Month: June 2022

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We often think of plants as sedate, tranquil organisms that can’t help but keep to themselves. But not all plants are harmless wallflowers. Carnivorous plants, as the name suggests, eat prey – mostly bugs, but also small animals, and other nutrient-rich matter. While the whole idea seems vaguely nightmarish at first, these “ecologically unique” plants need our
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Archaeologists have revealed a complex of hidden passageways and galleries deep inside the ancient Chavín de Huántar temple complex in the Peruvian Andes. The researchers think the network of chambers and galleries was used in religious rituals, possibly involving psychedelic drugs. It’s the first time in about 3,000 years that these particular hidden structures have
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Multiple ancient hominin remains from caves in South Africa may be much, much older than previous estimates suggested. The Sterkfontein limestone cave system, not far from Johannesburg, has yielded so many ancient bones from the hominin genus Australopithecus over the last century that its location has been dubbed the Cradle of Humankind – deeply important
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A new published and incredibly thorough study of ectothermic tetrapods – reptiles and amphibians – gives experts a fresh insight into the reasons why cold-blooded animals tend to have such long lifespans in relation to their size. It’s the most comprehensive study of longevity and aging ever published: 114 different scientists looking at 107 different
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A fearsome ‘vampire’ predator that lurked in Earth’s oceans more than 160 million years ago probably did actually suck its prey, at least in a sense. A new analysis of exceptionally well-preserved fossils of a small cephalopod named Vampyronassa rhodanica, related to modern vampire squids (neither actually vampires, nor squids), reveals the presence of muscular
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Australian scientists have created the world’s first-ever quantum computer circuit – one that contains all the essential components found on a classical computer chip but at the quantum scale.  The landmark discovery, published in Nature today, was nine years in the making.  “This is the most exciting discovery of my career,” senior author and quantum
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Pluto’s life partner, Charon, has a disarming red ‘cap’. Ever since New Horizons snapped the moon‘s rust-tinted north pole on its 2015 flyby, scientists have pondered the planetary processes responsible for leaving such a bold landmark. Scientists initially suspected the iron-colored smear (nicknamed Mordor Macula) was methane captured from Pluto’s surface, its red color the