The development of science is currently extremely dynamic, and these incredible discoveries in 2016 are proof of that.
15. Largest Known Prime Number
On January 7, 2016, the largest known prime number was discovered, which is 274,207,281 − 1 and contains 22,338,618 decimal digits. The discovery was made by Curtis Cooper as part of the GIMPS project.14. The ninth planet of the solar system
Researchers from the California Institute of Technology have presented evidence that the ninth planet of the solar system really exists. Calculations showed that the planet revolves around the Sun at a distance of 20 orbits of Neptune, its mass is 10 times the mass of the Earth. And 1 year on this planet is equal to 17,000 years on Earth!
13. Eternal keeper of information
In February of this year, scientists from the University of Southampton presented to the world amazing invention. They created an eternal keeper of information from nanostructured glass. The device is capable of storing 360 terabytes of data and is not affected by high temperatures (up to 1000 degrees Celsius), and its validity is several billion years.
12. A fish that can walk on land and climb trees
A fish that can move on land, climb trees and hunt birds has been discovered in Papua New Guinea. This species, despite its innocent appearance, is very aggressive and poses a serious danger to animals on the islands of Boigu and Saibai, Australia. The fish reportedly has a respiratory organ and moves on the ground with the help of its pectoral fins.
Source 11 A brain implant that allows a paralyzed person to control their arm
The implant sends signals directly through the wires to the muscles, bypassing spinal cord. A man can now raise a glass of water and even play a video game. The ingenious invention belongs to scientists from the Feinstein Institute for Medical Research in New York.
10. Successful landing of the first stage of the rocket in the ocean
On April 8, 2016, SpaceX successfully landed the first stage of a Falcon 9 launch vehicle on a platform into the ocean for the first time. Now the first stage can be used repeatedly, which will reduce costs.
9. Turning carbon dioxide into stone
At the Hellisheidi plant in Iceland, scientists injected CO2 into volcanic rocks, accelerating the natural process of turning basalt into carbonates, which then become limestone. This method will help not to exacerbate the problem of the greenhouse effect.
8. The scientific name for a pleasant tingle in the back of the head
The phenomenon of perception, characterized by a pleasant sensation of tingling in the back of the head, spreading in the form of goosebumps along the skin of the neck and back to the limbs, in 2016 gained scientific name- Autonomous sensory meridional reaction (ASMR). ASMR sensations are elicited by auditory, visual, tactile, or cognitive stimuli.
7. Second Moon
2016 HO3 is an asteroid discovered by the Hawaiian Automatic Telescope on April 27, 2016, which is the best and most stable example of a permanent quasi-satellite of the Earth to date. Became the "second moon" of the Earth about 100 years ago.
6 Eyeless Wonder Worm
This year, scientists discovered that Caenorhabditis elegans (a free-living nematode) has the ability to see light. Careful experiments on the excitation of individual neurons have shown that the worm can respond to photons of different wavelengths, but the greatest effect is achieved precisely when using an ultraviolet light source. Now C. elegans can become a model object for the study of human blindness.
5. Mathematical algorithm of our intellect
“Our complex brain calculations are based on relatively simple mathematical logic,” says Dr. Joe Tsien, a neuroscientist at medical college Georgia. Tsien's theory is based on the n=2i-1 algorithm, which determines the number of groups (or "clicks", as the scientist calls them) needed to recognize and solve situations. In other words, the more clicks, the more complex the thought. N is the number of neural groups connected in all sorts of ways; 2 - means that the neurons in this group receive or do not receive input; i is the information they receive; -1 is the math part, allowing you to account for all possibilities.
4 Farting Fish
Scientists from the UK and Canada have come to the conclusion that the herring farts! For these fish, farting is a way of communicating and a way to keep the school together at night.
3. Scientific explanation of the exit to the astral
Many coma survivors talk about their astral journeys. Scientists from the University of Ottawa became interested in this phenomenon and invited for research a girl who claimed that she could initiate the separation of the soul from the body at will. During the experiment, the researchers used an MRI machine to observe her brain during " astral travel". It has been found that the parts of the brain responsible for perceiving physical location and visualizing movement are activated during such experiences. But this does not mean that the soul leaves the body. This is some type of hallucination triggered by a certain neurological mechanism.
