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SPONSORED BY  | | | | July 29, 2024: Mangrove trees are marching north, musical memory transcends age, and the most important rock on Mars. "M" is for Monday! —Andrea Gawrylewski, Chief Newsletter Editor | | | Researchers Ches Vervaeke (left) and Scott Jones (right) document a black mangrove beside the St. Marys River, which forms part of the border between Florida and Georgia.Peter Essick | | | This year, ecologists discovered several mangrove trees along the Georgia coast, near the Florida state line. They are the northernmost known trees of their kind on the East coast. The 70 different species of mangrove prefer tropical and subtropical locations, with hot temperatures that don't dip below freezing, and soil with low oxygen levels. Researchers have recorded a steady expansion in mangrove range over the last several decades, an indicator that the subtropic habitat is moving northward as well.
Why this matters: The northward march of the mangroves indicates that habitats on the coasts are changing–becoming warmer and less likely to freeze. Mangroves are a climate-change-ready tree: They thrive with their roots underwater so aren't threatened by sea-level rise; they stabilize the coastline during storms; filter salt from runoff from coastal waterways; and absorb and sequester more carbon dioxide than any other plant. As the trees spread, they will surely transform their new environments, replacing salt marshes into a matrix of trees and grasses—or take over completely.
What the experts say: Piecing together historical records, researchers believe that mangroves have migrated northward and southward again multiple times over the years, closely tracking trends in cool weather. "The intriguing part that captures my imagination," says ecologist Scott F. Jones, an assistant professor at the University of North Florida, "is that we still don't understand and therefore can't predict where exactly mangroves are going to show up." | | | A red mangrove, named for the color of its roots, stakes a claim on Fort George Island, only 20 miles from the Georgia border. Climate change is reducing freeze risk at increasingly higher latitudes.Peter Essick | | | Researchers tested how well a group of about 90 adults, ranging in age from 18 to 86 years, were able to recognize familiar and unfamiliar musical themes at a live concert at the Newfoundland Symphony Orchestra in St John's, Canada. Another 31 people watched a recording of the concert in a laboratory. The scientists found that age made no difference in an individual's ability to recall familiar tunes that were embedded within familiar songs, especially in the case of recognizable music like Eine kleine Nachtmusik by Mozart, which was played at the concert.
Why this is cool: Musical memory seems to be resistant to age-related cognitive declines because music elicits strong emotions in people, which makes it more encoded in memory, says Steffen Herff, a cognitive neuroscientist at the University of Sydney, Australia. "We know from general memory research that, effectively, the amygdala — or emotional processing — operates a little bit like an importance stamp."
What the experts say: Music could be viewed as a form of "cognitive scaffolding"— that is, a kind of memory aid for other information. This could be especially useful for people with neurodegenerative conditions like dementia. | | | Captured by the Perseverance rover on July 18, 2024, this close-up image of the "Cheyava Falls" Mars rock reveals several intriguing features. Bands of reddish, iron-rich material packed with "leopard spot" mineral deposits run between white veins of calcium sulfate studded with green olivine crystals. Scientists have yet to fully decipher this strange mix of minerals, which could be evidence of ancient Martian microbes.NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS | | | • Mysterious "leopard spots" on a Martian rock could be evidence of extraterrestrial life, or a simple chemical signature. To find out which, NASA has to get the rock back to Earth. | 5 min read | | | • The CDC's test for bird flu works...but has a glitch that requires repeat testing. | 5 min read | | | • Combining a hallucinogenic compound found in ayahuasca with weightloss drugs like Ozempic could help treat diabetes, research in mice suggests. | 6 min read | | | SPONSORED CONTENT BY BIOFUTURE | Reimagine the Future of Healthcare at BioFuture, Oct. 28-30 in NYC | Join us October 28-30 in NYC at BioFuture where industry innovators, investors, and visionaries gather to assess and shape the future of healthcare! Discover therapeutic breakthroughs, cutting-edge technologies and participate in discussions around rapidly evolving fields of biopharma, digital medicine, big data, AI, TechBio, and more. | | | • Black Americans face higher unemployment rates, lower earnings and deeper poverty than white Americans. Places where such economic inequality is highest has been linked scientifically to historical violence against Black people in those places, writes Sotiris Kampanelis, an assistant professor of economics at Cardiff University Business School in Wales. Inequalities "are also a direct consequence of a long history of racial violence and discrimination that has systematically undermined the economic foundations of Black communities," he says. | 4 min read | | | I spoke to Lee Billings, our senior editor for space and physics, about this exciting Martian rock discovery. He told me that in order to really know what the leopard-like spots on the rock mean we'll need to study it a lot more closely, which entails either getting the rock home, or sending better instruments to study it--two very tall asks. But no matter the outcome, it's a sensational find! As Lee wrote on X, "This rock's got 3 'must haves' in the search for alien life: Altered by H2O, filled with organics, and bearing mineral energy sources for putative microbes." | How are you liking this newsletter? Email me anytime and let me know: newsletters@sciam.com. I love hearing from you. | —Andrea Gawrylewski, Chief Newsletter Editor | | Subscribe to this and all of our newsletters . | | | | Scientific American
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