Dinosaurs are all around us, figuratively and literally speaking. <\/p>\n
Most of these diverse creatures went extinct 66 million years ago, but the ancient ancestors of modern birds are ingrained in the fabric of both scientific intrigue and pop culture. <\/p>\n
Colorful dinos romp around in animated shows \u2014 and their more lifelike counterparts in \u201cJurassic Park\u201d offer a menacing \u201cwhat if\u201d look at life alongside the massive reptiles. <\/p>\n
Paleontologists uncover dozens of\u00a0previously unknown dinosaur species\u00a0each year, enriching the view of what the world was like before humans set foot on it. <\/p>\n
Scientists\u00a0don\u2019t always get it right the first time\u00a0as they try to envision long extinct creatures by piecing together their bones. <\/p>\n
But imagine living during a time \u2014 only 200 years ago \u2014 when the existence of dinosaurs wasn\u2019t common knowledge. <\/p>\n
When massive fossilized bones were found jutting from the slate quarries in England\u2019s Oxfordshire in the late 1600s, people thought they were once part of a Roman war elephant. The concept of dinosaurs, and even the word dinosaur, was centuries away from entering the public imagination. <\/p>\n
But William Buckland, Oxford University\u2019s first professor of geology, changed all of that in 1824 when he named\u00a0the first known dinosaur: Megalosaurus. <\/p>\n
The initial illustrations of the giant reptile weren\u2019t entirely accurate, but Buckland\u2019s discovery was the beginning\u00a0<\/strong>of a new scientific field that is still growing today. <\/p>\n Paleontologists believe only a fraction of fossils have been found of dinosaurs that once populated the globe, meaning thousands or millions more species may await discovery. <\/p>\n Authorities have relocated the installation of a power plant near Rome after workers uncovered an ancient necropolis. <\/p>\n Archaeologists found 67 skeletons, many bedecked in gold jewelry, that had been laid to rest\u00a0surrounded by precious items inside elaborate tombs\u00a0designed to look like their homes. <\/p>\n \u201cWe found several skeletons still wearing their expensive stockings and shoes,\u201d said Emanuele Giannini, lead excavation archaeologist at the site. \u201cAll these riches, and the fact that the bones show no sign of stress or physical labor, (leads us to believe) these weren\u2019t local farmers, but upper-crust members of Roman families coming from cities.\u201d <\/p>\n Many of the tombs were built for those who shared a family connection, and some skeletons were found wrapped around one another. <\/p>\n The race to the moon has heated up in the past few years, and now Japan\u2019s lunar spacecraft will soon aim to demonstrate \u201cpinpoint\u201d landing technology. The SLIM lander, aka the \u201cMoon Sniper,\u201d is slated to\u00a0touch down on the lunar surface on January 19. <\/p>\n And after a long wait, some of the\u00a0most anticipated space missions are preparing to lift off\u00a0in fall 2024. <\/p>\n The NASA Europa Clipper will set off in October to see if Jupiter\u2019s icy moon Europa has what it takes to support life in its subsurface ocean. <\/p>\n In November, the Artemis II mission is expected to send four astronauts on a journey around the moon. If the lunar venture is successful, it will pave the way for NASA and its partners to launch Artemis III \u2014 returning humans to the moon\u2019s surface for the first time since 1972. <\/p>\n Prepare to see a\u00a0sky filled with celestial wonders\u00a0this year. <\/p>\n In addition to meteor showers and full moons, there will be multiple types of lunar and solar eclipses visible from different points around the globe. <\/p>\n One of the most anticipated is the total solar eclipse that will cross Mexico, the US and Canada on April 8. <\/p>\n And keep an eye out for the northern lights and southern lights in unexpected places as the sun\u2019s activity heats up before it reaches solar maximum later this year. <\/p>\n A \u201cliving skin\u201d is protecting the Great Wall of China against deterioration and erosion. <\/p>\n Scientists studied rammed earth portions of the iconic landmark. Builders made these sections by compressing natural materials with soils, and they have been considered a weak point in the structure. <\/p>\n Instead, researchers discovered that protective biocrusts, or networks of tiny, rootless plants and microorganisms, cover the soil surfaces. By studying samples, scientists determined the\u00a0biocrust-covered portions are three times stronger\u00a0than rammed earth sections without it. <\/p>\n \u201cThey thought this kind of vegetation was destroying the Great Wall. Our results show the contrary,\u201d said Bo Xiao, a professor of soil science at China Agricultural University. <\/p>\n Take a closer look at these riveting reads: <\/p>\n \u2014 The Navajo Nation\u2019s objection to landing human remains on the moon prompted a last-minute meeting at the White House. <\/p>\n \u2014 To answer the need for clean energy, some experts believe it\u2019s time to build\u00a0solar farms in space that beam sunlight\u00a0to Earth\u2019s surface \u2014 but others say\u00a0<\/strong>the plan is too far-fetched. <\/p>\n \u2014 During expeditions to a remote part of North Greenland, researchers uncovered fossils of previously unknown\u00a0predator worms called \u201cterror beasts\u201d that ruled the seas\u00a0half a billion years ago. <\/p>\n \u2014 Newly processed versions of\u00a0Voyager 2 images show the true hues\u00a0of Neptune and Uranus, revealing that the two worlds are more similar in color than previously believed. <\/p>\n\n Dinosaurs are all around us, figuratively and literally speaking. Most of these diverse creatures went extinct 66 million years ago, but the ancient ancestors of modern birds are ingrained in the fabric of both scientific intrigue and pop culture. Colorful dinos romp around in animated shows \u2014 and their more lifelike counterparts in \u201cJurassic Park\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":13673,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-13672","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13672","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13672"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13672\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13673"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13672"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13672"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13672"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}} Unearthed<\/h3>\n
Defying gravity<\/h3>\n
The night sky<\/h3>\n
Curiosities<\/h3>\n
Discoveries<\/h3>\n