2. Stem cells that help repair a damaged spinal cord
A team of scientists led by researchers from the University of California, San Diego, has been able to use human neural stem cells to successfully repair a damaged spinal cord. Studies conducted on rats have shown that grafted stem cells stimulate neuronal regeneration and partially replace the function of lost neurons.
1The Gene Mutation That Made Us All
The ACE2 gene is a possible progenitor of all who live on planet Earth. Biologists from Atlanta, Georgia, came to the conclusion that one gene was able to turn single-celled organisms into multicellular ones. And in the past, it was the mutation of a gene that led to the emergence of complex life forms. Small changes in the DNA sequence had a strong effect on a certain protein, and instead of its main role as an enzyme, it became necessary for the organization of multicellular structures.
Photos from open sources
2017 is over and it's time to take stock. Scientists, doctors, politicians and others have achieved something this year, have done a lot of actions, thanks to which something has changed in our world. And what happened over the past year in the field of science, what achievements and discoveries are worth noting? This will help to figure out the top 10 most incredible and interesting scientific discoveries.
1 Flooded Greenland
In 2017, a scientific group of 11 geologists put forward a theory that suggests that Zeeland meets all the necessary criteria for being considered a submerged continent. Most of this continent, approximately 93%, is located under the waters of the Pacific Ocean. This hypothetical continent was flooded, according to scientists, 23 million years ago. However, it is currently impossible to say unequivocally whether this piece of land was completely dry or not. Scientists also believe that 60 million years have passed since Zealand broke away from Australia.
2. Approaching death
The approach of death can be felt very accurately, or rather not felt at all. As Swedish scientists have found out, with the approach of death, a person’s sense of smell becomes dull, and then the sense of smell completely disappears and he ceases to distinguish smells. If you offer a person to smell and identify 13 smells, and he does not feel at least one of the proposed ones, then the person becomes closer to his death by 8%.
3. Finding in a Chinese landfill
Last year, a Chinese landfill was noted. A find was discovered on it, which caused a resonance in scientific world. Quite by chance, scientists have found a unique mold that can recycle plastic items. It was previously believed that the period of decay of plastic takes from 300 to 500 years. But now scientists are seriously thinking about the destruction of plastic waste using this mold.
4. Immortal jellyfish
Medusa Turitopsis nutricula is immortal. This statement was made by marine biologists. In short, it can be reborn from an old being back into a fetus, prolonging itself from generation to generation.
5. Narwhal tusks
Researchers have long assumed that narwhals need their tusks only for mating games and to attract females, but in May 2017, scientists from the Polar Research Department managed to capture on video the hunt of this amazing mammal, during which he used his tusk as a "club" for stunning prey.
6. The moon takes oxygen from the Earth
Most of the time the Moon spends in the solar wind in a stream of charged particles flowing from the sun. However, during 5 days of each lunar month, the Earth closes the Moon from the solar wind, and the satellite ends up in the tail of the Earth's magnetosphere filled with terrestrial oxygen ions. The moon, passing through the tail of the Earth's magnetosphere, collects oxygen ions, which are formed in the ozone layer of the planet and, thus, accumulates terrestrial oxygen.
7. Harbingers of the catastrophe that occurred in 10899 BC
In April 2017, scientists from the UK in the South-East of Turkey found stone pillars with drawings carved on them. According to researchers, they symbolize global catastrophe, which occurred in 10899 BC. The age of these finds coincides with the age of traces left by strong climate change, revealed during the analysis of ice samples in Greenland. Some drawings could symbolize the consequences of the cataclysm, because just at that time there was a period of sharp cooling caused by the fall of a meteorite.
8. Predicting the future
Last May, scientists experimentally proved that it is quite possible to predict the future, and that not all predictors are charlatans. It turns out that the human brain after a certain training is able to complete the chain of events that have not yet happened and are waiting for us in the future. Moreover, in the imagination, the future comes 2 times faster than in reality.
9 Plants Can Hear
The root system of plants determines by the sound of water in which direction it needs to grow, and tries to avoid some areas with unpleasant sounds. So it's time to raise the issue that plants are not at all such simple organisms as is commonly believed.
