Here's how a crocodile made herself pregnant
A crocodile has made herself pregnant in what is believed by scientists to be a world first. The crocodile at the Costa Rica zoo created a foetus that was 99.9 per cent genetically identical to itself, often known as a "virgin birth." This process typically does not occur with crocodiles but with other species such as birds, lizards, snakes, fish and sharks. Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter Scientists believe this kind of solo reproduction could be traced back to the dinosaurs, as they suggest the species may have also been capable of this rare method. The latest study was published on Wednesday (June 7) in the Royal Society journal, Biology Letters. Back in January 2018, an egg was laid by an 18-year-old female American crocodile in Parque Reptilania, the BBC reported. The fully formed foetus did not hatch however and was stillborn. Researchers from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, say this is the "first documentation" of this kind of reproduction in this species. Dr Warren Booth who has studied virgin births (parthenogenesis) for 11 years theorised that this reproduction method has not been seen in crocodiles because weren't looking out for this happening. ''There was a big increase in reports of parthenogenesis when people started keeping pet snakes. But your average reptile keeper doesn't keep a crocodile," he noted to the BBC. "This new evidence offers tantalizing insights into the possible reproductive capabilities of extinct archosaurian relatives of crocodilians, notably the Pterosauria and Dinosauria," experts said in the study. Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.
2023-06-08 23:49
Get a refurbished iPad Pro and bundle of accessories for just $270
TL;DR: As of June 7, you can get a refurbished iPad Pro 9.7-inch (WiFi +
2023-06-07 17:51
Local baffled by mysterious 'UFO' hovering in the sky
A mysterious spinning ‘UFO’ has been spotted in the night sky by a stunned local. The brightly illuminated object is seen spinning in the air, but it appears to hover above a mountain. The shocked onlooker zooms in on the mysterious aircraft while saying in wonder: “It’s moving.” The hovering UFO was filmed in the village of Honorato Vásquez, Ecuador, on Tuesday (9 Sept) evening. The local authorities have yet to respond to claims that the object was from outer space. One local said: “I believe it.” Manuel wrote: “Those crazy aliens.” Yet Eddy joked: “In that drone there, you wouldn’t even be able to fit two-quarters of a Martian!” It followed an alleged aerial battle between military personnel and several alien spaceships in Argentina this month. Scared locals claimed that the military base was attacked by four black triangular-shaped UFOs. Scores of residents gathered outside the Commander Espora Air Naval Base near Bahía Blanca, Buenos Aires, as thunderous noises sounded from within the perimeter walls. The Commission for the Study of UFO Phenomena of the Argentine Republic, an organisation dedicated to investigating alleged alien sightings, claimed to have information that there were four UFOs seen attacking the military base. The group said the alien spacecrafts were black and triangular in shape and that Argentine troops fired at them with anti-aircraft weapons. Group spokesperson Andrea Pérez Simondini said witnesses saw “four lights entering the territory from across the ocean before taking a strategic position over one of the buildings where ammunition is stored”. However, the military authorities have denied that the base was under attack and claimed that the videos were faked by unscrupulous locals. Navy spokesperson Captain Germán Luis Zarralanga said their Sikorsky SH-3 Sea King helicopter was taking part in a training exercise that night, but was not involved in any kind of altercation with other aircraft. When discussing the social media footage, the spokesperson said: “It’s an edit. I don’t know what their intentions were. “Airport security and airport workers did not report seeing anything, and everyone at the base was sleeping except for the person piloting the helicopter. There was no type of special activity, no tactical manoeuvres, just a normal helicopter training flight, nothing related to ammunition.” One local commented: “Incredible! How many UFOs? I can't believe it! Amazing. An interplanetary war has begun.” Another said: “Are you telling me that it was one of the first-ever confrontations between humans and UFOs and we shot them down?” Sign up for our free Indy100 weekly newsletter Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.
