Imagine being charged by a woolly mammoth. You hold a wooden spear with a razor-sharp stone tip. Do you hurl it at the 10,000-pound animal and hope it pierces its thick leathery skin? Or do you stay put, plant the base into the ground and trust that the beast will impale itself?The conventional wisdom — both scientific and cultural — has long favored the first version. But archeological evidence and an experimental approach shows that the second may have been more realistic and common during ...read more
Antlers are like giant, imposing cradles, sometimes stretching out from an animal’s head in a bowl-like shape with horns reaching for the sky.And there is variation in horns and antlers among many animals. In a recent study published in Communications Biology, researchers found that ruminant headgear may have evolved from a common ancestor that lived 15 million years to 20 million years ago.“There’s some sort of genetic predisposition that this family has towards ornamentation,” says Zac ...read more
Paleontologists have uncovered one of the best-preserved dinosaurs ever found in the United Kingdom on the Isle of Wight. In a recent study, the team presented Comptonatus chasei as a new species of iguanodontian that roamed Earth around 125 million years ago in the Early Cretaceous.The research team described it as one of the most complete fossil dinosaurs discovered in the U.K. in the last century; the last incredibly well-preserved specimen was also a species of iguanodon. It’s the latest i ...read more
While the American Psychiatric Association only formally recognized attention-deficit hyperactivity disorders (ADHD) in the late 1960s, the traits associated with the now commonly diagnosed conditions are embodied by famous individuals throughout history. Famous People in History with ADHDAlexander the Great, for example, was born in 356 B.C.E. and was the ancient Macedonian king known for his bold conquests and impulsive acts. “Probably by today's standards [he] would have ADHD,” says Nikki ...read more
Some 48 light-years away, in the constellation Cetus, lies an ice-covered planet straight out of Star Wars central casting. One hemisphere always faces the host star, creating a small melted ocean on the permanent day side that gives it the appearance of a gargantuan eyeball. What’s more, this watery orb, almost twice as large as Earth, may be our best shot at finding habitable conditions elsewhere in the universe.The latest picture of LHS 1140 b (named because it orbits a red dwarf star calle ...read more
Author Vishay SinghPosted on Categories Discover Magazine