DIRS.INFO The most relevant business & tech news

☆ Stone Age Paleo diet was not rich in meat, scientists say
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-30 | by ( Katie Hunt | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

CNN —What did people in the Stone Age eat before the advent of farming around 10,000 years ago? Scientists analyzed chemical signatures preserved in bones and teeth belonging to at least seven different Iberomaurusians and found that plants, not meat, were their primary source of dietary protein. The evidence suggested that the Iberomaurusians consumed “fermentable starchy plants” such as wild cereals or acorns, according to the study. The work undermines the idea that a Stone Age diet was meat heavy — a rigid assumption perpetuated by present-day dietary trends like the Paleo diet. The transition to agriculture was a complex process that occurred at different times and proceeded at different rates, in different ways with different foods, in different places, Pobiner said.

Persons: Heiko Temming, ”, Zineb Moubtahij, Max Planck, Klervia Jaouen, ” Jaouen, Iberomaurusians, ” Moubtahij, —, Briana Pobiner, wasn’t, Jaouen, Pobiner, “ Organizations: CNN, Géosciences Environnement, Max Planck Institute, Stone, Smithsonian National Museum of Locations: what’s, Morocco, Cave, Géosciences Environnement Toulouse, France, Leipzig, Germany, Taforalt, Peru, Levant

☆ Aboriginal spears returned to Australia after 250 years
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-23 | by ( Jack Guy | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

CNN —A British university has given back four spears taken more than 250 years ago from an aboriginal community in Australia by explorer Captain James Cook. Trinity College Cambridge permanently repatriated the spears to the La Perouse Aboriginal Community at a ceremony Tuesday, according to a joint statement from the college and the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies (AIATSIS), which supported the move. “The spears were pretty much the first point of European contact, particularly British contact with Aboriginal Australia,” said Ray Ingrey, director of the Gujaga Foundation, a research organization working in the La Perouse community, in the statement. The resulting British colonization of Australia resulted in the introduction of foreign diseases, displacement, and massacres against the aboriginal people. National Museum of AustraliaSome members of the La Perouse Aboriginal Community are direct descendants of those who crafted the spears, according to the statement.

Persons: CNN —, Captain James Cook, ”, Ray Ingrey, AIATSIS Cook, Rod Mason, Noeleen Timbery, Sally Davies, Trinity Organizations: CNN, British, Captain James Cook . Trinity College Cambridge, La, La Perouse Aboriginal, Australian Institute of Aboriginal, Torres Strait Islander, Aboriginal, Gujaga Foundation, HMS, Trinity College, of Archaeology, National Museum of Australia, La Perouse Aboriginal Community, Aboriginal Land Council, Elders, Trinity Locations: Australia, La Perouse, Kamay, Aboriginal Australia, Botany, Kurnell, New Zealand, Cambridge, Kurnel, Perouse

☆ In Coral Fossils, Searching for the First Glow of Bioluminescence
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-23 | by ( Sam Jones | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Bioluminescence is used throughout the animal kingdom, particularly in marine environments, to lure prey, startle predators and even act as camouflage in the surrounding light. “We always say it’s light-limited in the deep sea, but there are a lot of organisms that produce their own light,” said Andrea Quattrini, a zoologist at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History in Washington. The dazzling glow of bioluminescence is common in Octocorallia, also known as octocorals, a class of over 3,000 Anthozoa species including sea fans, sea pens and soft corals. The prevalence of bioluminescence in these sessile animals makes a lot of sense, Dr. Quattrini said: “They settle somewhere and they’re there.”How long organisms have been able to emit light is at the center of recent research by Dr. Quattrini and colleagues. Their latest study, published Tuesday in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B, resets the timing for the emergence of bioluminescence back to about 540 million years ago, from the existing understanding that it appeared in small marine crustaceans 267 million years ago.

