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‘Jurassic Park’, and the genetically modified dinosaurs that escaped, is pure science fiction: it will never happen. But that doesn’t mean scientists aren’t interested in bringing the past back to life in some form.
Projects to revive recently extinct animals – the mammoth, the dodo and the Tasmanian tiger – are reaching a turning point, although the goal is to create a hybrid approach to those creatures, not copies.
Researchers are also mining ancient DNA for a potential source of new molecular-based medicines. Still others are reviving historic plants to study their evolution and genetic diversity, which could one day help people benefit from long-lost species with medicinal properties.
Dig this
In the 1980s, archaeologists unearthed a pristine seed in a cave in the Judean Desert. Decades later, Dr. Sarah Sallon, founder of the Louis L. Borick Natural Medicine Research Center in Jerusalem, another research team who planned it to see what would happen.
To the researchers’ surprise, five weeks later a small shoot emerged, a fragment of which the scientists were able to date: the seed was no less than 1,000 years old.
Remarkably, the tree did well and is now three meters tall, although it never flowered or produced fruit.
Using DNA sequencing, the researchers identified the mystery tree as part of the genus Commiphora, but the exact species is unknown and likely extinct. The team believes there may be a connection with a medicinal plant mentioned in the Bible.
Once upon a time there was a planet
Mount Everest towers more than 8,850 meters above sea level.
The origin story began about 40 million to 50 million years ago when landmasses on two plates of the Earth’s crust – the Indian and Eurasian plates – collided in slow motion and collapsed the terrain, creating rocky peaks that over the course of millions years became the Himalayan mountains.
That ancient collision is still lifting the Himalayas, but Everest is growing faster than expected – at a rate of about 0.08 inches (2 millimeters) per year, instead of the expected 0.04 inches (1 millimeter) per year.
According to new research, this extra boost is the result of a more recent geological incident: an act of ‘river piracy’.
Long time ago
Archaeologists in Åsum, Denmark, have unearthed a large Viking-era cemetery, first spotted during work to renovate the power grid.
The team unearthed more than 50 extraordinarily well-preserved skeletons, including the remains of a woman buried in a chariot with a glass bead necklace, an iron key and other beautiful paraphernalia.
We also discovered an intricately decorated bronze brooch and artefacts from far beyond Denmark’s borders, suggesting that Vikings traveled extensively for trade.
Scientists want to extract DNA from the remains to learn more about the people buried there and whether they are related.
Pioneers
Some of the sharpest minds in science will be brought out of academic obscurity into the spotlight next week when the Nobel Prizes in physics, chemistry and physiology or medicine are announced.
The awards, established more than a century ago by Swedish industrialist Alfred Nobel, celebrate transformative work that is often decades in the making.
It is notoriously difficult to predict who will win a Nobel Prize. The shortlist remains secret, as do the nominators, and documents revealing the details of the selection process remain hidden from the public for fifty years.
There’s no shortage of Nobel Prize-worthy discoveries, though: here are five life-changing breakthroughs that haven’t won a prize – at least not yet.
Fantastic creatures
The northern bald ibis, once found on three continents, was one of the rarest birds in the world in the 1990s. By then, hunting, habitat loss and pesticide use have reduced the species’ global population in the wild to just 59 pairs – all in Morocco.
Today, persistent conservation efforts have increased the population to more than 500, leading the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s Red List of Threatened Species to change the birds’ status from Critically Endangered to Endangered in 2018 .
Thanks to a reintroduction programme, these distinctive birds are migrating back to Europe for the first time since the 17th century, with a managed population of around 270 birds.
However, the zoo-bred ibises initially didn’t know where to go. Austrian biologist Johannes Fritz, who heads the conservation and research group Waldrappteam, came up with an ingenious solution in which he personally learned the migration path by leading the herd in an ultralight aircraft.
Explorations
Make time for these amazing reads:
— Voyager 2 has disabled a scientific instrument, but it’s not out yet. NASA hopes the 47-year-old spacecraft will continue operating into 2030.
– Undersea explorers found the wreck of a US Navy destroyer known as the ‘Ghost Ship of the Pacific’, saying it was in ‘exceptional’ condition.
– When a massive asteroid impact wiped out the dinosaurs 66 million years ago, ants began farming a food source that became widely available in the aftermath.
— Admire these striking images from this week’s annular solar eclipse and discover the next opportunity to witness a solar event.
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