Neanderthal 'make-up' containers discovered

Scientists claim to have the first persuasive evidence that Neanderthals wore "body paint" 50,000 years ago.

The team report in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) that shells containing pigment residues were Neanderthal make-up containers.

Scientists unearthed the shells at two archaeological sites in the Murcia province of southern Spain.

The team says its find buries "the view of Neanderthals as half-wits" and shows they were capable of symbolic thinking.

Professor Joao Zilhao, the archaeologist from Bristol University in the UK, who led the study, said that he and his team had examined shells that were used as containers to mix and store pigments.

Black sticks of the pigment manganese, which may have been used as body paint by Neanderthals, have previously been discovered in Africa.

"[But] this is the first secure evidence for their use of cosmetics," he told BBC News. "The use of these complex recipes is new. It's more than body painting."

The scientists found lumps of a yellow pigment, that they say was possibly used as a foundation.

They also found red powder mixed up with flecks of a reflective brilliant black mineral.

The shells were coated with residues of mixed pigments

Some of the sculpted, brightly coloured shells may also have been worn by Neanderthals as jewellery.

Until now it had been thought by many researchers that only modern humans wore make-up for decoration and ritual purposes.

There was a time in the Upper Palaeolithic period when Neanderthals and humans may have co-existed. But Professor Zilhao explained that the findings were dated at 10,000 years before this "contact".

"To me, it's the smoking gun that kills the argument once and for all," he told BBC News.

"The association of these findings with Neanderthals is rock-solid and people have to draw the associations and bury this view of Neanderthals as half-wits."

Professor Chris Stringer, a palaeontologist from the Natural History Museum in London, UK, said: "I agree that these findings help to disprove the view that Neanderthals were dim-witted.

But, he added that evidence to that effect had been growing for at least the last decade.

"It's very difficult to dislodge the brutish image from popular thinking," Professor Stringer told BBC News. "When football fans behave badly, or politicians advocate reactionary views, they are invariably called 'Neanderthal', and I can't see the tabloids changing their headlines any time soon."

Tourists burnt in Hong Kong acid attack

Nine tourists and a child were among 30 people injured in an acid attack in a busy street in Hong Kong.

More than 100 people have been injured in similar attacks since December 2008 when bottles of acid were dropped from buildings in a pedestrian zone.

The latest attack was at the Temple Street night market in Yau Ma Tei when two bottles were thrown, state broadcaster RTHK reported.

The 30 people suffered light injuries and were treated in hospital.

Police were investigating, with firemen also on the scene, but no arrests had been made, AFP reported.

In December six people were injured when a bottle of acid was thrown down a street in Causeway Bay, a shopping hub which was packed with people celebrating the Hong Kong football team's victory over Japan in the East Asian Games final.

Police have previously offered 1.5 million Hong Kong dollars (£120,000; $190,000) for useful information on the attacks.

A rooftop camera network was set up over Mong Kok, the site of one attack, has failed to catch those responsible.

Urine test 'can detect dangerous snoring'

A urine test that can differentiate between dangerous and safe snoring is possible, say researchers at the University of Chicago.

They looked at 90 children referred to a clinic to be evaluated for breathing problems in sleep, and 30 controls.

A number of proteins were increased in the urine of the children diagnosed with dangerous snoring.

The research is published in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine.

The team say their findings need to be repeated but may lead to a simple test.

Sleep tests

The children all had standard overnight tests and some were classified as having obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA).

OSA can lead to mental, behavioural, cardiovascular and metabolic problems in children. It is estimated that up to 3% of all children up to the age of nine may suffer from it.

The researchers collected the children's first sample of urine on the morning after the sleep study.

They used a process with fluorescent dyes to separate and characterise the proteins in the urine and found three proteins at higher concentrations in the urine of children with OSA: urocortin 3, orosomucoid and uromodulin.

Another protein, kallikrein 1, was at lower levels in the urine.

The scientists say further research is needed to work out which proteins work best for a test and the right time to get the urine sample.

They think that it may be possible to develop a simple colour-based test like a pregnancy kit that can be done by doctors or parents.

Diagnostic screening

"It was rather unexpected that the urine would provide us with the ability to identify OSA" said Dr David Gozal, who led the research.

