In the next roundup of interesting science news of the week: It was only with the help of aerial photography that the enormous structure could be seen. Until now, the temple in Guatemala, in the ancient settlement of Seibal, which dates back to 950 B.C., was considered to be the oldest cult structure of the Mayan civilization. But the complex unearthed by archaeologists in the southern Mexican state of Tabasco surpasses all previous discoveries and is forcing scientists to rethink the possibilities of this ancient culture. In fact, the architectural structure of Aguada Phoenix, located on the shores of the Gulf of Mexico, stretches over 1400 meters and was built slightly earlier than the complex in Guatemala.
The complex surpasses anything archaeologists have seen before. “As far as we know, this is the oldest structure found in the areas where the Maya lived, and the largest in the pre-Hispanic history of the region,” said the leader of the research team, archaeologist Takeshi Inomata of the University of Arizona. What is also interesting is that such a gigantic object is not somewhere in the impenetrable jungle or high in the mountains, but literally close by. For centuries, Mexicans lived in these places, unaware that an ancient structure lay beneath them. Over the years, however, Aguada Phoenix has literally blended into the natural landscape, and while it was not easy to see from the surface, aerial photography showed it in all its glory. We explain quickly, simply, and clearly what happened, why it matters, and what happens next. The English translation of the given Russian text “эпизоды” would be “episodes”. The end of the story: Advertising podcasts.
The platform-shaped complex extends 1413 meters from north to south and 399 meters from west to east, rising 15 meters above the surrounding surface. Nine wide roads lead from the platform, with smaller buildings and artificial water reservoirs on the sides. The complex partially resembles similar structures of the Olmec culture in neighboring San Lorenzo and La Venta. However, no sculptures depicting humans were found in Aguada Fenix, leading specialists to conclude that the Maya actually lived there. “Unlike Olmec cultural centers, Aguada Phoenix does not contain explicit evidence of strong social stratification, such as sculptures of aristocrats,” the study authors note. “The only stone sculpture found there depicts an animal.” If scientists are correct, this complex promises to be an invaluable service in understanding how this mysterious society was organized and functioned. It will be particularly interesting to determine whether the ancient Maya really rejected the hierarchical structure of society in favor of a commune. “In fact, it may not have taken a highly organized government to accomplish such grandiose construction projects,” Inomata believes. “Just by working together, people are able to achieve amazing results.”
It is difficult to beat nature. Everything created by natural selection has survived the test of time, and despite all the achievements of modern technology, artificial organs and limbs cannot be compared to living tissue. However, it seems that scientists have managed to do something. By combining biomaterial with lab-grown polymers, an international group of specialists from the United States, China and Mexico has created the Red Terminator – an artificial red blood cell that performs better than the original. The microscopic cyborg easily infiltrates the farthest reaches of the circulatory system to deliver life-giving hemoglobin. If desired, it can be configured to deliver cancer-killing drugs, biosensors, and other microdevices. Researchers reasoned that if you’re going to start modifying human cells, you should start with red blood cells. They have no nucleus and are quite simple – an ideal option for genetic engineering. “We have created synthetic structures that perform one or more key functions of living erythrocytes,” the scientists wrote in their report. In practice, this meant that they had to create a Terminator that had the size, shape, and flexibility to penetrate the thinnest capillaries, deliver oxygen there, perform additional functions (such as drug delivery), and not be destroyed in the process.
From a living cell to a cyborg, there is only one intermediate stage. The researchers first covered donor blood cells with a layer of silicon dioxide and then applied a layer of polymers. After the silicon and the remaining living cells were removed, a polymer shell remained. And now this shell, covered with a thin “skin” of blood cells, can be used to place any biochemistry or microtechnology, while the terminator will also perform the normal function of carrying oxygen as an erythrocyte. A series of laboratory tests confirmed the robustness and effectiveness of the bionic cell: a mouse with artificial erythrocytes living in its veins showed no signs of disease for four weeks. Of course, the researchers admit that before the Red Terminator can be placed with a human, numerous tests must be conducted, equipment for the mass production of red blood cell replacements must be created, and many other things must be done. However, bioengineers have long dreamed of creating tiny killer robots and doctor robots, and the appearance of the Red Terminator will undoubtedly give them a good boost.
