Jingszo !

Mammals have developed some unusual eating habits over the past 100 million years, but a new study has uncovered the surprising lengths to which some have gone to satisfy one of the more peculiar—a taste for ants and termites.

Findings published in Evolution reveal that mammals independently evolved specialized adaptations for exclusively feeding on ants and termites at least 12 times since the Cenozoic era began, roughly 66 million years ago.

In the paper, the scientists have highlighted how CoT monitoring has already proved its worth by detecting examples of AI misbehavior, such as when models act in a misaligned way "by exploiting flaws in their reward functions during training" or "manipulating data to achieve an outcome."

The scientists believe that better monitoring of CoTs could be a valuable way to keep AI agents under control as they become more capable.

Neanderthals lived in the nearby caves of Amud and Kebara between 50 and 60,000 years ago, using the same tools and hunting the same prey. But scientists studying the cutmarks on the remains of their prey have found that the two groups seem to have butchered their food in visibly different ways, which can’t be explained by the skill of the butchers or the resources or tools used at each site. These differences could represent distinct cultural food practices, such as drying meat before butchering it.

‘Silesaurs’ are bird-line archosaurs that either represent the sister clade to dinosaurs or a paraphyletic grade of early ornithischians. Here, we describe a partial silesaur femur, NHMUK PV R37051, from the Ladinian/Carnian Ntawere Formation of Zambia. This femur is notable for being one of the largest silesaur specimens yet known, both globally and from the Ntawere Formation. The description of this new specimen means that two out of the three largest silesaur individuals are now known from the latter stratigraphic unit. A detailed morphological and osteohistological description of the specimen is presented alongside comparisons with other silesaur femora. Although NHMUK PV R37051 cannot be confidently referred to the only named Ntawere silesaur, Lutungutali sitwensis, it is also not morphologically distinct enough to justify erecting a new taxon. Furthermore, osteohistological data rule out a simple ontogenetic explanation for these large Ntawere silesaurs. This taxonomic uncertainty suggests that a more conservative approach is needed when scoring L. sitwensis into phylogenetic datasets. The existence of these large silesaurs challenges our understanding of dinosaur size evolution and its implications for the very early stages of their rise to ecological dominance.

A critical part of understanding and identifying habitable worlds is understanding how their atmospheres evolve, including atmospheric escape. Atmospheric escape is a natural part of planetary evolution, and it has occurred throughout Earth's history. However, it was much more pronounced in Earth's early history, due to the Sun's energetic output and more frequent impacts from asteroids and comets. In current times, the escape is minimal, though steady.

Since atmospheric escape is much more pronounced in a planet's early years, it can shape its future habitability.

Here we report the discovery of a metre-long front flipper of the large-bodied Jurassic ichthyosaur Temnodontosaurus, including unique details of its soft-tissue anatomy. In addition to revealing a wing-like planform, the fossil preserves a serrated trailing edge that is reinforced by novel cartilaginous integumental elements, herein denominated chondroderms.

We also document chordwise-parallel skin ornamentations and a protracted fleshy distal tip that presumably acted like a flexible winglet in life.

By integrating morphological and numerical data, we show that the observed features probably provided hydroacoustic benefits, and conclude that the visually guided Temnodontosaurus relied on stealth while hunting in dim-lit pelagic environments.

This unexpected combination of control surface modifications represents a previously unrecognized mode of concealment, and underscores the importance of soft-tissue fossils when inferring aspects of palaeoethology and predator–prey palaeoecology.

The presence and stability of brines on Mars’s surface remain a significant mystery in planetary exploration. Previous mechanisms proposed for brine formation include melting of ice-salt mixtures and salt deliquescence. However, melting lacks a recharge mechanism, and deliquescence is impeded by Mars’s extreme surface aridity.

This study explores an underexplored process: the role of seasonal frost in brine formation. Utilizing meteorological data from the Viking 2 lander—the only mission, with Phoenix, to observe in situ water frost formation—I demonstrate that brines can form over approximately 30 sols at the end of winter as frost sublimates.

The stable brines exhibit a water activity upper limit of 0.52, corresponding to the eutectic point of calcium perchlorate, a salt detected in various Martian regions, likely including the Viking 2 landing site.

