Science and Technology Daily intern reporter Zhang Jiaxin
In 2020, under the influence of the global COVID-19 epidemic, both economic development and people's lives have had a huge impact. Perhaps each of us needs a breathing space, and the latest science stories of 2020 that we share with you today come from the latest selection of the official website of Science News magazine.
Splashing water into ice is so hot, why use hot water? How, after the cold snap, a "lizard sister" fell from the sky? Snakes are reptiles, and they can fly? ...... These interesting scientific stories that satisfy our curiosity will allow us to temporarily pull out of the heaviness, glimpse the "sunshine in the cracks", and let us discover that we still live in a world full of miracles and beauty.
1 Can you imagine? Glacier-covered Antarctica has also had birds singing
Today's frozen Antarctica was once home to a variety of tropical rainforests. Traces of vegetation found in 90 million-year-old sediment off the west coast of Antarctica suggest that the Earth at the time of the dinosaurs was so different from today that it had "two looks"! In Antarctica during the middle Cretaceous period (92 million to 83 million years ago), the average annual temperature in the forest was about 13 degrees Celsius, while the summer temperature was as high as 20 or 25 degrees Celsius. In the places that cover the ice sheets today, there were once lush conifers, ferns and beautiful flowers.
About 90 million years ago, Antarctica had tropical rainforests. Image credit: McKay/Alfred Wegener Institute, Germany
2 "Life always finds a way out"
There's a line in the movie Jurassic Park: "Life finds a way." "Life is endless and uncontrolled, only natural selection and survival of the fittest." Scientists are still identifying new species and classifying the planet's amazing biodiversity.
The four deep-sea creatures collectively known as the "Elvis Presley worm" (pictured) may be small (only a few millimeters to a few centimeters long). Image source: Animal Mystery
This year, scientists discovered that the glittering "Elvis presley worm" in the deep ocean is actually four different species. Scientists have discovered 10 new bird species and subspecies on a remote Indonesian island. Over the past two decades, on average, fewer than six new species of birds have been discovered worldwide each year. In New Guinea, scientists for the first time conducted a complete count of the plant species here, and found more than 13,600 vascular plant species, indicating that New Guinea is the most plant-rich island in the world.
Scientists have discovered 10 new bird species and subspecies on Battudaka Island in the Togian Archipelago. Image credit: James Eaton/Asian Bird watching tour organization
One of the five largest plant genera on the island is the peach (pictured), a group of evergreen flowering plants. Image source: Nature
3 Be careful! A "lizard sister" fell from the sky
In South Florida, known as the "Sunshine State" in the United States, after a cold snap, the lizard began to fall from the tree, and its legs landed on the ground. It wasn't injured, it wasn't "whining", it was just too cold, it lost the ability to move, it couldn't move... Amazingly, this could be good news for the six lizard species that scientists studied. They found that the reptiles can now withstand temperatures of about 1 to 4 degrees Celsius, which may indicate that they have some adaptability to extreme weather caused by climate change.
The iguana fell from a tree on Biscayne Island, Florida, after a cold snap in January. Image credit: Brett Pierce
4 Secret: Splashing water into ice is so hot, why use hot water?
Hot water sometimes freezes faster than cold water, a puzzling natural phenomenon known as the "Mpemba phenomenon." Scientists have been unable to explain it, or even unsure whether it is true. Now, for the first time, the researchers have demonstrated this strange effect in the lab, using small cooled glass beads just 1.5 microns in diameter to represent the more complex icing process of water molecules. The study found that high-temperature objects cool faster than low-temperature objects.
Infographic. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Cai Yang
5 Does the Milky Way have borders that big? Yes!
The brightest part of the Milky Way is a pancake-shaped stellar disk in which the Sun is located, about 120,000 light-years wide. Beyond the stellar disk is a disk of gas. A vast aura of dark matter was filled with invisible particles that enveloped the two disks and extended far beyond their range. But because the halo doesn't emit light, it's hard to measure the diameter of the Milky Way.