Persons: ”, Andrea Quattrini, Quattrini, “ Organizations: Smithsonian National Museum of, Royal Society Locations: Washington

☆ Faith Ringgold obit: ‘Tar beach’ author and Black quilt artist dies at 93
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-14 | by ( Yahya Salem | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

Faith Ringgold, pictured in her studio in New York City in 1999. Anthony Barboza/Getty Images(CNN) — Faith Ringgold, the pioneering artist and author best known for her narrative quilts that interwove art with activism, has died at 93. After earning her bachelor’s degree in fine art and education in 1955, Ringgold began teaching art in public schools while developing her own art. Her early work was influenced by civil and racial unrest, and had patent and profound political and social tones. The painting, arguably the series’ most famous, gorily depicts a group of men, women and children brutally attacking one another.

Persons: Faith Ringgold, Anthony Barboza, Faith, ”, Dorian Bergen, “, Ringgold, Ringgold’s adamancy, Jacquelyn Martin, Madame Willi Posey, ” Ringgold, Leila Macor, Connie’s Organizations: New York Times, ACA Galleries, Ringgold, CNN, Harlem, City College of New, City College, Civil, Museum, Modern, Museum of Modern Art, National Museum of Women, Arts, Washington , D.C, New Museum, American, de Young Museum, Museum of Contemporary Art, Basel, Getty Locations: New York City, New Jersey, Harlem, America, African American, Washington ,, Vietnam, Paris, London, New York, San Francisco, Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, Miami Beach , Florida, AFP

She flagged down a cab and asked the driver if he happened to know anyone who made the delicate paper flags. The man took her to his brother Don Rene Mendoza, who, by sheer chance, was a master of the trade. After speaking with Amezkua for more than five hours, Mendoza agreed to pass the craft tradition on to her. The Spanish also began importing papel china — thin, tissue-like paper from China, often used to wrap other goods. This confluence led to the creation of the papel picado used today to decorate a variety of celebrations in Mexican culture, most notably Day of the Dead, when it is placed around altars of deceased loved ones.

Persons: Blanka Amezkua, San Salvador Huixcolotla, Amezkua, Don Rene Mendoza, Mendoza, Papel, Marcelo Alejandro Ramirez Garcia, Rojas Organizations: International Museum of Art, Science Locations: San Salvador, Mexican, Mexico, McAllen , Texas, Spanish, China

☆ Billy Dee Williams says actors should be allowed to wear blackface
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-09 | by ( Jack Guy | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

I love that kind of stuff.”The origins of blackface date back to the minstrel shows of the mid-19th century. You should do it.”“If you’re an actor, you should do anything you want to do,” he said. Williams, who is best known for playing Lando Calrissian in the “Star Wars” franchise, pushed back. I don’t want to do anything based on this whole idea that ‘you’re a Black person, you’re a White person’ and things of that nature,” he said. I’m a creative entity in this life.”In 2019, Williams spoke about embracing the different parts of his character by using gender-fluid pronouns.

Persons: Billy Dee Williams, Bill Maher, Williams, White, Laurence Olivier’s, ”, Olivier, “, Maher, Olivier wouldn’t, ” Williams, Williams “, should’ve, Lando Calrissian, I’m, ’, ’ I’m, “ I’m, ‘ Organizations: CNN, Southern, Smithsonian’s National Museum of, ”, “, Wars, Esquire Locations: Southern United States

☆ They Came From Outer Space. Now, They’re Going Into Hiding.
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-08 | by ( Katherine Kornei | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

If you’re looking for meteorites, here’s a tip: Go south. Roughly 60 percent of all known meteorites have been collected there. That’s because, as temperatures rise, thousands of meteorites will sink into the continent’s ice and disappear from sight every year, according to a new study published on Monday. Rather, meteorites simply tend to be more visible on the Antarctic ice sheet than they would be, say, in your backyard. “Your eye can pick out a dark rock on a white surface super easily,” said Dr. Corrigan, who was not involved in the new research.