10. Human Editing
Last year, for the first time, scientists managed to correct a defective gene in a human embryo. It was about cardiomyopathy. This is a disease that is expressed in the fact that a person’s heart can suddenly stop for no apparent reason. This disease is characterized by the fact that the genes of this disease that exist in parents can be passed on to the child by 50%. Scientists have created a special technology called "genetic scissors", with which you can find a defective gene on a DNA helix and cut it out to fix it. As a result of the experiment, it was possible to increase the number of healthy cells from 50% to 72%. In the future, the possession of such medical devices will help to preserve human health even more.
As another year draws to a close, it seems like it's time once again to sit down, put our hands together, take a deep breath, and look at some of the science headlines we may not have paid attention to before. Scientists are constantly creating some new developments in various fields, such as nanotechnology, gene therapy or the quantum physics and it always opens up new horizons.
The titles of scientific articles are starting to look more and more like the titles of stories from science fiction magazines. Considering what 2017 has brought us, we can only look forward to what 2018 will bring us...
10. Scientists have created temporal crystals, for which the laws of time symmetry do not apply.
According to the first law of thermodynamics, it is impossible to create a perpetual motion machine that will work without an additional source of energy. However, at the beginning of this year, physicists managed to create structures called temporal crystals, which, of course, cast doubt on this thesis.
Time Crystals act as the first real examples a new state of matter, called "non-equilibrium", in which the atoms have a variable temperature and are never in thermal equilibrium with each other. Time Crystals have an atomic structure that repeats not only in space but also in time, which allows them to maintain constant fluctuations without gaining energy. This occurs even in a stationary state, which is the lowest energy state, when movement is theoretically impossible, since it requires energy costs.
So do time crystals break the laws of physics? Strictly speaking, no. The law of conservation of energy only works in systems with symmetry in time, which implies that the laws of physics are the same everywhere and always. However, temporal crystals violate the laws of symmetry of time and space. And not only them. Magnets are also sometimes considered natural asymmetric objects because they have a north and south pole.
Another reason Time Crystals do not violate the laws of thermodynamics is that they are not completely isolated. Sometimes they need to be "pushed" - that is, to give an external impulse, after which they will already begin to change their states again and again. It is possible that in the future these crystals will be found wide application in the field of transmission and storage of information in quantum systems. They can play a crucial role in quantum computing.
9. "Live" dragonfly wings 
The Merriam-Webster Encyclopedia states that a wing is a movable appendage of feathers or membrane used by birds, insects, and bats for flight. It shouldn't be alive, but entomologists at the University of Kiel in Germany have made some startling discoveries that suggest otherwise - at least for some dragonflies.
Insects breathe through the tracheal system. Air enters the body through openings called spiracles. It then passes through a complex network of windpipes that deliver air to all the cells in the body. However, the wings themselves are composed almost entirely of dead tissue, which dries out and either becomes translucent or covered in colorful patterns. Areas of dead tissue run through the veins and are the only components of the wing that are part of the respiratory system.
However, when entomologist Reiner Guillermo Ferreira looked at the wing of a male Zenithoptera dragonfly through an electron microscope, he saw tiny branched tracheal tubes. This was the first time something like this had been seen in an insect wing. Much research will be required to determine whether this physiological feature is unique to this species, or perhaps occurs in other dragonflies, or even other insects. It is even possible that this is a single mutation. The presence of abundant oxygen supplies may explain the bright, complex blue patterns found on the wings of the Zenithoptera dragonfly, which do not contain blue pigment.
Of course, this made people immediately think of the Jurassic Park scenario and the possibility of using blood to recreate dinosaurs. Unfortunately, this will not happen in the near future, because it is impossible to extract DNA samples from the found pieces of amber. The debate about how long a DNA molecule can last is still not over, but even according to the most optimistic estimates and under the most optimal conditions, their lifespan is no more than a few million years.
But while the mite, named Deinocrotondraculi ("Terrible Dracula"), did not help restore the dinosaurs, it still remains extremely unusual find which gave us new knowledge. We now know not only that feathered dinosaurs had ancient mites, but that they even infested dinosaur nests.
7. Modification of adult human genes 
Today, the pinnacle of gene therapy is "clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats", or CRISPR. The family of DNA sequences that currently form the basis of CRISPR-Cas9 technology could theoretically change human DNA forever.
