What hidden realms lie beneath our feet? In this week’s science news, geologists have discovered a series of “sunken worlds” hidden deep within the Earth’s mantle which they think shouldn’t be there. The buried blobs appear to be pieces of our planet’s ancient crust, but scientists can’t figure out how they got there.
Getting closer to the surface, a huge underground water reservoir, twice as large as Lake Mead, the largest reservoir in the United States — was discovered in the rocks of the Oregon Cascades.
And speaking of hidden water, strange bean-shaped blobs on Mars could offer new clues in our search for life on Mars.
Red beans on March
Red beans on March
Giant ‘red beans’ spotted in satellite images of Mars could indicate signs of water and life
NASA Satellites have spotted what appears to be a field of giant kidney beans on Mars. But despite their strange appearance, these legume lookalikes are actually frozen sand dunes.
A layer of carbon dioxide frost holds the sand dunes in place, and physicists say this frost could providing new insights into the ancient atmosphere of the Red Planetand therefore its ability to support liquid water – and potentially life.
Discover more space news
—A rare string of “cosmic pearls” dancing together in the universe
The little mysteries of life
Do bay leaves actually add flavor, or is it a scam?
When a recipe calls for bay leaves, how often do you actually use them? The leathery leaf has been a mainstay of Mediterranean cuisine for centuries – but what do bay leaves actually taste like? And do they really add flavor?
Breakthrough in quantum computing
Quantum computers are inherently noisy, which means they are also prone to making errors. The error rate of these machines has been a major obstacle to their development. But now, using the famous Schrödinger’s cat paradox and the antimony atoms integrated into a silicon quantum chip, scientists have dramatically reduced this error rate and detected problems before they occur.
Discover more news in physics and technology
—“Scary” quantum entanglement discovered for the first time inside individual protons
—A small AI chip modeled on the human brain to increase battery life in smart devices
—Top secret X-37B spaceplane has been in orbit for over a year
Also in science news this week
—New supergiant ‘Darth Vader’ sea bug discovered in South China Sea – and it’s absolutely huge
—IVF may increase the risk of certain disorders in babies – and the placenta’s epigenetic ‘signatures’ could explain why
—One of Iceland’s largest volcanoes is experiencing a series of 130 earthquakes: could it be about to explode?
Spotlight on science
A species of giant dinosaur has been identified from photos lost after its original fossils were destroyed during World War II. Measuring 33 feet (10 meters) long, the newly named species, Tameryraptor markgrafiis one of the largest land animals known to science.
Tameryraptor it is thought to have existed in what is now North Africa around 95 million years ago. His bones were first discovered in the Egyptian Western Desert in 1914 and were kept in the Bavarian State Collection of Paleontology and Geology in Germany until the building was bombed in 1944.
At the time, paleontologists thought the specimen belonged to a genus of large theropod dinosaurs called Carcharodontosaurus. However, previously unknown photographs discovered in the archives of the University of Tübingen suggest that the specimen belonged to a completely different group.
Something for the weekend
If you’re looking for something a little longer to read over the weekend, here are some of the best long reads, book excerpts, and interviews released this week.
—Why we need parasites, even if they drain the life of others
—Japan’s 20,000-year-old ‘human’ fossils aren’t what we thought
Science in pictures
“Totally amazing” astronaut photo captures comet C/2024 G3 ATLAS streaking past Earth from the ISS
NASA astronaut Don Pettit took a photo superb photo of comet C/2024 G3 (ATLAS) as it passed in front of our planet for the first time in 160,000 years. The comet came closest to Earth on Tuesday January 14, even though it was only visible in the southern hemisphere. However, it could also be seen from the International Space Station (ISS).
“It’s totally amazing to see a comet from orbit,” Pettit wrote in a post on the social platform X.
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