Persons: Cari Corrigan, ”, Corrigan Organizations: Smithsonian Institution, National Museum Locations: Antarctica

☆ Ellis Island Museum: An American landmark is getting a $100 million makeover
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-04 | by ( Catherine E. Shoichet | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +8 min

Today about 40% of the US population can trace their ancestry through Ellis Island, according to the National Park Service. A group of recently arrived immigrants carry their belongings on Ellis Island in the early 1900s. Courtesy Statue of Liberty - Ellis Island FoundationAfter decades of disrepair, a new museum was bornThe brick building that currently houses the museum opened in 1900. After processing more than 12 million immigrants, Ellis Island closed its doors in 1954 and fell into disrepair for decades. “Right now, it can feel in places like a book on the walls, because it’s a 34-year-old museum,” Brackenbury says.

Persons: CNN — Ellis, ”, Jesse Brackenbury, –, ” Brackenbury, Ellis, Ellis Island's, Ronald Reagan, Lee Iacocca, Brackenbury Organizations: CNN, – Ellis Island Foundation, National Park Service, Records Discovery, Ellis, Chrysler, of Liberty, National, Service, United, National Museum of Immigration Locations: America, New York, Ellis, United States, of New York, Port of San Francisco, New Orleans, Liberty, of, American

☆ Scientists name newly discovered ancient amphibian species after Kermit the Frog
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-24 | by ( Cameron Manley | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Scientists have discovered a new species of proto-amphibian that lived 270 million years ago. They have named it the Kermitops gratus, after "The Muppet Show" character Kermit the Frog. The new discovery should help scientists understand how these ancient species evolved. AdvertisementScientists say they have discovered a new species of proto-amphibian that lived 270 million years ago — and they've named it after "The Muppets Show" character Kermit the Frog. "Because this animal is a distant relative of today's amphibians, and Kermit is a modern-day amphibian icon, it was the perfect name for it," he said.

Persons: Kermit the, —, they've, Nicholas Hotton III, Hotton, Arjan Mann, Mann, gratus, Calvin So, Kermit Organizations: Service, Smithsonian National Museum of, Smithsonian, Zoological, George Washington University Locations: Texas

☆ An ancient dinner still sits in a Bronze Age village 2,850 years later
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-23 | by ( Ashley Strickland | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

First, one of the crew found a marble head of a Roman lady, and two weeks later its bust surfaced nearby, reuniting the pieces. Cambridge Archaeological UnitMust Farm was a thriving Bronze Age stilt village, perched above a river in eastern England, when it burned down 2,850 years ago — just nine months after its inhabitants had built it. The site, acclaimed by experts as “Britain’s Pompeii,” preserved rare information that reveals a new, less hierarchical portrait of Bronze Age society. Malhan/MPIAAstronomers have spied two streams of ancient stars that likely helped build the Milky Way galaxy billions of years ago. They find wonder in planets beyond our solar system and discoveries from the ancient world.

Persons: Earl of Exeter, ”, Chris Wakefield, Kermit the, Jim Henson’s, Payne, Shiva, Li Yibo, Ashley Strickland, Katie Hunt Organizations: CNN, Burghley, University of Cambridge, Smithsonian National Museum of, NASA, Force, Xinhua News Agency, Getty, CNN Space, Science Locations: United Kingdom, Peterborough, England, Cambridge, Africa, Ethiopia’s, China, Shaanxi, Iran

☆ FBI returns looted artifacts found in Massachusetts attic to Japan
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-18 | by ( Amy Woodyatt | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

CNN —The FBI has returned a trove of looted Japanese art to its country of origin after a family found a stash of artifacts in their late father’s Massachusetts attic. They looked old and valuable,” Special Agent Geoffrey J. Kelly, art crime coordinator for FBI Boston and a member of the FBI Art Crime Team, said in a statement. A typewritten letter found alongside the artifacts in Massachusetts helped confirm they were looted during the last days of World War II, the FBI added. “When taken together, they really represent a substantial piece of Okinawan history,” Kelly said of the artifacts. The artifacts were returned to Okinawa last week, the FBI said, but noted that several Okinawan objects are still missing and are listed in the National Stolen Art File.