In 2017, genetic engineering took a decisive leap forward after a team at the Proteomics Research Center in Beijing announced that it had successfully used CRISPR-Cas9 to eliminate disease-causing mutations in viable human embryos. Another team, from the Francis Crick Institute in London, went the opposite way and for the first time used this technology to deliberately create mutations in human embryos. (In particular, they "turned off" a gene that promotes the development of embryos into blastocysts.)
Studies have shown that CRISPR-Cas9 technology works - and quite successfully. However, this has sparked an active ethical debate about how far one can go in using this technology. Theoretically, this could lead to "designer children" who may have the intellectual, athletic, and physical characteristics in line with the characteristics set by the parents.
Ethics aside, research went even further this November when CRISPR-Cas9 was first tested on an adult. Brad Maddu, 44, from California, suffers from Hunter syndrome, an incurable disease that could eventually lead him to a wheelchair. He was injected with billions of copies of the corrective gene. It will be several months before we can determine if the procedure was successful.
6. What was before - a sponge or ctenophores? 
A new scientific report, which was published this year, should put an end to the long-standing debate about the origin of animals once and for all. According to the study, sponges are the "sisters" of all animals in the world. This is due to the fact that sponges were the first group that separated in the process of evolution from the primitive common ancestor of all animals. This happened about 750 million years ago.
There has been a heated debate in the past, which boiled down to two main candidates: the aforementioned sponges and marine invertebrates called ctenophores. While sponges are the simplest creatures that sit at the bottom of the ocean and feed by passing and filtering water through their bodies, ctenophores are more complex. They resemble a jellyfish, are able to move in water, can create light patterns and have the simplest nervous system. The question of which of them was first means the question of what our common ancestor looked like. This is considered the most important moment in tracing the history of our evolution.
While the results of the study boldly proclaim that the issue is settled, just a few months earlier, another study was published that said that our evolutionary "sisters" are ctenophores. Therefore, it is still too early to say that the latest results can be considered reliable enough to quell any doubts.
5 Raccoons Passed An Ancient IQ Test
In the sixth century BC, the ancient Greek writer Aesop wrote or collected many of the fables that are known today as "Aesop's Fables". Among them was a fable called "The Crow and the Jug", which describes how a thirsty crow threw stones into a jug to raise the water level and be able to drink.
Several thousand years later, scientists realized that this fable describes a good way to test the intelligence of animals. Experiments showed that the experimental animals understood cause and effect. Ravens, like their relatives, rooks and jays, confirmed the truth of the fable. Monkeys also passed this test, and raccoons have also been added to the list this year.
During the Aesop's fable test, eight raccoons were given containers of water with marshmallows floating on top. The water level was too low to reach. Two of the subjects successfully threw rocks into the tank to raise the water level and get what they wanted.
Other test subjects found their own creative solutions, which the researchers did not expect. One of the raccoons, instead of throwing stones at the container, climbed onto the container and began to swing on it from side to side until it overturned. In another test, using floating and sinking balls instead of stones, the experts hoped the raccoons would use sinking balls and discard the floating ones. Instead, some animals began to dip the floating ball into the water repeatedly until the rising wave nailed the pieces of marshmallow to the board, which made it easier to remove them.
4. Physicists have created the first topological laser 
Physicists at the University of California, San Diego claim to have created a new type of laser, a "topological" laser, whose beam can take on any complex shape without light scattering. The device works on the basis of the concept of topological insulators (materials that are dielectrics inside their volume, but conduct current on the surface), which received Nobel Prize in physics in 2016.
Typically, lasers use ring resonators to amplify light. They are more efficient than resonators with sharp corners. However, this time research group created a topological cavity using a photonic crystal as a mirror. In particular, two photonic crystals with different topologies were used, one of which was a star-shaped cell in a square lattice, and the other was a triangular lattice with cylindrical air holes. Team member Boubacar Kante compared them to a bagel and a pretzel: although they are both breads with holes, the different number of holes make them different.
As soon as the crystals hit the right place, the beam takes on the desired shape. This system is controlled by magnetic field. It allows you to change the direction in which the light is emitted, thereby creating a luminous flux. Immediate practical use This can increase the speed of optical communication. However, in the future, this is seen as a step forward in the creation of optical computers.
