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This week in scientific discipline news , we rediscovered a lack tomato on theInternational Space Station(ISS ) , line up a temple maybe dedicated to Alexander the swell and unpacked how traumatic memories are processed in the brain .
In the equivalent of finding a lost wind sleeve in the dryer , astronauts on circuit board the International Space Station have settle something that was lost eight months earlier : a dwarf Lycopersicon esculentum that had been grown on the ballistic capsule . The fruit was part of the net harvest from spacefaring tomato plants , and cosmonaut ab initio fault fellow place explorer Frank Rubio for sneakily eating it . In reality , the desiccated tomatofloated by in its Ziploc bag before Rubio could take a snack . And that ’s not the only thing that ’s pulling a melt act in the cosmos : The bright whiz Betelgeuse will " blink out " on Dec. 11 - 12 . Here ’s how you canwatch Betelgeuse disappear .
Dwarf tomatoes on the International Space Station; Skulls of ancient Egyptian sacred mummified baboons.
Back on Earth , archaeologists at the ghost of an ancient megacity fall upon something else that had been lost : a 4,000 - twelvemonth - old Sumerian temple , with another temple from the Hellenic period progress mighty on top of it . free-base on an enigmatic coin and lozenge obtain at the land site , archaeologist suspect the latter synagogue may have beendedicated to Alexander the Great .
This calendar week , we learned about yet more things hide underground , including thisfossil pool of groundwaterburied deep beneath the Sicilian great deal . Experts say it ’s 6 million years erstwhile . archeologist also unearthed a tangled gold coin with the"face of Jesus " on it , theearliest known framed saddlein the Central Asian " cave of the horseman , " and a " sensational " hoard ofBronze Age axes in a Polish forest . In sadder news , " sanctified baboon " that were mummify in ancient Egypt leave bleak lives , being held engrossed in the dark and suffering from vitamin insufficiency as a result , archaeologist reported this hebdomad .
And remember that tabletsaid to contain the earliest Hebraical name of God ? turn out , it ’s probablyjust a sportfishing weight , and the so - called dedication are natural wear and bust .
A gigantic coronal hole that opened up on the sun is more than 60 times wider than Earth.
doc took a deep dive into the mysteries of the mental capacity this week , regain thattraumatic memory are processed differently than ordinary onesand debunking the myth thatnewborns are n’t born with " underdeveloped " brain , at least not compared with our hierarch cousins . They alsozapped brains to aid mend traumatic injury , recover thatinflammation may drive modality changesin Alzheimer ’s disease , and showed that the key ingredient inpsychedelic mushroom could still depressionin those with bipolar upset .
— James Webb scope find water in roiling disk of gas around ultrahot star for first time ever
— airy annulus of light around full moon spotted during late SpaceX rocket launch
Inflammation is essential to life, but when it goes awry, it can harm the body. Here’s how researchers are working to tame and redirect this function.
— Intergalactic ' stream of stars ' 10 times longer than the Milky Way is the 1st of its sort ever spotted
— ' passing high ' number of pneumonia lawsuit run into nestling in Ohio county
utter of amazing objects , scientists finally discovered howelephants got their amazing trunks . These unbelievable organs , which turn back 40,000 individual muscles and nerve fibers , can both lift over 600 lb ( 270 kg ) and cautiously peck up a unmarried peanut vine . It turn out , these traits may have evolved millions of years ago in elephant - comparable ascendant to slash the soft , long grasses that grew in their home ground .
Picture of the week
Agaping hole open up in the Dominicus this workweek . The massive canyon is broad than 60 world and , since Dec. 4 , has been ptyalize unusually fast radiation , have sex as solar wind , straight at Earth . Such dark eyepatch emerge when the magnetic field of operation that keep the Lord’s Day bear suddenly open up — but unlike sunspots , these holes are invisible , except in ultraviolet light source . The massive hole is unprecedented to see at this point in the solar cycles/second , scientist say . Intriguingly , this monolithic hole isnottied to the volatile flush of the Lord’s Day ’s 11 - year bike , known as thesolar maximum . Most often , these coronal hole gape during the solar minimum .
However , there was news on other sky phenomena tied to increases in solar activity — such as this1977 solar stormthat picture how dramatically magnetic fields can vary during such charismatic disturbance .
Sunday reading
Live Science long read
Inflammation is one of the body ’s power , a first line of defense that helps us defend infections and heal wounds . Without it , we ’d all fleetly die . Yet because ofa mismatch between our evolutionary yesteryear and our advanced lifestyle , kindling has become inveterate , fuel diseases such as creaky arthritis , cirrhosis , heart disease and Crab .
Historically , scientists try on to hush up all lighting with heavily - hitting drug , but those medication can have nasty side personal effects .
Now , scientists are examine a subtler approach . By reprogramming the cells require in misdirected inflaming , they are hop to tune up the incendiary response — maximize thegood side of this essential resistant response while dampen its blue side .
