Whaley Big | Old Tode | New Shapes

Have you heard about our weekly emoji battle, Unnatural Selection? You can influence the winner every week by clicking 1 of 2 options in Quick! (poll) right after the first story.

Today we see who won: Baby Shark or Blue da ba dee

-Steve

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Whaley Big

Paleontologists have a new B.O.A.T. (Biggest of all time). Recently discovered bones in a Peruvian desert belonged to a newly identified species of whale, Perucetus colossus.

• Found: 13 vertebrae, 4 ribs, 1 hib bone

• Lived ~39 million years ago

• Estimated weight = up to 340 tonnes

For context, the largest known blue whale weighs in at 200 tonnes. P. colossus challenges a common theory that whales evolved into giants over the past few million years. A true hide-and-go-seek champ.

Gonna need a bigger BOAT

Old Tode

Time machine found, but it’s actually just Siberian permafrost. Scientists resurrected a 46,000 year old nematode from a Siberian soil sample.

• New species: Panagrolaimus kolymaensis

• Frozen in time in a gopher hole

• Revived by slowly warming soil sample

P. kolymaensis suspended animation to survive, similar to C. elegans and tardigrades. Scientists have since raised over 100 generations of our time-travelling creatures to study how they press “pause” in extreme conditions. Brings new meaning to “wormhole”.

What about the gopher?

New Shapes

You, too, can 3D-print! Anker’s MC5 desktop printer keeps recreational users in mind with futuristic building.

• Heats up to 572 °F for a wide range of materials

• Max piece size: 8.66” x 8.66” x 5.9”

• Price: $399

MC5 is an improvement over last year’s M5 model, which launched on Kickstarter. The lower price point enables more people and schools to learn and innovate with shapes only possible via 3D-printing. Think: life-size version of st3v!

Cannot print double-sided

Unnatural Selection

Last week: “Best song to have stuck in your head?”

Full disclosure: A version of each of these is on my workout playlist. da ba doo doo doo doo doo 💪

st3v on site

Robot for Scale

For someone with no use for ribs, st3v was very excited to meet some P. colossus’ bones.

Forward to a friend!

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Missed last week’s science in sweatpants?

Catch-up here: 🔬Baby Shark | Chilly Gills | Sharknado

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