Scientific news from February 2, 2023:
In the Universe: Scientists publish the most accurate map of matter in the Universe.
- An international team of nearly 150 scientists has published the most comprehensive map of the distribution of matter in space to date.
- To achieve this, she combined data from two universe-observing programs: dark energy research and the South Pole Telescope.
- It is a valuable tool for understanding its dynamics since its inception.
In archeology: Dozens of decapitated bodies have been found in the Neolithic site of Vrable in Slovakia.
- Excavations began in 2010. At the site of Vrable in western Slovakia, there was one of the largest Neolithic settlements in Central Europe.
- In 2022, archaeologists made a gruesome find there: about thirty headless skeletons.
- Researchers can now only speculate about the reasons for this apparent brutality, casting doubt on the peaceful image they have created of the site.
Healthy: A promising mushroom for treating cystic fibrosis.
- Clitocybe inverted is not particularly famous for its taste and is not even recommended for harvesting, since its twin, the good-smelling clitocybe, is toxic.
- But it contains an interesting molecule, DAP, whose potential to treat certain forms of cystic fibrosis has just been established in the lab.
- Hope for patients suffering from a rare form of cystic fibrosis for whom current treatments are ineffective.
In the environment: are wind turbines dangerous for birds?
- A law to “accelerate the production of renewable energy” has just been passed by the National Assembly.
- The text creates a “biodiversity and renewable energy observatory” that will have to resolve conflicts arising from the deployment of wind turbines and photovoltaic parks.
- On average, a wind turbine kills seven birds a year, but averages hide a large disparity.
In high-tech: RaiBo, a robot that spins in the sand at a speed of 11 km/h.
- Set high on 50cm legs, the Mini Cheetah is a quadrupedal robot.
- We saw him doing back flips, running at full speed, playing multiple balls.
- Recently, the car, renamed RaiBo, is able to run at three meters per second, or almost 11 km/h, over the difficult terrain of a sandy beach.