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5 days ago | 
cosmosmagazine.com | Evrim Yazgin
Cosmos has published below some of the first images released by the Rubin Observatory. Astronomy experts and enthusiasts around the world are watching on with glee as the Vera C. Rubin Observatory today releases its first images of space, heralding new discoveries about the universe. The giant telescope sits atop the Cerro Pachón peak in the Chilean Andes mountains, 2,647 metres above sea level. There it will watch the skies for 10 years to create a timelapse video of deep space.
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1 week ago | 
cosmosmagazine.com | Evrim Yazgin
New 3D modelling techniques show that shark size follows a “two-thirds scaling law”, helping reshape understanding of biology. The law refers to the ratio between the surface area of an organism and its volume (or mass). It is a geometric formula which says that the surface area of the organism increases with the volume raised to the power of ⅔ (or 0.67). This is not just an interesting numerical or geometric relationship but relates directly to an organism’s metabolism.
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1 week ago | 
cosmosmagazine.com | Evrim Yazgin
A new review brings together all the geological research that has been done on the ancient underwater continent known as Zealandia. Zealandia, or Te Riu-a-Māui in the Māori language, only pokes above the surface of the waves in the islands of New Zealand (Aotearoa) and New Caledonia. What is known about the ancient continent is largely based on onshore geological studies and offshore mapping.
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1 week ago | 
cosmosmagazine.com | Evrim Yazgin
Normal matter makes up about a quarter of all the matter in the universe but it turns out that a good portion of it has been hiding from astronomers for decades. New research published in Nature Astronomy shows how astronomers have found this “missing” matter. Observations of the gravitational forces in galaxies were used to measure the amount of normal, or visible, matter. The rest is dark matter.
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1 week ago | 
cosmosmagazine.com | Evrim Yazgin
A new study sheds light on unusual funerary practices of the Bronze Age Xiaohe culture which lived in what is today the Xinjiang region of China. Xiaohe burials included boat-shaped coffins, cattle remains, and grave markers resembling paddles and mooring posts. These funerary practices are unlike any of the other cultures in the surrounding areas. The Xiaohe culture lasted about from about 1950 to 1400 BCE along the rivers and oases of the Tarim Basin in the northwest of modern-day China.
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1 week ago | 
cosmosmagazine.com | Evrim Yazgin
A cosmic particle detector in Antarctica has detected radio signals that defy current particle physics theories. The radio pulses were found by scientists operating the Antarctic Impulsive Transient Antenna (ANITA) experiment which was launched between 2006 and 2016. ANITA includes a range of instruments which are flown on balloons about 37km above the frozen continent. ANITA was designed to detect radio waves from cosmic rays.
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2 weeks ago | 
cosmosmagazine.com | Evrim Yazgin
New research has shown that the earliest apes – ancestors of modern great apes and humans – evolved in tropical forests in the shadow of a violent volcano. Apes first emerged about 25 million years ago (mya). Scientists are now beginning to understand how the environment shaped the earliest apes. The hominin group of apes are those that include human species and our direct ancestors. This group split from the other apes within the broader hominid group about 7 mya and developed bipedalism.
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2 weeks ago | 
cosmosmagazine.com | Evrim Yazgin
Describing what a galaxy looks like seems to be a bit like finding shapes in clouds – everyone’s perspective is different – but the shape of galaxies provides important clues as to their development. Astronomers have discovered a galaxy which they say resembles a jellyfish with bunny ears – if you squint really hard. But it’ analysis of the galaxy which has revealed unusual dynamics which are helping them understand some of the most extreme environments in the universe.
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2 weeks ago | 
cosmosmagazine.com | Evrim Yazgin
Astronomers have found a gigantic cosmic structure which defies understanding. The object is a cloud of energetic particles – the largest ever found. The cloud is so large that it surrounds a massive galaxy cluster, spanning 20 million light-years. For comparison, our home Milky Way galaxy has a diameter about 200 times smaller at roughly 100,000 light-years. Long standing theories about how particles stay energised have been challenged by the new discovery.
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2 weeks ago | 
cosmosmagazine.com | Evrim Yazgin
Fossils found in Mongolia of a new dinosaur species may help palaeontologists explain the evolution and dispersal of the group which includes Tyrannosaurus rex. T. rex is often called the “king of the dinosaurs” for good reason. It was the apex predator for 2 million years before it and all the non-avian dinosaurs went extinct 66 million years ago. T. rex was massive – measuring 4m tall, 12m long and 9 tonnes. How it evolved to dominate ancient North America is debated. T.
