Weird & Interesting science

[robkelk]

Ancient plants learned to survive on land by stealing other species' DNA

[robkelk]

When we saved the ozone layer, we saved ourselves from even worse climate change

[robkelk]

New technology might make carbon-capture the same price as carbon taxes

Which, if it happens, would make actually cleaning up one's own mess just as attractive as paying to be allowed to continue being an environmental slob.

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Ancient 'coal dragon' is now the oldest parareptile ever found

[robkelk]

Ophiocoma wendtii, the red brittle star, has half an eye. Many, many half eyes. It can see just fine.

So, if anybody asks what good is half an eye, point them at the red brittle star.

[RMH999]

https://www.space.com/dimming-star-betel...rnova.html

The star Betelgeuse has dimmed notably since mid-October to it's lowest recorded level. It was in the top 10 brightest stars, but now is somewhere around 21st-22nd.

[robkelk]

Dinosaur found with signs of tumour-causing disease that afflicts humans today

So, if you're planning on traveling back in time, be sure your vaccinations are up to date.

[robkelk]

"Scientists have discovered something they didn't think existed: an animal that can't breathe oxygen, and obviously doesn't need to."

No mitochondria at all in Henneguya salminocola

[robkelk]

https://www.space.com/dimming-star-betel...rnova.html

The star Betelgeuse has dimmed notably since mid-October to it's lowest recorded level.  It was in the top 10 brightest stars, but now is somewhere around 21st-22nd.

It's getting better... so no boom today.


EDIT: Sorry, that's just Betelgeuse that isn't exploding. Big boom today outside our galaxy.

The explosion was so large it carved out a crater in the hot gas that could hold 15 Milky Ways, said lead author Simona Giacintucci of the Naval Research Laboratory in Washington.

[Black Aeronaut]

Huh. Makes me wonder if the OMG Particle was a front runner for that explosion.

[classicdrogn]

Couldn't be, if we can observe the cavity now. That means lots and lots of much slower particles have reached us to observe it with, that set out after it'd had time enough to grow to that size from effectively a point source in astronomical terms.

I agree it would have been cool though.

[robkelk]

Yes, this cuttlefish is wearing 3D glasses to watch a movie. Here’s why



For some reason, I'm reminded of Ika Musume...

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Yes, there actually are two different species of red pandas

Genetic testing says so!

[robkelk]

'Mini-Neptune' exoplanet could be potentially habitable

Assuming you don't mind living in an aerostat of some sort, that is. Gas giants, no matter how small, don't have solid surfaces.

[robkelk]

We've been cloud seeding for decades, but now we finally know it works

[robkelk]

Smallest dinosaur ever found was hummingbird-sized

Its brain is a little smaller than that of the bee hummingbird, the smallest living bird, said Ryan McKellar, a Canadian paleontologist who co-authored the study with Chinese, Canadian and U.S. researchers. "But once you include the snout, you're talking about something that's about the same size."

Technically, the bee hummingbird is a dinosaur itself, as all modern living birds are, making the new species the smallest extinct dinosaur.

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Weather forecast for this exoplanet: iron rain

It's a "hot Jupiter", mind you.

[Bob Schroeck]

InterestingEngineering.com answers the question of the ages: What is the airspeed velocity of an unladen swallow?

[robkelk]

3 human species shared Africa 300K years ago

[Norgarth]

'missing link' Black Hole discovered

[robkelk]

Finally, an answer for the question of the ages:

Where's the best place to add Mentos to Diet Coke for the most foam?

[robkelk]

A pandemic side-effect: Weather forecasts may become increasingly inaccurate

[Norgarth]

NASA spacecraft takes mind blowing photos of Jupiter
https://physics-astronomyblog.blogspot.c...PzL9M1OZzM

[robkelk]

Reduced noise pollution from traffic, industry allows detection of magnitude-zero earthquakes

[robkelk]

NASA is still going through data from the Kepler telescope... and have found an Earth-sized planet in its star's "Goldilocks zone".

[Norgarth]

Astronomers saw a star dancing around a black hole. And it proves Einstein's theory was right
https://edition.cnn.com/2020/04/16/world...G2mkxmFX80

[Norgarth]

Tales of Human History Told by Neandertal and Denisovan DNA That Persist in Modern Humans
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=54zB8FOl...QDL8hJFBLg

[Labster]

https://www.space.com/dimming-star-betel...rnova.html

The star Betelgeuse has dimmed notably since mid-October to it's lowest recorded level.  It was in the top 10 brightest stars, but now is somewhere around 21st-22nd.

It's getting better... so no boom today.

Just as a follow up, no article, but it looked pretty bright tonight to me.  I looked it up and, well, it looks like Betelgeuse is back up to magnitude 0.5 or so.  You can see on that plot there are a lot more obs after the dimming got really noticeable.