Link25 (207) – The New Origin of Life on Earth Edition
It’s FRIDAY! For those of you who don’t know, every weekend we come to you with 25 of the week’s best links, articles, images, and videos fr...
It’s FRIDAY! For those of you who don’t know, every weekend we come to you with 25 of the week’s best links, articles, images, and videos from all over the web. The last week has seen some momentous events from Ryan Lochte’s fabricated robbery story to a new theory on the origins of life on Earth. So get ready to kick off the weekend because this is Link25 (207) – The New Origin of Life on Earth Edition.
Blue-eyed Ground-Doves. Photo: Rafael Bessa
When ornithologist Rafael Bessa took the stage at the Brazilian Bird Watching Festival last month, he was ready to let go of a tightly guarded secret—one that he’d been holding onto for nearly a year. His talk, titled “Species X,” had drawn a crowd of more than 100 curious birders and researchers. He started by recounting the history of Brazil’s “ghost birds”—species like the Golden-crowned Manakin and the Cherry-throated Tanager, once thought to be victims of (click on the title to see the full article).
Abort! Abort!
There’s a new Tyrannosaurus rex fossil on the block, with a cute nickname and about 20 percent of its former body intact, including a well-preserved skull.
The T. rex was found by paleontologists from Burke Museum and the University of Washington (UW) in Montana’s famous dinosaur-fossil haven, the Hell Creek Formation. It has been dubbed the “Tufts-Love Rex,” in honor of the volunteer paleontologists who (click on the title to see the full article).
For nearly nine decades, science’s favourite explanation for the origin of life has been the ‘primordial soup’. This is the idea that life began from a series of chemical reactions in a warm pond on Earth’s surface, triggered by an external energy source such as lightning strike or ultraviolet (UV) light.
But recent research adds weight to an alternative idea, that life arose deep in (click on the title to see the full article).
Oops!
As the presidential election draws nearer, the possibility of Donald Trump becoming the president of the United States is looming large. Opinions of support and distaste for the infamous candidate are still scattered across the country, and there is a drastic divide between those who believe he will make America great and those who plan to flee the country if he is elected. (And some who just can’t get over the whole orange thing.)
Estately decided to gauge just what Americans are wondering about Trump by creating a map of the most popular Trump-related Google searches on a state-by-state basis.
So how does one go about this?
First, they needed to choose terms, topics, and questions that represent the candidate. They came up with (click on the title to see the full article).
Just when we thought the alleged robbery at gunpoint of U.S. gold medalist Ryan Lochte and his three teammates in Rio de Janeiro couldn’t get any weirder… it does.
Brazilian officials declared Thursday Lochte’s allegation a fabrication, according to the Associated Press. Instead of being violently robbed, like they claimed, the four Olympians were embroiled in a “rowdy gas station confrontation,” which resulted in (click on the title to see the full article).
With Louisiana in the grips of dramatic floods that have caused monumental devastation, now is not the time to demand an updated map of the Bayou State.
Affecting 20 parishes, the water has claimed the lives of 13 people while chasing tens of thousands from their homes. Rescue and relief are the main concerns now. Yet once the waters have receded (but before complacency sets in again), it’s high time to study the simple, shocking message of this pair of maps.
One map shows Louisiana as its familiar, boot-like self. This is the iconic shape we recognise from countless maps and logos, as recognisable as the shape of, say, Texas, or of the U.S. itself. The other purports (click on the title to see the full article).
In this awesome poster we see every extraterrestrial body we have landed on and photographed. The original image was shared yesterday on reddit but a commenter astutely noted that the visual forget to mention Itokawa, a tiny asteroid that measures approximately 630 ± 60 m long and 250 ± 30 m wide. In the… (click on the title to see the full article)
Rotisserie chickens look amazing.
When you stroll through the supermarket, looking for a dinner that won’t take too much effort and won’t involve a lot of junk food, you’ll see raw chicken breasts and chicken thighs and whole chickens. They are pale and cold, and turning them into roasted chicken or chicken piccata will take time.
But then there are the rotisserie chickens. They are golden and warm and herb-scented and ready to eat. You could grab one off the shelf this very moment. And even though the deli has (click on the title to see the full article)
Source: TheList25