"If we can develop this further we might be able to screen children for OSA for a fraction of the cost of keeping them in a sleep clinic overnight, and it would overcome the huge waiting lists for such screening."

Ian Balfour, a respiratory consultant at the Royal Brompton Hospital, which carries out many sleep studies on children, said: "OSA is a big problem in children with large tonsils or who are obese.

"Some overweight children with this problem have to use ventilators to sleep at night.

"This is an interesting finding - the implication is that the children's renal and kidney function is being affected by their OSA.

"But the research is too far from being something practical doctors and patients would be able to use."

Dr Paul Gringras, consultant in Paediatric Neurodisability and Sleep Medicine at the Evelina Children's Hospital, agreed that OSA was an important condition because of its harmful impact on physical health as well as learning and behaviour.

"The specialist centres that can accurately identify true cases are few, and at full capacity" he said.

"It is appealing to look at certain proteins from a single urine sample that could make the diagnosis.

"This study is the first step towards this possibility, but more work is needed to check the test is reliable, when the best time of day is to perform the test, and, finally, to simplify the biochemical tests so that they are easier to carry out."

Grey squirrels 'do not harm woodland birds in England'

Grey squirrels do not have a significant impact on the populations of many of England's woodland bird species, a study has found.

Researchers from the British Trust for Ornithology and Natural England examined the impact of grey squirrels on 38 bird species across the country.

They found some evidence that grey squirrels may locally suppress the populations of some species.

But they do not appear to cause the birds any widespread or lasting harm.

The findings of the study, which contradict the view that grey squirrels have caused declines in British bird numbers over the past 40 years, are published in the Journal of Ornithology.

It has long been known that grey squirrels, an invasive species to the UK, predate on bird eggs and will also kill and eat fledglings. Red squirrels, the UK's native squirrel species, do the same.

Over the past four decades, many wild bird species have declined in abundance in the UK.

Many of these declines have been associated with changes to agricultural practice.

But it has often been argued that predators, such as grey squirrels, are also killing off native birds.

This threat - combined with the damage that grey squirrels can do to native trees, and the impact that grey squirrels may be having on the remaining populations of red squirrels - had led to calls last year, backed by Prince Charles, to cull the invasive species.

Blackbirds thrive despite the grey squirrels' taste for their eggs

However, firm evidence that predation by grey squirrels has caused national declines in the numbers of native bird species has been lacking.

So researchers at the British Trust for Ornithology (BTO) and Natural England (NE) reviewed a wealth of data on bird and grey squirrel numbers in England to search for evidence that greys were having an impact.

BTO ecologists Dr Stuart Newson, Dr David Leech and Dr Chris Hewson and NE's Dr Humphrey Crick and Mr Phil Grice examined 38 bird species associated with woodland, including common starlings, wood pigeons, wrens, woodpeckers, thrushes, warblers, tits and finches.

Data on their population sizes and that of grey squirrels was gathered by the Breeding Bird Survey.

Around 160,000 red squirrels remain in the UK, compared to 2.5 million grey squirrels Over 2 million of these grey squirrels live in England In the past, grey squirrels have been blamed for significant declines in now rare birds such as lesser spotted woodpeckers, common nightingales, tree pipits, willow warblers, song thrushes, willow and marsh tits and hawfinches

They found very little evidence that grey squirrels were suppressing bird numbers.

"Grey squirrels are very unlikely to have driven observed declines in woodland birds in recent years," Dr Newson told the BBC.

Of the 38 bird species, a statistically significant relationship between grey squirrel and bird population sizes was found for 12 species.

Of those, squirrels appeared to have a positive impact on seven bird species, a correlation probably caused by both mammal and bird species benefiting from similar changes to their habitat.

Grey squirrels had a negative impact on just five: the common blackbird, Eurasian collared dove, green woodpecker, long-tailed tit and Eurasian jay.

"Of these species, the most convincing evidence is for blackbird and collared dove," says Dr Newson.

For these two species, the researchers found a weak but significant relationship between the abundance of grey squirrels and a failure of the birds' nests.

However, while grey squirrels may be predating on these two species, the overall number of blackbirds and collared doves has gone up nationally, and even locally where grey squirrels are common.