3 Scientists Have Discovered Excitonium 
Physicists around the world were very enthusiastic about the discovery new form matter called excitonium. This form is a condensate of quasiparticles, excitons, which are the bound state of a free electron and an electron hole, which is formed as a result of the molecule losing an electron. Moreover, Harvard theoretical physicist Bert Halperin predicted the existence of excitonium back in the 1960s, and scientists have been trying to prove him right (or wrong) ever since.
Like many big scientific discoveries, and in this discovery there was a fair amount of chance. The team of researchers at the University of Illinois who discovered excitonium were actually mastering new technology, called electron beam energy loss spectroscopy (M-EELS), designed specifically for the identification of excitons. However, the discovery took place when the researchers were only doing calibration tests. One team member entered the room while everyone else was watching the screens. They said they had detected a "light plasmon", a precursor to exciton condensation.
Study leader Professor Peter Abbamont compared the discovery to the Higgs boson - it would not have direct use in real life, but it shows that our current understanding quantum mechanics is on the right track.
2 Scientists Have Created Nanobots That Kill Cancer 
Researchers at the University of Durham claim to have created nanorobots that can detect and kill cancer cells in just 60 seconds. In a successful university test, the tiny robots took between one and three minutes to penetrate the outer membrane into the prostate cancer cell and immediately destroy it.
Nanorobots are 50,000 times smaller than the diameter of a human hair. They are activated by light and rotate at a speed of two to three million revolutions per second in order to be able to penetrate the cell membrane. When they reach their target, they can either destroy it or inject a useful therapeutic agent into it.
Until now, nanorobots have only been tested on individual cells, but the encouraging results have prompted scientists to move on to experiments on microorganisms and small fish. The next goal is to move on to rodents, and then to humans.
1 Interstellar Asteroid Might Be An Alien Spacecraft 
It's only been a couple of months since astronomers gleefully announced the discovery of the first interstellar object to fly through the solar system, an asteroid called 'Oumuamua. Since then, they have seen many strange things happen to this celestial body. Sometimes it behaved so unusually that scientists believe that the object may be an alien spacecraft.
First of all, its form is alarming. 'Oumuamua is shaped like a cigar with a length to diameter ratio of ten to one, something that has never been seen in any of the observed asteroids. At first, scientists thought it was a comet, but then realized it wasn't because the object didn't leave a tail as it approached the Sun. Moreover, some experts argue that the speed of rotation of the object should have broken up any normal asteroid. One gets the impression that it was specially created for interstellar travel.
But if it is created artificially, then what could it be? Some say it's an alien probe, others think it could be spaceship, whose engines have failed, and now it floats through space. In any case, participants in programs such as SETI and BreakthroughListen believe that 'Oumuamua requires further investigation, so they aim their telescopes at it and listen for any radio signals.
While the hypothesis of aliens has not been confirmed in any way, the initial observations of SETI have led nowhere. Many researchers are still pessimistic about the chances that the object could be created by aliens, but in any case, research will continue.
Newborns usually have about 270 bones, most of which are very small. This makes the skeleton more flexible and helps the baby move through the birth canal and grow quickly. As we grow older, many of these bones fuse together. The skeleton of an adult consists of an average of 200-213 bones.
2. The Eiffel Tower grows 15 centimeters in summer
The huge structure is built with temperature expansion joints, thanks to which the steel can expand and contract without any damage.
When steel is heated, it begins to expand and takes up more volume. This is called thermal expansion. Conversely, a decrease in temperature leads to a decrease in volume. For this reason, large structures such as bridges are built with expansion joints that allow them to change in size without being damaged.
3. 20% of oxygen comes from the Amazon rainforest
Flickr.com/thiagomarraThe Amazon rainforest covers 5.5 million square kilometers. The Amazonian jungle produces a significant portion of the oxygen on Earth by absorbing vast amounts of carbon dioxide, which is why they are often called the lungs of the planet.
4. Some metals are so reactive that they explode even on contact with water.
Some metals and compounds - potassium, sodium, lithium, rubidium and cesium - exhibit increased chemical activity, therefore they can ignite with lightning speed upon contact with air, and if they are lowered into water, they can even explode.
