In Dec. 22 SN: Our top stories of 2018, baffling star behavior, early hominids in North Africa, the oldest evidence of vanilla, wombat poop physics, Earth’s impact craters and more.
CHYTRID SURVIVOR After a decade in which people feared they were extinct, five Sehuencas water frogs have been discovered in Bolivia, including this female named Juliet. Researchers plan to introduce her to Romeo, a frog in captivity that until now was the last known survivor of his species.
Robin Moore
SKEETER STYMIED The Aedes aegypti mosquito can transmit viral diseases like Zika and dengue. Molecules produced by an insect-killing bacteria appear to keep these mosquitoes at bay as effectively as DEET.
Guilherme Omella Mainieri/Alamy Stock Photo
GROWING MYSTERY An investigation of growth lines in an ancient East Asian child’s teeth (two digitally reconstructed teeth shown) uncovered a developmental pattern similar to that of modern humans. But the child’s species is unclear.
S. Xing and Paul Tafforeau
ROAMING BOT Researchers designed a robot called OroBOT to re-create and analyze different gaits that Orobates pabsti, a four-legged creature that lived about 290 million years ago, might have used.
Tomislav Horvat and K. Melo/EPFL Lausanne
