Tech & Science Animals Snakes Reptiles Two small chunks of amber contain the first known fossil snakes ever found trapped in the glassy substance, scientists have revealed. Estimated to be almost 100 million years old, one of the honey-colored hunks contains the oldest known baby snake ever discovered. These gleaming globs of amber, scientists reported in the journal Science Advances, can unlock the secrets of the ancient creatures: their evolutionary history and the environment they lived in. Skeletal remains from the Xiaophis myanmarensis snake hatchling are trapped in Burmese amber. Ming BAI/Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) Workers unearthed the amber in Myanmar quarries located near the Chinese border. People have collected amber in the country for more than a century, study author Michael Caldwell told Newsweek, but the quarries have only recently started to yield significant numbers of ancient biological treasures. Recommended Slideshows 67 The Best … [Read more...] about 100 Million-year-old Baby Snake Preserved in Amber Is Oldest Ever Discovered
Oldest known photograph
A guide to San Antonio’s lesser-known spots to see this summer
By Madalyn Mendoza, mySanAntonio.com Published 3:39 pm, Thursday, May 10, 2018 window._taboola = window._taboola || []; _taboola.push({ mode: 'thumbnails-c', container: 'taboola-interstitial-gallery-thumbnails-5', placement: 'Interstitial Gallery Thumbnails 5', target_type: 'mix' }); _taboola.push({flush: true}); window._taboola = window._taboola || []; _taboola.push({ mode: 'thumbnails-c', container: 'taboola-interstitial-gallery-thumbnails-10', placement: 'Interstitial Gallery Thumbnails 10', target_type: 'mix' }); _taboola.push({flush: true}); window._taboola = window._taboola || []; _taboola.push({ mode: 'thumbnails-c', container: 'taboola-interstitial-gallery-thumbnails-15', placement: 'Interstitial Gallery Thumbnails 15', target_type: 'mix' }); _taboola.push({flush: true}); window._taboola = window._taboola || []; _taboola.push({ mode: 'thumbnails-c', container: 'taboola-interstitial-gallery-thumbnails-20', placement: 'Interstitial Gallery … [Read more...] about A guide to San Antonio’s lesser-known spots to see this summer
Off topic: Virtual dating assistants, wildlife-photo scandal, oldest spider dies, trees and sleep
By Levi Sumagaysay | [email protected] | Bay Area News Group May 1, 2018 at 6:13 am a professional flirter. Wildlife photographer who won a contest denies using a stuffed animal — in this case, an anteater — but is disqualified anyway. Speaking of animals, a 43-year-old female trapdoor spider that had been known as the world’s oldest known spider has died. And do trees sleep at night? Researchers studying birch trees find more clues. … [Read more...] about Off topic: Virtual dating assistants, wildlife-photo scandal, oldest spider dies, trees and sleep
Tiny Distortions in Universe’s Oldest Light Reveal Strands in Cosmic Web
Scientists have decoded faint distortions in the patterns of the universe's earliest light to map huge tubelike structures invisible to our eyes - known as filaments - that serve as superhighways for delivering matter to dense hubs such as galaxy clusters. The international science team, which included researchers from the Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) and UC Berkeley, analyzed data from past sky surveys using sophisticated image-recognition technology to home in on the gravity-based effects that identify the shapes of these filaments. They also used models and theories about the filaments to help guide and interpret their analysis. Published April 9 in the journal Nature Astronomy, the detailed exploration of filaments will help researchers to better understand the formation and evolution of the cosmic web - the large-scale structure of matter in the universe - including the mysterious, unseen stuff known as dark matter that … [Read more...] about Tiny Distortions in Universe’s Oldest Light Reveal Strands in Cosmic Web
29 of the most famous alien and monster photographs ever taken
Since the dawn of time, the human race has seen mystery and intrigue around every corner. Mysterious events have been put down to the supernatural, the paranormal and even the extra-terrestrial.One things for sure, there have been a lot of unexplained mysteries over the centuries and with modern technology giving people greater access to photography and previously unexplored parts of the galaxy, there are bound to be plenty more cropping up.We've tracked down some of the most famous alien and monster photographs ever taken to show just how weird and wonderful the world can be.The Loch Ness Monster (565 AD)Nessie is the fabled creature that famously inhabits Loch Ness in Scotland. This monster might well be the oldest of the unexplained mysteries on our list as the earliest reports of sightings date back to 565 AD.Since that time, plenty of people have claimed to see the monster of the Loch but there have also been many false sightings, hoaxes and misidentifications that have included … [Read more...] about 29 of the most famous alien and monster photographs ever taken