PAST & FUTURE

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[pastndfuture]

New virus with unknown genome discovered in Brazil

New virus with unknown genome discovered in Brazil

Viruses are one of the smallest life forms on our planet and at the same time are some of the most dangerous. Constantly evolving, viruses are becoming more adapted and sophisticated. But do we all know about them? Researchers recently discovered a new form of the virus that contains virtually no genes known to science. The mysterious virus collected from amoebas in an artificial lake in…

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NASA managed to establish communication with the Voyager 2 probe after a mysterious failure

NASA managed to establish communication with the Voyager 2 probe after a mysterious failure

Launched from Cape Canaveral in 1977, the Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 probes have been in space for 42 years. Together, these robotic devices have changed our understanding of the solar system, and now reveal unprecedented information about interstellar space outside the sphere of influence of the sun. However, on January 28 of this year, NASA reported Voyager 2 problems, the causes of which were not…

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What if our planet became a super-earth?

What if our planet became a super-earth?

Since the discovery of the first exoplanet about 30 years ago, scientists have been able to discover more than 4,000 celestial objects with different sizes and characteristics. Among the objects found in other solar systems, scientists were able to identify a huge number of planets, whose sizes and masses are several times higher than those of the Earth. However, in spite of all its similarities…

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Discovered "invisible" stars at a distance of 2500 light years from Earth

Discovered “invisible” stars at a distance of 2500 light years from Earth

In space, an extremely unfriendly environment for humans, something happens all the time. Various celestial objects, including stars, galaxies, clouds of dust and gas are constantly changing. It is for this reason that the European Space Agency has developed the Gaia Space Telescope, which studies the sky again and again. Such a repeated viewing of the same areas is necessary in order to fix the…

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Can humanity survive without insects?

Can humanity survive without insects?

Have you thought about the meaning of being an ordinary mosquito? Or, for example, butterflies? Scientists are convinced that despite their seemingly completely meaningless existence, insects are a necessary link in the life chain of not only humans, but all life on our planet. According to experts, about 1 million species of animals and plants are already on the verge of extinction, and half of…

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What animals are able to refrain from eating in order to get even more delicious food?

What animals are able to refrain from eating in order to get even more delicious food?

Cephalopods, including octopuses and cuttlefish, have a completely different evolutionary path than other animals. They seem to be the most primitive creatures, but they are smart at the level of many mammals. More recently, neuroscientists from the UK in an unusual experiment found that cuttlefish are quite capable of watching films in 3D-format. Now it has become known that these creatures also…

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[pastndfuture]

Why does ritual cannibalism still exist?

Why does ritual cannibalism still exist?

How long do you think cannibalism has been? Researchers believe that for more than 15 thousand years, during a period of profound transformation, several groups of people in Europe used human skulls as cups in ritual practices that included cannibalism. Analysis of the cut marks on skull fragments found in the Gran Valley and El Mirador Cave in Atapuerca (Spain), Gough Cave (Great Britain) in…

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The famous "heart" of Pluto may be the source of a unique natural phenomenon

The famous “heart” of Pluto may be the source of a unique natural phenomenon

The distant and cold Pluto for several decades after its discovery seemed a kind of incomprehensible boundary separating the solar system from the vast universe. When in May 2015, NASA’s New Horizons interplanetary station was in its orbit, for the first time in human history, the device managed to take unique pictures of the surface of a dwarf planet with an unusual formation in the shape of a…

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Why could 2020 be the warmest year on record?

Why could 2020 be the warmest year on record?

2020 promises to go down in history as the warmest year in the history of meteorological observations, and there is already some evidence for this. According to sciencealert.com, last month we witnessed the warmest January in the world, whose temperature was three degrees above the average temperature for this time of year. The experts of the European Union climate monitoring system also clarify…

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[pastndfuture]

The UK is ready to publish secret data about aliens

The UK is ready to publish secret data about aliens

Is there an extraterrestrial life? Perhaps this question can be considered one of the most popular in terms of the number of queries in the search engines Google or Yandex. As if trying to irritate the masses even more, governments of different countries most often simply place all references to UFOs and other little-studied objects under the heading “top secret”, surrounding the situation with…

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[pastndfuture]

Cigarettes emit harmful substances even after extinguishing

Cigarettes emit harmful substances even after extinguishing

Thanks to warnings on TV and on cigarette packs with images of terrible diseases, we are already well aware of the dangers of smoking. This bad habit is very common and in most cases leads to cancer, respiratory diseases and problems with the cardiovascular system. But did you know that cigarettes harm not only human health, but also the environment? For example, in 2019, scientists from the…

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[pastndfuture]

Environmentalists have warned of the possible disappearance of fireflies

Environmentalists have warned of the possible disappearance of fireflies

In early 2020, scientists shared the very sad news that there were no fish left in the world belonging to the species of Chinese paddlefish. Unfortunately, due to fishing, hunting, deforestation and other human activities, more and more living creatures die in the world. More recently, it became known that even fireflies, which are known for their ability to glow in the dark, were endangered. It…

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[pastndfuture]

How big can a planet be?

How big can a planet be?

As you may know, at present, scientists have data on the presence of more than 4000 planets in the visible Universe. Some of these objects are distinguished by truly incredible characteristics, being next to their bodies in elliptical orbits or even revolving around several stars simultaneously. The fantasy of the Universe may seem endless, but sometimes it is limited by the rigid laws of…

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Does the alarm tone affect a person's health in the morning?

Does the alarm tone affect a person’s health in the morning?

A couple of decades ago, back in the early 2000s, we woke up to an unpleasant squeak or ringing an alarm clock. Today, the alarm clock is even integrated into the cheapest smartphone and we have the opportunity to set a melody that will wake us up in the early morning. Someone prefers to wake up to calm songs, but lovers of a lot of sleep often try to cheer up while listening to loud and…

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[pastndfuture]

Possible cure for coronavirus found

Possible cure for coronavirus found

The new coronavirus spreading in China may not be as dangerous as everyone thinks. A study published in the journal Nature claims that the virus is very similar to its predecessor, SARS, which, like the new strain of the virus, came from bats. At the same time, despite the high level of contagiousness (more than 17,000 people were infected with the coronavirus in a month), the coronavirus from…

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[pastndfuture]

Paleontologists have found fossils of the oldest spider-like creature

Paleontologists have found fossils of the oldest spider-like creature

Paleontologists annually find thousands of the remains of ancient animals underground. Since there are a lot of ancient bones, scientists simply do not have enough time to carefully study them and the fossils have been in museums for several decades. For example, in the mid-1980s, in the US state of Wisconsin, the remains of an arachnid creature were discovered, the appearance of which the…

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[pastndfuture]

The moon can tell us about the origin of life on Earth

The moon can tell us about the origin of life on Earth

The south pole of our natural satellite can obscure the answer to the question of the origin of life on Earth. According to an article published by the scientific portal sciencenews.com, the ice reserves of the moon brought to the surface of the satellite from the outside by comets can store traces of organisms that once came to Earth and entailed its further settlement. If so, then why have so…

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