earliest

It's just a tiny thing, smaller than a fingernail. But a rock found deep in a limestone cave in Oklahoma is extending our understanding of prehistoric skin.The texture preserved thereon, paleontologists have found, is the earliest known example of fossilized skin from a diverse classification of animals known as amniotes.Dating back 290 million years ago – a full 21 million years earlier than the previous record-holder – its wearer appears to have been a reptile, with a pebbly surface similar to the skins of crocodilians…

Researchers at Eötvös Loránd University are using advanced particle accelerators to explore the transformation of early Universe’s quark matter into ordinary matter. Their innovative techniques and findings contribute significantly to our understanding of fundamental physics and the strong interaction. Credit: SciTechDaily.comTheir efforts have been centered on mapping the “primordial soup” that filled the Universe in the first millionth of a second following its inception.Physicists from Eötvös Loránd University have…

The earliest cities in Europe were built on the foundations of a mostly vegetarian diet, according to new research. The findings suggest that even with the dawn of agriculture and large, planned settlements, meat was but a delicacy.The gigantic circular cities of the Trypillia culture emerged around 6,000 years ago in what is now Ukraine and Moldova.The largest of these mega sites covered an area equivalent to several hundred football fields of land and once housed up to 15,000 people. They were larger than any other…

You know how some constellations take a little bit of imagination to see? Yes, Leo looks a bit like a lion and Orion a bit like a hunter but then we drift into the realms of powerful levels of imagination to be able to see Pegasus as a flying horse or Telescopium as a telescope!Even squinting or tilting your head really doesn't make them visible. I found the same problem when looking at images of two stone disks discovered in Italy recently at the entrance to an ancient fort!Teams that have examined the stones have…

Tiny fossils that have spent nearly 2 billion years locked up in chunks of ancient rock are giving us the earliest evidence yet for photosynthesis on Earth.In the McDermott Formation in the desert of northern Australia, tiny structures called thylakoids have been discovered in what are thought to be fossilized cyanobacteria dating back to 1.75 billion years ago.These structures are found inside the cells of photosynthetic organisms today that contain the pigment chlorophyll, used to absorb the light for…

M-I-C-K-E-Y will soon belong to you and me. With several asterisks, qualifications and caveats, Mickey Mouse in his earliest form will be the leader of the band of characters, films and books that will become public domain as the year turns to 2024. In a moment many close observers thought might never come, at least one version of the quintessential piece of intellectual property and perhaps the most iconic character in American pop culture will be free from Disney‘s copyright as his first screen…

Life portrait of the Maidanetske mega-settlement. Credit: Susanne Beyer, Kiel University Nutrition in Trypillia mega-sites is currently the focus of the Collaborative Research Center (CRC) 1266 at Kiel University (CAU). In the forest steppe northwest of the Black Sea—today the territory of the Republic of Moldova and Ukraine—mega-sites of the Trypillia societies emerged about 6,000 years ago on areas of up to 320 hectares in…

By ANDREW DALTON | AP Entertainment Writer LOS ANGELES — M-I-C-K-E-Y will soon belong to you and me. Walt Disney, creator of Mickey Mouse, poses for a photo at the Pancoast Hotel, Aug. 13, 1941, in Miami, Fla. The earliest version of Disney’s most famous character, Mickey Mouse, and arguably the most iconic character in American pop culture, will become public domain on Jan. 1, 2024. (AP Photo, File)  With several asterisks, qualification and caveats, Mickey Mouse in his earliest form will be the leader of the band of…

Credit: Antiquity (2023). https://doi.org/10.15184/aqy.2023.172 Archaeologists have used radiocarbon dating to analyze the oldest true wooden frame saddle in East Asia, revealing how the rise of Mongolian steppe cultures was likely aided by advances in equestrian technology. A saddle built from a wooden frame is sturdy on horseback, facilitating the…

Instagram users are facing a peculiar glitch causing widespread frustration, particularly among long-time users. According to reports, the audio in the oldest…