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An international memory loss across Spain , Portugal and the Confederate States of America of Franceleft millions without electricity ahead of time this week , with experts still unsure what caused the outage .
Portugal ’s national electricity meshwork initially blame the event of a uncommon atmospheric phenomenon know as an " induced atmospherical vibration , " although they afterwards refuted this explanation .
International power cuts and the promise of “dinosaur leather."
rush atmospheric quiver are unusual oscillations in high voltage big businessman lines that go on when an area experience extreme changes in temperature . While it has not been confirm whether this particular outage was because of such an outcome , expert have warn that the extreme temperature fluctuation that cause this phenomenon are bear to become more common due to clime change , posing a meaning threat to electricity networks worldwide .
However , this workweek ’s scientific discipline news show also brought positive update for global energy product after scientists inChinaunveiled anew approach to safe nuclear energyusing an old , abandon U.S. engineering .
Dinosaur handbags
T. rex researchers eviscerate ‘misleading’ dinosaur leather announcement
Could dinosaur leather be the next handsome affair in fashion ? This hebdomad , three party working across mode and biotechnology announce plans to make luxury accessories out ofTyrannosaurus rex"leather , " made in a science lab using fossilizedT. rexcollagen and synthetically produced cell . The companies argue that their product would proffer a " cruelty - free " and " eco - friendly " alternative to traditional leather , but not everyone is convinced by this marriage proposal .
While it is rare to regain soft tissue paper in the fogy track record , dinosaur collagen — a central structural protein found in many connective tissues , let in skin — has been found in a small number of fossilized os . However , these proteins are fragmented , meaning our agreement ofT. rexcollagen is uncompleted .
Live Science spoke to experts tohear their thought process on this Cretaceous twistin luxury goods .
The companies want to make luxury goods out of T. rex skin-inspired material. The bag in this image is crocodile leather
Discover more extinct animal news program
— How related are dire Hugo Wolf and gray savage ? The solvent might surprise you .
— What was the fastest dinosaur ?
Could an astronaut burp in space?
— dinosaur might still tramp Earth if it were n’t for the asteroid , study suggests
Life’s little mysteries
Can you burp in space?
When you think of spaceman , you might envision them float weightlessly in zero graveness , but it ’s easy to overlook the smaller impact of microgravity . In fact , sobriety wreak an important role in our consistency ’s functioning .
Unlike vomiting , which use the muscles of the digestive tract to force food back up into our mouthpiece , the mechanic of burping trust almost entirely on gravity . gravitational force helps disjoined gasolene from the solid and liquid in our stomachs and then earmark it to float to the top . Butwhat happens to the digestive arrangement when astronauts have to burp in blank space ?
18th-century mummification
18th-century monk’s anus was stuffed with wood chips and fabric to mummify him, researchers discover
When we think of mummies , most of us will picture the dried out , bound bodies of the ancient Egyptians . More modern method acting of body preservation such as embalming share law of similarity with these ancient practice . embalmer have acquire a numeral of unusual technique for body preservation over the years , but few compare to those used on an eighteenth - century Austrian vicar .
The monk , named Franz Xaver Sidler von Rosenegg , died in 1746 and his stiff were preserve in a church building in the small village of Blasenstein . His body has been credited with various healing miracle over the years and the remains are known topically as the " air - dried chaplain . " For X , his cause of death has remained a whodunit , but a recent depth psychology set that the vicar died from tuberculosis .
This analysis solve one mystery , but it also rear many questions after the team discovered that thecorpse ’s anus had been engorge full of Natalie Wood flake and cloth , a previously undocumented embalming method missing from historic record .
Front and back views of the mummified body of Franz Xaver Sidler von Rosenegg.
describe more archaeology news
— 2,300 - twelvemonth - old sword with swastikas unearthed at necropolis in France
— ' Propaganda ' praising Ramesses II discovered on famous ancient Egyptian dagger in Paris , Egyptologist arrogate
Where the craft will reenter remains unclear, but it will likely land in the ocean.
— 18 stab wounds to 3,700 - yr - old skull reveal fierce feuding in ancient China
Also in science news this week
— ' Annoying ' version of ChatGPT pulled after chatbot would n’t stop flatter users
— Vesta , the 2nd - largest asteroid in the solar system , may be a small-arm of a lost planet
— ' Groundbreaking ' ancient DNA enquiry confirms Pueblo peoples ' ties to far-famed Chaco Canyon web site
The Circinus West molecular cloud is a vast star-forming region 2,500 light-years from Earth. The gas and dust there is so dense, it renders the cloud opaque.
— closed book of Bolivian ' zombie ' vent eventually solve
Science Spotlight
Doomed Soviet satellite from 1972 will tumble uncontrollably to Earth next week — and it could land almost anywhere
In 1972 , the U.S.S.R launched a quad probe address Kosmos 482 as part of a programme to see more about Venus ' diabolic surface . However , a malfunction in the upper stage of its rocket booster left the foxiness without the required speed to touch our cosmic neighbour . or else , Komos got stuck in an elliptical orbit around our menage major planet .
Now , Modern depth psychology shows that thedescent module of the give out ballistic capsule is due for a fiery return back to Earth — and it should arrive some time in the next two weeks . Considering that the lander was designed to come through a line through Venus ' uncongenial atmosphere , it ’s possible that it will devolve back to Earth entire .
The 1,091 pound ( 495 kilogram ) lander is estimated to fall at a speeding of 150 mph ( 242 km / h ) , and no one knows for indisputable where it will shore . One opening is that it could descend on a populated area , where it could do harm .
" The risk involved are not especially high , but not zero,“Marco Langbroek , a lecturer in space situational cognisance at Delft Technical University in the Netherlands who discovered the lander ’s impending return , wrote in a blog Emily Post .
Something for the weekend
If you ’re looking for something a little longer to scan over the weekend , here are some of the best long reads , book excerpts and interviews published this week .
— ' Vaccine rejection is as old as vaccines themselves ' : Science historian Thomas Levenson on the history of germ theory and its deniers
— Catquistadors : Oldest known domestic cats in the US died off Florida sea-coast in a 1559 Spanish shipwreck
— ' How could it have been allowed to happen ? ' : The terror of ' superbugs ' was acknowledge from the first antibiotic , but we ’ve failed to stop it .
Science in pictures
Scientists spot a ‘dark nebula’ being torn apart by rowdy infant stars — offering clues about our own solar system’s past
A battle is raging in the constellation Circinus , about 2,500 light - years away from our planet . At the heart of the configuration is an ominous contraband swarm forebode Circinus West . It is bonk as a " dark nebula " because it is so dense that no Christ Within can penetrate it .
The cloud itself is made of star - forming gas , meaning its dark can not last forever . The gasoline routinely collapses into newborn star , create an combat-ready leading nursery which can be seen as pinpricks of light bursting through the shadow that surrounds them .
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