While investigating the many microbes that have colonized the human body‚ a team of researchers stumbled upon something strange: a previously unrecognized class of virus-like objects‚ which they have dubbed “Obelisks”. The newly described entities are thought to inhabit human mouth and gut bacteria and have circular RNA genomes‚ sequences of which have been found all over the world.The researchers came across almost 30‚000 different Obelisks‚ with examples from all seven continents‚ while trawling through over 5 million datasets of published genetic sequences.“It’s insane‚” Mark Peifer‚ a cell and developmental biologist at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill who was not involved with the research‚ told Science Magazine. “The more we look‚ the more crazy things we see.”The work‚ which is yet to be peer-reviewed‚ found Obelisks in 7 percent of the analyzed stool samples‚ and 50 percent of oral samples. Their sequences were also found to be distinct depending on where they were found in the body. They bear no sequence or structural similarity to known biological agents‚ and so “comprise a class of diverse RNAs that have colonised‚ and gone unnoticed in‚ human‚ and global microbiomes‚” the team write in their preprint.Obelisks are named after the rod-like structures predicted to encompass their entire genomes‚ which resemble the monument of the same name.The virus-like entities’ genomes are just 1‚000 bases long‚ which likely sets them apart from RNA viruses as they tend to have much longer sequences.Obelisks also include genes encoding a novel protein superfamily called “Oblins”‚ which the researchers suspect may be involved in RNA replication. This distinguishes them from simpler RNA loops called viroids that do not code for proteins.So‚ Obelisks are like viruses but they’re not viruses‚ and they’re also not viroids. They might not even behave that much like viruses: “these elements might not even be ‘viral’ in nature‚” the researchers explain‚ as it is currently “not possible to assign transmission mode‚ host impact‚ or replication mode.” Instead‚ they might more closely resemble RNA plasmids‚ the team conclude.Because of these unknowns‚ Obelisks' effect on human health also remains up in the air.Still‚ the findings help to flesh out what we know about viral evolution‚ something that is still shrouded in a lot of mystery. “This is one of the most exciting parts of being in this field right now‚” Simon Roux of the DOE Joint Genome Institute at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory‚ also not involved in the research‚ told Science. “We can see the picture of the long-term evolution of viruses on Earth start to slowly emerge.”The study‚ which has not been peer-reviewed‚ is available at bioRxiv.

This article first appeared in Issue 16 of our free digital magazine CURIOUS. A dramatic sight awaits anyone drifting near the shores of the Isle of Staffa where a unique sea cave is carved into the rugged coastline. Known as Fingal’s Cave‚ its name comes from an Irish myth in which Fionn MacCumhaill‚ nicknamed Fingal for “white stranger”‚ migrated to Scotland from Ireland. Fingal was believed to be the creator of the Giant’s Causeway‚ which boasts a similarly hexagonal esthetic.The Isle of Staffa is small and uninhabited‚ but it attracts lots of tourists each year who are drawn to its peculiar‚ hexagonal-shaped basalt columns. Most of the columns are true hexagons with six sides‚ but five-sided and seven-sided columns can also be found‚ according to the Scottish Geology Trust. Fingal’s hexagons were stacking up around 60 million years ago at a time when the Atlantic Ocean was still taking shape. They’re the result of what unfolds when molten lava cools and contracts‚ breaking apart in an orderly fashion – which is more than can be said for us under pressure.“Imagine a huge flow of hot‚ liquid magma that is settling‚” posits Arizona State University. “The outer layer is starting to cool and darken in color from orange to black. As it cools‚ it needs to shrink a bit‚ as hot materials usually take up more space than cooler ones. Because of this shrinking‚ the surface of the lava starts to crack. But this cracking isn’t always random. In this case‚ the lava starts to crack into regular shapes.”Subscribe to our newsletter and get every issue of CURIOUS delivered to your inbox free each month. The cave has been nicknamed "nature's cathedral".Image credit: Donna Carpenter/Shutterstock.comHexagons are just one of the many patterns that we see in nature‚ and the uniform magic of Fingal’s Cave is a reminder that you can’t hide from math – not even in a decaying shrub.Resembling a giant honeycomb‚ the gridded geometric pillars stretch to heights of 22 meters (72 feet). Some say it also resembles a cathedral‚ which leads us to another quirk of Fingal’s Cave.It has a funky sound as well as appearance thanks to its remarkable acoustic properties. The unique shape of its columns means sound reverberates unusually‚ creating an otherworldly auditory experience that’s earned the cave the nickname “nature’s cathedral”. It’s also known in Gaelic as “An Uamh Binn”‚ meaning “the cave of music”.Fingal’s Cave inspired “Hebrides Overture” by composer Felix Mendelssohn‚ who visited the cave in 1829. As it happens‚ there are a few natural caves that have proven to be a hit with musicians‚ just ask the glow worms in New Zealand’s Waitomo Cave. How to get there: You can explore Fingal’s Cave by boat from Oban‚ or as part of a swimming tour that’ll take you into its mouth. If you’re lucky‚ you might even spot a basking shark‚ but you should stay out of theirs.CURIOUS magazine is a digital magazine from IFLScience featuring interviews‚ experts‚ deep dives‚ fun facts‚ news‚ book excerpts‚ and much more. Issue 19 is out now.

