About 100 million years ago, a sparrow-sized microraptorian (a long-lost cousin of modern birds) sped across the landscape of modern-day South Korea, leaving behind a mysterious set of footprints with surprisingly long strides. Now, paleontologists suggest that the species used a unique type of aerial motion: flap-running. Published in a study in the journal PNAS in October, the findings may improve our understanding of the origins of flight.“It had only two toes on each foot, and that’s wha ...read more
Every galaxy has a supermassive black hole at its center, much like every egg has a yolk. But sometimes, hens lay eggs with two yolks. In a similar way, astrophysicists like uswho study supermassive black holes expect to find binary systems – two supermassive black holes orbiting each other – at the hearts of some galaxies.Black holes are regions of space where gravity is so strong that not even light can escape from their vicinity. They form when the core of a massive star collapses on itse ...read more
Asteroid impacts have changed Earth’s landscape time and time again. Some impacts caused great change to occur, like the Chicxulub Impactor, which led to the mass extinction of dinosaurs around 65 million years ago. While an impact like this caused severe changes to the climate and ended the lines of most non-avian dinosaurs, a new study published in Communications Earth & Environment found that massive asteroid hits may not have changed the planet’s climate in the long term. After anal ...read more
Although the contemporary Paleo Diet is trendy, there’s long been anthropological debate about what early man actually ate. Mostly fruit and berries, gathered from foraging? Small game? Or massive mammals?“That’s been quite a controversy in the last decade or so,” says James Chatters of McMaster University. Chatters and colleagues have attempted to end this debate with a report in Science Advances that says North American people 13,000 years ago dined primarily on large mammals — with ...read more
Scientists discovered evidence that North Americans tried to tame or domesticate canines 12,000 years ago.Analyzing biomarkers in a canine fossil found at an early human campsite revealed a significant signature for salmon. Since canines didn't pursue fish as their primary prey, the preponderance of isotopes in the canine bone signaling salmon presence suggests that humans fed the canine fish. This finding pushes back attempts to either tame or domesticate canines in North America about 2,000 ye ...read more
Author Vishay SinghPosted on Categories Discover Magazine