Why humans don’t have tails - Popular Science

With longer days and warmer temperatures underway, people are heading outside more often and for many, that means bringing their dogs along for the fun. Whether it’s hiking a trail, spending the day at the lake, or relaxing on a patio, summer is the perfect time to enjoy the outdoors with a canine companion. But the season also brings a few challenges that are worth preparing for to help keep dogs safe and comfortable, especially as encounters with other dogs become more common.

Scientists have proposed what they believe is the first way to detect "mirror life," a hypothetical form of life built from molecules that are reversed versions of those found in living organisms on Earth. Researchers from the University of Strathclyde and Durham University have developed a proposed detection technique that uses molecules capable of emitting light with distinct left and right-handed properties. By analyzing these light signals, scientists may eventually be able to distinguish conventional organisms from their mirror-image counterparts.

When we think of rivers, we imagine water flowing freely from source to sea. But for some of the world's great waterways, their natural state is to be blocked or dammed by fallen trees – on a massive scale. Today, the world's largest tree-blockages or logjams can be found in the delta of Canada's mighty Mackenzie River. . While the word 'logjam' is a byword for life's annoying obstacles, recent studies have shown that river logjams are vital for wildlife and human communities, and are crucial stores of carbon.

An artist's illustration of the new theropod dinosaur, Invictibellatrix amberina (center of the image), in its ecosystem on the Isle of Wight, United Kingdom, in the Early Cretaceous (around 120 million years ago). It lived in what was likely a seasonally wet-to-dry floodplain environment and is surrounded by other dinosaurs including large long-necked rebbachisaurid sauropods (directly behind Invictibellatrix, center) and relatives of Iguanodon (right). A spinosaurid theropod, potentially the apex predator of the time, fishes (left). Invictibellatrix has just caught and is consuming two small mammals. Gymnosperms dominate the environment as flowering plants (angiosperms) were not common at this time. Other reptiles including relatives of modern lizards, crocodiles and turtles enjoy the warm Early Cretaceous weather of the U. K. Credit: Sergey Krasovskiy and Pedro Salas The fossilized skull of a new species of mysterious meat-eating dinosaur from the Isle of Wight has been rediscovered in the collections of the Natural History Museum after over 100 years in storage.