5. A teaspoon of a neutron star would weigh 6 billion tons.
Neutron stars are the remnants of massive stars, consisting mainly of a neutron core covered with a relatively thin (about 1 km) crust of matter in the form of heavy atomic nuclei and electrons. The cores of stars that died during a supernova explosion were compressed under the influence of gravity. This is how superdense neutron stars were formed. Astronomers have found that the mass neutron stars can be comparable to the mass of the Sun, despite the fact that their radius does not exceed 10–20 kilometers.
6. Each year, Hawaii moves closer to Alaska by 7.5 cm.
The earth's crust consists of several huge parts - tectonic plates. These plates are constantly moving along with the upper layer of the mantle. Hawaii is located in the middle part of the Pacific Plate, which is slowly drifting in a northwesterly direction towards the North American Plate, on which Alaska is located. Tectonic plates move at the same speed as human nails grow.
7. In 2.3 billion years, Earth will be too hot for life to exist.
Our planet will eventually become a vast desert, similar to today's Mars. For hundreds of millions of years, the Sun has been heating up, getting brighter and hotter, and will continue to do so. In about two billion years or more, temperatures will become so hot that the oceans that make Earth habitable will evaporate. The whole planet will turn into an endless desert. As scientists predict, in the next few billion years, the Sun will turn into a red giant and completely swallow the Earth - the planet will definitely come to an end.
Flickr.com/andy999 Thermal imagers are able to identify an object by the heat it radiates. And polar bears are experts at keeping warm. Thanks to a thick layer of subcutaneous fat and a warm coat, bears are able to endure even the coldest days in the Arctic.
9. It takes light 8 minutes 19 seconds to travel from the sun to the earth.
It is known that the speed of light is 300,000 kilometers per second. But even with such dizzying speed, it will take time to overcome the distance between the Sun and the Earth. And 8 minutes is not so much in cosmic scale. It takes 5.5 hours for sunlight to reach Pluto.
10. If you remove all the interatomic space, humanity will fit in a sugar cube
In fact, more than 99.9999% of an atom is empty space. An atom consists of a tiny, dense nucleus surrounded by a cloud of electrons that proportionally occupy more space. This is because electrons move in waves. They can only exist where the crests and troughs of the waves add up in a certain way. The electrons do not stay at one point, their location can be anywhere within the orbit. That is why they take up a lot of space.
11. Gastric Juice Can Dissolve Razor Blades
The stomach digests food thanks to the caustic hydrochloric acid with a high pH (hydrogen index) - from two to three. But at the same time, the acid also affects the gastric mucosa, which, however, is able to quickly recover. The lining of your stomach is completely renewed every four days.
Scientists have many versions of why this happens. Most likely: due to huge asteroids that have affected its course in the past, or due to the strong circulation of air currents in upper layers atmosphere.
13. A flea can accelerate faster than a space shuttle.
Flea jumps reach breathtaking heights - 8 centimeters per millisecond. Each jump gives the flea an acceleration that is 50 times the acceleration of the spaceship.
And what Interesting Facts do you know?
The outgoing year turned out to be rich in amazing finds.
The smallest frog in the world
The smallest frog in the world reaches a size of no more than 7-8 millimeters. A representative of the species Paedophryne amauensis set a kind of record - it reaches a length of only 7.7 millimeters. Scientists reported the discovery of a new species of record size in January 2012, although the frog was discovered by researchers in the rainforests of southern Papua New Guinea a couple of years ago.
Scientists believe the frog is large enough to feed on tiny invertebrates, such as mites, that are ignored by larger predators. Thus, she has occupied her niche in the food chain and feels great.
They have memory but no brain
Scientists are almost sure that these simple organisms, which do not have a brain, actually have a memory. During experiments with slime molds of the species Physarum polycephalum, scientists from the University of Sydney noticed that these living organisms avoid returning to the same places they have already visited. Researchers began to suspect that these protozoa use a special form of spatial memory to move around.
“Slime molds leave a trail of slime behind them, which they can then discover and thus “recognize” the places where they have already been,” said biologist Chris Reid (Chris Reid). The scientists also hypothesized that Physarum could recognize and respond to footprints left by other slime mold species.