Astronomers at The Virtual Telescope Project have captured incredible footage and images of asteroid 2024 BJ as it made a close encounter with Earth on Saturday. The asteroid whizzed past the Earth‚ making its closest approach of 353‚000 kilometers (220‚000 miles)‚ just 10 days after its discovery. At its closest approach‚ the asteroid was around 92 percent of the average distance between the Earth and the Moon. As well as the distance involved‚ the Earth was not at huge risk from the object‚ which is around five giraffes wide. If that figure doesn't make sense to you‚ IFLScience staff member Eleanor Higgs calculates that that's between 16 and 17 Ariana Grandes.The Virtual Telescope Project followed the asteroid as it made its closest approach‚ live-streaming it as well as photographing the object.          If you're here because of the funny name‚ first we must congratulate you on turning 13 years old‚ but here is the answer you're looking for. The rock was one of the 156 asteroids that have been discovered by a sky survey in January 2024‚ hence the "2024" part of its name. The rest of the asteroid's name also gives clues as to when exactly it was discovered."The provisional designation includes the year of its discovery followed by two letters that give the order of its discovery during that year‚" the European Space Agency (ESA) explains. "Objects‚ discovered between 1 and 15 January‚ are designated in order of their discovery‚ AA‚ AB‚ AC‚ and so on. Those discovered between 16 and 31 January are given the letters BA‚ BB‚ BC‚ and so on."Being the tenth discovered asteroid after January 16‚ it earned the slightly unfortunate name 2024 BJ. The name isn't permanent‚ however. Were later observations to show it is not 2024 BJ after all (for example) but another asteroid which has already been spotted before‚ the asteroid would be renamed for what it really is. If the asteroid is new‚ eventually it will be given a permanent name."The astronomer who first provides enough observations to calculate the orbit with precision‚ has the privilege of choosing the name because they are the discoverer‚" the ESA added. For now‚ however‚ we hope you like the livestream of 2024 BJ.

Five people with Alzheimer’s disease developed the condition as a result of a medical procedure decades earlier‚ a new study reports. While the procedure that has been implicated is no longer in use‚ the findings could provide important insights into how the disease progresses‚ and represent the first evidence of Alzheimer’s being transmitted to living people in this way.Eight cases of patients in the UK who were treated with human growth hormone derived from cadavers (c-hGH) were reviewed by a team from University College London (UCL) and University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (UCLH). This practice was used between 1959 and 1985‚ and at least 1‚848 patients are known to have received c-hGH – usually during childhood – to treat various causes of short stature. The cadaver-derived product was withdrawn globally after there were some reports of recipients being infected with prions‚ and ultimately dying of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD).Prions are misfolded proteins that can spread within and damage the brain by causing other neighboring proteins to also become misfolded. In most cases‚ prion diseases arise sporadically‚ with no obvious cause. Outbreaks of prion diseases have also arisen when tainted brain matter enters the diet‚ as was the case with kuru (caused by ritual cannibalistic funerary practices among the Fore people of Papua New Guinea)‚ and human cases of CJD from meat contaminated with “mad cow disease”. In these cases‚ though‚ the disease resulted from a medical procedure‚ which is termed “iatrogenic” transmission. Once the risk of iatrogenic CJD became clear in the mid-1980s‚ all use of c-hGH in medical procedures was stopped‚ and the National Prion Clinic at UCLH has continued to monitor numerous affected patients. Through post-mortem analysis‚ it began to emerge that there could be something else going on in the brains of those who died of CJD. There was evidence of amyloid-beta pathology‚ a hallmark of Alzheimer’s disease. However‚ the symptoms of CJD would have masked any signs of Alzheimer’s in these people when they were alive‚ so medics could not be sure what the effect of this pathology would have been. This latest study focuses on eight individuals who did not develop CJD after their c-hGH treatment. Five of them started displaying symptoms consistent with Alzheimer’s-related dementia between the ages of 38 and 55‚ which progressed and became more severe over time. Of the remaining three‚ one had no symptoms at all‚ one had some minor cognitive symptoms‚ and one met the criteria for a diagnosis of mild cognitive impairment‚ which can sometimes develop into dementia. Since the patients with Alzheimer’s were so young when they began to show symptoms‚ it was unlikely they had the usual form of the disease that occurs in old age. Five of the patients were able to provide samples for genetic testing‚ which also allowed the team to rule out the rarer inherited type of Alzheimer’s disease.That only left one logical conclusion for the team: that amyloid-beta proteins were transmitted to the patients when they received their c-hGH treatment as