Science to Make You Smile—July 2022

Space enthusiasts, you’re going to love this one! The wait is finally over, as this month, NASA revealed its first, full-color images taken by the James Webb Telescope. After almost two decades of construction, the telescope was launched on December 25th 2021, reaching its orbit around the Sun one month later—and the results of its journey are here. Described as “the dawn of a new era in astronomy”, the James Webb Telescope is the world’s largest and most powerful space telescope, designed to look further into the universe than NASA’s earlier Hubble telescope (1). The telescope’s Deep Field means that it was designed to answer specific questions about the history of the Universe, such as the formation of its earliest galaxies and the birth of stars. Already, the images have resulted in a potential breakthrough discovery as astronomers have spotted what could be two of the most distant galaxies ever seen. Take a look at the images released by NASA here, but spoiler alert—they’re pretty mind-blowing.  

We bet you haven’t heard much about the southern fin whale—the world’s second-largest animal. Well, it’s time to learn more about these incredible whales that almost faced extinction during the 20th century. Southern fin whales are found in the Southern Ocean, but commercial whaling resulted in a huge decline in their population. By the time a ban on hunting was enforced, only a few thousand whales remained. (3). Since then, numbers have dwindled,retaining their endangered status. However, recent drone footage has captured around 150 whales returning to their former feeding grounds in Antarctica! Not only is this a sign that their numbers are increasing, but it’s an indicator of good ocean health as whales play a vital role in maintaining a healthy ecosystem. Enjoy the incredible footage of them here.

It’s been around 66 million years since a meteorite struck the Earth, resulting in a mass extinction event that changed the course of history. Since then, things have changed a lot on Earth, but paleontologists occasionally stumble upon findings that help us understand more about these giant—and some not-so-giant—creatures that once ruled the land. In Argentina, a new dinosaur species has just been discovered, and it shares some similarities with a well-known therapod—the Tyrannosaurus Rex. A complete fossil has been unearthed of the Meraxes gigas, which measured around 11 meters long, had a large head, and extremely short arms! Despite their similar anatomy, the Meraxes giga evolved separately and became extinct long before the T Rex dominated the lands—so it looks like this one is a coincidence. (4) Nonetheless, findings like this show us that there is still much to learn about life before humans—and we look forward to the next discovery!

You’ve likely heard the saying that an apple a day keeps the doctor away, but new research has shown that eating a cup of cranberries a day keeps memory loss away! Researchers conducted a study amongst a group of 50 to 80-year-olds, in which half of the group consumed a cup of cranberries a day. The study found that those participants had better memory performance, increased circulation of nutrients to the brain, and decreased cholesterol levels. (5) Cranberries are high in anthocyanins and proanthocyanidins, which have been linked to improved cognitive function—basically, cranberries are a superfood. It only took 12 weeks for researchers to start seeing positive results—which is a good enough reason for us to start including cranberries in our diet!