Reid reported that primitive organisms can use their spatial memory to solve the same problems that our brains face today. This is the beginning of the evolution of memory. Previous research has shown that slime molds can also roam the maze and anticipate events that occur periodically.
Chimera Cat Mystery
In August 2012, a cat named Venus became a real hit of the season, striking everyone with her unusual appearance. This three-year-old tortoiseshell cat has won millions of views on YouTube and has even started a Facebook page. One half of the cat's muzzle is black, the other is red. Moreover, Venus also has different eyes - one is yellow, the other is blue. Scientists do not yet know why she got such a strange appearance, but there are suggestions that this cat is a chimera.
A chimera is an organism that receives the genes of its brother or sister in the womb in the embryonic stage of development. Two embryos merge into one, and as a result, one animal is born, but with some genetic features, for example, a strange coat color.
white killer whale
In April 2012, a strange albino killer whale was spotted off the coast of Russia, which puzzled scientists. The animal immediately received the nickname - Iceberg. In length, it reaches about 7 meters.
Previously, off the Aleutian Islands of Alaska in 2000 and 2008, scientists had already seen a white killer whale, but albinos of this species are so rare that scientists concluded that they saw the same animal then, only at a younger age. After all, Iceberg, according to researchers, is already about 16 years old.
Animal with the most legs: centipede record holder
The owner of the largest number of legs lives in California. This is a unique arthropod - centipede, which reaches a length of no more than 3 centimeters. Surprisingly, with this body size, she has 750 legs! For the first time, scientists discovered a centipede of the species Illacme plenipes back in 1928, but they never managed to carefully study it, since the animal, as scientists believed, disappeared and was considered extinct for a long time.
Such a large number of legs developed in a creature due to life underground. It is convenient for centipedes to move with their feet and move in the ground, as well as to climb underground stones.
Softshell turtle with a unique urinary system
In October 2012, scientists reported that they had discovered a very strange property in the animal: the soft-bodied turtle of the species Pelodiscus sinensis can urinate ... through its mouth. Scientists already knew that soft-bodied turtles have gill-like structures in their mouths. Researchers initially thought that they helped animals breathe underwater, but it turned out that this was not the case.
The scientists also found that turtles carry a special gene that helps produce a special protein that makes urine. This gene is associated with an organ like the mouth, not the kidneys. These reptiles live in brackish water, so adapting to urinate through the mouth comes in handy. If the turtle were to urinate normally, it would need to drink more water to stay hydrated.
Rare lioness with a mane
Female lions, as you know, do not wear a mane, but among them there are very masculine representatives. For example, in Africa, strange female lions with a mane like those of males have recently been seen.
These unusual trickster lionesses have been spotted in the Mombo region of the Okavango Delta, Botswana. In this area, animals may have an unusual genetic trait that gives them such an unusual appearance for lionesses, scientists say.
As it turned out, females with a mane cannot produce offspring, but they adapt very well in the wild. Due to the presence of a mane, they are perceived as males, and their appearance frightens off a pride of hyenas and some aggressive males.
Strange fish with genitalia on its head
The genitals, it turns out, can be ... on the head. At least one species of fish from Vietnam boasts just such an arrangement of vital organs.
The fish of the Phallostethus cuulong species reaches a length of about 2.5 centimeters and has a transparent body that is very standard for fish. It lives in the Mekong River basin in Vietnam. This habitat has changed a lot over the past couple of decades, but the fish have shown amazing vitality and have adapted well to new conditions.
Fish of the family Phallostethidae belong to a group of fish whose males fertilize the eggs of females inside their bodies. Although, as you know, most female fish spawn, which is then fertilized by males in the external environment. Many male fish of the Phallostethidae family have physical features that allow them to fertilize eggs inside the body of females, which is why the Phallostethus cuulong species has genitals on its head - for maximum mating convenience.
Giant mysterious eye: a mysterious find on a Florida beach
The most unexpected find of 2012 was a huge eye that was cast off the coast of Florida in October. The Internet community immediately began to lively discuss who owns this mysterious eye.
However, a few days later, the Commission for the Conservation of Wildlife announced that the eye belongs to the swordfish.