children‚ leading to them developing Alzheimer’s-like brain pathology in midlife. Previous research with animal models provides a precedent for this theory‚ which the team has been developing since as far back as 2015. A study in mice in 2018 confirmed the possibility that amyloid-beta can act like a prion‚ and that injecting it can lead to the buildup of harmful protein deposits in the brain. But‚ and this is very important to stress‚ all this does not mean that Alzheimer’s is contagious. “The transmission probably requires direct contact with the brain or the presence of circulating pathogenic forms of the proteins in the bloodstream‚” professor of neuropathology Seth Love previously explained to IFLScience. This was echoed by Professor John Collinge‚ the lead author of the new study and director of the UCL Institute of Prion Diseases‚ in a statement: “There is no suggestion whatsoever that Alzheimer’s disease can be transmitted between individuals during activities of daily life or routine medical care. The patients we have described were given a specific and long-discontinued medical treatment which involved injecting patients with material now known to have been contaminated with disease-related proteins.”What it does mean is that we have more evidence than ever that Alzheimer’s could progress in a similar way to CJD‚ at least in some cases. While true iatrogenic cases of Alzheimer's are likely to be very rare‚ the team does say that it is important we take a fresh look at medical procedures that could come with a heightened risk of transmission. Primarily‚ though‚ in light of the challenges in treating and preventing Alzheimer's‚ the findings could help scientists better understand its progression and develop new therapies‚ which will surely be welcomed.The study is published in Nature Medicine.

A donkey-ass hybrid from Bronze Age Mesopotamia is the earliest known example of a hybrid animal bred by people. The bones of the horse-like creatures date back 4‚500 years and put to bed decades of dispute surrounding the ancient equids' identity.After meticulous DNA sequencing‚ the team from the Institut Jacques Monod (CNRS/Université de Paris)‚ believe that the bones belong to a kunga – a cross between a female domestic donkey and a male wild ass.The bones of 25 animals – now known to be kungas – were discovered in Tell Umm el-Marra‚ a royal tomb in northern Syria‚ in 2006. The complete skeletons looked like horses‚ but they had different proportions‚ which puzzled archaeologists‚ as did the fact that horses weren’t introduced in the area until 500 years later.The enigmatic equids are also seen in ancient texts and icons from Mesopotamia‚ where they are depicted being used in “diplomacy‚ ceremony‚ and warfare”. Larger kungas were used to pull vehicles‚ while their smaller friends were used in agriculture‚ pulling ploughs‚ for example.Nineveh panel “hunting wild asses” (645-635 BCE) shows wild asses being captured.Image credit: © Eva-Maria Geigl / IJM / CNRS-Université de ParisBut it wasn’t until the team behind the new study compared their genomes with those of other species that they were able to determine what exactly these mysterious animals were. The skeletons didn’t belong to horses‚ asses‚ or onagers – Asian wild asses – leading the researchers to hypothesize they could be a hybrid.To confirm this‚ they sequenced DNA from an 11‚000-year-old equid bone found in Turkey and 19th-century teeth and hair from the last-surviving Syrian wild asses. They found the skeletons in Syria had the maternal lineage of the domestic donkey (Equus africanus) and the paternal lineage of the Syrian wild ass (E. hemionus). Researchers believe this mix might have provided the perfect combination of donkey temperament and wild ass speed. The resulting kunga would have been stronger and faster than a donkey‚ but more easily tamed than an ass. They are also thought to have cost up to six times as much as a donkey.A savvy little scheme from an early Syro-Mesopotamian civilization that clearly had an advanced understanding of breeding.“It is surprising to see that these ancient societies envisioned something so complex as hybrid breeding‚ since this was an intentional act: they had the domestic donkey‚ they knew they cannot domesticate the Syrian wild ass‚ and they did not domesticate horses‚” co-author Eva-Maria Geigl told Gizmodo. “So‚ they intentionally developed a strategy to breed two different species to combine different characters that they found desirable in each of the parent species.”This was no mean feat‚ as hybrid animals – the sturddlefish and whaluga‚ for example – are mostly (but not always) sterile‚ meaning each kunga must have been intentionally bred into existence.The extra hassle may explain the eventual extinction of the kunga. The arrival of the domestic horse 4‚000 years ago provided Mesopotamian societies with a similarly strong and fast animal to utilize‚ and one that was much easier to reproduce.In the millennia since the kunga's creation‚ humans have bred all sorts of weird and wonderful hybrids into existence‚ from the chonky Beefalo to tasty Iron Age pigs – but it all started with this now-extinct equid‚ the world's first human-bred hybrid animal. The study is published in the journal Science Advances.An earlier version of this article was published in January 2022.

