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Categories: Offbeat: General, Paleontology: Climate
Published Detection of an echo emitted by our Galaxy's black hole 200 years ago



An international team of scientists has discovered that Sagittarius A* (Sgr A*), the supermassive black hole at the centre of the Milky Way, emerged from a long period of dormancy some 200 years ago. The team, led by Frédéric Marin, a CNRS researcher at the Astronomical Strasbourg Observatory (CNRS/University of Strasbourg), has revealed the past awakening of this gigantic object, which is four million times more massive than the Sun. Their work is published in Nature on 21 June.
Published Exoplanet may reveal secrets about the edge of habitability



How close can a rocky planet be to a star, and still sustain water and life? A recently discovered exoplanet may be key to solving that mystery.
Published Scientists unearth 20 million years of 'hot spot' magmatism under Cocos plate



A team of scientists has observed past episodic intraplate magmatism and corroborated the existence of a partial melt channel at the base of the Cocos Plate. Situated 60 kilometers beneath the Pacific Ocean floor, the magma channel covers more than 100,000 square kilometers, and originated from the Galápagos Plume more than 20 million years ago, supplying melt for multiple magmatic events -- and persisting today.
Published Face of Anglo-Saxon teen VIP revealed with new evidence about her life



The face of a 16-year-old woman buried near Cambridge (UK) in the 7th century with an incredibly rare gold and garnet cross (the 'Trumpington Cross') has been reconstructed following analysis of her skull. The striking image is going on public display for the first time on 21st June, with new scientific evidence showing that she moved to England from Central Europe as a young girl, leading to an intriguing change in her diet.
Published AI reveals hidden traits about our planet's flora to help save species



Machine learning can help extract important information from the huge numbers of plant specimens stored in herbaria, say scientists.
Published Everyone's brain has a pain fingerprint -- new research has revealed for the first time



New research has revealed everyone's brain has a 'pain fingerprint' that varies from person to person.
Published These long-necked reptiles were decapitated by their predators, fossil evidence confirms



In the age of dinosaurs, many marine reptiles had extremely long necks compared to reptiles today. While it was clearly a successful evolutionary strategy, paleontologists have long suspected that their long-necked bodies made them vulnerable to predators. Now, after almost 200 years of continued research, direct fossil evidence confirms this scenario for the first time in the most graphic way imaginable.
Published New dinosaur discovered: Ankylosaurs may have been far more diverse than originally thought



First armoured dinosaur to be described from the Isle of Wight in 142 years, shows Ankylosaurs may have been far more diverse than originally thought
Published Navigating underground with cosmic-ray muons



Superfast, subatomic-sized particles called muons have been used to wirelessly navigate underground in a reportedly world first. By using muon-detecting ground stations synchronized with an underground muon-detecting receiver, researchers were able to calculate the receiver's position in the basement of a six-story building. As GPS cannot penetrate rock or water, this new technology could be used in future search and rescue efforts, to monitor undersea volcanoes, and guide autonomous vehicles underground and underwater.
Published Engineers develop a soft, printable, metal-free electrode



Engineers developed a metal-free, Jelly-like material that is as soft and tough as biological tissue and can conduct electricity similarly to conventional metals. The new material, which is a type of high-performance conducting polymer hydrogel, may one day replace metals in the electrodes of medical devices.
Published Researchers demystify the unusual origin of the Geminids meteor shower



Princeton researchers used observations from NASA's Parker Solar Probe mission to deduce that it was likely a violent, catastrophic event -- such as a high-speed collision with another body or a gaseous explosion -- that created the Geminids meteoroid stream. Mysteries surrounding the origin of the Geminids have long fascinated scientists because, while most meteor showers are created when a comet emits a tail of ice and dust, the Geminids stem from an asteroid -- a chunk of rock that normally does not produce a tail. Until now, this unusual meteoroid stream had only been studied from Earth.
Published Discovery of white dwarf pulsar sheds light on star evolution



The discovery of a rare type of white dwarf star system provides new understanding into stellar evolution.
Published Scientists discover spiral-shaped signals that organize brain activity



Scientists have discovered human brain signals traveling across the outer layer of neural tissue that naturally arrange themselves to resemble swirling spirals.
Published We've pumped so much groundwater that we've nudged Earth's spin



By pumping water out of the ground and moving it elsewhere, humans have shifted such a large mass of water that the Earth tilted nearly 80 centimeters (31.5 inches) east between 1993 and 2010 alone, according to a new study.
Published Illusions are in the eye, not the mind



Numerous visual illusions are caused by limits in the way our eyes and visual neurones work -- rather than more complex psychological processes, new research shows.
Published Massive underwater plateau near Solomon Islands is younger and its eruption was more protracted than previously thought



The Ontong Java Plateau, a volcanically-formed underwater plateau located in the Pacific Ocean north of the Solomon Islands, is younger and its eruption was more protracted than previously thought, new research suggests.
Published Climate change likely led to violence in early Andean populations



Climate change in current times has created problems for humans such as wildfires and reduced growing seasons for staple crops, spilling over into economic effects. Many researchers predict, and have observed in published literature, an increase in interpersonal violence and homicides when temperatures increase. Violence during climatic change has evidence in history, anthropology researchers say.
Published Terahertz-to-visible light conversion for future telecommunications



A study demonstrates that graphene-based materials can be used to efficiently convert high-frequency signals into visible light, and that this mechanism is ultrafast and tunable. These outcomes open the path to exciting applications in near-future information and communication technologies.
Published Scientists report 'benchmarks' for extreme space weather



Extreme space weather threatens vital satellites orbiting the Earth, including the Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) which pass through the heart of the outer radiation belt. New research has now determined a series of benchmarks for the likely severity of extreme space weather events in GPS orbit.
Published First hominin muscle reconstruction shows 3.2 million-year-old 'Lucy' could stand as erect as we can



Digital modelling of legendary fossil's soft tissue suggests Australopithecus afarensis had powerful leg and pelvic muscles suited to tree dwelling, but knee muscles that allowed fully erect walking.