News about PaperPanda, Open Access, and Research
The adoption of cryptocurrency as legal tender by El Salvador’s government has attracted enthusiastic tourists, concern from financial institutions and scorn from locals Technology 1 March 2022 By Luke Taylor A store owner in surfing hotspot El Zonte, now known as Bitcoin Beach JOSE CABEZAS/REUTERS/Alamy “Fifty cents for a pupusa,” says Carolina Reyes, a food … Read more
A top UN official says a draft treaty to address plastic pollution will be the “biggest multilateral environmental deal” since the 2015 Paris climate agreement Environment 1 March 2022 By Adam Vaughan Plastic garbage collected on Eastern Island in Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge All Canada Photos / Alamy Nearly 200 governments have provisionally agreed … Read more
An ancient sculpture carved by Paleolithic humans some 30,000 years ago is evidence that our ancestors were a restless bunch who roamed far and wide, new research has revealed. Scientists have peered closely at the famous Venus of Willendorf and determined that the stone from which it is carved likely originated from Northern Italy, … Read more
A dinosaur bone unearthed in eastern Russia shows evidence of an injury the plant-eater sustained when it fell awkwardly Life 2 March 2022 By Carissa Wong An artist’s reconstruction of Amurosaurus Andrey Atuchin A four-legged duck-billed dinosaur that lived 68 million years ago – in what is now eastern Russia – probably broke its wrist … Read more
Warning: Spoilers ahead for “Star Trek: Discovery” Season 4, Episode 10 As the fourth season of “Star Trek: Discovery” trudges on, it’s impossible to shake the feeling that we’ve been here before. Not only is the basic premise of this seasonal story arc virtually identical to the last one, but when the season is considered … Read more
An outbreak of African swine fever in 2015 reduced the wild boar population by 90 per cent in Białowieża primeval forest, so more acorns grew into trees Life 2 March 2022 By Jason Arunn Murugesu Oak trees in Białowieża forest, Poland Aleksander Bolbot / Alamy An outbreak of African swine fever led to the growth … Read more
The sarsen stones of the Stonehenge monument could have been designed as a calendar to track a solar year, with each of the stones in the large sarsen circle representing a day within a month Humans 2 March 2022 By Alison George Stonehenge – an ancient calendar? nagelestock.com / Alamy Stonehenge has long been thought … Read more
NASA’s first crewed landing of the Artemis program will see boots on the moon no earlier now than 2026, the agency’s inspector general said. NASA Inspector General Paul Martin delivered the news to lawmakers during a House Space and Aeronautics Subcommittee hearing on Tuesday (March 1) as part of a larger update on the Artemis … Read more
For more than 50 years, Omega has helped astronauts keep track of time as they traveled through space and walked on the moon. Now, thanks to a new collaboration, the Swiss watchmaker is lending its timing skills to help track all of the items humanity has placed and left in Earth orbit, ensuring that astronauts … Read more
People typically think of food as calories, energy, and sustenance. However, the latest evidence suggests that food also “talks” to our genome, which is the genetic blueprint that directs the way the body functions down to the cellular level. This communication between food and genes may affect your health, physiology, and longevity. The idea … Read more