19 articles from SUNDAY 29.12.2019

Starwatch: the annual display of the Quadrantid meteor shower

The Quadrantids are unusual in that they originate not from a comet but from an asteroidSee in the new year with the Quadrantids meteor shower. Although the peak of the shower does not arrive until the night of 3-4 January, meteor activity can stretch for a couple of weeks around this point, lasting until 10 January. The peak of the Quadrantids can be spectacular but quick, lasting just a few...

Is This the First Fossil of an Embryo?

A creature called Caveasphaera lived in China 609 million years ago, and it left behind fossils that resemble tiny grains of sand. But as innocuous as those fossils appear, they may speak volumes about our own evolutionary history.Under a microscope, the fossils turn out to be clusters of hundreds or thousands of cells. Were they on their way to developing into adult bodies? On Wednesday, a team...

Amber containing dinosaur feathers also carried 99 million-year-old lice

Until now, the earliest known fossil louse dated back 44 million years, about 22 million years after the age of dinosaurs had ended. The way parasites evolve closely in step with their targets can reveal details about their hosts that are otherwise invisible in the fossil record. Based on comparisons with previously unearthed fossils, the plumes came from dinosaurs, not birds, and were likely...

Climate change denial was defeated in 2019. But what comes next won't be easierg | Carlo Invernizzi-Accetti

Defeating the climate crisis is just the beginning of the struggle – and tough political choices will have to be madeWill 2019 be remembered as the year in which climate change denial was defeated? The global climate strike, Greta Thunberg’s meteoric rise to international prominence, as well as several high-profile international conferences and reports – all contributed in putting climate...