This week, the “world’s most advanced humanoid robot” had a conversation with its new buddy Azi and the footage is slightly terrifying, ultra-powerful MRI scans reveal that COVID-19 damages a major brain “control center”, and Lucy the Australopithecus may have had hands capable of using tools 3.2 million years ago. Finally, we look at how the elephants of Mozambique demonstrate modern proof of evolution.
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Scientists “Astonished” To Discover Two Comb Jellies Can Fuse To Form One Individual
A chance observation has led to an astonishing discovery for a group of scientists studying the comb jelly, Mnemiopsis leidyi. When injured, it appears these curious ctenophores can fuse together to form one individual and even share some bodily functions. Read the full story here
NASA Animation Shows How Hurricane Milton Became So Intense
For a brief time, the intense Hurricane Milton, which made landfall this week, was a Category 5, causing destruction on Florida’s west coast and leaving millions without power. Fox 35 Orlando meteorologist Noah Bergren described it as “nearing the mathematical limit of what Earth’s atmosphere over this ocean water can produce”. In a NASA animation, the agency explains how the storm came to be so strong. Read the full story here
Watch “World’s Most Advanced Humanoid Robot” Have A Conversation With New Buddy Azi
You might have already had the impressive, albeit slightly uncomfortable, experience of meeting Ameca, one of the “world’s most advanced human-shaped robots” that can mimic a range of human expressions. Well, she’s now got a pal called Azi. With the aid of artificial intelligence (AI), the couple can share expressive conversations that are equal parts impressive and unsettling. Read the full story here
COVID-19 Damages A Major Brain “Control Center”, Ultra-Powerful MRI Scans Reveal
Super-powered brain scans are giving scientists a deeper look at how COVID-19 affects the brain, and the findings could explain many of the lasting symptoms that some patients experience. New data shows that COVID can damage the brainstem, a vital control center for all sorts of bodily functions – from breathing to blood pressure. Read the full story here
Lucy’s Hands May Have Been Capable Of Using Tools 3.2 Million Years Ago
Long before the first members of the Homo genus appeared on Earth, a group of ancient ape-like hominins called Australopithecines may have already developed the manual dexterity to use tools. Until now, anthropologists had assumed that these long-extinct creatures lacked the right-hand shape for such complex tasks, yet a new analysis suggests that they were in fact capable of “power grasping” and “in-hand manipulation”. Read the full story here
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Feature of the week:
Want Modern Proof Of Evolution? Look At The Elephants Of Mozambique
Evolution is often portrayed as an achingly long process, taking generations upon generations of small changes accumulating over a time period too long to appreciate in a single, puny human lifetime. In certain extreme circumstances, however, it’s possible to see the impacts of natural selection in just a few years – for example, throughout the 1980s in central Mozambique, ivory poaching acted as a potent evolutionary pressure that saw a dramatic rise of female African elephants born without tusks. Read the full story here
More content:
Have you seen our e-magazine, CURIOUS? Issue 27 October 2024 is available now. This month we asked, “Why Do We Have Phobias?” – check it out for exclusive interviews, book excerpts, long reads, and more.
PLUS, season 4 of IFLScience’s The Big Questions Podcast continues. So far, we’ve asked:
The We Have Questions podcast – an audio version of our coveted CURIOUS e-magazine column – has begun. In episode 1, we ask “How Do Sunken Cities End Up Underwater?”
