Montezuma was one of the most influential figures in Aztec history, yet there’s a lot we don’t know about him. We know that he reigned from 1502 until 1520 and that he famously expanded the Aztec Empire, but the personality and details of this larger-than-life figure come mostly from the invading Spaniards — their accounts shrouded in prejudice, says Matthew Restall, a historian, and author, of When Montezuma Met Cortés.Montezuma, the Man“The Spaniards in Mexico constructed an extremely ...read more
Take a moment to imagine the moon, conjuring its speckled surface inside your mind. Think of its imperfections, its spots and splotches, carved out and cratered from the impacts of asteroids, meteorites, and comets. Chances are that your imagination conjured something surprisingly similar to mine, and to the imaginations of countless others.The reason for this similarity is simple: We almost always see the same surface when we stare at the moon, the same patterns of craters and cavities, thanks ...read more
Why did the lion swim across crocodile-infested waters? It was his only remaining option to find a mate, according to a study in Ecology and Evolution. That report was based on observations of lion behaviors driven by skewed sex ratios in a Uganda national park. The swim — across a channel over half a mile wide — may be the longest recorded by a lion.The swim’s length, as well as its obstacles (the waters contained plenty of hippos as well as crocs) shows the lengths that lions will go to ...read more
One of the great fears of modern times is that generative AI systems are giving malicious actors unprecedented power to lie, manipulate and steal on a scale previously unimaginable and that this will undermine our systems of trust, democracy and society. Examples abound of from election interference to the mass-production of fake reviews. Indeed, it’s easy to imagine that these are just a small fraction of the insidious endeavor currently undermining our way of life. The truth is more nuanced ...read more
Tardigrades are the undisputed masters of survival. Bake them at 300 degrees Fahrenheit, freeze them to within a degree of absolute zero, deprive them of water and oxygen, subject them to the vacuum of space — they will still survive. And now scientists have begun to show how we can harness their legendary resilience to advance human medicine. Inspired by the feats of these near-microscopic animals (also known as water bears), researchers at the University of Wyoming wanted to see what would h ...read more
Author Vishay SinghPosted on Categories Discover Magazine