Scientist Accidentally Discovers The Oldest Brain to The Stone Age Milky Way
Planet Earth Edition
Today’s stories include For Planet Earth, This Might Be the Start of a New Age to What Would Earth’s Temperature Be Like Without an Atmosphere? and more.
For Planet Earth, This Might Be the Start of a New Age-A panel of experts has spent more than a decade deliberating on how, and whether, to mark a momentous new epoch in geologic time, reports the New York Times: "The official timeline of Earth’s history — from the oldest rocks to the dinosaurs to the rise of primates, from the Paleozoic to the Jurassic and all points before and since — could soon include the age of nuclear weapons, human-caused climate change and the proliferation of plastics, garbage and concrete across the planet."
What Would Earth’s Temperature Be Like Without an Atmosphere?--If you want to know what the cloud of gas that surrounds the planet is really doing for us, you have to see what the world would be like without it, reports Wired.com. "That average temperature includes the surface of all the oceans as well as regions near the poles. So maybe 13.9 C isn't that cold?"
These Extinct Elephants Were Neanderthals’ ‘Biggest Calorie Bombs’--A study of butchered bones from 125,000 years ago offers what researchers call “the first clear-cut evidence of elephant-hunting in human evolution,” reports Franz Lidz for The New York Times. "The findings challenge the assumption that Neanderthals were basically nomads who lived in bands of no more than 25, in isolation from one another."
Embers of an Ancient Inferno Pinpoint The Worst Extinction in Earth's History, reports Nature. "The link between ancient volcanic eruptions and the most severe extinction event the world has ever seen just got stronger. A new analysis of mercury isotopes has provided evidence that a quarter of a billion years ago, far-flung places in Earth's Southern Hemisphere were blanketed with debris from volcanic eruptions in Siberia.
Scientist Accidentally Discovers The Oldest Brain of Any Vertebrate, reports Science Alert. "Paleontologist Matt Friedman was surprised to discover a remarkably detailed 319-million-year-old fish brain fossil while testing out micro-CT scans for a broader project."
Mysterious Medieval City in Africa Had a Genius System to Survive Drought, reports Carly Cassella for Science Alert. "Great Zimbabwe was the first major city in southern Africa, home to an estimated 18,000 people at its peak. Yet no one really knows why it now lies in ruins, but archaeologists have now found evidence of careful water conservation amid the wreckage."
Māori Voyaged to Antarctica at Least 1,000 Years Before Europeans, Study Finds, reports Science Alert. "Researchers first highlight an early 7th century southern voyage by a Polynesian chief Hui Te Rangiora and his crew. This would have likely made them the first humans to see Antarctic waters, over a thousand years before the Russian expedition and even long before Polynesian settlers' planned migration to New Zealand.
Bigfoot Has a Very Simple Explanation, Scientist Says, reports Science. "A data scientist by the name of Floe Foxon has shown that most Bigfoot sightings in the United States and Canada were probably black bears, plodding about on their hind legs."
Scientists Have Created a New Type of Ice--It looks like a white powder and has nearly the same density as liquid water, reports Smithsonian Magazine. "By shaking a jar of ice and metal balls at extremely cold temperatures, the team created a white powdery ice with different properties than any kind previously known."
Do undersea cables affect marine life? explores BBC Future. "Submarine cables carry electricity and information across vast oceans and seas, but we're only beginning to understand their possible impact on delicate marine life."
How climate change threatens to close ski resorts, reports BBC Future Planet. "The Alps experienced record high temperatures over Christmas and New Year, reaching 20.9C (70F) in northwest Switzerland. "It was exceptionally warm over Christmas and New Year," says Stephanie Dijkman, director of Anzère tourism. "Nearly all the snow in the village was gone. I was quite worried." People were unable to ski down to the village, she adds.
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