Consequently, I conclude that calcium perchlorate can generate small amounts of liquid brine in contact with frost for brief periods.

The seasonal nature of frost suggests these brines recur and may leave long-term imprints. Therefore,frost-covered regions are prime candidates for future habitability and astrobiological exploration.

The presence of massive H-related species in lunar soil has been confirmed, and these species can potentially be converted into water with appropriate treatments. In this work, an in situ photothermal lunar water extraction and utilization technology was proposed. The extracted lunar water enabled the conversion of CO2 into O2, H2, and CO with photothermal catalytic technology.

Such a finding has great potential to be integrated into the extraterrestrial photosynthesis pathway to convert CO2 and water vapor into essential chemicals and oxygen.

The fact that 2023 KQ14 now follows an orbit different from the other sednoids indicates that the outer solar system is more diverse and complex than previously thought. This discovery also places new constraints on the hypothetical Planet Nine. If Planet Nine exists, its orbit must lie farther out than typically predicted.

We present the detection of a previously unknown giant molecular cloud (GMC) located at the midpoint of the Galactic Bar Dust Lanes (M4.7–0.8), using spectral line observations taken with the Green Bank Telescope.

The overall description of this cloud that we present is that of a highly dynamic region comprising dense gas and dust. This encapsulates a wide range of features associated with star formation, in addition to material transport related to the CMZ.

The legality of cannibalism in the U.S. is rarely addressed by a single law, but is instead governed by a complex web of existing statutes.

The legality of cannibalism in the United States raises the question of whether consuming human flesh is a crime by itself. Understanding the legal landscape requires examining how different laws interact to address this act.

The Federal Stance on Cannibalism

There is no single federal law in the United States that explicitly outlaws cannibalism. The federal government leaves such matters to the states, as federal law focuses on crimes that cross state lines or affect the country as a whole.

From a federal perspective, the consumption of human flesh is not a named offense. Any prosecution related to cannibalism would not proceed through the federal court system unless another federal crime was also committed.

State Laws Prohibiting Cannibalism

Like the federal government, almost all states lack a statute that specifically prohibits cannibalism. In 49 states, there is no law making the consumption of human flesh, by itself, illegal.

The one exception is Idaho. Under Idaho Code § 18-5003, it is a felony to willfully ingest the flesh or blood of a human being. The statute provides an exception for situations where the act is necessary to survive a life-threatening condition. A conviction under this law can result in a prison sentence of up to 14 years.

While cannibalism itself is rarely illegal, the actions required to obtain a body for consumption almost always are. The most obvious related crime is murder, which is the unlawful killing of another human being. Regardless of whether the victim consented to be killed and consumed, the act remains a homicide.

Legality of Consuming Human Remains

Even in scenarios where no homicide or assault occurs, such as finding a body or receiving one by consent after a natural death, consuming the remains is still illegal. This is because every state has laws governing the proper handling and disposal of human bodies. These statutes make it a crime to abuse, desecrate, or improperly handle a corpse.

Acts like dismembering a body for consumption would fall under statutes for desecration of a human corpse. For example, some state codes explicitly define desecration to include any act of mutilation or dismemberment. Violating these laws is typically a felony and carries penalties that can include several years in prison and substantial fines.

These regulations effectively close any potential legal loopholes for so-called “consensual” cannibalism. Even if an individual were to legally donate their body for this purpose in a will, the act of consuming it would still be prevented by laws against corpse desecration. Grave robbing to acquire a body is a separate felony.

For decades, cosmologists have worked under the inflationary paradigm, a model that suggests that the universe expanded extremely rapidly, in a fraction of a second, thus paving the way for everything we observe today. But this model includes too many adjustable parameters—the free parameters—which can be modified. Scientifically, this poses a problem, as it makes it difficult to know whether a model is truly predicting or simply adapting to the data.

In a significant breakthrough, the team has proposed a model in which the early universe does not require any of these arbitrary parameters. Instead, it begins with a well-established cosmic state called De Sitter space, which is consistent with current observations of dark energy.

Paper:

Inflation without an inflaton

https://journals.aps.org/prresearch/abstract/10.1103/vfny-pgc2

Recent research on the Nariokotome Boy’s ribcage suggests the slender thorax of modern H. sapiens is a derived condition.

