Your daily dose of SCIENCE awesomeness!!!
Hey RO pals!!
There's some seriously cool stuff being discovered everyday, so I thought I would start a new thread where we can post all things science-y!!!
To get us started, here's an amazing story about what could be the world's oldest observatory - and it's in Australia!!!
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-10-12/aboriginal-astronomy-provides-clues-to-ancient-life/7925024
A slight cheat, since this is technically engineering, and not science. It's still really cool though.
(Ignore the 51 billion lives bit, it's more than a little disingenuous, to say the least. Detection of malaria is not the same thing as treating malaria, and there aren't anywhere near 51 billion people alive in the first place. The only reason why they approached that number is that it's been estimated that 51 billion people have been afflicted with malaria...in the entirety of human history. The engineering feat IS huge though (and you can buy your own kit for around $30), it just sucks that it got stuck with such a facetious and clickbait-y title.)
Soooooo cats can infect humans with a parasite called Toxoplasma gondii........ which has been associated mental disorders including bi polar and schizophrenia! According to this article, 50% of the global population may be infected!!!
So basically, CATS ARE EVIL!!!!!
In case you need more proof:
Yours sincerly,
A dog person 
They found a fully preserved freakin feathery dinosaur tail in an amber!!!! Article here.
Scientists believe it belonged to a juvenile coelurosaur, a bird-like carnivorous dino from the Cretaceous era.
I find this incredible since it was being sold at a market labelled as plant material.
Wow that is really cool @stonepixie, thanks so much for sharing!!!
@Chessca_H most definitely evil hahaha I don't think there is anything genious about cats making their food providers unwell.....
I have four of them, one is even signed!
The first one I have is his 27th book, it's ten years old! I wonder if he's done any more books...
@N1ghtW1ng I may have to steal your signed Dr Karl book 😛 seriously though, that's so awesome 😄
Pluto might be a planet again!! Check out this article here! The man who did the New Horizons mission wants to reclassify what a planet is, which means that Pluto would become a planet! Along with a hundred other bodies in space but hey, yay to Pluto! 😄
Apparently, according to the current specifications of a planet, Earth and even Jupiter don't actually qualify 😛
Thanks to a new non-invasive neural electrode designed by researchers at the University of Melbourne, bionic-assisted technokinesis may be a reality in less than 6 years.
In less techno-babbley terms: HOLY CRAP WE'LL BE ABLE TO MOVE STUFF WITH OUR BRAINS, YOU GUYS.
http://www.sciencealert.com/harvard-scientists-think-they-ve-pinpointed-the-neural-source-of-consciousness
Thanks for the update @Autumn23, That's seriously cool. Neuroscience is advancing so fast I'm actually beginning to hope that my dreams of being able to directly upload information into my head is going to come true during our lifetime. 
In other (slightly more outdated) brain-news, we've started being able to grow brains in the lab! They're still a ways-off from the real thing, but the idea of having brain-jars like in Futurama isn't so crazy anymore.
Generation of cerebral organoids from human pluripotent stem cells
Heya,
Thought this is amazing! Very dramatic music in the background haha
I recently discovered Kurzgesagt – In a Nutshell, which provides pretty brilliant summaries of fairly cutting edge science, without shying away from the moral and ethical implications of the new discoveries. They do get a little ahead of themselves sometimes, but it's generally pretty great at satisfying your knowledge fix cravings.
Oh my goshhhhh thank you so much @Asche for sharing that YouTube channel ---- ITS AMAZING!!!! I can see myself getting wonderfully lost lost down a "Kurzgesagt - In a Nutshell" rabbit hole 😉
Absolutely love this one!!!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X9otDixAtFw
@Autumn23 Sounds like you're on your way down the rabbit hole already, hahah. You can embed youtube links by clicking the "insert video" button in the post-reply screen- it's two buttons to the right of the "insert link" button that you presumably used to create the youtube hyperlink. That'll create a popup which asks you for the video URL- paste the URL in and then click "preview". The popup will then update, and give you the ability to insert the video into your post- click "insert", and you're done!
@AscheThis is so awesome - thanks for sharing!
I've been wondering what CRISPR is and the video is super helpful as I'm a visual learner and love animations 😄
I love Dr Karl's segment on Triple J on Thursday mornings
http://www.abc.net.au/triplej/media/s4556094.htm
