Mammoth

The drive between Costa Mesa and south Los Angeles County on the 405 Freeway just got a whole lot faster — if you’re willing to pay the toll. New express lanes on the 405 in northwest Orange County are finally open after almost five years of construction, according to the Orange County Transportation Authority. The lanes debuted Friday morning, as part of the I-405 Improvement Project, aimed to ease congestion on one of the most heavily trafficked highways in the nation. The new express lanes, which run between State…

Electric touring is officially on the menu ... Sort of. Evoke has built its 6061-GT electric motorcycle around the biggest battery pack ever offered in a production bike: a staggering 30-kWh monster offering more than 600 km (370 miles) of range.Battery-electric motorcycles sit in a weird spot with much of the biking community. In a practical daily commuting sense, they're already terrific. They're quick and zippy, often powerful enough to be fun, and while they're expensive to buy, they cost next to nothing to run. But…

Just a few days ago, we celebrated World Asteroid Day to spread awareness and knowledge about the dangers of asteroids and the measures required to protect Earth against their impact. But why June 30? According to NASA, World Asteroid Day is celebrated on June 30 every year as it commemorates the Tunguska event, the largest asteroid strike on Earth in recorded history. It happened when a carbonaceous asteroid on Earth on June 30, 1908, in Yeniseysk Governorate, Russia. Upon impact, it decimated about 2150 square…

To track asteroids, NASA also has a new impact monitoring system in place which uses an algorithm called Sentry-II to calculate the impact risk of Near-Earth Objects. NASA can track the orbital path of the asteroid using this infrared data and can even predict its orbit years into the future. As of now, nearly 28,000 near-Earth asteroids have been discovered using various tech instruments which track objects in the sky.With the help of such advanced tech, NASA has now revealed details about a colossal asteroid that is…

Archaeologists working in central Alaska have found over 1,000 fish specimens that potentially indicate the early presence of subsistence farming among Ice Age North Americans.Who is La Borinqueña as a Character? | io9 InterviewBy studying the remains of fish found at six archaeological sites across eastern Beringia (eastern Alaska), the archaeological team identified salmon, burbot, whitefish, and northern pike that appears to have been harvested between 13,000 and 11,800 years ago. The team’s research was published…

Asteroids are ancient space rocks that are considered to be left over from the early formation of our solar system around 4.6 billion years ago. But what are these space rocks made of? According to NASA, asteroids vary in the composition of their core materials. Some asteroids are made up of clay and silicate, while others are made up of silicate materials and nickel-iron, according to NASA. These space rocks can not only provide valuable resources such as water, metals, and other minerals. Scientists also study…

The victims of extinction are countless and their are killers numerous—but, in recent centuries, there’s been one obvious, enduring culprit: Homo sapiens. A Mononykus Hunts In ‘Prehistoric Planet’As humankind has increased in numbers and technologized, more and more species have disappeared for good. Or have they really? Scientists may finally be on the verge of breakthroughs that can simulate some animals’ resurrection. But, despite what Jurassic Park led us to believe, simply having a creature’s DNA isn’t enough to…

The animal kingdom is full of sexual competition, and extinct creatures are no exception: Researchers found evidence that male woolly mammoths experienced hormone-induced states of aggression towards their rivals, much like modern bull elephants.Rare Polar Bear Attack in Canada | Extreme EarthThis phenomenon is known as musth, and it describes a state of heightened sexual activity and aggression in male elephants. A team of researchers examining a 33,000-year-old mammoth tusk found annualsurges in testosterone and other…

As wooly mammoths grazed frigid Siberian steppes for more than half a million years, they evolved increasingly fluffy fur, large fat deposits, and smaller ears, according to a new study.By comparing the genomes of modern elephants with those of multiple wooly mammoths – including individual mammoths that lived 600,000 years apart – researchers gained new insight into the evolution of these ice-age icons.Distinctive features like fluffy fur and fat deposits were already genetically encoded in early wooly mammoths, the…

Hello, it’s Monday, April 10, and here are the stories you shouldn’t miss today:TOP STORIES Explosions, crushed buildings and flood fears as snow continues to cause chaosWorry and fear are running high in Mammoth Lakes, Calif. Buildings groan and crack under the strain of accumulated snowpack, forcing occupants to flee. Slabs of snow and ice plummet from rooftops with the force of falling pianos. Columns of smoke rise from homes whose gas lines have become fouled by snow, causing them to explode.For a community whose…