#6. The one with the wolfes, not-AI pigeon and map generator.
We've reached the sixth newsletter! What does the future hold for us?
March was very difficult - I was constantly going to the doctor with my cat, and also writing and writing and writing (at one point I had six articles in the works!). Now the work is over, the cat is in remission and I can finally rest, although my tired brain refuses to admit it.
If you like the newsletter - please recommend it to your friends! I don't really understand how to distribute and advertise newsletters yet...
What happened
A Wolf at the Door
Oh, of course you've heard of them - the wolf cubs. Colossal Biosciences announced that its specialists have bred puppies of the dire wolf, which died out 12 thousand years ago. Three puppies have already been born in a lab in Dallas: the boys were named Romulus and Remus, and the girl was named Khaleesi (she is still very small, only 2 months old).
Colossal scientists decoded the genome of the dire wolf, and then edited the genome of an ordinary gray wolf. They made only 20 edits to 14 genes of the gray wolf, but it was enough: white fur appeared, a large body size with powerful legs and head, large teeth and jaws, and the most important difference - a howl. This is not the same wolf from the depths of centuries, but something very close to it, and this howl has not sounded on earth for thousands of years - this alone is enough to give me goosebumps. It's not exactly a resurrection of a real species - more like a resurrection of a phenotype. But the work is phenomenal!
Adults are expected to weigh around 150 lb. (63 kg). Wolfes’ve stopped drinking their mother's milk (they were carried by a dog), and now eat food suitable for wolves. Of course, they will not live in the wild - Romulus and Remus will have a separate life in the reserve.
Once the guys from Colossal Biosciences said that they would revive the mammoth. I look at them with amazement and delight.
Dino!
In 2012, two fossilized claws and other bones of a large, very strange dinosaur were found in the Gobi Desert in Mongolia: it didn’t look like an ordinary dinosaur. And now, finally, we know what it is! In fact, it was a dinosaur… sloth! Or rather, an animal that occupied its ecological niche.
The dinosaur sloth, named Duonychus tsogtbaatari, in honor of Mongolian paleontologist Khishigjav Tsogtbaatar, had two clawed fingers on each hand to grab the branches of giant ferns and other trees and reach young shoots - just like a giant sloth! The dinosaur, which lived 90 million years ago, was about 3 meters tall and weighed about 270 kilograms.
Wonderfull creature
Oh, just look at him! This is a pink-necked green pigeon (Treron vernans), and yes, it is real, it is not AI (the fact that for all sorts of real things we have to say "it is not AI"... it says a lot about our timline...)
This miracle lives and flaunts itself in Southeast Asia, works in pairs, and is not going to die out. I hope to see him someday (but right now my immediate plans include his relative, the wood pigeon).
What to read
It will be 2 books instead od one - just because one of them is not translated on English yet (as far as I can see). So, the first one is a chinese detective story Goodbye, Rest Island by Jiajun Wang. I read it in a day (yes, I went to bed at 3 am, so what?). A fairly light novel, despite the heavy subject matter. In places, it's biologically incorrect... But as a modern detective, it's not bad to read. And the plot is good: 15 years ago, during a typhoon, an entire island disappeared! Hope some day it will be translated to English!
And the second one is The crying of lot 49 by Thomas Pynchon. A surprisingly short novel that can be read in an evening - but doesn't have to be. A novel filled with action, in which at times almost nothing happens. A novel whose central mystery is never solved, and doesn't need to be solved. An amazing book!
What to see (not only science)
As ausual my own articles first — and there were plenty of them! My longread about antibiotic resistance was published in Technology Networks, and I am very proud of it. My article about whether storytelling is needed in science and how to do it correctly was published on the portal for PhD researchers Research Hive. And my note about reactive oxygen species was published in The Skeptic: I studied them as a researcher and still love this topic. March was productive in terms of writing!
Absolutely charming porcelain plates by Caroline Slotte
Diary of a traveler to abandoned places. I love abandoned places, on the one hand they have some kind of alien atmosphere, and on the other hand they are incredibly calming.
An absolutely adorable collection of visual comics Bookstores of New York! Oh, how I love New York bookstores! The ones where you go in and get lost... *bye-the-way, I remembered that I once went into a small bookstore in Philadelphia and there was a ginger cat lying there! I want my hobby to be touring bookstores with cats. Is that really too much to ask?*
This data designer portfolio - what a gorgeous visuals OMG!
An incredible documentary about the world's metro - from Santiago to Helsinki. You build a route, watch the film, learn the story of fellow travelers. Amazing project!
AI tool for… making manga and comixes!
Incredibly cool fantasy map generator. Ever wanted to draw your own imaginary country or make an accurate map of Middle Earth? This will help you!
A website that offers all (or almost all) ways to count time. Maybe you prefer to live in the year 48 from the DNA sequence?
Wise picture
Today's image is too big to include here (it would take up the entire newsletter!), so I'll leave a link. Check it out, it's worth it.
Well, spring has begun, and I hope it will be merciful to us. Have a nice April!