostgalaxiesarefullofdarkmatter <strong>THE</strong>RE’S more than meets the eye. A so-called ultra-diffuse galaxy has been found to consist of over 99.96 per cent dark matter. An ultra-diffuse galaxy is a huge galaxy with relatively few stars widely spread out, so it looks ghostly and is hard to study. The fact that they hold their shape makes researchers think such galaxies must consist of at least 98 per cent dark matter – the stuff thought to make up about 80 per cent of the mass in the universe overall. But no one had directly measured it. Now Michael Beasley at the Institute of Astrophysics of the Canary Islands, Spain, and his colleagues have “weighed” an ultra-diffuse galaxy in the Virgo cluster named VCC 1287. The team measured the speeds of seven globular star clusters observation network, to study 14 common migrating birds. He found that 11 species arrive earlier and four leave later (Ibis, doi.org/bdpr). Amateur data is best, he says. Professional ornithologists have mostly counted birds arriving at a handful of coastal observation points. And many previous studies concentrated on dating the first birds to arrive. Observations from citizen scientists avoid such biases, and cover leaving times too. One reason for late leaving could be that females are laying more than one clutch of eggs thanks to the longer breeding season, says Tim Sparks of Coventry University, UK. Indeed, the study also shows that birds taking most advantage of earlier springs and balmy late autumns, such as the blackcap, are increasing in number. orbiting the galaxy, a clue to how much mass it contains, and found that it must have about 80 billion times more mass than the sun and 3000 times more dark matter than stellar mass (Astrophysical Journal Letters, doi.org/bdpb). VCC 1287 was probably born with both dark matter and gas but lost the latter as it fell into the Virgo cluster. Without gas, it couldn’t create new stars, so it ended up with lots of dark matter but little light. Exercise keeps your brain younger YOUNG in body, young in mind. Older people who are physically active seem to stave off memory loss – but only if they start early. Clinton Wright at the University of Miami in Florida and his colleagues followed 876 people, starting at an average age of 71, over five years. At the end, the brains of non-exercisers looked 10 years older than those who did moderate exercise. Those who exercised also showed less memory loss (Neurology, doi.org/bdpw). These effects are associated with better vascular health, suggesting that exercise helps the brain by keeping down blood pressure and preventing strokes. But the team’s results showed that physical activity can only delay memory loss if a person begins exercising before the onset of symptoms. “Once there’s damage, you can’t really reverse it,” says Wright. Why we have really big noses… IT’S an evolutionary mystery that’s literally as plain as the nose on your face. Why did our ancestors develop a prominent protruding nose when most primates have flat nasal openings? A new study suggests that our unusual nose may simply be a byproduct of other, more important changes in the structure of our face as our brains enlarged. Takeshi Nishimura at Kyoto University, Japan, and his team modelled the flow of inhaled air through the nasal passages of humans, chimpanzees and macaques. It turns out that our noses, unlike those of other primates, are poor at warming or cooling air that goes to the lungs (PLoS Computational Biology, DOI: 10.1371/journal.pcbi.1004807). 2 April 2016 | NewScientist | 15
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