Persons: Geoffrey J, Kelly, ” Kelly, ”, you’re Organizations: CNN, FBI, FBI Boston, Okinawa FBI, Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of Asian, Washington , D.C Locations: Massachusetts, Japan, Okinawa, Washington ,

☆ For Ytasha Womack, the Afrofuture Is Now
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-16 | by ( Katrina Miller | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

And as with many things Afrofuturistic, Ytasha Womack’s fingerprints are all over it. (In 2023, Ms. Womack published “Black Panther: A Cultural Exploration,” Marvel’s reference book examining the films’ influences.) Afrofuturism is a way of thinking about the future, with alternate realities based on perspectives of the African diaspora. People have used imagination to transform their circumstances, to move from one reality to another. And so to claim your imagination — to embrace it — can be a way of elevating your consciousness.

Persons: Womack, “, Octavia Butler, Nyota Uhura, Janelle Monáe, Henrietta, “ Niyah Organizations: Adler, Carnegie Hall’s, National Museum of, Star, New York Times Locations: Chicago

☆ WeightWatchers CEO just sent an internal memo to employees as stock crashes, amid debt concerns, Oprah exit
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-14 | by ( Eric Rosenbaum | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +6 min

But since then WW shares have suffered heavy selling, dropping to a new 52-week low on Thursday. The stock, due to its debt load and short interest, as well as the general anxiety about the impact of the new weight loss drugs, is subject to heightened volatility. In the memo, Sistani told employees she wanted "to take a moment to address some of the breathless media coverage." WW shares closed at $1.87 on Thursday. It noted that WW was among companies from the weight loss industry involved in the TV event.

Persons: Oprah Winfrey, Sistani, Eli Lilly, Sima Sistani, Guggenheim, Oprah, Winfrey Organizations: CNBC, Nordisk, Guggenheim Partners, Guggenheim, WeightWatchers Clinic, FDA, WeightWatchers, National Museum of, ABC

☆ India joins select group of nations able to fire multiple warheads on a single ICBM
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-12 | by ( Brad Lendon | Rhea Mogul | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

Delhi CNN —India said Monday it had joined the world’s top nuclear powers by mastering the ability to put multiple warheads atop a single intercontinental ballistic missile. The successful test of multiple independently targetable reentry vehicle (MIRV) technology on the indigenously developed Agni-V ICBM puts India in a club that includes the United States, Russia, China, France and the United Kingdom. Neighboring Pakistan has also claimed to have MIRV technology, but experts say the claim is unverified. “Various Telemetry and radar stations tracked and monitored multiple re-entry vehicles. India did not give an exact number of reentry vehicles released during the Agni-V test, but MIRVed missiles can carry a dozen or possibly more MIRV warheads.

Persons: Narendra Modi, “, ” Modi, X, Rajnath Singh, ”, Amit Shah Organizations: Delhi CNN, DRDO, Defence Research, Development Organisation, Mission, Defense Ministry, Indian Defense, ., Center for Arms Control, Center for Strategic, International Studies Missile Defense, United States, Minuteman, National Museum of, US Air Force, US, Union of Concerned, US Defense Locations: Delhi, India, United States, Russia, China, France, United Kingdom, Neighboring Pakistan, Bay, Bengal, Bharat, Pakistan, Beijing

☆ Titanosaur skeleton discovered in France is 70 million years old
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-07 | by ( Taylor Nicioli | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

CNN —A chance discovery made in southern France has revealed a rare specimen — an almost complete dinosaur skeleton found connected from its hind skull to its tail. The Archaeological and Paleontological Cultural Association at the Cruzy Museum, in collaboration with the French National Center for Scientific Research, identified the nearly 10-meter-long (32.8-foot-long) fossil as a Titanosaur skeleton upon excavation. The recently revealed 70% complete Titanosaur skeleton was retrieved during the excavation along with several fossils of various dinosaurs and other vertebrates, including some in anatomical connection and near complete. The Titanosaur skeleton currently resides in the Cruzy Museum’s laboratory, where it will be further studied, Veyssières said. Remains of Titanosaur fossils are widely unearthed in Europe, but few are discovered in anatomical connection, Boschetto said.

