A "smokestorm" swirls over North America, as seen by the GOES-16 satellite on May 20, 2023. (Credit: Screenshot of animation RAMMB/CIRA Slider animation)On May 20, 2023, the GOES-16 satellite acquired astonishing imagery of what one climate scientist described as a "smokestorm." It happened as massive amounts of smoke billowing up from wildfires blazing in the western Canadian province of Alberta got sucked into a low-pressure weather system whirling counterclockwise near the border of Canada an ...read more
About 250 million years ago, widespread volcanic eruptions changed the earth’s atmosphere and thus its climate, setting off “The Great Dying,” otherwise known as the Permian extinction. Some nine out of 10 species disappeared over the course of about a million years, during which herbivores and predators alike jockeyed for resources, including the formidable inostrancevia.A saber-toothed meat-eater that likely had tough skin like a rhino and ran on all fours, the inostrancevia was the larg ...read more
Most breeds of chicken go around barefoot, with no feathers on their talons. But a new study found a simple genetic method to reverse this, neatly transforming scales into something else. Even the smallest changes in gene expression can affect embryonic development.The researchers’ method, carried out through the so-called Sonic Hedgehog pathway, could also help explain how scaly dinosaurs eventually evolved into lineages of small, feathery birds.Egg CandlingThe study took 11-day-old incubatin ...read more
Mate Parica is an archaeologist from the University of Zadar in Croatia, and in 2021, he discovered the sunken settlement of Soline after spotting something strange off the coast of the famous Croatian island of Korcula, the reported birthplace of Marco Polo.After spotting the darkened shape, he thought, “Maybe it is natural, maybe not,” he later told Reuters.A specialist in underwater archaeology, Parica thought he’d spotted a manmade structure submerged off the island’s eastern coast, ...read more
The relationships you choose don’t just impact your mental health. The stress or happiness they cultivate also affects your long-term and short-term physical health. Researchers are finding that the quality of our relationships with our partners, family members and friends can be as important, or in some cases, more important, to human health than habits like smoking, diet, exercising and drinking alcohol. Humans are social beings meant to work together toward a common goal, and, as a result ...read more
Author Vishay SinghPosted on Categories Discover Magazine
