Earliest known sabre-toothed predator hunted "270 million years" ago

 Image courtesy of Henry Sutherland Sharpe

Joel Kontinen

The oldest known sabre-toothed animal hunted large prey 270 million years ago – and its newly discovered remains could help us unravel how early mammal relatives became warm-blooded.

The first laned-based predators typically hunted relatively small prey. But things changed about 273 million years ago, when an event known as Olson’s Extinction shook up ecosystems around the world. Afterwards, much larger tgerrestrial herbivores began appearing – and predators needed new weapons to dispatch such large prey, says Josep Fortuny at the Miquel Crusafont Catalan Institute of Palaeontology in Barcelona, Spain.

This might help explain why the fossilised partial skeleton of an ancient predator – which Fortuny and his colleagues have just discovered on the Spanish island of Mallorca – had sabre teeth. These fangs are better at injuring large prey, as opposed to grasping and holding smaller animals. “It was the first opportunity to have this type of tool to prey on herbivores,” says Fortuny.

Evolution  relies on the concept of  millions of years, without it evolution would not be possible as it needs time to do  its story.

Source:

 Colin Barras 2024 Earliest known sabre-toothed predator hunted 270 million years ago | New Scientist17 December 

Magic mushrooms found in Africa are a species new to science

 

Image courtesy of Cathy Sharp

Joel Kontinen

A fungus named Psilocybe ochraceocentrata is the closest relative of a widely cultivated psychedelic mushroom, giving clues to their evolutionary origins.

Can evolution bring up new species? However, the scientist have discovered a new species in Africa.  

Psychedelic mushrooms growing in southern Africa have been identified as a new species that is the closest relative of Psilocybe cubensis, the most well-known magic mushroom species. The discovery brings scientists a step closer to understanding the evolutionary origins of these psychoactive fungi.

But they were not brought about by evolution.

Alex Bradshaw at Clark University in Worcester, Massachusetts, and his colleagues have named the newly described species Psilocybe ochraceocentrata, because of the ochre colour in the centre of the cap. It was collected from multiple sites across Zimbabwe and South Africa between 2013.

Source:

James Woodford 2024 Magic mushrooms found in Africa are a species new to science | New Scientist 12 December 

Ancient genomes reveal when modern humans and Neanderthals interbred

 

Illustration of modern humans who lived in Europe about 45,000 years ago

Image courtesy of Tom Btörklund

Joel Kontinen

The oldest genomes ever recovered from modern humans have shown that they interbred with the Neanderthals.

For those who believe in progressive creationism, this comes as a shock. They believe that Neandertals were not human. But now science has proved that they are.

Modern humans and Neanderthals interbred over a sustained period of around 7000 years, probably in the eastern Mediterranean. That is according to two studies that trace how these two hominins hybridised in unprecedented detail.

“The vast majority of the Neanderthal gene flow… occurred in a single, shared, extended period,” says Priya Moorjani at the University of California, Berkeley.

The studies confirm that modern humans acquired important gene variants by mixing with Neanderthals.

 Source: 

Michael Marshall 2024 Ancient genomes reveal when modern humans and Neanderthals interbred | New Scientist 12 December

Earth may have had its water delivered by a vast cloud of vapour

 

Image courtesy of ESA/Hubble NASA, ESA, M.A. Garlick (space-art.co.uk), University of Warwick, and University of Cambridge.

Joel Kontinen

Rather than getting its water from impacts, our planet may have drawn in water vapour after the sun boiled it off early icy asteroids.

The sun may have created a vast mass of water gas by heating asteroids.

ESA/Hubble Copyright: NASA, ESA, M.A. Garlick (space-art.co.uk), University of Warwick, and University of Cambridge.

Where did Earth get its water? According to the Darwinian way, it got it from asteroids.  There is no proof of this, so it is just evolutionary speculation.

”A vast cloud of vapour expelled from boiled asteroids may have lingered in the solar system for millions of years before raining down on Earth, according to a new idea for how our planet got its water.

The origin of Earth’s water has long puzzled scientists. It is hard to argue that our planet has always had the water we see today, because the young sun would have been got its water from asteroids.”

But Genesis paints a different story, the Earth has always had water.

Source:

Alex Wilkins 2024 Earth may have had its water delivered by a vast cloud of vapour | New Scientist 11 December

PLO official thanks Pope Francis for his “unwavering support for the Palestinian cause.”