2023-09-24 18:55
Slack down: Workplace chat app not working for second time in a week
Slack has been hit by issues for the second time in a week. Users reported that they were unable to see images properly – while others said they were not able to get online at all. The outage will be a disruption to the many workplaces who use the app to keep up with colleagues, especially with the rise of remote working. The problems happened during the working day in the UK and US. The technical issues came just days after another outage at the app, last week. Those problems were more significant, and users around the world were unable to sign on or send messages. This time around, the problems did not appear to be affecting all users and for most they were more limited in their scope. Slack’s official status page was updated on Wednesday to indicate that users “may be experiencing issues loading threads, admin pages and images”. It said it was investigating the issue. Tracking website Down Detector saw a huge spike in the number of people reporting issues. It was unclear if the problems were limited to specific platforms or locations. Slack says that it has more than 200,000 paid customers, which includes 77 of the Fortune 100. Those companies include some of the US’s biggest firms including Target, Uber, Expedia and Airbnb. Read More Slack has stopped working Google warns Gmail users they could be about to lose their account Hundreds of years after it was discovered, one material could change the world
2023-08-03 00:53
Poland's CD Projekt posts 105% third-quarter profit jump
GDANSK Poland's biggest video game developer CD Projekt's third-quarter net profit jumped 105% year on year, it said
2023-11-29 00:55
Calendly Welcomes Former Salesforce Product Executive Stephen Hsu as CPO
ATLANTA--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 9, 2023--
2023-05-09 21:16
Vilo 6 Mesh Wi-Fi System Review
When we reviewed the Vilo Mesh Wi-Fi System back in 2021, we were impressed with
2023-08-10 08:26
Sushi could secretly be spreading antibiotic resistance
Antibiotic-resistant bacteria are an increasing area of concern for health experts and scientists are concerned that the popular food sushi could be spreading it. Researchers at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology were interested in looking at the health implications of sushi, which is considered pretty standard fare in the country. Dr. Hyejeong Lee, who recently completed her PhD at the Department of Biotechnology and Food Science at NTNU, investigated different varieties of Aeromonas bacteria in seafood products that aren’t processed in a way that reduces bacteria, such as sashimi (raw fish) and cold-smoked fish. Lee explained: “The goal was to gain more knowledge about Aeromonas in this type of seafood – both the bacteria’s role in the deterioration of the product and in causing disease. Furthermore, we wanted to see if raw seafood can spread antibiotic-resistant bacteria.” While Listeria monocytogenes is the most well-known bacteria that can cause illness from unprocessed seafood, the prevalence of Aeromonas in similar products is an increasing worry for scientists for another reason. This is because Aeromonas bacteria frequently exchange genetic material with other bacteria in the sea, which means they can inherit and spread resistance to antibiotics before ending up in sushi. Lee explained: “Some strains of Aeromonas can also spread antibiotic resistance from one type of bacteria to another. Eating seafood infected by resistant bacteria is a likely way these bacteria can spread from marine animals and environments to humans.” Resistant bacteria are foreseen to be a big problem in the future, with the worst-case scenario being that few or no antibiotics will work at treating them. Experts believe it is important that antibiotic resistance is seen as a broad approach that is seriously considered in all aspects of society. Anita Nordeng Jakobsen, associate professor at NTNU’s Department of Biotechnology and Food Science, explained: “To combat the spread of antibiotic-resistant bacteria, it is important that we adopt a broad approach that looks at animal and human health, food production and the environment together in order to achieve better public health.” Still, Lee was quick to emphasise that the risk of getting sick from Aeromonas is very small, especially for healthy people. But, she stressed: “Aeromonas is often ignored when we talk about food safety. I think my research highlights that the food industry needs to pay more attention to these bacteria." Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.
2023-09-28 16:22
Jake Paul and Presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy's viral TikTok dance video breaks internet: 'What a dying campaign looks like'
Jake Paul emphasized the need for politicians to connect with the younger generation as he posted the video with Vivek Ramaswamy
2023-09-16 13:53
LEAK: Shipment Returning in Modern Warfare 3
New leaks reveal Shipment is coming back in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 post-launch as yet another throwback map in the upcoming release.
2023-10-14 03:52
Valorant Patch 7.07 Notes: Full List of Changes
Check out all the updates in Valorant Patch 7.07 patch notes, including changes to Gekko and Cypher.
2023-10-04 00:15
Elon Musk is so unbothered by Threads he’s threatening to sue Meta for ‘cheating’
In the run-up to Instagram launching Threads earlier this week - its “civil”, text-based alternative to Twitter - billionaire Elon Musk has criticised the rival app looking to compete with the platform he bought back in October for $44bn by calling out the amount of data it may collect on users. Now, after the Meta-run platform is out in the wild, Musk appears to be so riled up by its runaway success (Facebook co-founder Mark Zuckerberg reported 10 million sign-ups in the first seven hours after launch) that he’s threatening to sue Meta over what he considers “cheating”. News website Semafor shared a letter from Twitter lawyer Alex Spiro, in which he writes that the bird app has “serious concerns” Zuckerberg’s company has carried out “systemic, wilful, and unlawful misappropriation of Twitter’s trade secrets and other intellectual property”. It reads: “Over the past year, Meta has hired dozens of former Twitter employees. Twitter knows that these employees previously worked at Twitter; that these employees had and continue to have access to Twitter’s trade secrets and other highly confidential information; that these employees owe ongoing obligations to Twitter; and that many of these employees have improperly retained Twitter documents and electronic devices. “With that knowledge, Meta deliberately assigned these employees to develop, in a matter of months, Meta’s copycat ‘Threads’ app with the specific intent that they use Twitter’s trade secrets and other intellectual property in order to accelerate the development of Meta’s competing app, in violation of both state and federal law as well as those employees’ ongoing obligations to Twitter. “Twitter intends to strictly enforce its intellectual property rights, and demands that Meta take immediate steps to stop using any Twitter trade secrets or other highly confidential information.” Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter Crikey. Appearing to confirm the legal threat following Semafor’s report, Musk tweeted: “Competition is fine, cheating is not.” The remark has since been met with heavy ridicule: Meanwhile, Meta’s communication director, Andy Stone has taken to Threads to state: “No one on the Threads engineering team is a former Twitter employee – that’s just not a thing.” The Musk-Zuckerberg feud very much continues, though, to the extent there are continued rumours the two tech moguls could partake in a “cage fight” to settle their differences – yes, really. We’ll go and fetch the popcorn… Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.
2023-07-07 18:51
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