The ribcage of Ötzi presented mixed features, something that could have been beneficial for seasonal alpine transhumance. This suggests H. sapiens ribcage morphology encompasses both slender and stockier forms, highlighting that human anatomical variation might be more complex and context-dependent than previously thought.

Reconstructed ribcages of fossil H. sapiens have the globular proportions typically described for modern humans. Besides, those fossil H. sapiens from warmer and more temperate areas have smaller and slenderer ribcages compared to others inhabiting colder regions such as Dolní Věstonice 13, whose thorax is particularly large and stocky, similar to Neanderthals in size and KNM-WT 15000 in shape. This suggests a great morphological variability in H. sapiens that cannot be reduced to a general Bauplan as body proportions might depend not only on genetics but also on the climatic plasticity of our species.

Slender ribcages seem to be unique to H. sapiens, but stockier ribcages, like those found in other Homo species, are also part of the variation seen in both fossil and recent H. sapiens.

Mars was a rainier, wetter place than planetary scientists previously thought, according to a new study of ancient, inverted river channels that span more than 9,000 miles (14,484 kilometers) in the Red Planet's southern Noachis Terra region.

"Our work is a new piece of evidence that suggests that Mars was once a much more complex and active planet than it is now, which is such an exciting thing to be involved in," study leader Adam Losekoot of the U.K.'s Open University said in a statement.

We've known Mars was once a wet planet ever since the Mariner 9 orbiter mission from the '70s photographed a surface covered in dried-up river channels. These channels were dated back to over 3.5 billion years ago. However, channels cut into the ground are not the only evidence for running water on Mars.

The size and complexity of human societies increased dramatically over the Holocene.

Researchers have proposed a variety of potential drivers of this major transition, including our predilection for alcoholic beverages.

This “drunk” hypothesis argues that drinking alcohol facilitated the rise of complex societies because it promotes social bonding, increases cooperation, and enhances human creativity.

At the political level, alcohol-driven feasting serves to build alliances, mobilise labour, and implement power and authority. However, systematic cross-cultural evidence for the claim is lacking.

Here we test this hypothesis with a global sample of 186 largely non-industrial societies, purpose-built dataset on intoxicants and causal inference methods.

We find a positive relationship between the presence of indigenous alcoholic beverages and higher levels of political complexity, measured by the number of administrative levels.

The effect (albeit modest) holds even after controlling for several potential confounders, including common ancestry, spatial proximity, environmental productivity, and agricultural intensity.

Our results support the idea that the group-level social benefits of traditional non-distilled fermented beverages may outweigh their disruptive effects, and that alcohol may have facilitated the evolution of human societies. However, other contributing factors, such as agriculture or religion, were probably more effective drivers than getting drunk.

CTV science and tech expert Dan Riskin on a new report suggesting further analysis is needed as 600 to 1,000 Canadians a year claim to have seen UFOs

A 4,000-year-old human rib pierced with a flint arrowhead reveals that a violent attack unfolded high in the Pyrenees of Spain during the Early Bronze Age.

But the brutal trauma wasn't lethal, research finds. The individual survived, with the bone healing around the projectile injury, meaning they lived the rest of their life with the flint arrowhead embedded in their rib.

Archaeologists found the person's bone during recent excavations at a prehistoric burial site known as Roc de les Orenetes, in northeastern Spain.

CEMLM is a British Academy-funded project establishing a new catalogue of Latin medical manuscripts from before the Salerno School revolution of the eleventh century. Hundreds of medical manuscripts have been identified that are not included in the standard catalogues by Beccaria (1956) or Wickersheimer (1965), potentially transforming our understanding of medieval medicine. We will provide:

I: A working handlist of uncatalogued manuscripts leading to a full new catalogue

II: New critical editions of texts

III: A new team-authored “Introduction to Early Medieval Medicine”

Seasonal hunting campsites provide a good picture about the movement of family-sized groups in coastal dune systems.

At the Monte Clérigo site, the presence of footprints attributed to, at least, one male adult, one child and one toddler, negotiating the steep slope of a dune, allow us to speculate about close proximity to the campsite.

