Scientists have discovered the oldest galaxy in history that resembles the Milky Way. It is disc-shaped and took only 700 million years to evolve.

New Delhi: A team of scientists led by Lucy E. Roland of Leiden University in the Netherlands, discovered The most distant Milky Way-like galaxy ever observed. The galaxy, named REBELS-25, is disk-shaped and strongly rotated, with spiral arms and an elongated central bar similar to the Milky Way.

Scientists made the discovery using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), an international astronomical facility in Chile.

The light emitted from the galaxy and reaching Earth was from when the universe was around 700 million years old, suggesting that the evolution of REBELS-25 took less than 700 million years, the research paper said. states.

For comparison, the current age of the universe is 13.8 billion years, and the age of the Milky Way galaxy is 13.6 billion years.

Existing theories suggest that early galaxies were messy, chaotic, and not well designed like the Milky Way, which took 13.6 billion years to reach its current ordered state.

But REBELS-25 has very similar characteristics to the Milky Way, prompting scientists to reconsider their theories about the timescales on which galaxies develop. read more here.

Also read: Dolphins smile at each other during social play and Antarctica is ‘greening’ at a dramatic rate

73% decline in wildlife populations

Globally monitored wildlife populations declined by 73% from 1970 to 2020, according to the Living Planet Report released by the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) on Thursday.

According to the report, the biggest threat to wildlife populations around the world is habitat loss and degradation.

The largest declines in wildlife over the aforementioned 50 years were in freshwater ecosystems, where monitored populations declined by 85%.

The changes reported are in the average size of the populations of different species, not their absolute numbers.

According to the report, populations of certain species such as vultures in India declined by 89% in just 20 years, from 2002 to 2022. Much of this is caused by climate change and ecosystem degradation, and without aggressive conservation efforts, the rapid loss of nature will be unstoppable, the report explains. read more here.

2,800-year-old burial remains unearthed in Siberia

A 2,800-year-old burial unearthed by archaeologists in southern Siberia shows striking similarities to Scythian burial rituals. The Scythians were a nomadic people from eastern Iran who lived in present-day Crimea between 2,700 and 2,300 years ago.

In a study published Tuesday in the journal ancientRussian scientists have described an elaborate burial 2,800 years ago, in which supposedly important figures were buried along with 18 horses and women, reportedly as human sacrifices.

Carbon dating of a precise mass of human and horse bones found along with weapons, beads and headgear showed the remains date back to 900 B.C., according to the study.

Scientists noted that the bone distribution patterns, headgear and weapon decorations all resembled the Scythian culture described in the Greek historian Herodotus’s writings. history.

The paper also stated that it is very unusual to find evidence of Scythian culture in the period before the Scythian Empire and in areas beyond their range. However, the authors said the discovery serves as evidence of cross-cultural connections between East and Central Asia and points to a possible origin of the Scythian community. read more here.

Can fungi recognize shapes? New research says yes

Scientists in Japan conducted a study to assess whether fungal spores have the cognitive ability to distinguish shapes, even though they technically don’t have brains. To find out, the researchers conducted an experiment in which the same type of wood-destroying fungus was fed two different shaped blocks of wood to grow.

The study will be published in the December 2024 issue of the journal Fungal ecology.

The scientists observed whether the fungal spores spread across both wooden blocks, regardless of their shape, using the same method. Surprisingly, the scientists found that in cross-arranged wooden blocks, fungal spores had stronger bonds in the outermost areas of the blocks and weaker bonds in the middle. On the other hand, on circular pieces of wood, the binding strength of fungal spores was similar overall.

Scientists say this is an expression of “decision-making” by the fungus, with each spore communicating with each other to decide how to spread to maximize profit. read more here.

(Edited by Radifa Kabir)

Also read: American biologist wins Medical Nobel Prize for discovery of microRNA. Here’s how to prevent diseases like cancer