Persons: CNN —, Damien Boschetto, Boschetto, ” Boschetto, Jean, Marc Veyssières, ”, Veyssières, Damien Boschetto Titanosaur, Matthew Carrano, ” Carrano Organizations: CNN, Cruzy, French National Center for Scientific Research, Cruzy Museum, Smithsonian Institution National, of Locations: France, Montouliers, Cruzy, Europe

☆ Scientists use cosmic rays to date earliest evidence of humans in Europe
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-06 | by ( Katie Hunt | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

Archaeologists have recovered 90,000 stone tools from the site, which lies close to Ukraine’s southwestern border with Hungary and Romania. Some 90,000 stone tools made by early humans have been found at the site but no human fossils. Garba‘s colleagues measured two nuclides, aluminum-26 and beryllium-10, found in quartz grains from seven pebbles discovered in the same layer as the stone tools. The earliest human fossils unearthed in Europe are from the Atapuerca site in Spain and date back 1.1 million years, according to the study. Korolevo would have been appealing to ancient humans because it’s near the Tisza River, which leads to the Danube, and there was a readily available source of hard rock to knap stone tools, Garba said.

Persons: Roman Garba, ”, “, ” Garba, Garba, It’s, Briana Pobiner, wasn’t, hominins Organizations: CNN, Czech Academy of Sciences, Archaeological Institute, NAS, Smithsonian National Museum of Locations: Ukraine, Europe, Prague, Hungary, Romania, Africa, Spain, Georgia, Dmanisi, Washington , DC, hominins

☆ Where Old Vegas is still alive today
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-03 | by ( Matt Villano | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +11 min

MuseumsMuseums are obvious celebrations of the past, and in Las Vegas, these two museums have direct links to the Vegas of old. At the Neon Museum, Old Vegas is showcased in the form of neon signs. Other attractionsSeveral other sights and destinations around Las Vegas keep the city’s past alive in this modern age. At one point every casino in Las Vegas had a machine like this one; today this is the only coin-operated iteration left. Finally, the most recognizable throwback to Old Vegas might be the neon “Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas” sign at the south end of the Las Vegas Strip near Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino.

Persons: upstage Travis, Taylor, Usher, Jackie Gaughan, Kenny Epstein, Epstein, Gaughan, “, ”, you’ve, Bugsy Siegel, Meyer Lansky, La Concha, Caesar, Chris Welsch, Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr, Sinatra, Hugo’s, El Cortez, Barbara Streisand’s, Bauer, Griffin, Vegas Vickie, Vickie, Derek Stevens, Vic, Betty Willis, YESCO Organizations: CNN, Sin, Bellagio, Vegas, Eiffel, El, Fremont Street, National Register of Historic Places, Casino, Hotel, Museums, Mob Museum, National Museum of, US Post Office, Commerce, Neon Museum, Las, Virgin Hotels, Minneapolis Star Tribune, Italian American, Four Queens Casino, Las Vegas, Sigma Derby, Fremont Locations: Sin City, Las Vegas, Paris, Vegas, Hotel Nevada, Fremont Street, America, Old Vegas, Sahara, Virgin Hotels Las Vegas, Las, Fremont, Mandalay

☆ Oprah's WeightWatchers departure proves she still has the power to move the needle
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-01 | by ( Erin Snodgrass | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

On Thursday, WeightWatchers stock was worth $3.12 — down from a 2021 high of $40. WeightWatchers' value jumped by $700 million in just two days after Winfrey joined the company in 2015, with shares more than doubling. AdvertisementBut WeightWatchers and other weight loss companies have struggled in the recent Ozempic-era, as GLP1 medications become more accessible and commonplace. (Evidence suggests Winfrey's endorsement of GLP-1 medications sparked a spike in demand for them, as well. ) The statement said WeightWatchers' board of directors is supportive of Winfrey's proposal to donate her stock to the museum.

