Haruki Muraka

Scientists Have Discovered Terastiodontosaurus Marcelosanchezi, The Largest Known Worm Lizard, From Fossils In Tunisia. This Reptile, Over 3Ft Long & 50 Myr-Old, Had Strong Jaws & Fed On Snails. Unlike Modern Burrowers, It Likely Lived On The Surface. It’s Closely Related To The Checkerboard Worm Lizard, Both Of The Trogonophids Family.

…

A Teenager In British Columbia Is The First Person In Canada To Test Positive For Bird Flu (H5N1). The Teen Is In Critical Condition At A Children’s Hospital. The Source Of The Infection Is Under Investigation, Likely From A Bird Or Animal. Human Cases Are Rare, But Scientists Worry About Potential Mutation For Human-To-Human Transmission.

…

For The First Time Since Its Discovery In 1854, Scientists Found A Juvenile Arthropleura Fossil With A Complete Head In France. CT Scans Revealed, E.G., Millipede-Like Antennas, Centipede-Like Mandibles, & Crab-Like Eyes. Arthropleura, A 300-Myr-Old Ancestor Of Centipedes & Millipedes, Was The Largest Bug On Earth And Likely A Plant Eater.

…

A Groundbreaking Blood Test Analyzing CRP–A Liver Protein, Lipoprotein(A), And Cholesterol In 30K US Women Reveals Heart Health Risks 30-Yrs In Advance. This “Three-Pronged” Approach, Recommended For Those In Their 30s Or 40s, Showed That High Levels In All 3 Markers Triple Heart Disease Risk, But Early Detection Enables Prevention.

N…

The South American Lungfish, Lepidosiren Paradoxa, Has The Largest Animal Genome At 30x A Human’s. A Living Fossil & Closest Relative To Early Land Vertebrates, It Breaths Air Through Lung-Like Organs.Its Genome Offers Insights Into Tetrapod Evolution. A Plant, Tmesipteris Oblanceolata, Holds The Largest Genome Overall At 50x A Human’s.

…

Archaeologists Have Discovered The World’s Oldest Calendar At Gobekli Tepe, Turkey, Dating Back 12kyrs. The Site Features 365 “V” Symbols On A Pillar, Representing A 12-Month Lunar Calendar With 11 Extra Days. The Carvings May Depict A Comet Strike 13kyrs Ago That Influenced Early Agriculture, Religion, And Possibly Led To Writing.

‘W…

In A World-First, Astronomers Have Witnessed A Supermassive Black Hole “Waking Up” And Brightening In Real-Time. Located 360 Million Light-Years Away In Galaxy SDSS1335+0728, The Black Hole Has Shown Increased Luminosity Since 2019, But Its Activation Cause Remains Unknown. Similar Activation Could Occur With Sagittarius A* In Our Galaxy.

…

Scientists Uncovered A 1,400-Year-Old Seagrass Clone, Zostera Marina (Eelgrass), In The Baltic Sea, Making It The World’s Oldest Known Marine Plant. Using A Genetic Clock Calibrated With A 17-Yr-Old Seagrass Clone, The Team Determined The Age By Comparing Genetic Variations. This Method May Reveal Older Organisms In Other Seagrass Species.

…

Researchers Have Completed An Autopsy On The First Complete Adult Wolf From The Late Pleistocene (44,000-Year-Old), Discovered In The Siberian Permafrost In 2021 By A River In Yakutia. The Autopsy Aims To Reveal The Wolf’s Diet, Ancient Viruses, And Microbiota, Aiding The Understanding Of Life And Microbial Communities During The Ice Age.

…

Scientists In South Africa Have Discovered The World’s Oldest Active Termite Mounds, Over 34 Kyrs Old, Along The Buffels River In Namaqualand. These Mounds, Called “Heuweltjies,” House Southern Harvester Termites (Microhodotermes Viator). Their Foraging Promotes Carbon Sequestration By Forming Calcium Carbonate, Locking Carbon Deep In The Soil.

Astronomers Discovered WASP-193b, An Exoplanet 50% Larger Than Jupiter But Only 14% Of Its Mass, Making It The 2nd Lightest Known Planet After Kepler 51d. Located 1,200 LY Away, The “Puffy Jupiter” Is Likely Comprised Mainly Hydrogen & Helium, And Its Extended Atmosphere Is Ideal For Studying Its Planetary Formation With Tools Like JWST.

…

The Closest Transiting, Temperate, And Potentially Habitable Earth-Size Exoplanet, Gliese 12b, Has Been Discovered. It’s 40 LY Away In Pisces, Orbits A Red Dwarf In 12.8 Days, And Has A Surface Temperature Of 107°f. Found By NASA’s TESS, Its Atmosphere Will Be Analyzed By The James Webb Telescope, But Human Visitation Is Impractical.

…

Scientists In China, For The First Time In The World, Cured A 59-Year-Old Man’s Type 2 Diabetes Using His Stem Cells, Making Him Insulin-Independent. This Is The First Successful Stem Cell-Derived Islet Transplantation. The Patient, Diabetic For 25 Years And Insulin-Dependent After A 2017 Kidney Transplant, Received The Treatment In 2021.

…

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.

…

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.

…

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.

…

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.

…

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.

…

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.

…