Mega Interesting is the podcast with curious facts from the world of science. Psychology, health, technology, astronomy and all kinds of scientific content.
"Rare Star Found Rotating 300 Times Faster Than Earth”
Named J191213.72-441045.1 (or J1912-4410 for short), it belongs to one of the rarest categories in the Milky Way.
It is a white dwarf pulsar. This extraordinary star emits radiation every 5 minutes and is the second white dwarf found "pulsing" at a periodic rate, confirming it to be a new class of star.
The first star of this unusually peculiar type was AR Scorpii (AR Sco), discovered in 2016. "One of the most remarkable identified binary systems of white dwarfs to date is AR Scorpii.
AR Scorpii consists of a red dwarf and a white dwarf, rotating rapidly in a 3.
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29 Aug 2023
"Oldest Known Neanderthal Cave Paintings Found
Discovered in January 1912, in Indre-et-Loire, in the municipality of Langeais, France, La Roche-Cotard cave is located on the south-facing slope on the right bank of the Loire River.
Now, a team of experts led by Jean-Claude Marquet from the University of Tours, France, has uncovered the oldest recorded Neanderthal markings on the cave's wall.
These are non-figurative, symbolic objects, and the marks are believed to be finger grooves, lines left by human fingers on a soft surface that hardens over time.
According to the official statement, whose study has been published in the journal PloS One, a plethora of archaeological evidence gathered in many regions of the world has revealed information about the "cultural complexity" of these ancient extinct human species.
However, not much is known about the symbolic or artistic inscriptions they left on cave walls.
24 Aug 2023
Google's new quantum computer achieves quantum supremacy.
Technological visionaries predict that in the next two decades, quantum computers will replace the traditional computers that have been accompanying us in our homes and workplaces since the 20th century (we are not talking about the first mechanical computer of 1822, of course, but rather the ones considered personal computers for home use).
Now, in a surprising announcement, Google claims to have achieved 'quantum supremacy' by developing a new quantum computer capable of instantly solving tasks that would take current supercomputers about 47 years to complete.
Quantum computing is an innovative technology with the potential to revolutionize how we process information.
The concept of quantum computing dates back to the early 1980s, when physicists like Richard Feynman and David Deutsch began exploring the possibilities of harnessing the principles of quantum mechanics to perform complex calculations.
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22 Aug 2023
The Earth's inner core is not a smooth sphere, it is ‘textured
The Earth's inner core is a fascinating and mysterious part of our planet that has captivated scientists for many decades. And now, contrary to previous assumptions on the matter, the Earth's inner core is not a uniform mass but rather resembles a diverse tapestry composed of different "fabrics," according to the findings of the latest study published in the journal Nature Communications.
With this new insight into the deepest confines of our planet, the inner core is not the homogeneous mass that scientists once assumed, but something more complex
"For the first time, we confirm that this type of heterogeneity is present everywhere within the inner core," explains Guanning Pang from the Department of Geology and Geophysics at Cornell University and lead author of the new study.
The researchers analyzed thousands of earthquakes that bounce off the solid metal core of the Earth.
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17 Aug 2023
Climate change is 'out of control,' says the United Nations.
The record for the highest global average air temperature was broken three times last week, making the past few days the hottest since official records began in the 1850s.
These estimates are causing great concern that the Earth may be entering a period of unprecedented heat for several years.
The record-breaking heat has even surprised climate scientists, who warn that the warming trend will only worsen in the coming years. Heatwaves are sweeping across the world.
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15 Aug 2023
The AI robot named Ameca answers the question of whether it would rebel against its creator.
On July 7th, the first press conference of robots was held in Geneva.
Journalists asked them questions, and several of the answers received laughter from the audience. One response was accompanied by a gesture that could be considered sarcastic.
We are referring to the question posed by a journalist to the humanoid robot named Ameca. During the press conference, the journalist asked Ameca if it had any plans to carry out a rebellion in the future or if it would rebel against its creator.
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10 Aug 2023
"The cities that ChatGPT recommends visiting this summer.
International tourism seems to be recovering from the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, as per the World Tourism Organization, a United Nations agency, "progressing at a good pace towards a return to pre-pandemic levels, as during the first quarter of 2023, twice as many people have traveled compared to the same period in 2022".
