5 awesome science discoveries you may have missed in 2020

5 awesome science discoveries you may have missed in 2020

1. Oldest material found on Earth is more ancient than our solar system

Billions of years before our sun winked into existence, a dying star flung dust out into space. Now a bit of that stardust, trapped in a meteorite that collided with Earth, was dated as the oldest material yet found on our planet. The dust coalesced with other rocks inside what would become the Murchison meteorite, which lit up skies over Australia in September 1969 as it careened to the surface of our planet.

A fresh analysis of these ancient rocks found grains of stardust that are between 4.6 billion years and roughly 7 billion years old. Scientists estimate that these early dust pieces lurk only in about five percent of meteorites, but that hasn’t discouraged them from continuing to hunt for these clues to our galaxy’s history.

An illustration shows what Tyrannosaurus rex hatchlings may have looked like. The newly described embryonic fossils were not from T. rex, but an earlier species of related tyrannosaur that has not been identified.

2. First tyrannosaur embryos discovered

Researchers have identified the remains of tyrannosaurs so young they hadn’t yet broken free from their shells. The discovery comes from finds at two different sites—a foot claw unearthed in 2018 from the Horseshoe Canyon Formation in Alberta, Canada, and a lower jaw recovered in 1983 from the Two Medicine Formation of Montana. Analysis of the remains, which are 71 to 75 million years old, revealed that tyrannosaurs started out surprisingly small, measuring an estimated three feet long— about the size of a Chihuahua, but with an extra-long tail. This length is only about a tenth of their full-grown counterparts and might help explain why researchers haven’t yet found other examples of these tiny tyrants—most scientists just weren’t looking for such a pint-sized predator.

An artist’s impression of the InSight lander on Mars. Short for Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport, InSight is designed to listen for tectonic activity and meteorite impacts, study how much heat is still flowing through the planet, and track Mars’s wobble as it orbits the sun.

3. Mars is humming, and scientists aren’t sure why

In November 2018, a spacecraft arrived on Mars’s frigid, dusty surface to take the planet’s pulse. Known as the InSight lander, the robotic geologist recently beamed some of its early findings back to Earth, exciting and perplexing scientists around the world. Among these curiosities is a Martian hum—a quiet, constant drone that seems to pulse to the beat of “marsquakes” that rattle the planet.

The hum’s origin remains unknown. Earth has many such background vibrations, from the roar of winds to the crashing of waves against the shore. But the music of Mars reverberates at a higher pitch than most natural hums on Earth. Perhaps the geology underneath the lander amplifies one particular tone, or the lander itself might even be generating the noise. “It’s extremely puzzling,” Bruce Banerdt, the principal investigator of the InSight mission, told National Geographic in February.

This image of Betelgeuse, one of the brightest stars in the sky, is a color composite made from exposures taken as part of the Digitized Sky Survey 2.

4. Mystery of the star Betelgeuse’s strange behavior finally solved

Betelgeuse is usually among the brightest stars in the sky, but in December 2019, its intense twinkle mysteriously dimmed. The dramatic change set scientists abuzz: Perhaps Betelgeuse was at the end of its life and could explode in a supernova brighter than the full moon. Yet in August of this year, NASA announced a far less extraordinary explanation for its suddenly shadowed face: The star burped.

Observations by the Hubble Space Telescope revealed that the star likely sent out a superhot jet of plasma that cooled as it whipped outward. The process formed a cloud of stardust that could have blocked Betelgeuse’s light from eager earthbound viewers. The star returned to its normal brightness this past spring—so sky-watchers will have to wait for its fiery death.

Some 110 million years ago in what's now northwestern Alberta, the nodosaur Borealopelta markmitchelli ate ferns in a recently burnt landscape—a detailed vignette provided by a new study of its stomach contents.

5. Stunning details of an armored dinosaur’s last meal

The brilliantly preserved front half of a 110-million-year-old armored dinosaur—bony plates, scales, and all—surprised and delighted scientists after it was accidentally unearthed in 2011 by a heavy equipment operator working in an Alberta oil sands mine. But this year, the spiky creature served up even more excitement when an analysis revealed that the animal’s last meal was also preserved in its belly.

The dinosaur was a nodosaur, which is a type of ankylosaur but lacks the clubbed tail of some of its cousins. The ball of fossilized vegetation from the nodosaur’s stomach revealed that a few hours before its death, it largely munched on a specific type of fern selected from a variety of available plantlife. Rings of woody twigs eaten along with the ferns revealed that the nodosaur likely died during the summer. While only a single meal, the find provides an exceptional look at the final hours of a creature's life more than a hundred million years ago.

A health worker carries Kakule Kavendivwa, 14, to a waiting ambulance in Beni last year. The day before, Kakule's sisters had taken him to a nearby health center, but fled when the team encouraged them to go to a treatment center. The health center alerted the World Health Organization, which found the family. After several hours of talking with community outreach workers, they allowed an ambulance to take him for treatment.

The above are the compilation of five awesome discoveries of science in year 2020.