Persons: —, Winfrey's, Winfrey, Oprah Winfrey, Phil, Oz, Suze Orman, WeightWatchers, Semmelbauer Organizations: Service, Business, WW International, Magazine, National Museum of Locations: WeightWatchers

☆ Opinion: Why it was time for Oprah to move on from Weight Watchers
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-01 | by ( Opinion Kellie Carter Jackson | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

For decades, America has followed Oprah through every major weight loss trend, and this was no exception. She later deeply regretted such a stunt, calling it a “Big, big, big, big, big, big, big mistake!”In 1994, Oprah ran her first marathon to celebrate her 40th birthday. It raised questions about Oprah taking medical weight loss drugs such as Ozempic or Wegovy. She later deeply regretted such a stunt, calling it a “Big, big, big, big, big, big, big mistake!” Charles Bennet/APWith Oprah stepping down, many people will lose their measure or point of reference for what is ahead or behind the curve as it relates to their weight and health. One might also ask what it means for the nation’s preeminent Black history museum to be economically tethered to a weight loss company.

Persons: Kellie Carter Jackson, Michael, Denise Kellen ’, “, Read, Oprah Winfrey, Oprah, ”, Stedman Graham, Mark Wilson, Oprah’s, Winfrey, Charles Bennet, it’s Organizations: of Africana Studies, Wellesley College, CNN, WW, Marine Corp, Harpo Studios, US Marine Corps, 19th Marine Corps, AP, Hollywood, canaries, National Museum of Locations: America

☆ Oprah has left WeightWatchers, sending stocks spiraling and spelling doom for the diet of our foremothers
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-29 | by ( Mia De Graaf | Rachel Hosie | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

Oprah Winfrey will not seek reelection to the board of WW International, known as WeightWatchers. It was a surprising time to jump on board — WeightWatchers had been shedding users, and its stock price was dwindling. AdvertisementDespite not naming the brand, there was an immediate spike in demand for GLP-1 medications — the popular new class of weight-loss drugs. That same day, WW added a weight-loss drug arm to its business, acquiring Sequence, a service that provides weight-loss drugs. AdvertisementLong-term, WW needs to find a new identityOver time, WW will benefit from being a purveyor of hard-to-access weight-loss drugs.

Persons: Oprah Winfrey, —, Oprah giveth, Oprah taketh, maven, Winfrey, — WeightWatchers, Axios, Oprah, Forbes, Craig, Alex Fuhrman, Winfrey's, We're, Atkins Organizations: WW International, Service, SEC, Guardian, People Magazine, MarketWatch, Mayo Clinic, Business, Smithsonian's National Museum of, CNBC, Slate Locations: GLP, WeightWatchers

☆ Oprah is leaving WeightWatchers’ board, sending stock tumbling 25%
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-29 | by ( Jordan Valinsky | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

New York CNN —Oprah Winfrey is leaving the board of WeightWatchers, ending a nearly decade-long stint as a director of the beleaguered company that has faced sudden competition from Ozempic. WeightWatchers shares (WW) plunged 25% in premarket trading Thursday and would be down 85% for the past six months if the premarket losses hold. WeightWatchers has faced more competition recently from GLP-1 prescriptions drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy sometimes used for weight loss. Last year, WeightWatchers also made a $100 million-plus deal to buy Sequence, a telehealth business that offers virtual prescriptions to patients for these weight loss drugs where appropriate. Winfrey told People Magazine in December that she has added a “weight-loss medication to her regimen” but didn’t specify which drug.

