Why large dogs age faster than small ones, and other October research highlights
Plus invisible tattoos, medieval skeleton gets an ID, trapping a single antimatter particle, and more.
Plus invisible tattoos, medieval skeleton gets an ID, trapping a single antimatter particle, and more.
The short version
- It’s a regrettable reality that there is never enough time to cover all the interesting scientific stories we come across.
- So every month, we highlight a handful of the best stories that nearly slipped through the cracks.
- October’s list includes an epigenetic mechanism for why large dogs age faster than smaller ones; physicists who trapped a single particle of antimatter for months; and invisible tattoo inks that only show up under UV light.
What happened
The authors used data from 864 dogs collected in the Dog Aging Project to map patterns of DNA methylation (which influences how much certain genes are turned on or off) across the entire genome. It’s part of the epigenome, whose markers can change over time in response to stress and other environmental factors.
Why it matters
Genetic sequences, by contrast, are largely fixed.
Summary by Nerd News Network. Read the full article at Ars Technica via the links above and below.