Theropods – the family of dinosaurs that included the mighty Tyrannosaurus rex and the smaller Allosaurus – had the largest and most sophisticated brains of any such dinosaur group. But scientists aren’t sure how they used these advanced faculties, whether for hunting or tracking down the next corpse to scavenge.A 2011 study found that if you set loose a group of scavenging T. rex’s in an environment comparable to the Serengeti in Africa, they would struggle to survive. But a new st ...read more
Cats are mysterious creatures. There’s a lot we don’t understand about them. Why do they sleep on our heads? Why do they almost always land on their feet? Why do they love boxes so much? One cat mystery, however, may have been solved. A team of European researchers say they’ve found an answer to the question — how do cats purr — that has vexed science, and owners, for decades.How Do Cats Purr?Cats have an amazing vocal range, from high-pitched yowls and screeches to deep, resonant pu ...read more
Mars looms large in the scientific imagination, as well as in fiction. Of all the worlds of the solar system, it’s the only one Earth-like enough for exploration with Earth-like tools: Its atmosphere is thin and transparent, its surface is dry and cold, and it’s close enough for regular study. From telescope eyepieces, we’ve probed the Red Planet for centuries. And over the past 50 years, we’ve even sent instruments for a closer look.However, in geological terms, that’s just a sliver o ...read more
The routes that our ancestors followed out of Africa have been long debated. But now researchers have uncovered evidence that the so-called northern route — a traverse that took Homo sapiens from the Sinai Peninsula into the Jordan Rift Valley — might have been a particularly viable corridor during the last interglacial period, which persisted from about 129,000 to 71,000 years ago. Sediments unearthed at three sites in southern Jordan suggest that wetland conditions likely persisted there ...read more
Acapulco wasn’t prepared when Hurricane Otis struck as a powerful Category 5 storm on Oct. 25, 2023. The short notice as the storm rapidly intensified over the Pacific Ocean wasn’t the only problem – the Mexican resort city’s buildings weren’t designed to handle anything close to Otis’ 165 mph winds.While Acapulco’s oceanfront high-rises were built to withstand the region’s powerful earthquakes, they had a weakness.Since powerful hurricanes are rare in Acapulco, Mexico’s b ...read more
Author Vishay SinghPosted on Categories Discover Magazine