A 300,000-year-old jawbone discovered in a cave in eastern China could represent a new branch of the human family tree.
: it’s thick along the jawline, a feature shared with early human species, and lacks the true chin of
Homo sapiens. But the side of the mandible is more reminiscent of that of modern humans. The finding deepens the mystery of which ancient human species inhabited East Asia during the Pleistocene, and whether any of them could be ancestors of modern humans.
They were able to successfully create the first “localized” full-length spider silk fiber using transgenic silkworms. This fiber has an extraordinary toughness (319 MJ/m3) and high tensile strength (1,299 MPa), surpassing the toughness of most natural and synthetic fibers and more than four times that of nylon.
This discovery offers important new information for the creation of supermaterials, such as those needed for space elevators.
“
” was published on September 20, 2023, in the Cell Press journal
Matter.