If you’ve ever dreamed of going on safari to see Africa’s big five‚ allow us to present a different kind of opportunity. The government in the Indian state of Odisha has announced the world’s first black tiger safari in a bid to provide tourists with a chance to catch a glimpse of the only black tigers in the world.Black (or pseudomelanistic) tigers have been reported in the Similipal Tiger Reserve (STR) since the middle of the 1970s and the area is believed to be the only habitat for these specific tigers across the world. They are not a separate species‚ but rather Bengal tigers (Panthera tigris tigris) with a genetic mutation.  The new safari is to be located near Baripada in the Mayurbhanj district of the state‚ according to an announcement on the social media platform X (formerly known as Twitter) by the Chief Minister of the Odisha Government‚ Naveen Patnaik. This is just 15 kilometers (9.3 miles) away from the STR. The new area is approximately 200 hectares and is adjacent to National Highway 18‚ according to Indian Express.           IFLScience is not responsible for content shared from external sites.According to Scientific American‚ one in three tigers in the STR are black. These tigers are a result of a genetic mutation that typically causes the animal to become black due to the excess of the pigment melanin in their cells. Melanistic animals (such as lynx and seals) have been seen‚ as well as the opposite effect known as albinism‚ and even leucitic animals‚ which all show variation in color patterns because of genetic differences in melanin quantities.       IFLScience is not responsible for content shared from external sites.Technically‚ the tigers of the STP are what is known as pseudomelanistic‚ with a variation in their coat that causes their stripes to be unusually large or even merged. In 2021‚ a paper traced the mutation to a single gene called Transmembrane Aminopeptidase Q or taqpep that was present in 10 out of 12 of the tigers tested in the study. None of the 395 tigers that lived outside the STR had a single copy of the gene mutation‚ suggesting that this population did not breed with tigers outside of their range. This is what is known as an autosomal recessive trait. While not totally black the pseudomelanstic tiger is clearly different from a typical individual without the gene mutation.Sagar‚ V.‚ et al (2021) PNAS CC BY 4.0According to the paper‚ this could suggest not a chance to see an ultra-rare black tiger but an indicator of a bigger problem - inbreeding due to low population diversity likely caused in this species by habitat fragmentation by humans. 

