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Unearthing the Green Sahara’s Secrets and Other Science News
Recent scientific explorations have yielded fascinating insights, from uncovering the genetic history of the Green Sahara using ancient DNA from mummified remains, to observing the enigmatic behavior of dark energy driving the universe’s expansion. Discoveries also include a pioneering space tourism mission achieving a unique polar orbit, the intriguing find of Neanderthal-style stone tools in East Asia, and newly identified dinosaur footprints revealing ancient ecosystems in Scotland. These diverse archaeological and scientific endeavors continue to reshape our understanding of Earth’s past and the cosmos.
Echoes of a Verdant Past in the Sahara Desert
Envisioning the Sahara Desert often conjures images of an unforgiving terrain dominated by immense sand dunes and desolate rock expanses.
While this is largely accurate today, approximately 7,000 years prior, this extensive desert presented a strikingly different panorama: a lush, verdant environment characterized by woodlands, rivers, and inhabited by megafauna such as hippopotamuses and elephants.
Over several decades, researchers have accumulated details about this “green Sahara.” Currently, utilizing ancient DNA extracted from mummified remains, geneticists are successfully identifying the populations who once thrived in this region.
Unveiling Ancient Inhabitants
Mummified remnants of a woman interred in the Takarkori rock shelter, dating back roughly 7,000 years. – Archaeological Mission in the Sahara/Sapienza University of Rome
The Takarkori rock shelter, nestled within southwestern Libya’s Tadrart Acacus mountains, provides a compelling window into the Sahara’s more verdant epoch.
Archaeologists previously unearthed the remains of 15 women and children at this location two decades ago.
Initial endeavors to retrieve ancient DNA from these remains proved unsuccessful. Optimal DNA preservation typically requires consistently cool conditions, contrasting sharply with today’s Sahara’s extreme temperature fluctuations.
However, recent technological advancements have enabled scientists to sequence the genome – the complete genetic blueprint – of two mummified women. This analysis has revealed captivating details concerning the ancestry of the Takarkori people and their adaptation to a herding lifestyle.
Exploring the Mysteries of Dark Energy
Dark energy remains an enigmatic force believed to be responsible for the accelerating expansion of the universe, constituting approximately 70% of the cosmos’ total energy.
Emerging evidence from the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument collaboration, known as DESI, suggests that dark energy may exhibit unexpected behaviors, potentially weakening over time.
This collaborative project, currently in its fourth year of astronomical surveying, has recently published its latest dataset. While not conclusive, the information is generating considerable excitement among space scientists.
“We are committed to allowing the universe to reveal its operational principles, and it’s possible the universe is indicating a greater complexity than our previous understanding,” stated Andrei Cuceu, a postdoctoral researcher at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, the managing institution for DESI.
Defying Gravitational Norms: Space Tourism Reaches New Heights
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket carrying the Fram2 mission astronauts ascends from Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Monday. – Gregg Nedwton/AFP/Getty Images
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket propelled four tourists aboard a Crew Dragon capsule into a polar orbit, marking an unprecedented feat.
The Fram2 mission was spearheaded by Malta resident Chun Wang, who amassed his wealth through Bitcoin mining ventures. He reportedly paid SpaceX an undisclosed sum for this unique space voyage.
Witness footage of the spacecraft’s splashdown off the California coast on Friday, following a 3.5-day sojourn in low-Earth orbit for Wang and his crewmates: film director Jannicke Mikkelsen, robotics researcher Rabea Rogge, and adventurer Eric Philips.
This marked the inaugural space experience for all four crew members, each with connections to polar land exploration.
Concurrently, NASA astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore recently shared their reflections for the first time since concluding a protracted nine-month mission in space. Details of their insights are available.
Unearthing Ancient Tool Technologies
To the untrained observer, stone tools might appear as unremarkable rocks, but to specialists, they narrate captivating historical accounts.
Researchers have recently identified stone artifacts crafted in a style strongly linked to Neanderthals in East Asia for the first time, discovered at a site in southwestern China’s Yunnan province.
This remarkable find, estimated to be between 60,000 and 50,000 years old, has intrigued archaeologists, leading to various hypotheses to interpret the stone tools.
Possible explanations include Neanderthals migrating eastward to present-day China, or perhaps another ancient human species independently developed remarkably similar tools to those found in Europe.
Regardless of the definitive answer, this discovery has the potential to revolutionize current understandings of human origins during the Stone Age.
Dinosaur Discoveries on the Isle of Skye
Artist’s depiction of herbivorous sauropods (left) and carnivorous megalosaurs coexisting around a lagoon in present-day Isle of Skye, Scotland. – Tone Blakesley/Scott Reid
Dinosaur footprints discovered on Scotland’s Isle of Skye suggest that ancestors of T. rex and their herbivorous prey frequented a lagoon in the area, according to new analysis.
Lead study author Tone Blakesley recounted that he was part of a small team that initially identified three footprints at the remote Trotternish Peninsula site in 2019 while a graduate student at the University of Edinburgh.
“It was immensely exciting,” Blakesley stated. After documenting a total of 131 footprints, he employed a drone to capture thousands of overlapping images of the site before generating digital 3D models of the tracks, which are preserved in “exceptional detail,” he added.
More Wonders of Science
Explore these captivating narratives:
- The recent discovery of a mystery king’s tomb in Abydos, Egypt, is yielding new clues about a forgotten dynasty notably absent from historical records of pharaohs who once governed the region.
- Scientists dispatched a container of cooked soybean paste to the International Space Station, where it underwent fermentation before returning to Earth as miso. Details on its taste are available.
- An unusual spiral phenomenon recently illuminated European skies, becoming an increasingly observed spectacle.
- Archaeologists excavating a substantial tomb in Pompeii unearthed exceptionally rare, near life-size marble statues, offering fresh perspectives on the influence wielded by priestesses in the ancient city.