Giant meat-eating dinosaur skulls reveal ‘bone-crushing’ bite

 

Illustration of Tyrannosaurus rex 

Image courtesy of Roger Harris/Getty Images/Science Photo Library

Joel Kontinen

Differences in the skulls of carnivorous dinosaurs suggest some dinosaurs ripped flesh while others crushed bones.

A closer look at the skulls of gigantic dinosaurs reveals some preferred to shred their prey, while others attacked with bone-crushing.

Andre Rowe and Emily Rayfield at the University of Bristol in the UK looked at the skulls of 18 species of theropods from across the Mesozoic Era. This diverse group of dinosaurs, which includes T. Rex, Giganotosaurus and Spinosaurus, walked on their hind legs and had large heads and big, sharp teeth.

Source: 

Meagan Mulcair Giant meat-eating dinosaur skulls reveal ‘bone-crushing’ bite | New Scientist 4 August 

 

What would it feel like to be on a planet spinning out of control?

“The faster the planet, the fiercer the storms…”

elementix / Alamy Stock Photo

Joel Kontinen

Exoplanets are strange. They are not meant for life. But God has made the Earth in check so that life can continue on Earth.

"In the past month, Earth experienced some of its shortest days on record. The planet spun quickly enough to shave 1.4 milliseconds off of its usual 24-hour day. These natural accelerations in Earth’s spin are, of course, hard to notice. But if you’re anything like me, the feeling that our world is spinning out of control – metaphorically, at least – might not be unfamiliar.

The straightforward effects of the sun rising and setting ever-more frequently are easy to imagine. How many of us already feel as if there’s not enough time in the day? In Circular Motion, the characters are increasingly overworked, struggling to keep up with the demands of everyday life while their days keep shortening on them. Because their productivity relies on a high-speed global transport system that is itself the cause of the planet’s acceleration in the book, their rushing only makes the problem worse.”

By Alex Foster 2025 Alex Foster on his new novel, which imagines what it would feel like to be on a planet spinning out of control | New Scientist 1 August 

The secret to what makes colours pop on dazzling songbirds

 

Image courtesy of Daniel Field

Joel Kontinen

Why are songbirds so colorful?

Hidden layers of colour in the plumage of tanagers and some other songbirds explain what makes them so eye-catching.

Brightly coloured songbirds called tanagers are so eye-catching because they have a hidden layer of black or white beneath their dazzling plumage.

Painters often prime a canvas with a layer of white to enhance the colours they will eventually layer on, as well as to make it smoother and stronger. But it seems this is a mechanism that birds were using long before humans picked up paintbrushes.

Rosalyn Price-Waldman at Princeton University and her colleagues have found that when songbirds in the tanager genus Tangara have bright red or yellow plumage, they usually have white layers hidden underneath. When they have blue plumage, they have black layers beneath.

To investigate why, they removed 72 feathers from taxidermied tanager specimens in the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County’s collection.

By taking pictures of the feathers on different backgrounds, the team measured how their reflectance or absorption of light changed, finding that the underlayers make the top layers look more colourful.

Source: 

Chris Simms 2025 The secret to what makes colours pop on dazzling songbirds | New Scientist 23 July

 

Critics of de-extinction research hit by mystery smear campaign

 

Vincent Lynch (left) and Nic Rawlence have been targeted by negative articles. Image courtesy of Berlin Communications/Ken Miller

Joel Kontinen

What do evolutionists say about their theory? Some think that it is not true.

"Several researchers who have been critical of Colossal Biosciences’ plans to revive extinct animals say they have been targeted by online articles trying to discredit them

Academics who have questioned the validity of efforts to “de-extinct” animals like the woolly mammoth and the dire wolf have complained of an apparent campaign to discredit them. They believe the attacks are intended to deter criticism of de-extinction projects, a controversial research area attracting considerable attention from the media and investors.

Biotech company Colossal Biosciences has, over several years, announced efforts to recreate animals including the woolly mammoth, thylacine, dire wolf and giant moa bird. All these are extinct, but the company aims to modify the genomes of related creatures still living today to bring them back. Many scientists have said this can only lead to animals with partially modified genomes, not true recreations."

 But can they really recreate those animals?

Source:

Matthew Sparkes 2025 Critics of de-extinction research hit by mystery smear campaign | New Scientist 31 July

Is gravity a new type of force that arises from cosmic entropy?

 

Image courtesy of Vadim Sadovski/Shutterstock

Joel Kontnen

Some scientist say that a new type of force comes from cosmic entropy. But it isn’t true. The thought is based on the Big Bang.

“Decades ago, a renegade physicist suggested that gravity isn't so much a force as just a byproduct of the universe's tendency to get more disordered. Now this idea might finally be testable

There are some things in life that just sort of happen. Desks get covered in dust and scraps of paper. Clothes get dirty and the laundry basket fills up. Weeds slowly creep across an untended flowerbed. Things, in other words, tend to get messier unless we step in and tidy up.

Now here’s an idea: what if gravity itself works like that? It would certainly be a different way of looking at the force that keeps our feet on the ground and conducts the twirling dance of the planets. Most physicists see it as one of the four forces of nature, about as fundamental as you can get. But back in 2010, physicist Erik Verlinde suggested that it wasn’t a force at all, but simply a byproduct of the universe’s natural inclination to become more disordered. “For me, gravity doesn’t exist,” he told reporters at the time.”

Source:

Jon Cartwright 2025 Is gravity a new type of force that arises from cosmic entropy? | New Scientist 29 July 

Peculiar galaxy seems to contain surprisingly pristine stars

Abell 2744, the galaxy cluster where AMORE6 was spotted. Image courtesy of NASA, ESA, Jennifer Lotz, Matt Mountain, Anton M. Koekemoer, HFF Team (STScI)

Joel Kontinen

Can galaxies form in a beginning?

Stars uncontaminated by heavier elements are thought to have formed very early in the universe, but a galaxy much later in cosmic history might let us see them for the first time.

A galaxy marooned in an empty region of the universe appears to be unexpectedly full of primordial stars. This could give astronomers their first glimpse of a kind of stellar object thought to have formed shortly after the universe’s first moments and which has never been directly observed.

Despite being able to peer back to near the beginning of the universe with the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), astronomers have struggled to definitively find evidence of the first stars. Known as population III stars, these are giant balls of mostly hydrogen that would have formed in the early universe. Being the first stars, they would have almost none of the heavier elements that are produced when stars die and explode.

By Alex Wilkins 2025 Peculiar galaxy seems to contain surprisingly pristine stars | New Scientist 25 July 

Interstellar invader Comet is packed with water ice that could be older than Earth

 

Image credit: Robert Lea (created with Canva))

Joel Kontinen 

Can the comet 3I/ATLAS be older than earth? It is packed with water that could be older than Earth some scientists say. The comet about 7 billion years old, which would make it older than the solar system itself.

"It could represent some of the oldest and most pristine water ever observed, formed in another planetary system and preserved throughout its interstellar journey.

Some scientists estimate there could be as many as 1 million interstellar visitors in the solar system at any one time. It's thought that many of these could lurk in the Oort cloud, a shell of comets located at the very edge of the solar system. The study of 3I/ATLAS and other interstellar interlopers could reveal what conditions are like in other planetary systems.”

The timing of the solar system is false.

Source:

Robert Lea 2025 Interstellar invader Comet 3I/ATLAS is packed with water ice that could be older than Earth | Space  23 July