Weekly News Bites: Greedy ants, mountain weight loss, and a molecular fossil

Asia Research News monitors the latest research news in Asia. Some highlights that caught our attention this week are how hungry ants push birds out of their habitat, how eroding a mountain makes it taller, and how our cells carry insights into origin of life.

Who wins in ant vs bird? The answer may be surprising as a recent study by researchers from the Indian Institute of Science and Cornell University suggests that weaver ants may be driving insect-eating birds to higher elevations. These ants eat the insects that the birds are hoping to snack on, reducing the availability of food. This pattern is seen globally, as birds thrive higher up in areas with these ants present.

Logically, eroding a mountain should make it shorter not taller... However, when scientists from University College London (UCL) and China University of Geosciences found that erosion caused by the Arun river is making Mt. Everest taller. This is due to isostatic rebound, where the mountain becomes lighter and can “float” easier on the liquid layers of the Earth.

As we age, holes can tear in our eye tissue causing poor eyesight and problems such as blurry vision. Scientists at Kobe City Eye Hospital successfully used human stem cells to repair a hole in a monkey’s retina, improving its vision. The monkey fared better at vision tests than before the treatment, where it had difficulty completing them. This type of treatment offers hope for a new way to treat age-related vision loss in humans.

Inside our cells we carry a “molecular fossil” called the protoribosome. The Earth-Life Science Institute (ELSI) and Charles University in Prague, Czech Republic reconstructed this "protoribosome" and investigated different regions to find out their roles. This insight sheds light on how early life forms synthesized proteins and can help us better understand the origins of life.