Giraffes bring a whole new meaning to the term “necking”. While we often think that giraffes developed their majestic, long necks to reach the leaves of tall trees, the fossils of a newly-discovered ancient giraffe species suggest a different reason: sexual combat, specifically called necking. These fossils had helmet-like headgear and complex head and neck joints, suggesting a violent head-butting behaviour also seen in other ungulates like deer and sheep. It may just be a coincidence that this contest of sexual dominance also scored them an uncontested food source. Read full article here
Science
‘Ghostly’ neutrinos provide new path to study protons
In groundbreaking research, an international collaboration of scientists from the University of Rochester have used a beam of neutrinos to measure the size and shape of the protons that make up the nuclei of atoms. This feat, once thought impossible, provides scientists with a new way of looking at the small components of an atom’s nucleus and opens up a wealth of new information about the structure of an atom’s nucleus and the dynamics of the forces that affect neutrino interactions. The researchers solved the challenge of harnessing neutrinos in large numbers by using a neutrino detector containing a target of both hydrogen and carbon atoms, and over nine years of data collection at Fermilab’s accelerator. Read full article here
Merv
March 25, 2023
