The month of April has arrived loaded with the most varied news. As always, in the fields of health and astronomy there have been many news, but today we want to start with other science news no less interesting.
Do you remember Homo floresiensis , that hominid that appeared in 2003 on the island of Flores and nicknamed ‘The hobbit’? Well, its origin has always aroused a lot of controversy. The latest study affirms that this enigmatic man would not come, as was thought, from Homo erectus , but from Homo habilis .
We now go to the animal world , always full of curiosities. For example, although its existence was already known, live specimens of Kuphus polythalamia have been found for the first time, a strange giant worm that, apparently, likes to live in nauseating places, since scientists located them in a lagoon full of mud. rotten.
But not everything is unpleasant in the world and science of worms: another science news of the month reveals that Galleria mellonella larvae have the ability to degrade polyethylene. Perhaps we are facing a possible solution to manage these polluting plastic waste.
You may not like worms, but you do like dogs: well, new research has developed a genetic tree that provides new clues about the origin of man’s best friend, and how different dog breeds evolved.
And, before leaving the animal world, we go back to the year 1898, when two lions attacked and killed 35 people who worked on a railway work in Kenya. In reality, the attacks of these felines on a human population are not very common … why did they do it? The answer is in the teeth, and we will tell you about it in this article about the mystery of man-eating lions.
Hubble turns 27
And to celebrate the anniversary, NASA and ESA published a beautiful image of a pair of galaxies. But that was not the astronomical news of the month, but another much more mediatic one: on April 19, the asteroid 2014 JO25 passed very close to Earth, a perfect opportunity to make astronomical observations and get to know it better. Although it was classified as ‘potentially dangerous’ by the Minor Planet Center, it was known that there was no danger of collision.
In April there have been, as always, many publications in the field of health and neuroscience. We have chosen three: in the first place, a work that shows how psychedelic drugs produce a state of consciousness in our brain that is very different from the usual one.
Second, a study related to aging: an experiment with rodents managed to revitalize their brain function … using blood from the umbilical cord of human babies!
And finally, a trendy food: black garlic . Are you one of those who have signed up for its use? If so, you are in luck: a study indicates that it could activate anti-inflammatory and antioxidant mechanisms, which would have cardiovascular effects.
