César Tomé is the editor of Mapping Ignorance.
Asteroid samples reveal ancient salty incubators Samples from asteroids Ryugu and Bennu have revealed the presence of salts, indicating that salty water environments were common in the early solar system. This finding suggests that such environments could have been incubators for life’s building blocks, a discovery that highlights the potential for organic evolution on asteroids […]
Genetic erosion poses hidden threat to species survival Research on the regent honeyeater, a critically endangered bird from southeastern Australia, reveals that despite severe population decline, the species retains high genetic diversity. Through whole-genome sequencing and ecological modeling, the study underscores the delayed impact of genetic erosion and the importance of integrating genetic data over […]
Geographic split of humans linked to emerging language A genomic analysis suggests that human language ability was present at least 135,000 years ago, coinciding with the first geographic split of Homo sapiens. The research suggests that humans developed the cognitive capacity for complex language before it entered social use. This capacity for symbolic thinking and […]
Rapid crevasse growth on Greenland Ice Sheet Research shows that crevasses on Greenland’s Ice Sheet are growing at an alarming rate, potentially accelerating ice loss and sea level rise. The study, which used advanced digital elevation models to document crevasse volume changes from 2016 to 2021, underscores the need for continued monitoring to refine predictions […]
Prosthetic hand mimics human touch Engineers at Johns Hopkins University developed a prosthetic hand that mimics human touch by blending soft and rigid parts with touch-sensitive technology. The hand uses forearm muscle signals and machine learning to adjust its grip on various objects, achieving 99.69% accuracy in tests. “We want to give people with upper-limb […]
How did the brain of Vesuvius victim turn into glass? A victim of the Vesuvius volcano eruption in 79 CE experienced a unique condition when his brain turned into glass. Researchers determined that the brain was subjected to temperatures over 510 degrees Celsius, followed by rapid cooling that kept “the ultra-fine neural structure of the […]
Orchids deploy parasitism to boost growth New research on the orchid species Oreorchis patens reveals that these plants can switch to parasitism by extracting nutrients from fungi near decomposing wood, without abandoning photosynthesis. This dual strategy allows the orchids to grow larger and produce more flowers. Full Story: Popular Science Permafrost thaw alters size of […]
Whale songs reveal similarities to human speech Two new studies reveal that whale songs share sophisticated similarities with human speech, challenging the uniqueness of human language. Researchers found that humpback whales exhibit communication efficiency akin to human languages, adhering to linguistic laws such as Menzerath’s and Zipf’s laws. Full Story: ScienceAlert Birds, mammals evolved complex […]
A new study presents a methodology to test the assumption of cosmic homogeneity and isotropy, known as the Cosmological Principle, by leveraging weak gravitational lensing—a light distortion effect described by general relativity—in astronomical images collected by new observatories such as the Euclid Space Telescope. Finding evidence of anomalies in the Cosmological Principle could have profound […]
Earth experienced a surge in greenery in 2020 The year 2020 marked the greenest year in nearly two decades. While the COVID-19 pandemic’s reduced human activity slightly boosted vegetation, the primary drivers were increased carbon dioxide, warmer climates and reforestation projects, notably in China and India. Full Story: Earth Ancient cannibalism found in cave An […]