The weather inside our Solar System is tough to track. But even tougher to track is the weather outside our Solar System. Implementing all four of the telescope units of the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope (VLT), a team of researchers has observed the weather on WASP-121b, or Tylos, an exoplanet around 900 light-years away, identifying the layers of its atmosphere for the first time. Reporting their results in a study in Nature, the team identified three layers of churning ...read more
There’s a new king in town — if the town you’re talking about is the Egyptian jungle 30 million years ago.Paleontologists unearthed a nearly complete skull of an apex predator, which likely hunted early versions of primates, hippos, and elephants in what is now a desert. The skull included sharp teeth and signs of powerful jaw muscles. The scientists described it as having a hypercarniverous diet in recent study published in the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology.The leopard-like animal sk ...read more
The demise of dinosaurs around 66 million years ago sent major ripples throughout ecosystems, and it may have even paved the way for fruit to evolve. New research has scoured through the evolutionary history of fruit and seeds to determine when and how they changed in size over time, confirming that dinosaur extinction led to the growth of large fruit that fueled our primate ancestors’ diets. A recent study published in the journal Palaeontology shows the ebbs and flows of seed size throughou ...read more
While bird flu has rendered eggs expensive, are they still safe to eat? In April 2024, when Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) began taking hold in U.S. poultry flocks, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued a consumer guidance assuring the public that eggs remain safe for human consumption. “The likelihood that eggs from infected poultry are found in the retail market is low and proper storage and preparation further reduce the risk,” according to the FDA guidance.The risk ...read more
On August 10, 1628, Vasa, the would-be jewel of Sweden’s navy sank only minutes after departing Stockholm. This tragedy – that claimed the lives of 30 of those on board – launched an inquest probing how the hulking 64-cannon ship met such an shameful end. Since the ship still exists almost in its entirety – held at a dedicated museum near Stockholm – we know that investigation was largely correct in its findings. The Sinking of the Swedish WarshipOn the day itself, Vasa set sail on cal ...read more
Author Vishay SinghPosted on Categories Discover Magazine