Over the last 12 months, scientific news has ranged from the sublime to the frankly offbeat. At the start of 2024, we had no idea that polar bears once roamed Scotland, that geckos have a sixth sense, or that octopuses square up with lazy hunting companions.
This year, we’ve seen astronauts stranded on the International Space Station and the world’s most complete stegosaurus fossil fetch $45 million at auction. Orcas are again wearing salmon hats, Greenland sharks hold the key to anti-aging, and we now know that hobbit-sized humans once thrived in Indonesia.
There were hundreds of stories for ExWeb readers to delve into, but these are our pick of the most interesting of 2024.
Space travel takes a toll
This Is What Space Travel Does to Your Body: NASA astronauts have been the subject of much speculation this year. Suni Williams, who has been on the International Space Station for much longer than planned, looked thinner in recent photos. Another astronaut arrived back on Earth in October and went straight to hospital.
Both astronauts say they are fine, but there is no denying that space takes a toll on the human body. From irregular heartbeats to bone and muscle loss, here is a run-through of what happens to our bodies in space.
Blood Thinners, A New Way to Treat Cobra Venom: Snakes bite 1.8 million people a year. If the snake is venomous, quickly receiving the correct antivenom is crucial. Antivenoms have to be administered in a hospital, and though they do save lives, they do not stop tissue damage. Unfortunately, most bites happen far from medical help.
Now, researchers have discovered a new way to treat cobra bites, using blood thinners. Blood thinners limit necrosis around the bite and may help prevent amputations. Scientists hope that heparinoid blood-thinning medication could eventually be put in epi-pen devices for rural areas. This would give people a chance to get to the hospital without tissue damage taking hold.
A23a, the world’s largest iceberg, does a complete rotation every 24 days. Photo: Derren Fox/British Antarctic Survey
An iceberg in a vortex
World’s Largest Iceberg Trapped in a Vortex: A23a, the world’s largest iceberg, is spinning in place off the coast of Antarctica. It might continue to do so for many years. The size of Rhode Island, the giant slab of ice is trapped in a vortex known as the Taylor Column. Most imagine a vortex spinning quickly, but the iceberg is rotating 15° per day — a suitably glacial pace.
Johann Bessler and the Greatest Physics Fraud in History: Johann Bessler created a seemingly impossible wheel that would spin indefinitely. Nothing seemed to power the wheel, and Bessler demanded a £10,000 sum from anyone who wanted to know about the inner workings. How Bessler created the wheel is still a mystery. Was he a genius or a con man?
A rarest of rare sight of a bear charging towards a tigress, captured today at Pilibhit Tiger Reserve- A CATS( Conservation Assured Tiger Standards) habitat developed assiduously by UP Forest Department.
Pl don’t miss the calm and composure of Big Cat even in face of attack &… pic.twitter.com/jU48UWpTqJ— Dr Rajiv Kumar Gupta IAS (Retd) (@drrajivguptaias) April 30, 2024
Tiger vs Bear
Clash of the Jungle Giants: Tiger vs Bear in India: Most of us would imagine that a clash between a bear and a tiger would be titanic. The reality is usually very different.
Safari goers in India’s Pilibhit Tiger Reserve watched a tigress stalk across a dirt road when a sloth bear stumbled onto the track ahead of her. Apex predators with completely different prey, the two species don’t compete. Rather than fighting, the two animals scoped each other out before going their separate ways.
Erebus At Risk: Researchers discovered the ships from John Franklin’s lost expedition in 2014 and 2016. Now, the race is on to salvage artifacts and information from HMS Erebus and HMS Terror.
Erebus sits just 11m down in the Queen Maud Gulf. Parts of the ship are already starting to collapse and disintegrate. The shallow water leaves the ship vulnerable to ferocious storms.
A dead northern green anaconda. Photo: Freek Vonk
World’s largest snake
World’s Largest Snake Found Dead in the Amazon: Earlier this year, scientists in the Brazilian rainforest discovered the largest snake in the world: a northern green anaconda. Their genetic analysis proved that the southern green anaconda and northern green anaconda are separate species.
Freek Vonk captured footage of a 6.3m snake dubbed Ana Julia. Just weeks later, the same snake was found dead.
Terrified Hikers Flee Erupting Volcano: Drone footage captured a group of hikers fleeing an erupting volcano in Indonesia. Sitting in the Pacific Ring of Fire, a region famed for its active volcanoes, Mount Dukano has erupted continuously since the 1930s.
Indonesia has strict rules for visiting volcanoes. A Level II warning bans hikers from getting within 3km of the crater. But the hikers ignored this and ended up scrambling for their lives.
Not the catch he wanted
Giant Crocodile Jumps into Fisherman’s Boat: Animals have had enough of humans and their boats. First, we had orcas actively trying to sink ships, and now crocodiles have joined the party.
While Richard Brookman was fishing in Jane Creek, Queensland, a ginormous saltwater crocodile threw itself into his boat. Brookman had spotted the eyes staring up at him from the dark water but wasn’t overly concerned; crocodiles are common in the area. Too late, he noticed it was four meters long, a whole meter longer than his boat, and making a beeline for him.
A Look At The Next Two Billion Years on Planet Earth: The concept of deep time is tricky. Humans struggle to comprehend what will happen to Earth over the next few billion years.
From the Sahara becoming a lush grassland to Nepal disappearing and the creation of a new supercontinent, geologists and astrobiologists predict Earth’s distant future.
