Secrets and techniques of area
New knowledge trace that darkish vitality’s density, generally thought to stay fixed, would possibly range over time, Emily Conover reported in “3-D map hints at darkish vitality’s secrets and techniques” (SN: 5/4/24 & 5/18/24, p. 6).
In the usual image of the cosmos, the quantity of darkish vitality is rising because the universe expands. Reader Mark Granville questioned the place new darkish vitality comes from.
Darkish vitality’s supply is an everlasting thriller. Quantum fluctuations in empty area, wherein particles pop into existence for terribly temporary moments, may very well be one clarification, Conover says. However these fluctuations yield much more questions. Some calculations predict that rather more darkish vitality exists than researchers are observing within the universe, by 120 orders of magnitude, Conover says. Scientists nonetheless don’t know tips on how to clarify that discrepancy.
Really feel the ache
Tattooing experiments counsel that the tattoos of Ötzi the Iceman, who lived 5,200 years in the past, have been hand poked, not sliced, into his pores and skin, Bruce Bower reported in “How Ötzi the Iceman actually received his tattoos” (SN: 5/4/24 & 5/18/24, p. 4).
Reader Amy Perry questioned whether or not the tattooing course of was painful for Ötzi and whether or not ache reduction measures have been obtainable.
Tattoos usually could be painful. The ache an individual experiences depends upon their ache tolerance, the software and approach used, and tattoo measurement and placement on the physique, says archaeologist Aaron Deter-Wolf of the Tennessee Division of Archaeology in Nashville.
Scientists can’t know for certain the extent of ache Ötzi felt in the course of the tattooing course of. However the comparatively small markings and his rugged life-style could imply that the tattoos didn’t trigger him an excessive amount of ache, Deter-Wolf speculates.
Whether or not Ötzi used ache reduction for the tattoos is unknown. His mummified physique was discovered with pure substances which have disinfecting and pain-relieving properties. Scientists assume that the Iceman could have used these substances, which embody lavatory mosses and a kind of fungus referred to as birch polypore, to decorate wounds throughout his ultimate days. It’s laborious to say whether or not he utilized the substances to his tattoos, which had lengthy since healed, says Katharina Hersel, a spokesperson at South Tyrol Museum of Archaeology in Bolzano, Italy, the place Ötzi is stored.
Sleeper species
Some invasive crops lurk for a whole lot of years in a brand new location earlier than choking out native species there, Susan Milius reported in “Plant invasions can take centuries” (SN: 5/4/24 & 5/18/24, p. 15).
Reader Christina Gullion requested if the lags are pushed by genetic mutations that, over time, enable initially well-behaved invaders to thrive in a brand new surroundings.
That is one potential clarification, says invasion ecologist Shaun Coutts of the College of Lincoln in England. Earlier research have prompt that variations could come up and unfold inside an invasive inhabitants after it has arrived in its new dwelling, Coutts says.
