This week in science news, we wonder why an asteroid is behaving in unusual ways, tackle a giant alligator and discover a mysterious bamboo that only blooms once a century.
At least in terms of size, the biggest news this week was the news of alligator weighing 920 lbs and measures 30 feet in length. The monster was caught during Florida’s annual statewide alligator harvest program to help keep the population under control. On the other side of the size spectrum, we learned about the tiny ones turtle larvae, which use their telescoping anuses to build shields out of shed skin and poo. Beautiful.
Looking into space, observations by a California high school teacher and his students suggest that the asteroid Dimorphos, which NASA intentionally hit with a rocket during its September 2022 DART mission, is behave in an unpredictable mannerwhile green comet Nishimura passed tantalizingly close to Earth. Astronomers have also suggested an extraterrestrial civilization with a telescope the size of the James Webb Space Telescope. to discover signs of life on Earthbefore our own JWST they saw potential signs of extraterrestrial life throughout the galaxy from there in our solar system.
This is complete nonsense.
Rafael Bojalil-Parra, research assistant
Of course, aliens on Earth also caused a stir this week mysterious “alien” bodies unveiled before the Mexican Congress, which drew much ridicule from the scientific community, and NASA’s first UFO report leaves many unanswered questions.
In the news about health, we learned about a gene variant that may protect against Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseaseordinary a decongestant ingredient that doesn’t workand why nicotine vapor is one of them the best tools to help people quit smoking. For those interested in embryology, there were two major stories this week as scientists grew human kidneys inside developing pig embryos for the first time and death of Ian Wilmuta British embryologist who created a clone of Dolly the sheep.
From the world of archeology we discovered a 4000 year old Canaanite arch in Israel which a cult could be useda collection of 7,000-year-old animal bones and human remains from an a mysterious stone structure in Arabiaand learned of divers who found the remains of an American airman from the wreckage of a World War II bomber near Malta.
We end this week’s roundup of science news with the mysterious henon bamboo, which blooms only once every 120 years, and scientists have no idea why.
Picture of the week
It might look innocuous enough, like a cigar holder or a comically oversized pen, but it’s no laughing matter with the contents of this tube, or more specifically, where it was taken. On September 8, the fragmentary remains of two ancient human relatives, Australopithecus sediba and Homo naledithey were taken aboard a Virgin Galactic flight to the edge of space, leaving behind an angry scientific community back on Earth.
It scares me that they were given permission. This is NOT science.
Sonia Zakrzewski, bioarchaeologist, X (f
It’s the first time the fossilized remains of ancient human relatives have reached the edge of space, after South Africa’s Heritage Resources Agency granted permission to board a plane – find out why aren’t scientists happy about it.
Weekend reading
And finally…
This incredible footage shows guard dogs stopping a puma hunting sheep in the pitch-black mountains of Patagonia. It’s the first time the behavior has ever been filmed, and it was captured using temperature-sensitive cameras and drones by a film crew working on National Geographic’s new documentary series “Animals Up Close with Bertie Gregory,” which is available to stream on Disney+.
But it wasn’t a chance encounter. Find out why they are farmers using dogs to protect their livestock from cougarsrather than hunting this protected predator.
