This story was originally published in our Mar/Apr 2023 issue. Click here to subscribe to read more stories like this one. Across Mexico’s Yucatán Peninsula, pools of azure water punch through the landscape like Swiss cheese. In many of these sinkholes, called cenotes (pronounced “seh-NOtays”), braided root systems and spiraling foliage descend multiple stories down limestone walls to soak in the oases. Increasingly, however, the flora is sharing these cool waters with throngs of human ...read more
You might imagine that the spinosaur mind was one-of-a-kind. Trampling through the British Isles as many as 125 million years ago, it makes sense to think that these dinosaurs had something special swirling around inside their heads. But a paper published in the Journal of Anatomy says otherwise. According to the paper, a team of researchers recently reconstructed the basic brain structure of two spinosaur specimens based off the shape and size of their braincases. And despite the fact that thes ...read more
This article was originally published on Oct. 26, 2022 and has been edited to include recent information on UAPs and unidentified objects. A 16-member crew from NASA will study Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena, an updated name from Unidentified Aerial Phenomena (UAPs) — formerly known as Unidentified Flying Objects (UFOs). According to a NASA press release, the team will analyze and establish the framework for future studies around UAPs for NASA and other organizations. UAPs interest nation ...read more
Exoplanet hunting is evolving from a science searching for exotic new worlds into one that is attempting to better understand these planets and to characterize them. Astrobiologists are especially interested in worlds that might support life. One important characteristic is the existence of liquid water, which is essential for life on Earth. So astrobiologists have focused on finding other Earths in the region around stars where liquid water might exist, the so-called habitable zone. And they ha ...read more
Archeologists recently recovered a nearly 16-meter (52-foot) long ancient Egyptian papyrus writing from a tomb in Saqqara, Egypt. The writing — which is more than 2,000 years old — was found inside a coffin and contained a portion of the Egyptian Book of the Dead. Experts have already completed the work needed to preserve the papyrus, and are translating the writing into Arabic to better understand what it means and why it was placed in its specific coffin. What is the Book of the Dead? ...read more
Author Vishay SinghPosted on Categories Discover Magazine