Scientist Discover A New Group Of Native Americans

On January 3rd 2018, researchers from the University of Alaska Fairbanks and the University of Copenhagen announced that their DNA analysis of the 11,500 year old remains of a Native American child, has revealed evidence of a previously unknown early population of humans believed to be the first to settle in the Americas. The child was a baby girl whose genome is the oldest and now the most complete genetic profile of a human in the new world.

The cremated remains of a six week old was discovered in an archeological site in central Alaska called Upward Sun River in 2010. Two other infants were actually found, one the body of a still born and the other a 3 year old. DNA was extracted from one of the bones in 2013. The genes were then compared to the DNA of other ancient and modern people and a family tree was created. The researchers discovered that this group of Native Americans diverged from their Asian ancestors 25,000 years ago.

This new group of Native Americans is being called the Ancient Beringians. They predate other native groups that appeared in the region around 17,000 and 14,000 year ago. Most Native Americans are believed to have originated in Siberia. The researchers are as yet unable to determine if the Ancient Beringians genome split in Siberia or after they arrived on this continent.

Interstellar Object

On December 18th 2017, scientists announced in a paper posted to the journal Nature Astronomy, that an object believed to have come from another solar system may be covered in a thick layer of organic material. The cigar shaped object, which was first observed on October 19th 2017 by astronomers using the Pan-STARRS 1 telescope in Hawaii, was first thought to be a comet. However, the object's path and speed suggested otherwise.

The object first known as 1I/2017 U1 (I is for interstellar), has been renamed Oumuamua. It is believed to be 1,300 ft or 400 meters long and possibly 10 times as long as it is wide. It traveled around our sun at a speed of 196,000 miles per hour. Oumuamua's approach was from outside the plane of the ecliptic, on a trajectory from the direction of the star Vega, in the constellation Lyra. It is thought that its organic covering may protect a water rich interior.

Kepler Discovers A Solar System With Eight Planets

On December 14th 2017, NASA announced that its Kepler Space telescope had discover another solar system that has eight planets just our own. Using Google's Artificial Intelligence (AI), scientists were able to search though "weak" data to find an eight planet orbiting a star that was previously discovered in 2014. Kepler-90 as it is called, is an earth like star that is 2,545 light years from Earth and until now was believed to have only seven planets in its system.

The newly discovered planet is being called Kepler-90i. It is a hot, rocky planet that orbits its star every 14.4 days. The planet was discovered by Andrew Vanderburg of the University of Texas at Austin with the help of Google Machine Learning researcher, Christopher Shallue. The discovery was made by the Machine Learning technology, which mimics a neural network, as in the human brain. It was able to learn to recognize weak transits while it sifted though previously search data.

Disney Buys Fox

On December 14th 2017, The Walt Disney Company announced that is buying 21st century Fox's film, TV and international assets. Disney has agreed to pay $54.2 billion for much of the company owned by Rupert Murdoch. Fox will be keeping its Fox Broadcasting Network, Fox News Channel, Fox Business Network, FS1, FS2, and Big Ten Network. As part of the deal, Disney will be getting Hulu which would serve to help the company in its effort to compete with Netflix.

The total value of the deal is $66.1 billion, as Disney will be assuming $13.7 billion of Fox's debt. Bob Iger, Disney's chief executive, will remain in charge of the company until 2021. The deal now awaits approval of federal regulators.

Scientists Create Robot Muscles From Origami

On November 27th 2017, scientists at Harvard's Wyss Institute and MIT's Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL), announced in the journal, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America (PNAS), that they have successfully created robotic muscles made from metal or plastic skeletons. The muscles, which are covered in liquid or air and then sealed in plastic or fabric, can lift up to a thousand times their own weight. 

The new flexible robots use a folding origami structure combined with the use of a vacuum. Each muscle is filled with either air or fluid that is manipulated with an electric pump. In this way the structures can be expanded or contracted. They can move according to their shape and can grip, twist, and lift, just like the real muscles of a human arm. Professor Robert J. Wood of Harvard says the actuators are scalable and can be made in sizes from a few milometers up to a meter. 

New Earth Like Planet Discovered

On November 15th 2017, European scientists announced in the journal, Astronomy & Astrophysics, that they had discovered a nearby planet that appears to be Earth like in nature. The planet orbits a small red dwarf star that is 11 light years from here and has been named Ross 128. The planet, which has been named Ross 128b is believed to be a rocky planet that is one and a half times the mass of the Earth, and may be in the star's habitable zone.

Although it is 20 times closer to it star than the earth, Ross 128b is still in a region where life maybe possible. The red dwarf has a relatively low temperature which would give the planet a temperature somewhere between -76 and 68 degrees Fahrenheit. That range could give rise to the presence of liquid water, which essential for life. Ross 128b's parent star is also believed to be a quiet one, not prone to large flares or high energy outbursts of radiation. 

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