Persons: Oprah Winfrey, Winfrey, ”, Oprah, Sima Sistani, WeightWatchers, ” Winfrey Organizations: New, New York CNN, Ozempic, National Museum of, WeightWatchers, Magazine Locations: New York, GLP

☆ Researchers Dispute Claim That Ancient Whale Was Heaviest Animal Ever
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-29 | by ( Carl Zimmer | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Last August, a team of paleontologists announced that they had discovered the fossilized bones of a gigantic ancient whale. Perucetus, as they named it, might have weighed over 200 tons, which would make it the heaviest animal that has ever lived. But in a study published Thursday, a pair of scientists have challenged that bold claim. The bones had many hallmarks of whales’ bones. Dr. Urbina and his colleagues reconstructed the full skeleton of Perucetus by studying the much smaller whales that lived at the same time.

Persons: ”, Nicholas Pyenson, Pyenson, Ryosuke, Perucetus, Mario Urbina, Urbina Organizations: Smithsonian National Museum of, University of California, Museum, National University of San Locations: Davis, National University of San Marcos, Lima , Peru, Peru

☆ Invasive Jorō spiders can live well with humans, according to new study
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-25 | by ( Taylor Nicioli | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

Typical spiders — and most creatures — tend to find the noise and wind disturbance from nearby busy roads to be too stressful, but the Jorō spider doesn’t seem to mind much, according to a new study published in Arthropoda on February 13. University of Georgia ecology students and study coauthors Kade Stewart, Caitlin Phelan and Alexa Schultz handle a Jorō spider. What to do when you come across a Jorō spiderAs the nonnative Jorō spider continues to spread in the region, the spiders pose a threat to native species that are beneficial to the environment. While conducting the study, the researchers found evidence of the Jorō spiders coexisting with native spiders, Davis said. And the Jorō spiders eat species that are good and bad for the environment, including the infamous lantern fly, he added.

Persons: ”, Andy Davis, Kade Stewart, Caitlin Phelan, Alexa Schultz, Davis, Floyd Shockley, Shockley, ” Shockley, “, They’re, they’re Organizations: CNN, University of Georgia’s Odum, of Ecology, University of Georgia, Entomology, Smithsonian National Museum of Locations: United States, Arthropoda, Washington ,

☆ Mystery of whale song unraveled by scientists, study says
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-22 | by ( Amarachi Orie | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

How baleen whales, which include humpback whales, are able to sing underwater has eluded scientists since whale songs were first discovered more than 50 years ago. A baleen whale’s larynx is shaped differently from other mammals. This structural adaptation allows the leviathan to breathe massive amounts of air in and out when they go to the surface, according to the study. Air sacs also evolved in a way that may allow a baleen whale to recycle air while creating vocal sounds, according to researchers. This means that most boating noises mask calls between baleen whales, reducing the distance over which they can communicate.

Persons: Olga Filatova, “, ”, Coen Elemans, ” Elemans, Elemans, they’ve, Patricia Jaqueline, Karim Iliya, James Rule, Ellen Coombs, Peter Buck Organizations: CNN, University of Southern, London’s, Museum, Smithsonian National Museum of Locations: Bering, University of Southern Denmark

☆ Neanderthal glue points to complex thinking
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-21 | by ( Katie Hunt | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

CNN —Neanderthals likely made a type of glue from two natural compounds to help them better grip stone tools, according to a new analysis of forgotten artifacts recently rediscovered in a Berlin museum. “The fact that Neanderthals made such a substance gives insight into their capabilities and their way of thinking,” he said. The stone tools were unearthed around 1910 at a French archaeological site called Le Moustier that scientists believe Neanderthals used between 120,000 and 40,000 years ago. Their study, published Wednesday in the journal Science Advances, found that the makers of the stone tools used the adhesive to mold a handle rather than haft the tool to wood. P. SchmidtMicroscopic wear showed the stone tools appeared polished over the handheld part but not elsewhere, likely revealing abrasion from the movement of the tools within the ocher-bitumen grip.

Persons: Patrick Schmidt, ”, Moustier, Gunther Möller, Schmidt, It’s, sapiens, Marie, Hélène, ” Schmidt Organizations: CNN, University of Tübingen’s, French National Museum of, Schmidt Locations: Berlin, Paris, Europe, ocher, Italy, France

Search resuls for: "National Museum of"

25 mentions found