James Avery

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.

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Scientists Have Created “Nanopasta,” The World’s Thinnest Strands Of Material, 200x Slimmer Than Human Hair, From Starch-Rich Flour Using An Electrospinning Method. The Sustainable, Scalable, & Biodegradable Nanofibers Could Revolutionize, E.G., Wound Healing, Tissue Regeneration, & Drug Delivery While Promoting Eco-Friendly Innovation.

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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.

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President-Elect Donald Trump Makes History By Appointing Susie Wiles, A Seasoned GOP Strategist And His 2024 Campaign Co-Chair, As The First Female White House Chief Of Staff In U.S. History. Wiles, Who Has Worked In Republican Politics Since Reagan’s 1980 Campaign, Is Praised By Trump As “Tough, Smart, Innovative” And “Universally Respected.”

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.

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The European Space Agency (ESA) Metal 3D Printer, Developed By Airbus & Partners, Successfully Printed The First Ever Metal Part In Space, In August 2024, At The ISS. The Printed Parts Will Be Analyzed In Europe. This Technology Will Enhance Mission Autonomy For Future Moon & Mars Explorations, Allowing For On-Demand Part Manufacturing.

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US Cyclist Lael Wilcox Claimed The Record For Fastest Woman To Circumnavigate The Globe By Bike In ~108 Days, Pending Guinness Verification. She Cycled 29,169 Km Across 21 Countries & 4 Continents, Starting And Ending In Chicago, Beating Scotland’s Jenny Graham’s 2018 Record Of ~124 Days. Indian Cyclist Vedangi Kulkarni Is Also Attempting The Record.

iRonCub3, Developed By The Italian Institute Of Technology, Is The World’s First Jet-Powered Humanoid Robot. Weighing 70 Kg, It Flies Using 4 Jet Engines—2 On Its Back And 2 On Its Arms. Equipped With Advanced Control Algorithms And Heat-Resistant Materials, iRonCub3 Could One Day Assist In Natural Disaster Rescue Missions Or Reach Inaccessible Areas.

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.

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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.

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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.

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Katie Ledecky Won Her 9th Gold And 14th Olympic Medal In The 800m Freestyle, Tying Gymnast Larisa Latynina For Most Golds By A Female Swimmer And American Female Athlete. She Also Became The Most Decorated Female Swimmer With Her 13th Medal, A Silver In The 4×200 Freestyle Relay. In Paris, She Earned 2 Golds, A Silver, And A Bronze, Aiming For LA 2028.

The 40m Stampfli 24 Express, The World’s Longest Rowing Boat, Joined The Paris 2024 Olympic Torch Relay On July 21 On The River Marne. Starting In Greece, The Relay Crossed France And Ended In Paris, Where The July 26 Opening Ceremony Began As A 6km Floating Parade On The Seine, Instead Of In The Stadium, For The First Time In The Olympics.

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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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