This week’s science news was full of stories highlighting humanity’s complex and often troubled relationship with nature, with forecasters predicting a possible “Super El Niño” this summer.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Climate Prediction Center has announced that there is currently a 62% chance that an El Niño will occur between June and August, and that the probability is particularly strong, with a 1 in 3 chance. If that happens, this climate pattern could easily cause already warming ocean temperatures to rise, making 2027 the hottest year on record.
Diver discovers Acropolis marble treasure in British shipwreck
In the early 19th century, Thomas Bruce, 7th Earl of Elgin and British ambassador to the Ottoman Empire, arrived at the ruins of the Acropolis of Athens to remove about half of the marble sculptures that once adorned the top exterior of the Parthenon, stripping much of the carvings from the walls of the ancient Greek holy site.
Many of these confiscated sculptures (later known as the Elgin Marbles) were shipped back to the UK and controversially remain on display to this day. However, not all of Bruce’s ships arrived. The brig “Mentor” sank in the Aegean Sea while transporting some of the sculptures, and its cargo was scattered around the wreck.
This time, divers discovered a marble fragment that had been overlooked but remained unrecovered. This is a triangular marble block with what looks like a nail on the bottom. It is hoped that archaeologists will be able to conduct further analysis of the block in the future and prove whether it came from the Parthenon itself or from elsewhere on the Acropolis.
More archeology news
– Monte Verde, one of South America’s oldest indigenous sites, is much younger than thought, a study claims. But some have called this “terribly poor geological research.”
—Equestrian statue of Marcus Aurelius: the only surviving larger-than-life statue of the pagan Roman emperor —A rarity renovated by Michelangelo
–Will the day ever come when the Indus Valley script will be deciphered?
life’s little mysteries
Yes, that’s right. Other animals may have jaw bones, but no other animals, not even gorillas, chimpanzees, or even extinct relatives of humans like Neanderthals, have the bony mental projections we commonly refer to as jaws. So why and how did the jaw evolve?
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Scientists create world’s first “hexagonal diamond”
Chinese researchers claim to have synthesized the first sample of a “hexagonal diamond”. This diamond is a mysterious and coveted material that is believed to be harder, harder, and chemically stronger than natural diamonds.
Scientists have been debating hexagonal diamonds for decades, in which carbon atoms are arranged in a hexagonal pattern rather than the cubic lattice found in natural diamonds. Diamonds were first theorized in 1962 and later discovered in a meteorite that reached Earth from the shattered mantle of a dwarf planet, but the evidence is controversial.
It now appears that three separate research groups have created samples of pure or nearly pure hexagonal diamond. If their findings can be consistently replicated and scaled up, it could open up all sorts of new applications, including drilling and quantum sensing.
More physics and space news
— Scientists have witnessed the birth of one of the strongest magnets in the universe for the first time, thanks to a “magic trick” of general relativity.
—All five “letters” of DNA discovered on an asteroid speeding through the solar system. What can they tell us about the origin of life?
—7-ton space rock explodes over eastern U.S., rare ‘daytime fireball’ meteor triggers powerful sonic boom
Also featured in this week’s science news
– Discovery of ‘dark oxygen’ on the ocean floor is ‘fundamentally inconsistent with thermodynamics’ and should be retracted, experts say
—An experimental AI agent infiltrated the test environment and mined cryptocurrencies without permission.
—Diagnostic Dilemma: A man goes to the doctor with a severe urinary tract infection and finds out he has a spare kidney.
— “We have evidence of wild boars, deer, bears and aurochs”: Ancient DNA reveals sunken areas
—“1,800-year-old nails discovered in three burial sites in Roman necropolis, may have provided ‘protection’ for both the living and the dead
—A single injection of an mRNA-like therapeutic healed the heart muscle of mice and pigs after heart attacks. Is it also effective for humans?
— How plants migrated from sea to land and changed the Earth forever
science spotlight
Alzheimer’s disease accounts for 60% to 80% of all dementia cases and affects tens of millions of people worldwide. It is a complex, multifactorial, and tenacious disease that has resisted all treatments, even the primary one focused on clearing amyloid plaques found in the brain.
However, a study published in January suggests that the risk of developing the condition may be primarily linked to one gene called apolipoprotein E (APOE). Does this mean gene therapy for this disease is now a reality? Live Science contributor RJ Mackenzie explores in this long read.
something for the weekend
If you’re looking for something a little longer to read over the weekend, here are some of the best analysis, crossword and opinion pieces published this week.
—Artemis II: NASA is preparing to return to the moon, but why? [Analysis]
— Live Science Crossword Puzzle #34: Famous space telescope launched in 1990 — 5 on the side [Crossword]
—Measles resurgence in the U.S. is a frightening sign of things to come [Opinion]
Science news in pictures
This rainbow-speckled white space is a 2011 aerial photo of Lake Etosha, a roughly 1,800-square-mile (4,700-square-kilometer) salt flat north of Namibia’s capital Windhoek.
Satellite images show a pair of ephemeral rivers like snakes flowing into a pot. Around the winding channel are more than a dozen bowl-shaped depressions that occasionally fill with water as the river sporadically floods its banks.
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