Buried beneath the sea near Indonesia, a forgotten land has revealed clues about humanity’s distant past. A fossilized skull and thousands of animal remains hint at a thriving world now lost to the ocean.
Category: futurism
The world is ending and only the whales know. At least, that’s one explanation. Humpback whales are normally pretty solitary—scientists used to call groups of 10 to 20 “large.” Now they’re congregating in groups of 20 to 200 off the coast of South Africa. Something is definitely going on here, but so far experts are stumped.
In fact, Humpback whales aren’t supposed to be hanging out in that region in the first place. Humpbacks migrate up to tropical waters to breed, but they typically feed down south in the icy waters of Antarctica this time of year. Yet scientific expeditions keep seeing these super-pods (not to be confused with super PACs, which are equally giant but much more dangerous), which were finally compiled and published at the beginning of March in the journal PLOSone. The researchers have a few ideas about why the humpbacks are organizing, but no clear answers yet. So far the consensus seems to be: this is pretty freakin’ weird.
Most of the whales seem to be young, begging the question of whether the western coast of South Africa is like the humpback version of the local mall for tween whales. They’re just looking for a fishy Orange Julius, or perhaps a krill-based Panda Express to hang out at on a Saturday afternoon. Because it’s not like 200 whales—each weighing about 65,000 pounds —can feed just anywhere.
The mechanically activated cation channels PIEZO1 and PIEZO2 are crucial for mechanotransduction processes in mammals. This Review discusses the structural design and gating dynamics of PIEZO channels that enable their high mechanosensitivity, and highlights their physiological and pathological relevance.
This essay briefly introduces and contextualizes the extant work on aesthetic snobbery, and identifies some areas for further inquiry. Currently four kinds of snobbery have been identified—social con…
In his stories, Han Song explores the disorientation accompanying China’s modernization, sometimes writing of unthinkable things that later came true.
“Successful EV manufacturer”… now that’s not something you’d expect to hear all that often. A company that’s into cars might still have a chance, but you’d rarely hear about a two-wheel EV-maker producing numbers in the green. Enter Stark Future.
Cytotoxic T lymphocytes and natural killer cells destroy target cells using a mechanically active cytolytic immune synapse. This Review examines the various ways in which mechanical forces contribute to the potency, specificity and overall efficacy of the cytotoxic response.