Coolest science news of the week

[Vort]

https://www.engadget.com/2018/07/27/scientists-revived-42-000-year-old-frozen-worms/

Close runner-up:

https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-44952710

[NeuroTypical]

Cool!  I thought the going theory on Martian water, was it turned to gas the instant it hit the surface...

[Vort]

This one would have made the top two almost any other week:

http://www.foxnews.com/science/2018/07/27/rare-whale-dolphin-hybrid-discovered-in-hawaii-scientists-say.html

[Vort]

10 minutes ago, NeuroTypical said:

Cool!  I thought the going theory on Martian water, was it turned to gas the instant it hit the surface...

This is a lake deep underground, like a mile down. No surface water can exist on Mars, not for more than a few seconds.

[lostinwater]

1 hour ago, Vort said:

This one would have made the top two almost any other week:

 http://www.foxnews.com/science/2018/07/27/rare-whale-dolphin-hybrid-discovered-in-hawaii-scientists-say.html

That's pretty neat.  

i know not all dolphins are nice, but on all the whale watch tours around San Diego i went on, they'd come and bow ride/jump out of the water.  Maybe it was all just some Darwin-centered behavior, but they sure seemed to understand people pretty well - responding to the cheering.  The whales, if you saw them at all, seemed pretty boring.  i hope the hybrid got the temperament of a bottlenose.  

[Vort]

11 minutes ago, lostinwater said:

That's pretty neat.  

i know not all dolphins are nice, but on all the whale watch tours around San Diego i went on, they'd come and bow ride/jump out of the water.  Maybe it was all just some Darwin-centered behavior, but they sure seemed to understand people pretty well - responding to the cheering.  The whales, if you saw them at all, seemed pretty boring.  i hope the hybrid got the temperament of a bottlenose.  

I suspect animals are a great deal more intelligent than we generally give them credit for. I have seen dogs exhibit love, anger, embarrassment, and even deep shame. I do not for a moment believe this is merely my anthropomorphizing the animal's behavior and actions.

I believe that mammals, especially the larger ones, share much of our fundamental "human" emotional make-up. It's part of having a brain with a prefrontal cortex. All mammals have it to some degree, although the human's is larger and more complex than any other (except maybe whales). The resemblance between the feelings, reactions, and personalities of humans and other primates, especially chimpanzees, is downright uncanny. This is one reason chimps are so scary, along with the fact that they can literally rip you to pieces, and will if given motivation and opportunity.

Edited July 28, 2018 by Vort

[askandanswer]

1 hour ago, Vort said:

https://www.engadget.com/2018/07/27/scientists-revived-42-000-year-old-frozen-worms/

Close runner-up:

https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-44952710

I'm somewhat nonplussed by the idea that the oldest living creature on the planet, older even than ancient giant sequoia, is a just a worm. 

[lostinwater]

10 minutes ago, askandanswer said:

I'm somewhat nonplussed by the idea that the oldest living creature on the planet, older even than ancient giant sequoia, is a just a worm. 

That's absolutely scriptural.  Haven't you read the scripture where it says 'their worm dieth not'? 

[Fether]

1 hour ago, lostinwater said:

That's absolutely scriptural.  Haven't you read the scripture where it says 'their worm dieth not'? 

Was that the same worm that was eating it’s way through the fruit of the knowledge If good and evil that Adam partook of?