News about PaperPanda, Open Access, and Research
In 1889, a mysterious respiratory illness emerged in Russia and then spread across the globe, triggering at least three waves of infection over the course of several years. Now, some scientists suspect that this illness, dubbed the “Russian flu,” actually may have been caused by a pandemic coronavirus similar to SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, The New … Read more
An elongated, cone-shaped skull with a possible metal implant could represent some of the earliest evidence from Peru of an ancient surgical implant. Or it could be a modern-day fake. The fact that the skull, which was donated to the Museum of Osteology in Oklahoma City, has a cone shape is nothing too unusual, … Read more
The mysterious source of a globe-spanning tsunami that spread as far as 6,000 miles (10,000 kilometers) from its epicenter was an “invisible” earthquake, a new study has found. In August 2021, an enormous tsunami rippled out into the North Atlantic, Pacific and Indian oceans. It was the first time a tsunami had been recorded in … Read more
As we battle against our own pandemic, sea stars are being killed in the millions by a horrible condition that melts them into a sickly goo. Sadly, there’s no straightforward way to help these animals, such as protecting them with a vaccine, so conservation biologists have been desperately trying to find another way. In … Read more
Israeli scientists said they found “striking” differences in the chances of getting seriously ill from COVID-19 when they compared patients who had sufficient vitamin D levels prior to contracting the disease, with those who didn’t. A study published Thursday in research journal PLOS One found that about half of people who were vitamin D deficient before getting COVID-19 … Read more
ASTRONOMY Telescope reveals plethora of mysterious Milky Way filaments One of the most detailed pictures yet of the center of the Milky Way has revealed nearly 1000 mysterious strands that slash across the plane of the galaxy, 10 times more than previously known. The image, released last week by South Africa’s MeerKAT radio telescope array, … Read more
The skeletal remains of a man buried 1,400 years ago near a headless horse have been discovered at an ancient cemetery in the town of Knittlingen in southern Germany. He likely was the horse’s owner/rider when he was alive. The man was buried at a time when the Merovingian dynasty (476–750 CE) flourished in … Read more
It’s fun sometimes when your eyes play tricks on you, and you see a face that isn’t really there, staring back at you from a power plug or a potato. This phenomenon is called face pareidolia, and it’s something that humans, and even chimps, naturally do. But it looks like facial features aren’t the … Read more
Something extraordinarily bright in space is pulsing far slower than most similar cosmic objects, and it may be a strange type of neutron star that we have never seen before Space 26 January 2022 By Leah Crane A view of the Milky Way from the Murchison Widefield Array. The star icon shows the position of … Read more
A new image of the heart of the Milky Way is revealing mysterious structures we’ve never seen before. Taken using the ultra-sensitive MeerKAT radio telescope in South Africa, the images show nearly 1,000 strands of magnetic filaments, measuring up to 150 light-years in length, in surprisingly neat and regular arrangements. That’s 10 times the … Read more