Overprinting with large mammal tracks shows that the presence of Neanderthals in these environments was intentional even if seasonal, possibly searching for food opportunities provided by the potential prey reproductive cycles and taking benefits from ambush hunting or stalking prey in a rugged dune landscape.

This paper presents a conceptual lunar habitat that was created by covering 17 m diameter crater in the Mare Tranquillitatis with a structure made from a lunar regolith-based geopolymer.

Five shapes of the covering lid were analysed, including: two concave domes with rises of 0.5 m and 1 m; a flat circular slab; and two convex domes with rises of 0.5 m and 1 m.

Structural analysis was performed using the Finite Element Method, employing material data from existing literature as well as original strength tests of alkali-activated material based on lunar regolith simulants conducted by the authors.

Each model of structure was subjected to dead loads and varying levels of internal air pressure.

The numerical analysis revealed the advantages of concave-shaped structures, where internal pressure induced compressive stress within the cross-section, thereby mitigating the risks of air leakage and decompression of the habitat and taking advantage of material in which compressive strength is higher than tensile strength.

The topic of unidentified flying objects (UFOs), now often referred to as unidentified aerial phenomena (UAP), has captured public imagination for decades. Media coverage of these mysterious sightings has shaped perceptions, fueled debates, and influenced cultural attitudes. From sensationalized headlines in the mid-20th century to nuanced reporting today, the way journalists and outlets cover UFOs reflects broader societal trends, technological advancements, and evolving scientific inquiry. This article explores how media reporting on UFOs has changed over time, its current state, and what might lie ahead.

Summary

Media reporting on UFOs and UAPs has shifted dramatically over time. Early coverage leaned on sensationalism, reflecting a lack of evidence and a fascination with the unknown. Today, reporting is more data-driven, focusing on security and science, though challenges like stigma and speculation persist. In the future, technological advances and changing public attitudes will likely drive more rigorous, accessible coverage. The media’s role in shaping perceptions of UAPs remains significant, balancing curiosity with the pursuit of truth.

Prior evidence for the pterosaur diet was mainly based on indirect evidence related to their morphology or features of their anatomy, the structure of their beak being one example. A few studies have found remnants of food in pterosaur remains, either within the stomach, the mouth or as waste products. These included some evidence of fish and insect consumption. However, new research discussed in a report from Science Bulletin provides the first direct evidence that pterosaurs were perfectly happy to eat a full meal of plant material.

The report details the findings of a well-preserved young pterosaur, specifically Sinopterus atavismus, from the Lower Cretaceous Jiufotang Formation in western Liaoning, China. In addition to the specimen being almost entirely intact, the pterosaur had a full stomach. The researchers found an abundance of phytoliths—tiny particles from plant cells— within the fossilized stomach.

Researchers in Japan say they have set a new world record for the fastest internet speed, transmitting over 125,000 gigabytes of data per second over 1,120 miles (1,802 kilometers).

That's about 4 million times the average internet speed in the U.S. and would allow you to download the entire Internet Archive in less than four minutes, according to some rough estimates. This is also more than twice the previous world record of 50,250 Gbps, previously set by a different team of scientists in 2024.

To achieve this new speed — which has not been independently verified — the team developed a new form of optical fiber to send information at groundbreaking speeds over roughly the distance between New York and Florida.

Picture a stereotypical scene in a medieval village. What do you imagine? Children playing in the dirty unpaved street perhaps, maybe two men on top of a cottage fixing the thatch, perhaps a young woman sweeping the front step, worrying about her elderly 35-year-old mother who is dying in the back room… of old age.

What’s wrong with this picture?

According to many articles discussing popular misconceptions about history, there’s a pervasive myth that people died of old age in their mid 30s, and that ancient Greeks or Romans “would have been flabbergasted to see anyone above the age of 50 or 60.”

Archaeologists have recovered dodecahedrons from the graves of men and women, in coin hoards and even in refuse heaps, so a blanket explanation for their use has not been found. But many researchers have attempted to solve the puzzle, suggesting that dodecahedrons may have been used as weapons, decorations, candlestick holders, range finders, measurement devices, children's toys, dice, craftsman's samples or spools for knitting gloves.