The term zero-G has been‚ for a long time‚ a popular way to explain the apparent lack of gravity in space. But it is an incorrect term. There’s nowhere in the universe where there is zero gravity. The term microgravity is actually what is now being used to more correctly describe what is going on. Still‚ it doesn’t exactly capture why astronauts float in space.What is gravity?We are not going to answer the question of what gravity is in full‚ since even the greatest minds of our species are still struggling with it. That said‚ we can discuss some important CliffsNotes to get an idea of why there is no such thing as zero-g.Gravity is one of the four fundamental forces of the universe. The other three are the electromagnetic‚ the strong nuclear‚ and the weak nuclear force. Gravity is by far the weakest‚ but we don’t notice because gravity simply adds up. The more massive a body is‚ the higher its gravitational pull.The gravitational force scales as the inverse square of the distance. This is math jargon meaning that the gravitational pull goes down pretty rapidly the further you are from said object. If one planet is twice as far from the Sun as another‚ for example‚ it will feel a quarter of the force (since two squared is four). But even though gravity might get smaller and smaller the further you are from an object‚ it never goes to zero. As long as there is mass (even your own or that of your instruments) there is gravity.The International Space Station (ISS) orbits about 400 kilometers (250 miles) over the surface of the Earth. It does experience less gravity than us on the surface‚ but only a tiny bit less. The gravitational pull of the Earth is still very strong. If this were not the case‚ satellites couldn’t stay in orbit‚ and they and the Moon would simply fly off into space.How do you get weightlessness in space?The best explanation for this belongs to Douglas Adams. In his The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy series‚ he explains that flying is the art of throwing oneself to the ground and missing. This funny remark is 100 percent the correct explanation for the feeling of weightlessness in space.Satellites and the Moon stay in orbit around the Earth because they are moving very fast. The International Space Station moves at about 8 kilometers (5 miles) per second. The ISS goes around the Earth in just 90 minutes and it is constantly being pulled towards our planet by gravity. If it were just magically placed on its orbit‚ without any lateral motion‚ it would simply come vertically down.But the ISS and other stuff in orbit is moving. As it comes down towards Earth it is also moving laterally‚ always missing our planet – at least‚ until its retirement. The balance between the gravitational pull and the motion around the Earth gives rise to the "free fall". The forces experienced by the astronauts are roughly balanced‚ so they are weightless.Gravity is still there‚ under their feet or their heads depending on their orientation‚ but they have learned to throw themselves at the ground and miss many times every day.All “explainer” articles are confirmed by fact checkers to be correct at time of publishing. Text‚ images‚ and links may be edited‚ removed‚ or added to at a later date to keep information current. 

In recent years‚ the once-hypothesized landmass in the Southern Hemisphere‚ now known as Zealandia‚ has become increasingly popular for scientific research. In fact‚ as of the end of 2023‚ Zealandia became the first continent to be completely mapped out‚ even though 95 percent of the newly identified continent is underwater. And yet Zealandia is not the only submerged continent out there and now scientists understand them better than ever. So why is it that some continents go “missing” only to be rediscovered later?Drowned worldsPart of the explanation here relates to how we think about “continents”. In many school systems‚ these landmasses are defined by their geography‚ but in reality‚ this is only part of the picture. Instead‚ geology plays an important role in our understanding of what makes a continent. This includes how thick it is‚ what rocks it is made of‚ and where it is below sea level. Continental crust‚ for instance‚ differs from oceanic crust in that it is it is typically older‚ thicker‚ less dense‚ and has a more varied composition.As such‚ continental crust tends to float higher on the mantle‚ which makes up the bulk of the Earth’s interior. Then‚ through the power of tectonic movement over the years‚ some landmasses can drop below the surface of the water and therefore off the map.However‚ advances in imaging software‚ seismography‚ and centuries of mapping efforts are now providing new insights into continents that were lost to the depths long ago.Greater AdriaWhile Zealandia has become famous for being submerged below the waves‚ there is another continent that has not only sunk below the surface‚ but has also vanished into the Earth’s mantle. Today‚ the only visible remnants of the continent‚ known as Greater Adria‚ are limestones and other rocks found in the mountain ranges of southern Europe.  