​Thousands of robotic submarines will explore the oceans of Enceladus and Europa ● Half of bird species are heading for extinction ● Dogs can smell you when you’re stressed ● Jaws appeared a little earlier than thought

Thousands of robotic submarines will explore the oceans of Enceladus and Europa

Do not think that on Lent NASA will send unknown nuclear submarines, it is impossible! Also, even if they did, it would still be nearly impossible to pick them up under the kilometers of ice that cover the oceans of Enceladus and Europa’s moons. But there is a more convenient solution.

And it consists in sending hundreds, maybe even thousands of mini-submarines, no bigger than a mobile phone. NASA has already announced the allocation of $600,000 for projects that have moved to the second stage of designing these mini-submarines. It is clear that the project is long-term, considering that only this second phase will last about two years.

The submarines will likely be housed in small wells drilled through the ice to the oceans. From there, they will begin to explore everything they can in search of traces of life, because it was announced the other day that Enceladus, for example, one of the moons of Saturn, has all the components necessary for life.

This second mentioned phase is combined with two other projects discussed, namely the creation of small robots to explore underground caves on Mars, as well as a method of providing future space vehicles with nuclear energy. Like, there’s still a long way to go, there’s a lot to work on, but it’s clear that the plans sound good. Even if we don’t find anything, it’s still a discovery, we know not to go there again.

Half of the bird species are rapidly disappearing

Until we go looking for new species on other planets and their moons, let’s rip the mouths of these locomotives. At least this is according to a study published by BirdLife International. As the name suggests, this organization studies birds from around the world, and what it has to tell us doesn’t sound too good.

For example, 49% of known bird species are in sharp decline, and every eighth species is on the verge of inevitable extinction. It’s just been discovered that even species that didn’t seem to be under threat are starting to feel bad.

In principle, a person is to blame in this whole situation. Deforestation, expansion of agricultural land, habitat destruction, introduction of invasive species, hunting and, of course, global warming. BirdLife reports that from the 1970s to the 1980s, 2.9 billion birds, or 29% of the total, disappeared in North America alone. In Europe, we are talking about 600 million, that is, about 18%.

Most of them are migratory birds. What shall I do? Well, in principle, it would be about protecting biotopes, reproducing destroyed ones, banning hunting and other similar actions. And these are good plans, but wait and see how they are implemented.

Dogs can smell you when you’re stressed

Stress causes various changes in the body, and these changes are felt externally through breathing and perspiration. Your dog, if you have one, can detect changes with 93.75% accuracy, a team of researchers from the University of Belfast reported in a study published in the journal PLOS ONE.

Given that there are species of dogs that specialize in providing support to people suffering from anxiety, post-traumatic stress panic attacks, the researchers decided to see if they could also sense the chemical changes that occur in the human body during stress. I feel them, sir! In 675 cases out of 720, which is 93.75%, as I said, the dogs sensed that the person was under stress.

The way he does it, the way he looks you in the eye, but watch how a dog (dogs please) can tell the difference between the breath and sweat of a person who is not stressed and a person who is stressed. Many even went to offer support. Great work!

Although the study did not consider other animals nearby or specifically in the human home, it is very likely that a cat can also experience these changes. She also has a highly developed sense of smell and not yet fully developed sense organs. But most likely, cats would be sick from your stress, so no one even bothered to study their reactions.

Jaws appeared a little earlier than expected

If you go to the dentist and think with horror that another torture awaits you with burs, burs, hooks and other things reminiscent of medieval torture, we have two news, one good, one bad. The bad part is that no one cares. The good thing is that we know who can be blamed.

The culprit is called Qianodus duplicis, and it’s a species of fish that lived about 439 million years ago. According to recent data, this is the oldest specimen in which the evolution of jaws and corresponding teeth can be observed. By the way, it was discovered in China. Before him, the oldest profile evidence had “only 420” million. That doesn’t seem like a big sizzle, but remember that 19 million isn’t exactly from there.

Now, when it comes to this important evolutionary step, you don’t have to take things lightly. That is, if it were not for Q. duplicis, you would be much better off. You had a suction cup instead of a mouth, a tube, something, and you stopped seeing the dentist. perhaps. But of course you can’t eat that variety of food anymore, and you wouldn’t be following the same evolutionary steps. Please, the latter is true for the distant ancestors of our species.

Speaking of ancestors from the evolutionary depths, it should be said that the instance of Q. duplicis became the main candidate for the place of the common ancestor of cartilage (see the example of sharks) and fish with a bony skeleton. From the latter, the first vertebrates that left the aquatic environment evolved, and from them, through many evolutionary episodes spanning hundreds of millions of years, the first mammals appeared. From there it was only a stone’s throw away, or about 180 million years, until both you and the dentist appeared.

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