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Happy Thursday, everyone!

Today’s topics include a cosmic dandelion and medical ants. Jeepers! Whoda thunk?

That said, let’s dive into the rare and odd.

900-Year-Old Cosmic Dandelion

In this artist’s conception of Pa 30 Nebula, the odd filaments can be seen shooting away from its core. © W.M. Keck Observatory/Adam Makarenko

Back in 1181, astronomers🔭 in both China and Japan saw a new star🌟 and recorded their findings. This new star disappeared after about six months.

 It wasn’t until 2013 that anyone else learned about this mysterious star⭐.

 An amateur astronomer identified a nebula in the Cassiopeia constellation⛎, about 7,500 light years from Earth🌎.

 It took another decade of research to astronomers to conclude that his finding was probably the fragments of the supernova that the ancient astronomers had seen.

 The core of this supernova still remains even after it’s brilliant explosion💥. And it is still discharging material away from itself at incredible speeds.

 Oddly, the remnants of this supernova have coalesced into string-like filaments that make the entire structure resemble a dandelion puff.

 Tim Cunningham, a NASA 🛰️Hubble Fellow at the Harvard and Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, said “we find the material in the filaments is expanding ballistically. This means that the material has not been slowed down nor sped up since the explosion. From the measured velocities, looking back in time, you can pinpoint the explosion💥 to almost exactly the year 1181.”

 It is so cool to get absolute proof of historical accounts dating that far back.

​Ants… Doing Medical Amputations

Most of us would rather not have ants🐜🐜🐜 around, myself included.

 But they have their proponents. And scientists🥼 who study them.

 So, we all know that there are numerous kinds of ants. Some ants hunt termites (YAY), and others nest 🪹in rotting wood 🪵(YUCK).

 Apparently, the termite-hunting variety has a special gland that secretes an antibiotic that is used to treat nestmates when they are wounded.

 While other species of ants🐜 do not have that gland, researchers wanted to find out what they might do in the case of injuries.

 These scientists discovered that ants would actually have a nestmate amputate the injured leg ✂️🦵by biting through the shoulder joint above the injury.

 Further research revealed that most ants who had a limb amputated🦵✂️ in this way survived, but those who did not receive this treatment often died.

 They also discovered that different injuries were treated in different ways. 

Although scientists note that this behavior is probably less than cognitive reasoning and more likely millions of years of evolution making it instinctual.

 Survival🛟 is definitely instinctual.

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