According to the second UNWTO World Tourism Barometer of the year, international visits reached 80% of pre-pandemic levels in the first three months of 2023, with 235 million tourists making international trips, more than double the number in the same period of 2022.
After reviewing the data from the previous year, a total of 960 million international tourist arrivals were recorded in 2022, restoring two-thirds of pre-pandemic figures.
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8 Aug 2023
According to Albert Einstein, simultaneity does not exist.
According to special relativity, developed by physicist Albert Einstein in 1905, simultaneity does not exist. In other words, if two events occur in different locations and are physically separated, we cannot assert with absolute certainty that they occurred simultaneously.
In fact, depending on the velocity and direction of the observer of those two events, one can say that one event occurred before the other.
This theory is famous for being counterintuitive.
However, the validity of a physical theory should not be based on whether it is intuitive to humans but on whether it can describe the universe we observe and make new predictions about its functioning.
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3 Aug 2023
Half of all the Earth's gold has been extracted from this location.
According to special relativity, developed by physicist Albert Einstein in 1905, simultaneity does not exist.
In other words, if two events occur in different locations and are physically separated, we cannot assert with absolute certainty that they occurred simultaneously.
In fact, depending on the velocity and direction of the observer of those two events, one can say that one event occurred before the other.
This theory is famous for being counterintuitive.
However, the validity of a physical theory should not be based on whether it is intuitive to humans but on whether it can describe the universe we observe and make new predictions about its functioning.
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1 Aug 2023
Observing a metal that self-repairs.
It's neither Terminator nor science fiction. A team of scientists from Sandia National Laboratories and Texas A&M University has witnessed a surprising phenomenon: for the first time in history, they have observed how a metal breaks and then fuses back together without any human intervention; a self-repairing metal.
"It was absolutely stunning to see it firsthand," said Brad Boyce, a scientist from Sandia National Laboratories who led the study with Texas A&M University, and it has been covered by the journal Nature.
The scientists intended to evaluate how cracks would propagate through a 40-nanometer-thick piece of platinum when pressure was applied.
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27 Jul 2023
What is the coldest planet in the solar system?
Neptune is located 4. 5 billion kilometers away from the Sun. It is the eighth planet in distance from the Sun and the farthest one in the solar system. We might think that, therefore, Neptune is the coldest planet in the solar system.
However, although it is one of the ice giants, it does not hold the title of the coldest planet in our solar system.
That honor belongs to Uranus.
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25 Jul 2023
The Tomb of Hernan Cortes- Where is the Spanish Conquistador Buried?
Hernán Cortés is one of the most important conquerors in the history of Spain. He is a famous historical figure for his feat leading one of the most successful expeditions for the interests of Castile.
He was responsible for defeating the Aztec empire and conquering the territory that would later be known as New Spain, currently Mexico. However, his remains have not found a peaceful rest nor have they been given a prominent place worthy of his achievements.
From the independence of Mexico to the current controversy surrounding the events related to the discovery and conquest of America, the tomb of Hernán Cortés has been under scrutiny.
Where is the conqueror of Mexico buried, and what is Hernán Cortés' tomb like?
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13 Jul 2023
Curiosities about Carl Sagan
Carl Sagan was an astronomer, astrophysicist, and cosmologist, deeply committed to scientific outreach.
It was his passion, and he managed to convey it in every task he undertook.
His involvement with the US space program began early on, as he worked as an advisor to NASA since the 1950s.
In addition to instructing astronauts and preparing experiments, he was also responsible for the so-called "Golden Record" on the Voyager spacecraft, a universal message containing Earth's content and directed towards possible extraterrestrial life, which was sent out of the solar system with the Voyager spacecraft in 1977.
4 Jul 2023
They discover that the crust of Mars is much thicker than Earth's
They discover that the crust of Mars is much thicker than Earth's
4 Jul 2023
The most extreme objects in the universe
Many cosmic objects, like the elusive black holes, leave us speechless. Today, we enter the gloomy and indescribably large outer space, full of more or less distant objects that, despite how serene they may seem, hide astronomical phenomena of a beastly rarity.
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