Science
Science news this week: A lost Biblical tree and a memory crystal that could 'survive to the end of the universe'
From record-breaking stays in space to a "knife-wielding orca," it has been a busy week in the world of Science news. But the story that has most captured our imagination is that of what Earth could look like 8 billion years into the future. The exoplanet KMT-2020-BLG-0414, located 4,000 light-years from ours, is a rocky world that orbits a white dwarf — a hot Earth-size core from a sun that has exhausted all its nuclear fuel, just as Earth's sun will in billions of years.
However, before the sun shrinks to this diminutive size, it will expand into a red giant, which threatens to swallow Earth alongside Mercury and Venus. If our planet survives, then we may well resemble KMT-2020-BLG-0414. Whether humanity will be there to see it …
Lost Biblical tree resurrected from mystery seed
For 14 years, researchers have been growing a tree from an ancient seed that archaeologists excavated from a Judean Desert cave in the late 1980s. Now that the specimen stands at around 10 feet (3 meters) tall, the scientists believe that the tree grown from this 1,000 year old seed could belong to a long-lost lineage mentioned in the Bible.
The seed of the tree, dubbed "Sheba," dates back to somewhere between A.D. 993 and 1202, and the researchers believe that the fully-grown specimen could be the source of Biblical "tsori" — a resinous extract associated with healing in Genesis, Jeremiah and Ezekiel.
"The identity of Biblical 'tsori' (translated in English as 'balm') has long been open to debate," the researchers wrote in the study. Now, having revived Sheba, the team thinks it has finally unraveled its mystery of this ancient plant.
Discover more Archaeology news
—2,700-year-old shields and helmet from ancient kingdom unearthed at castle in Turkey
-
Science17h ago
Nazaré: The big-wave surfer's paradise born out of the largest underwater canyon in Europe
-
Science1d ago
'People should not be there': 'Unsurvivable' 20-foot storm surge predicted as ferocious Hurricane Helene heads to Florida
-
Science1d ago
James Webb telescope spots rare 'missing link' galaxy at the dawn of time
-
Science1d ago
Astronomers spot a possible 'future Earth' — 8 billion years into its future
-
Science1d ago
Russian cosmonaut returns to Earth after completing record-breaking 1,111th day in space
-
Science1d ago
'We have changed the view of our galaxy forever': Astronomers capture most detailed ever infrared map of the Milky Way
-
Science2d ago
Experts predicted way more hurricanes this year — here's the weird reason we're 'missing' storms
-
Science2d ago
Nuking an asteroid could save Earth from destruction, researchers show in 1st-of-its-kind X-ray experiment