In March, astronomers finally "found" the edge of the Milky Way, which is about 1.9 million light-years wide (1 light-year equals 9,460 billion kilometers) more than 15 times wider than its shiny spiral disk. This number could help scientists better estimate the mass of the Milky Way and the number of other galaxies orbiting it.
This year, astronomers discovered the boundaries of the galaxies we are in. Image credit: FermiLab Collaboration/U.S. Department of Energy and NASA
6 Have you ever seen a flying snake?
Maybe you've seen the movie "Flight Snake Infestation"? Scientists are "more real": there is a mistake in the film, that is not the way snakes fly. Some species of tree snakes can glide through the air, and their bodies rise and fall as they fly from one tree to another. Paradise Golden Flower Snakes can jump 10 meters or more in the air, and now scientists have figured out how they stay high in the air. Once the snakes are in the air, they make their bodies undulate in both horizontal and vertical waves, and bend their bodies to tilt their heads up and down, gaining the stability needed to glide.
Paradise Golden Flower Snake. Image credit: Jack Socha
7 Moments of WitnessIng Miracles! The boat floated in reverse
It's an opportunity to witness what seems impossible: a tiny toy boat floating on top and bottom of a floating liquid. Physicists have achieved this "magic" by shaking a container containing liquid, keeping the liquid layer above the layer of air and allowing it to float in reverse.
Create an anti-gravity effect in the lab that causes objects such as toy boats to float upside down at the bottom of the suspension layer. Image source: Nature
8 The strongest desire to survive: the water beetle successfully escaped after being swallowed by the black spotted frog!
The water beetle (Regimbartia attenuata) is the first known prey to survive the frog's entire digestive system, and not only that, but it can also actively escape from the frog's anus. Through more than 30 experiments, scientists have found that more than 90 percent of beetles are excreted within 6 hours of being eaten and are still alive. This extremely strong will to survive is truly amazing!
This black-spotted frog (pictured) can easily prey on water beetles, which can achieve escape with a tenacious will to survive. Image source: Shinji Sugihara
9 Your moods and sorrows may not be much different from those of the ancient Maya
From smiling to grimacing, from ancient times to modern times, facial expressions may be universal in human culture. Every expression of emotion occurs in a specific social setting. By looking at the faces of sculptures made between 3500 and 600 years ago, without taking into account the background of the rest of the sculpture, modern humans correctly understand the various expressions. The tortured have expressions of pain, determination and nervousness accompanied by heavy lifting movements, during the battle they show an expression of anger, in the person who is embraced there is an expression of elation, while the person who loses has an expression of sadness.
Sculptures from the Mexican site dating from about 1200 to 1400 show a jubilant Mayan woman holding a child. Source: Princeton University Art Museum, USA
10 Mechanical birds made of pigeon feathers have flown!
Birds control their wings in a "nuanced" way that is not yet possible with human-made machines. This year, scientists made robotic birds out of real pigeon feathers can change the shape of their wings by fanning or folding the feathers, making them fly more like birds. Scientists have found that using the robot, a bird can turn by simply bending one of its wings with a "finger." The research paves the way for humans to be able to make flying robots that maneuver flexibly in the air like birds, and provides new avenues for studying bird flight.
The robotic bird made from real pigeon feathers was the first robot to change the shape of its wings like a bird. Source: Lentink Lab/Stanford University, USA
11 The microbiome of the seabed can be "resurrected" after 100 million years just because of food
Even after 100 million years of burial on the ocean floor, certain microbes will still wake up, and they will be hungry. Through analysis of seafloor sediments from 13 million years ago to nearly 102 million years ago, scientists found that almost all the microorganisms in the sediments were only dormant and did not die. Only food is needed, and even the oldest microbes can recover and multiply from their dormant state. Surprisingly, even in the samples containing the oldest sediments (about 101.5 million years old), up to 99.1% of the microbes were still awakened.
Sediments on the ocean floor beneath the South Pacific circulation in the Pacific contain ancient microorganisms that are still alive. Image source: Japan Marine Research and Development Agency
After reading it, which science story will best satisfy your curiosity?
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Editor: Song Ci (Intern)
Review: Wang Xiaolong