Mars and Phobos As befits the God of War, Mars is always accompanied by two moons – Phobos (Fear) and Deimos (Terror). Both always face their master with one side, only Phobos is closer and its orbit strictly follows the master’s equatorial line, while Deimos is further away and allows itself some freedom – a deviation of a few degrees in its orbit. In fact, this has led astrophysicists to believe that Phobos was once a ring in a previous life, which then compressed into a moon. In 2017, American scientists Andrew Hesselbrock and David Minton published an article in the journal Nature Geoscience suggesting that Martian moons do not permanently accompany their planet, but periodically break apart into thin rings due to gravitational forces, after which they eventually become moons again, but smaller, as some of the matter escapes into open space. Scientists believe that such cycles have occurred many times over billions of years. And now another group of researchers has used computer modeling to show how an ancient moon of Mars, 20 times larger than Phobos, could have pushed Deimos into its current orbit. “The fact that Deimos’ orbit does not completely coincide with Mars’ equator was considered insignificant, so no one planned to explain this phenomenon,” says the project’s author, Matija Čuk, a researcher at the SETI Institute. “But when our new idea came to mind, we decided to look at it in a new way, and that’s when Deimos’ orbital tilt revealed its great secret to us.” Scientists have long known of cases in which two moons moving on similar orbits around their planet enter into resonance, and the orbit of one satellite begins to distort to follow the orbit of the other. According to scientists, Deimos, which formed billions of years ago, orbited Mars peacefully while a giant ring, similar to the one found around Jupiter today, revolved around it. The ring went through several phases of transforming into one or more moons and then back again, until a giant moon pushed Deimos into its current orbit and then transformed back into a ring, with the only difference being that Phobos formed from the remnants of that ring. If we believe this theory, the long-lost moon, formed from a ring, should have begun to move away from Mars and resonate with Deimos, giving it its current distorted orbit. Scientists believe that the “moon ring” cycle will eventually repeat itself: the younger Phobos will gradually lose altitude and eventually be torn apart and transformed into a ring orbiting Mars. Then little Deimos will be alone, and only its crooked orbit will be a reminder of the former second moon.
City Foxes have long since stopped being afraid of anyone. When Soviet geneticist Dmitry Belyaev began an experiment to breed tame foxes in Siberia in the late 1950s, he never imagined that half a century later, wild foxes would be trying to domesticate themselves, not on Russian territory, but in British cities. Of course, Kevin Parsons, a specialist in evolutionary biology at the University of Glasgow, was aware of the Soviet experiment. In addition, urban foxes, fearless and curious, clearly accustomed to society, often caught his eye. He had long wanted to find out if urban foxes had any physical differences from rural foxes that would help them survive better in an urban environment. When he heard that the National Museum of Shotlandia had a large collection of red fox skulls, he became very interested. In the early 1970s, it was decided to cull the rapidly multiplying foxes in and around London (which did not help much), and the skulls (about one and a half thousand in all) were carefully numbered and labeled according to where the fox was killed – in the city or in the village. After working with the skulls, Parsons came to a clear conclusion: the habitat significantly influenced the shape of the fox’s skull, even though it was the same fox species. Thus, one of the most striking differences, as in the case of the Soviet experiment, was the shortening of the snout, which at the same time became wider, and a decrease in brain volume (although this did not make the foxes dumber, rather the opposite) compared to the rural foxes. In addition, the skulls of urban foxes are better adapted for powerful bites, which is not surprising since they spend a lot of time near garbage dumps, where they often encounter large bones. Rural foxes, on the other hand, have a skull aerodynamic designed for speed: their food is not going to wait for them, they have to catch up with it. There have also been foxes with blue eyes, curly tails and drooping ears, which also bark like dogs (this was observed during the Siberian experiment). In general, everything points to the domestication syndrome first discovered by Darwin. However, according to Parsons, urban red foxes cannot be considered pets. Like the first dogs, they still have to take the most important step – to overcome the fear of humans in order to approach them at arm’s length and then fearlessly eat from their hands. In fact, scientists believe that overcoming the fear of animals became the main impetus for dogs, which was followed by serious biological changes that distinguished them as a separate species. It is interesting that foxes have always tried to become domesticated: their bones have been found near the first agricultural communities in different parts of the world, but unlike dogs and cats, they have never been able to take the final step, and we do not know why.