Antoine MacBain

Fossilized Bones Found In Somerset, England, In 2020, Identified As Part Of A Giant Ichthyosaur From 202 Myrs Ago, And Linked To An 8-Year Prior Find Of A 3 Ft Long Bone, Led To The Identification Of A New Species Of Ichthyosaur, Ichthyotitan Severnensis, Said To Be The Largest Marine Reptile Ever Found. The New Species Was ~82 Ft Long.

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Astronomers Observed, For The First Time, The ‘Glory Effect’ (GE) On An Exoplanet, WASP-76b, Similar To Earth’s & Venus‘s. It Features Concentric, Colorful Rings Of Light Caused By Light Reflecting Off Clouds Made Of A Uniform Substance. Extreme Conditions—Scorching Dayside, Nightside Iron Rain—Permit GE, Offering Insights Into Alien Atm.

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A Wild Animal, An Orangutan In Indonesia, Was Observed For The First Time Applying A Potent Medicinal Plant Directly To A Wound And Then Covering It With The Chewed Plant, Like A Bandage In A Likely Form Of Self-Medication. Other Primates Have Also Been Known To Use Plants For Healing, Which Raises Questions About The Evolution Of Medicine.

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Scientists Discovered A Huge Water Reservoir, 3x Earth’s Oceans, 700 Km Deep Within The Mantle In The Rock Ringwoodite. This Find Challenges Theories On Earth’s Water Origin, Suggesting Possibly Internal Rather Than From Comets. Seismic Data Reveals This Underground Ocean, Potentially Reshaping Our Understanding Of The Planet’s Water Cycle.

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In 2024, Brood XIX (13-Year–Largest Periodical Cicada Brood) And Brood XIII (17-Year) Cicadas Will Co-Emerge Across 17 US States, In A Rare Event Seen Every 221 Years. The Adult Cicada Will Mate, Lay Eggs, Then Die, While The Nymphs Will Burrow Into The Ground For The Next Cycle. There Are 3,000 To 5,000 Species Of Cicadas Around The World.

A Researcher, In Queensland, Australia, Has Discovered A Potentially World’s Hairiest Beetle, Excastra Albopilosa, In Dec., 2021. With Long Fluffy White Hairs, It’s Believed To Mimic Fungus-Infected Insects, A Possible Deterrent To Predators. This cm-Long Longhorn Beetle Is Said To Be Of A New Genus, And Only One Specimen Has Been Found.

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A New Tiny 38 cm Tall Species Of The World’s Smallest Deer, Pudella Carlae, Found In Peru‘s Central Andes, Marks The First Cervid Species Discovery In South America In 60+ Years. P. Carlae, A Jack Russell Terrier-Size Deer, Is A Separate Species From The Northern Pudu, & Inhabits Diverse Habitats: The Andean Grasslands To The Cloud Forest.

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The Carrington Event (CE) Of 1859, The Largest Solar Storm (SS) On Record, Was Stronger Than Believed. Historical Magnetograms Show It Reached >500 NT/Minute. SSs, Like CE, Have Occurred Throughout History, But Accurate Data To Measure Their Sizes Spans < 200 Yrs, Highlighting Our Vulnerability To Such Events And The Need For Preparation.

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In Peru‘s Amazon, A 16-Myr-Old Fossil Of Pebanista Yacuruna (PY), The Largest Freshwater Dolphin (FWD), Was Found. ~3.5m Long, It’s ~25% Larger Than Modern FWD. PY Is Said To Be Related To The Modern South Asia FWD. PY Extinction May Be Linked To Ancient Amazon Lake Drainage. This Find Highlights FWD Evolution And Ecosystem Vulnerability.

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Miassite, RH17S15, Is The World’s First Unconventional Superconductor (USC) Found In Nature And Also Synthesized In Labs, Which Does Not Conform To The Bardeen-Cooper-Schrieffer Theory (BCS), Joining A Group That Only Includes Lab-Conceived USC. This Discovery Holds Promise For Economically Advancing Industrial Superconductor Technologies.

