Squid and human brains develop the same way despite diverging 500 million years ago, reports Ben Turner for Live Science. "Despite 500 million years of divergent evolution" --the basic blueprint for how complex brains and nervous systems evolve may be the same across a wide range of species. Read more.
What Happened to All of Science’s Big Breakthroughs?--A new study finds a steady drop since 1945 in disruptive feats as a share of the world’s booming enterprise in scientific and technological advancement, reports New York Times Science. “We should be in a golden age of new discoveries and innovations,” said Michael Park, an author of the paper and a doctoral candidate in entrepreneurship and strategic management at the University of Minnesota.
The Pentagon’s long hunt for UFOs--Opinion by Erik German and Peter Bergen for CNN. Erik German is a producer and writer whose work has been published by The New York Times, Time, Frontline, and other publications. Peter Bergen is CNN’s national security analyst and a professor of practice at Arizona State University. "The number of UFO sightings dramatically increased between March 2021 and August 2022, during which 247 new sightings were reported. Most of those reports came from pilots or others working for the US Navy and US Air Force."
How the giant donkeys of ancient Rome changed the course of human history, reports BBC Future. "In a French village around 174 miles (280km) east of Paris, archaeologists have made a discovery that is helping to rewrite much of what we know about these under-appreciated beasts of burden."
How one volcano could trigger global chaos, reports BBC Future. It's only a few hundred miles long, but when a natural disaster strikes near the Malacca Strait, the consequences could be global, writes Tom Ough. "Every year, approximately 90,000 ships pass through the narrow sea lane of the Malacca Strait, which links the Indian Ocean to the Pacific, comprising an estimated 40% of world trade. Above these ships is one of the busiest air routes in the world, and below them, is a dense array of submarine internet cables that keep the world online.
Mars meteorite that crashed to Earth contains 'huge diversity' of organic compounds, reports Harry Baker for Live Science. A new study into the Tissint meteorite, which crash-landed in Morocco in 2011, revealed a wide array of organic compounds hidden in the rare space rock.
Parts of Greenland now hotter than at any time in the last 1,000 years, scientists say--New research in the northern part of Greenland finds temperatures are already 2.7 degrees warmer than they were in the 20th century, reports The Washington Post. Read more.
The parable of the last corals on Earth--Red Sea reefs could be global warming's only survivors — if local political divisions don't kill them first, reports Karl Mathiesen in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt
Why hasn't E.T. phoned Earth? Maybe aliens are waiting for the exact right moment, reports Stephanie Pappas for Space.com. "A new search for alien signals focuses on planetary transits, when exoplanets pass right in front of their suns."
Bat-people on the Moon – what a famed 1835 hoax reveals about misinformation today, reports Aeon. "As The Great Moon Hoax chronicles, the Moon proved fertile ground for misinformation long before the persistent conspiracy theory that the Apollo landings were faked."
Ancient Roman Concrete Has “Self-Healing” Capabilities--Mineral deposits called “lime clasts” found in ancient Roman concrete give the material self-healing capabilities that could help engineers develop more resilient modern concrete and reduce its associated emissions, reports Scientific American.
How extinct animals could be brought back from the dead, reports BBC Future. "From an Australian frog that swallowed its own eggs to woolly mammoths, scientists are getting ever closer to being able to bring long-lost species back from the dead." Read more.
The Galaxy Report newsletter brings you daily news of space and science that has the capacity to provide clues to the mystery of our existence and add a much needed cosmic perspective in our current Anthropocene Epoch.