The largest asteroid to hit Earth was something terrifying ● We humans have done so much climate change ● A Chinese company successfully cloned the first arctic wolf ● Cocoa for everyone!

The largest asteroid to hit Earth was something terrifying

Now that all eyes are on the results of NASA’s DART mission to deflect an asteroid’s trajectory, a team of researchers from the University of Rochester in New York wants to show us that we still know very little about what such an impact means to Earth with such heavenly bodies.

Thus, in a study published in the Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets, the mentioned researchers say that the data we had until now about the largest asteroid ever to hit our planet was wrong, and the impact was on the scale, which far exceeded all that had been estimated. It is about an impact that happened about 2 billion years ago and whose traces are still visible in the form of the Vredefort crater in South Africa.

Initial data, based, in particular, on the diameter of the crater (about 172 km), indicated an asteroid with a diameter of about 10-15 kilometers, the speed of which at the time of impact with the Earth reached 15 km/sec. However, new measurements show that the diameter of the crater was more than 250-280 kilometers, which means that the asteroid, in turn, had a diameter of about 20-25 kilometers. By comparison, it was twice the size of the Chicxulub asteroid that caused the extinction of the dinosaurs.

Even if at that time life forms were limited to the microbial level, the consequences of such a cataclysm were devastating. Well, here’s what we should learn to deflect, just in case some giant asteroid is still thinking about coming close to Earth. The DART mission was just the first step.

We humans have changed the climate so much

No, we are not talking about the present or the future, but about the distant past of the human race. At least that’s according to a group of more than 20 researchers from 6 countries in a study published yesterday in Nature Geoscience.

In particular, these scientists managed to build a relatively complete picture of climate change that occurred between 2,580,000 and 11,700 years ago, a period also known as the Pleistocene. To do this, they extracted two sediment samples at a depth of 280 meters in southern Ethiopia, one of the areas considered to be exponential for the evolution of the human species and, in particular, Homo sapiens.

It turns out that between 600,000 and 275,000 years ago, different human communities inhabited the area in question almost continuously, enjoying a relatively stable, humid climate good enough to provide them with everything they needed. The situation began to change between 275,000 and 60,000 years ago, when the climate was marked by episodes of increased aridity.

According to the researchers, all these changes led to the need to adapt the human species that inhabited eastern Africa, a fact that can be observed through the transition from the Acheulean culture, specific to Homo erectus, to the many technological innovations known to specialists. as MSA (Middle Stone Age). A turning point was reached 60,000 years ago, culminating in the hypothetical exodus of Homo sapiens from Africa.

In fact, the study does not provide any new explanation compared to what was already suspected, but only additional evidence. We could comment that it starts from the somewhat outdated idea that only eastern Africa had ancient human communities, and therefore refers to a local evolutionary episode rather than a global one. We could comment, but we don’t.

A Chinese company has successfully cloned the first arctic wolf

The Chinese company Sinogen Biotechnology Co., specializing in the cloning of domestic animals, has decided to expand its scope and engage in the cloning of endangered species. Thus, as reported by the Global Times online magazine, after more than two years of efforts, Chinese geneticists managed to clone the arctic wolf (Canis lupus arctos) for the first time.

Genetic material was collected from an arctic wolf and implanted into the eggs of various dog species. In this way, 137 embryos were created, 85 of which were transplanted to seven surrogate mothers, all Beagle females. The researchers noted that fortunately, dog DNA is similar in many ways to wolf DNA, and a hybrid pregnancy would have a high chance of success. The first option was actually a female arctic wolf, but there are not enough specimens in captivity for the experiment to be successfully carried out.

A cub named Maya was born on June 10 and is the only one who managed to survive. What is known about the wolf’s future is that, if there are no complications, it will end up in a theme park in China. The second specimen was supposed to be born on September 22, but Sinogen representatives did not make any statement on this matter. Encouraged by this success, Sinogen said they have already signed a contract to clone other endangered species, without giving further details.

In addition to all these aspects, Chinese researchers claim that they have just taken an important step in the study of the profile. In particular, they demonstrated that a hybrid animal can be successfully cloned if the species that provided the genetic material had a common ancestor no older than 5 million years. These geneticists also say that the next step will be to try to clone already extinct animals. What they don’t say, but others have said, is that it’s extremely difficult because the genomes of animals that have been extinct for thousands of years, see the mammoth, are missing important parts, and the attempt at cloning would be nothing short of a failure. One successful with audiences and fundraising, but still a flop.

Cocoa for everyone!

Not for you, but for the Maya. This is the conclusion of a study published in PNAS and written by researchers from the University of Santa Barbara. Let me explain what this is all about!

From the archaeological evidence we had about the consumption of this product among the Mayan communities, cacao, it was known that the beans in question were considered a gift from the gods. Thus, in the Mayan imagination, they were sacred and not everyone could afford to consume them. They were still used both as currency and especially in all kinds of religious rituals. Thus, cacao beans became the prerogative of the Mayan elite, while the common people produced them only for the upper class, which would really be cacao.

The research referred to, however, proves that the old hypothesis was wrong, and the lower classes also enjoyed cocoa, the distribution of the beans being uniform on a large scale. The paradigm shift came after more than 40 years of research in which numerous ceramics from archaeological sites in Central America were chemically analyzed. This is to be able to observe the marks left by using a product that has actually succeeded.

Interestingly, most of the works mentioned come from simple houses associated with simple people, and there can only be one conclusion. Namely, cocoa beans were used by all people, even their leaders were not so primitive as to keep everything for themselves. It cannot be said that this information helps us a lot in life, but at least we have a clearer idea of ​​what the Mayan civilization did and drank.

Forum source: Dreamstime.com