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A Farm In Australia Breaks World Record, Certified By Guinness World Records, For Growing The Largest Blueberry Which Is ~4cm-Wide And Weighs 20.4g. The Fruit Breed, An Eterna Breed, Developed By Costa Group, Yields Consistently Large Fruits That Maintain Flavor And Firmness. The Farmers May Preserve The Giant Berry Via A Resin Cast.

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Elizabeth Francis, Aged 114, Is America’s Oldest Resident And 5th Oldest Person On Earth. Francis, A Houstonian, Took The Title After 116-Year-Old Californian Edie Ceccarelli Passed Away. Francis Has 3 Grandchildren, 4 Great-Grandchildren, And 2 Great-Great-Grandchildren. She Lives With Her Daughter Dorothy Williams, 94, And Granddaughter.

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Researchers Found, In Ecuador‘s Rainforest, The World’s Largest Snake– A Green Anaconda Of Species Eunectes Akiyama, Which Split From Its Relatives, Eunectes Murinus, 10m Yrs Ago. Despite Identical Looks, Genetic Analysis Revealed A New Species. This Find Was Made During A Study Of Anacondas As A Key Indicator For Ecosystem Health Due To Oil Spillage.

A 14-Foot (4.3 Meters) Odysseus Lander, Built By Intuitive Machines And Sponsored By NASA For $118 Million, Successfully Touched Down Near The South Pole Of The Moon, Marking The First U.S. Landing In Over 50 Years Since NASA’s Famed Apollo Moonwalkers. This Achievement Also Made Intuitive Machines The First Private Company To Achieve A Lunar Landing.

Archaeologists Found A 12,940-Year-Old Bead In La Prele Mammoth Site, Wyoming, Likely The Americas’ Oldest Ornament. The Hare Bone Bead, With Origin Determined Via MS & Micro-Ct Scan, Suggests The Clovis People, A Prehistoric Native American Group, Utilized Hares, Challenging Assumptions And Indicating They Hunted More Than Just Big Games.

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Photographer Carlos Gauna May Have Filmed The First-Ever Footage Of A Newborn Great White Shark (GWS) Off Santa Barbara, Challenging Birthing Assumptions. Gauna’s Observations, Like Shedding Intrauterine Milk, The Shark’s Size (~5ft), And Shape Suggest It’s A Newborn, Providing Rare Insights. This Discovery Contributes To GWS Conservation.

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Perseverance Rover (PR) Confirms Ancient Lake Sediments In Mars’ Jerezo Crater, Hinting At A Water-Filled Past. PR Radar Sounding Aligns With Orbital Imagery And Other Data, Supporting Mars’ Wet History. This Find Backs A Once Warmer, Potentially Habitable Mars. Scientists Plan To Study The 3-Byr-Old Jerezo’s Sediment Sample On Earth.

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Scientists Discovered The Largest Known Deep-Sea Coral Reef, 68 Mi Wide At Some Points And Stretching 310 Miles From Florida To S. Carolina. Found At Depths Of 655 To 3,280 Ft, It Relies On Filtering Food Particles. The Reef, Nearly 3x The Size Of Yellowstone, Hints At More Hidden Deep-Sea Reefs. The Great Barrier Reef Is ~ 1,430 Mi Long.

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Turkey’s First Astronaut, Alper Gezeravci, Launched With A Swede And An Italian On A $55 Million Per Person Spacex Trip/Mission To The International Space Station. Organized By Axiom Space, Nasa, And Spacex, The Crew, Including A Retired Nasa Astronaut, Will Spend Two Weeks Conducting Experiments And Promoting Education Before Returning Home.

Scientists Unearthed The Earliest Direct Evidence Of Oxygen-Producing Photosynthesis (OPP) In A 1.75-Byr Old Bacteria Fossil In Australia & Canada, Pushing Back OPP Origin By 1.2 Byrs. The OPP Reshaped Earth’s Atmosphere, Potentially Aiding Complex Life Evolution, And Shedding Light On Photosynthesis Evolution & Earth’s History Impact.

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