The Scientists Who Declared War on Half of America - Roger Pielke Jr. | Substack

In 1977, George Lucas was busy. He showed the world a movie that would become the foundation for a billion-dollar science fiction franchise and one of the biggest fantasy movies of the 1970s: "Star Wars. " Few other directors have come close to creating a world as big and groundbreaking as this one, but the director made it clear that, even with his universe of warring rebels and angry Wookiees, one movie had reached levels that Lucas could only dream of. In an interview with Rolling Stone, the "Star Wars" director chimed in on what he thought was the best of the best when it came to science fiction at the time and proclaimed that "2001: A Space Odyssey" from Stanley Kubrick was light-years ahead of the competition. "Stanley Kubrick made the ultimate science fiction movie, and it is going to be very hard for someone to come along and make a better movie, as far as I'm concerned. On a technical level, it can be compared [to 'Star Wars'], but personally, I think that '2001' is far superior. "

With 302 neurons, 200 of them in their heads, hermaphrodite female roundworms reveal surprising sex-specific differences in the nervous system and how these differences influence behavior, reproduction, and aging. Researchers at Northeastern University compared brain activity in male and hermaphroditic Caenorhabditis elegans, a microscopic worm widely used in biological research to understand how sex wires males and female nervous systems differently.

Artist’s concept of the new dinosaur species Invictibellatrix amberina, along with the fossil from which it was identified. The fossil had been sitting in a drawer for 100 years, until researchers pulled it out and became curious. Image via Sergey Krasovskiy and Pedro Salas/ Natural History Museum London. You deserve a daily dose of good news. For the latest in science and the night sky, subscribe to EarthSky’s free daily newsletter.