DINOSAUR TAIL TRAPPED IN AMBER
琥珀里的恐龙尾巴
It came dangerously close to becoming jewelry, but a small lump of amber found at a market in Burma luckily landed in the hands of paleontologists, who announced in December that it contained the first known piece of a dinosaur’s tail. Dating back 99 million years, the tail was originally mistaken as a bit of plant material. But closer inspection showed that it was actually bone and soft tissue covered with delicate feathers. Careful analysis revealed that the tail once belonged to a young coelurosaur, a dinosaur family that includes tyrannosaurs and modern birds.
这块琥珀侥幸逃脱了成为首饰的命运,它在缅甸市场上幸运地落入了生物学者的手里,他们在12月宣布这块琥珀里有首个恐龙尾巴标本。这块尾巴有9900万年历史,最初被误以为是一块植物。但更进一步的检查表明这其实是骨骼和软组织,上面覆盖着精美的羽毛。细致的分析揭示了这块尾巴曾经属于一只年轻的虚骨龙,这一科恐龙包括霸王龙和现代鸟类。
POSSIBLY HABITABLE PLANET NEXT DOOR
附近还有适宜居住的星球
Astronomers unveiled evidence for a world orbiting the closest star to the sun. At just 4.24 light-years away, Proxima Centauri has long fascinated astronomers and fiction writers alike. The newfound planet, dubbed Proxima b, is about as massive as Earth, and it orbits near enough to its small, red star for water to stay liquid on its surface. While it may be a while until we have the technology to properly probe Proxima b for signs of life, simply knowing it exists is a boon to astrobiologists.
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