Joel Kontinen

A Nativity scene featuring baby Jesus in a keffiyeh-wrapped cradle was unveiled by the Vatican in St. Peter’s Square on Saturday.

The display, which was created by two artists from Bethlehem, Johnny Andonia and Faten Nastas Mitwasi, depicted Jesus laying on top of the checkered black and white scarf that is a symbol of Palestinian nationalism.

The scene erased the historical fact that Jesus was born to two Jewish parents in the then-Roman district of Judea.

Speaking at the scene, Pope Francis said that the Nativity exhibit is a reminder for the world to “remember the brothers and sisters, who, right there [in Bethlehem] and in other parts of the world, are suffering from the tragedy of war.”

He then slammed the international arms trade and added, “enough war, enough violence!”

On Sunday, Pope Francis hosted PLO executive committee member Ramzi Khouri at the Vatican.

Khouri is a close confidant of Holocaust-denying and terror-funding Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.

During their meeting, Khouri expressed “deep gratitude for the Pope’s unwavering support for the Palestinian cause and his tireless efforts to end the war on Gaza and promote justice.”

In November, Pope Francis supported the allegation that Israel’s war against the Hamas terror group constitues a genocide.

“According to some experts, what is happening in Gaza has the characteristics of a genocide,” he wrote.

“It should be carefully investigated to determine whether it fits into the technical definition formulated by jurists and international bodies.”

In a letter to Middle Eastern Catholics released on the first anniversary of the October 7th terror onslaught, Pope Francis did not mention Jesus n the Hamas terror group or condemn their atrocities for the outbreak of the war.

Rather, Pope Francis addressed the “people of Gaza, long embattled and in dire straits. You are in my thoughts and prayers daily.”

He did not acknowledge the Israelis displaced from their homes or suffering near-daily bombing by the Hezbollah terror group.

But the Pope did not rely on what the Bible teaches. that Jesus was a Jew, born of Jewish parents

Source: 

World Israel News Staff 2024  Vatican Nativity scene features 'Palestinian,' keffiyeh-clad Jesus | World Israel News December 9

 

Flying robot leaps upwards and then takes to the air like a bird

 

Joel Kontinen

A bird-inspired robot called RAVEN can walk, hop and jump into flight, an abFlying robot leaps upwards and then takes to the air like a birdility that could help people develop fixed-wing drones that can take off and land anywhere

Humans have recently made that can jump into the air like a bird this would eliminate the need for runways for small fixed winged drones.

“Birds use the powerful explosive force generated by their legs to leap into the air and start flying, but building a robot that can withstand the strong acceleration and forces involved in doing that has proved difficult. ”

This is a case for intelligent design. It relies also on biomimicry. Biomimicry or biomimetics has recently become a success, that is, copying amazing design seen in nature, has become a flourishing research field.

Now, Won Dong Shin at the Swiss Federal Technology Institute of Lausanne (EPFL) and his colleagues have built a flying propellered robot called RAVEN that can walk, hop and jump into the air to start flying, with legs that work like a bird’s.

“Fixed-wing vehicles, like airplanes, always require a runway or a launcher, which is not found everywhere. It really requires designated infrastructure to make an  airplane take off,” says Shin. “But if you see a bird, they just walk around, jump and take off. For them, it’s quite easy. They don’t need any external assistance.”

Unlike real birds’ legs, which have joints at the hip, knee and ankle, RAVEN’s legs have just two joints, at the hip and knee, that are powered by motors. There is also a spring in each foot that can store and release elastic energy. Using fewer components meant that Shin and his team could keep RAVEN to a weight of around 600 grams, similar to that of a crow.

Source: 

Alex Wilkins 2024 Flying robot leaps upwards and then takes to the air like a bird | New Scientist4 December

 

James Webb Space Telescope smashes its own record to find the earliest galaxies that ever existed

 Image courtesy  of Esa/Webb, NASA & CSA, O. Nayak, M. Meixner.

 Joel Kontinen

A new surview has just announced that the James Webb Space Telescope  “has spotted five galaxy candidates dating to just 200 million years after the Big Bang”.

According to evolutionists, the “13.6 billion light-years away and just 200 million years after the Big Bang, are five galaxy candidates are the earliest ever detected”.

There is a problem with dating methods, since according to evolution, space events  are always counted in millions of years.  

Source:

Ben Turner 2024 James Webb Space Telescope smashes its own record to find the earliest galaxies that ever existed | Live Science 3 December