Top 5 Science Deep Cuts 2024
Poo-fuel, meat-rice and more, 2024's science deep cuts sound a bit like a Mad Libs! Decode the stories and check out Prabir’s recap of the can’t-miss Top 5 Question Your World science deep cuts from this year.
This year, using AI, scientists decoded sperm whale communications. They broke down the clicks these whales use to communicate, and using AI decoded it into a phonetic alphabet!
143 sounds to be exact. Knowing what these animals are saying sure could help us in protecting them since they are an endangered species.
So, what are these whales saying? That’s for future researchers to discover!
The Earth is home to our growing population with limited resources. So, this year scientists unveiled meat-rice. Yep, meat-rice! A sustainable attempt at providing nutrition when other options are not available. It’s pretty much what it sounds like, bioengineered rice that grows meat cells. There’s so much to this story, and more research is needed before it’s shelf ready, but it’s nice to see science rice to the occasion.
Like we said, the Earth is home to our growing population with limited resources, but there’s something we sure do make a lot of daily…
Using human waste scientists were able to create a biofuel that was more environmentally friendly and is created from a renewable source. The only catch? The process is really expensive. But could it get cheaper as technology increases? Stay tuned as we see if poo-jet fuel ever takes off.
Move over king of the jungle. Make way for some ants!
What can disrupt the life of an apex predator? An invasive species of ants moved into a region of Kenya and created an ecological cascading problem for lions. These ants made the landscape such that lions no longer had leafy trees to hide behind while hunting prey. Thus missing a lot of meals and causing all kinds of problems for these lions.
A reminder that invasive species can truly impact anyone on the food chain … and we’re not lion.
#1 - We Like Big Brains and We Cannot Lie
Which human has the biggest brain ever? Well, it could be you!
Results from a 75 year-long study show that the human brain is increasing in size. Is it to fight disease? Is it a result of modern technology? Is it to evolve into futuristic alien-like heads?!
We don’t know yet, but we do know that the brain about 6.6% larger than it was in the past.
No need to get big-headed, there’s still tons more research needed here!
Thanks so much for following us all year long through the many discoveries and breakthroughs. We publish Questions Your World blogs all year long, so for more mind-bending science check out smv.org/blog/!