January 2016

The tablet key to undestand the ancient Babylonians' mathematical knowledge (Image courtesy Mathieu Ossendrijver / Science. All rights reserved)

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An article published in the journal “Science” describes the discovery of the ancient Babylonian mathematical knowledge. Putting together the translation of various cuneiform tablets, Mathieu Ossendrijver, professor of the History of Ancient Science at Humboldt University in Berlin, concluded that the Babylonians knew the basics of calculus over 14 centuries earlier than previously thought and they used it to calculate the motion of the planet Jupiter.

Fossil of Dollocaris ingens (Photo courtesy Jean Vannier, University of Cologne)

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An article published in the journal “Nature Communications” describes the extraordinary study on the eyes of fossilized specimens of Dollocaris ingens, a crustacean that lived about 160 million years ago, in the middle Jurassic. In the deposits of La Voulte, in the southeast of France, fossils were found in which various soft tissues were also well preserved and this allowed to reconstruct their eyes, giving us an idea of ​​how they saw and indirectly of the environment in which they lived.

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The novel “Sting of the Zygons” by Stephen Cole was published for the first time in 2007.

The Tenth Doctor takes Martha Jones in the English Lake District region in 1909. There they discover that people are hunting the “Beast of Westmorland” that has even attracted the interest of King Edward VII, whose arrival is expected in the area. The Beast was sighted but the Doctor realizes that it’s a Skarasen and its presence means that in the area there are Zygons as well.

The Doctor knows the grave danger linked to the Zygons, who can take the shape of the humans they take prisoner. He needs to find out as soon as possible the aliens’ plans but who can he trust when anybody could be one of them?

Outline of Dracoraptor haniganis skeleton with the bones found in green (Image David M. Martill, Steven U. Vidovic, Cindy Howells, John R. Nudds)

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An article published in the journal “PLOS ONE” describes the analysis of the partial skeleton of a new species of dinosaur found on a beach near Cardiff, Wales. The fossils date back about 200 million years ago, at the beginning of the Jurassic period. This makes them even more interesting because just a few dinosaur fossils from that period were found so far. According to Dr. David Martill from the University of Portsmouth and his colleagues, the dinosaur found belongs to a genus previously unknown and was named Dracoraptor hanigani.

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Steven Moffat will hand over the TV show “Doctor Who” to Chris Chibnall, the creator of the acclaimed show “Broadchurch”. Chibnall will take over the difficult task of maintaining the success of one of the British institutions after its tenth season. This change is accompanied by important decisions by the BBC about the broadcast of the coming seasons and unfortunately the first consequence is that the next aired episode will be the 2016 Christmas special.