Hi, I’m Scientific American podcast editor Steve Mirsky. And here’s a short piece from the January 2020 issue of the magazine, in the section called Advances: Dispatches from the Frontiers of Science, Technology and Medicine.
The article is titled “Quick Hits,” and it’s a rundown of some science and technology stories from around the globe, compiled by assistant news editor Sarah Lewin Frasier.
From Morocco:
A single-file line of traveling trilobites, all facing the same direction, were caught in a sediment avalanche 480 million years ago. Scientists uncovered the ancient arthropods in a formation they described as similar to modern-day migrating spiny lobsters.
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From the U.S.:
Alaska’s northern fur seals are gathering in large numbers on Bogoslof Island, the tip of an active volcano that last erupted in 2017. More than 36,000 pups may have been born on the island in 2019, amid mud-spewing geysers.
From Israel:
Researchers found that inhabitants of central Israel’s Qesem Cave more than 200,000 years ago likely saved deer leg bones for up to nine weeks to eat bone marrow. This could be the earliest known instance of prehistoric humans storing food for later.
From Iran:
After lingering for months in areas with no cell service, an eagle electronically tracked by Russian scientists flew over Iran, suddenly sending a long backlog of texts with coordinate information—and incurring overwhelming phone bills for the research project.
From Congo:
The Congolese giant toad’s shape and color scheme imitate the Gaboon viper’s head, researchers found, in the first known case of a toad mimicking a dangerous snake. Its alter ego has the longest fangs and most venom of any known snake species.
That was “Quick Hits,” by Sarah Lewin Frasier.
