Science news this week: Asia’s tallest tree and the mysterious brain spiral
News this week was dominated by the search for the OceanGate Titan submersible that went missing while descending into the Titanic’s wreckage. Tragically, the US Coast Guard said the wreckage found near the sunken ocean liner was part of the missing submarine and that “catastrophic implosion,” killing the five men inside.
Elsewhere, there was a lot of science to exercise your brain cells this week. An interesting discovery was made. exotic new state of matter It is made up of particles called excitons. Special studies examining the cosmological constant problem suggest the following. The expansion of the universe may be an illusion; and your brain itself mysterious spiral signal It can be the key to our awareness.
Even more obviously, we tallest tree in asiaStanding 102 meters (335 feet) tall and anatomically accurate, the 42,00-year-old phallus pendant is the world’s earliest known depiction of the human genital organ.
The intriguing topic of ancient animals has also made science news, and this week we have an armored ankylosaurus suggesting previously unknown migrations, a giant sea monster decapitated with one clean bite, and a giant sea monster that washed up during New Zealand’s deadly Cyclone Gabriel. Learned about fossil sets. .
In health news, we find that the main genetic risk factor for Dupuytren’s disease, a disabling hand disorder also known as “Viking’s disease,” comes from Neanderthals, and, rather unpleasantly, the microplastics in the credit cards we inhale every week. end.
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photo of the week
this Impressive time-lapse photos of over 100 individual lightning bolts Filmed during a violent thunderstorm in Türkiye. At least three types of lightning stand out. From cloud to earth, where the bolt hits the ground; From clouds to water where bolts hit the water.
Astrophotographer Uğur İkizler created a thrilling image by combining individual photos collected over 50 minutes, with lightning striking every 30 seconds on average.
“They are all beautiful, but when you combine all the lightning into one frame, it was a terrifying sight,” İkizler told Live Science via email. The thunderstorm was “a grand visual feast”, he added.
weekend reading
And finally…
Here on Earth, the sun may seem serene and stable, but our home star is in a state of perpetual flux, changing over time from a uniform sea of fire to a chaotic jumble of warped plasma and back again in repeating 11-year cycles. . .
During this cycle, the sun’s magnetic field becomes tangled like a tightly coiled ball of rubber band that eventually breaks apart, turning the star’s north pole into a south pole in the process. The period leading up to this massive reversal is known as solar maxima and is filled with increased sunspot numbers, bizarre plasma structures, and massive solar storms. This is a potentially dangerous time for the planet as it is bombarded with solar storms that can disrupt communication systems, damage power infrastructure and crash satellites toward Earth.
Some scientists believe that the next solar maximum could come sooner than we thought, and could be even more powerful, and we’re ill-prepared for it.
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