Russian scientists are poring over the stunningly well-preserved bones of an adult woolly mammoth that roamed the Earth at least 10,000 years ago, after local inhabitants discovered its remains in the shallows of a north Siberian lake.
Part of its skull, several ribs and foreleg bones, some with soft tissue still attached to them, were retrieved from Russia’s remote Yamal peninsula above the Arctic Circle on July 23. Scientists are still searching the site for other bones.
Similar finds in Russia’s vast Siberian region have happened with increasing regularity as climate change warming the Arctic at a faster pace than the rest of the world has thawed the ground in some areas long locked in permafrost.
Photo: AP 照片:美聯社
Scientists circulated images in December of a prehistoric puppy, thought to be 18,000 years old, that was found in the permafrost region of Russia’s Far East in 2018.
The mammoth remains are at least 10,000 years old, although researchers don’t yet know exactly when it walked the earth or how old it was when it died, said Dmitry Frolov, director of the Scientific Centre for Arctic studies. Researchers have found mammoth fossils dating from up to 30,000 years ago in Russia, he said.
Yevgeniya Khozyainova, a scientist from a local museum, said it was unusual to find so many bones belonging to a single species and to know where they came from. “Of course, we’d like to find the remaining parts, to understand how complete a find it is. Whenever there is soft tissue left behind, it is valuable material to study,” she said.
Photo: AP 照片:美聯社
(Reuters)
俄國科學家近日埋首挖掘一頭真猛瑪象的成象骸骨,其保存狀況良好得讓人吃驚。遠在一萬年前,這頭真猛瑪象曾經漫步於地球上,而這次出土的骨骸是當地居民在西伯利亞北部一座湖邊的淺灘所發現。
這隻真猛瑪象的部分頭蓋骨、數根肋骨和前腿骨,在七月二十三日出土於俄羅斯位於北極圈內偏遠的亞馬爾半島,其中一些骸骨仍有軟組織附著在上面。科學家目前仍然在該地持續搜尋其他骸骨。
在俄羅斯廣闊的西伯利亞地區,類似的考古發現愈趨頻繁,這是因為氣候變遷暖化北極圈的速度,比世界其他地方還來得快。某些長久以來鎖在永凍土層的地區,地面已經解凍。
去年十二月,科學家間流傳著一隻史前時代幼犬的照片,是二○一八年在俄羅斯遠東地區的永凍土區域發現的,推測年代為一萬八千年前。
俄羅斯北極研究中心主任狄米崔‧伏羅洛夫表示,雖然研究人員還不知道這隻猛瑪象漫步在地球上的確切時代,或是牠過世的年紀,但是這具遺骸起碼有一萬年的歷史。他說,研究人員曾經在俄羅斯發現過可追溯到三萬年前的猛瑪象化石。
當地博物館的科學家葉芙金妮雅‧霍奇艾諾娃指出,能夠發現許多同屬於單一物種的骨頭是相當少見的,也不容易知道它們來自何處。她說:「當然,我們希望能找到剩下的部位,想要了解這次發現的完整程度。只要有軟組織殘留下來,都會是珍貴的研究材料。」
(台北時報章厚明譯)
The strongest earthquake to hit Taiwan in 25 years killed at least 16 people and damaged dozens of buildings, but the destruction was largely contained thanks to decades of preparedness work. Taiwan sits on the “Ring of Fire,” an arc of intense seismic activity along the Pacific Rim, and — much like neighboring Japan — has a long history of catastrophic quakes. How does April 3 compare with other recent quakes? The April 3 earthquake, which measured 7.4 on the moment magnitude scale, was felt across Taiwan. It was the most severe since a 7.6 magnitude quake in 1999 killed
A: Artificial intelligence technology has been causing controversy lately: a student was caught cheating with AI to win the grand prize in an art contest. B: That’s so absurd. Does this mean that AI paints better than humans? A: Maybe. Luckily, the student was later disqualified. B: And more absurdly, it’s becoming more and more popular to use AI technology to “resurrect” people. A: Yeah, some netizens even posted videos featuring the late singer CoCo Lee, who was “resurrected” by them with AI software. A: 人工智慧的爭議不斷,有學生違規使用AI參加美術展,甚至贏得首獎。 B: 真誇張,這是不是代表AI比人類還強大? A: 或許吧,幸好得獎資格被取消。 B: 還有更誇張的︰讓死者重現的「AI復活」技術越來越熱門。 A: 對啊,還有網友製作已故歌后李玟「復活」的影片呢! (By Eddy Chang, Taipei Times/台北時報張聖恩)
Around the time of the Dragon Boat Festival in June, the streets of Taiwan are filled with the delightful aroma of zongzi, a traditional snack made of sticky rice wrapped in leaves. The leaves are folded into a cone and then filled with sticky rice and other ingredients such as braised pork belly, peanuts and salted duck egg yolks. The filled leaves are then tightly tied with kitchen twine and ready for cooking. 每到六月端午時節,街頭巷尾就會飄出粽子的香氣。粽子是將糯米包進粽葉的傳統美食,先將粽葉折成圓錐狀塞入糯米,以及紅燒肉、花生、鹹鴨蛋黃等配料,用棉線綁緊後即可烹煮。 Dragon Boat Festival (n. phr.) 端午節 aroma
Everyone has seen a piece of fruit turn brown after being cut. Have you ever wondered why that happens? It is a common phenomenon that occurs due to a chemical reaction called enzymatic browning. The appearance, flavor and nutritional value of the fruit are all affected by this reaction. Some fruits, such as apples, pears, bananas, avocados and peaches, are more prone to enzymatic browning than others. These fruits contain high levels of an enzyme called polyphenol oxidase, or PPO for short. __1__ This causes a chain of chemical reactions that ultimately transforms the phenolic compounds into