About 240 million years ago‚ around the Triassic period‚ a chunk of continental crust separated from North Africa. The landmass was roughly the size of Greenland.After it’s separation from Africa‚ Greater Adria gradually sank beneath the waters‚ where it became the home to tropical coral reefs. Then‚ sometime around 100 or so million years ago‚ it started to slide under Europe and into the mantle.During its descent‚ parts of Greater Adria remained above the surface. Through a process called “offscraping”‚ the top layers of sedimentary rock came free and created the mountain ranges that cut through Italy‚ Turkey‚ and Greece today. So while there are now rocks from Greater Adria scattered across 30 different countries‚ there is also a part of the lost continent that remains‚ stretching from the north of Italy‚ down to its “boot”. This region is known as Adria.ArgolandClearly‚ 100 million years ago was the time for all the cool movers and shakers. At the same time that Greater Adria was getting familiar with the edge of Europe‚ a large chunk of land broke away from Western Australia. This piece was about the size of North America‚ which then drifted into the Indian Ocean. Argoland‚ as it is known‚ then broke apart and disappeared from the map. Unlike Zealandia‚ which settled under the sea‚ or Greater Adria that crashed into the mantle‚ Argoland was mostly conspicuous for the void it left behind – what is called the Argo Abyssal Plain.However‚ recent research has potentially located (parts of) Argoland in an unexpected place: the jungles of Southeast Asia.The explanation is that Argoland probably broke up into smaller islands a lot earlier than previously thought. Then‚ its pieces all moved northwards towards Southeast Asia during the Late Jurassic era. Over time‚ parts of the drift were eaten by the Sunda Trench subduction zone‚ while others became part of the seafloor or other areas of Southeast Asia. Now‚ it seems‚ there are chunks of this long-lost continent in parts of present-day Myanmar and Indonesia.  [H/T: Popular Mechanics]

An X (Twitter) thread has been widely-shared over the weekend‚ in which Radiolab host Latif Nasser explained how he investigated the mystery of a moon labeled "Zoozve" on his 2-year-old's astronomy poster.Having noticed the label‚ he of course Googled it‚ and found the NASA-confirmed fact that Venus has no moons. IFLScience is not responsible for content shared from external sites.Further Googling found no references to any "Zoozve"‚ and a friend at NASA had no idea what it was referring to either. Nasser called the illustrator‚ who swore that he took the name from a list of moons of the Solar System. To cut a long (but enjoyable!) story short‚ Nasser's NASA friend (Liz Landau) realized what had happened. The planet was not Zoozve‚ but object 2002 VE 68. When space objects are first seen‚ they are given a provisional name based on when they were discovered. The first number part‚ as you might have guessed‚ relates to the year."The provisional designation includes the year of its discovery followed by two letters that give the order of its discovery during that year. Objects‚ discovered between 1 and 15 January‚ are designated in order of their discovery‚ AA‚ AB‚ AC‚ and so on. Those discovered between 16 and 31 January are given the letters BA‚ BB‚ BC‚ and so on‚" the European Space Agency explains‚ adding that J is not used. "The final discoveries of the year‚ between 16 and 31 December‚ have designations in the series YA‚ YB‚ YC."The object is a lot more interesting than your standard space rocks‚ being as it was the first of its kind ever discovered‚ due to its unusual orbit."Like all asteroids‚ its orbit takes it around the Sun‚ with asteroids closer to the Sun circling more rapidly and completing a 'year' in a shorter time. The 'year' for VE68 is shorter than the Earth year‚ clocking in at a little under 225 days‚" the Tuorla Observatory explained in a 2004 press release."This is almost exactly the same as the 'year' of the planet Venus – and it turns out that like synchronised divers in the olympic games‚ both VE68 and Venus are travelling around the Sun nearly in lock-step."Tracking the orbit of 2002 VE‚ they had discovered the first quasi-moon‚ or quasi-satellites‚ in the Solar System. Quasi-moons‚ as the name suggests‚ are not quite moons. They orbit the Sun‚ but are also influenced by the planets along their path.     Since the discovery of 2002 VE‚ other quasi-moons have been discovered. Though these moons can come and go‚ Earth has two which have been officially recognized. IFLScience is not responsible for content shared from external sites.2002 VE has been orbiting the Sun and encountering Venus for quite a while‚ but the team who first described its orbit think it may have come from elsewhere."Our computations show that it has been in its present orbital state for about seven millennia and will stay there for five more centuries to come‚" the team wrote in their paper. "Very close approaches with Venus and Mercury are excluded within the interval of time of reliable numerical computation of the orbit‚ but repeated encounters with the Earth do occur. From the evolution of the orbit of this object‚ we conclude that it may have been a near-Earth asteroid‚ which‚ some 7‚000 yr ago‚ was injected into its present orbit by the action of the Earth."A later paper‚ when more observations had been carried out‚ found possible close encounters with Earth‚ as well as a very complicated orbital path."We find that 2002 VE68 will remain as a quasi-satellite of Venus for about 500 yr more and its dynamical evolution is controlled not only by the Earth‚ with a non-negligible contribution from the Moon‚ but by Mercury as well‚" the team wrote. "2002 VE68 exhibits resonant (or near-resonant) behaviour with Mercury‚ Venus and the Earth. Our calculations indicate that an actual collision with the Earth during the next 10 000 yr is highly unlikely but encounters as close as 0.04 au occur with a periodicity of 8 yr."[H/T: Radiolab]

Joe Scarborough‚ Super Hawk! Reacting to the drone attack on US troops in Jordan by Iranian proxies that killed three soldiers and wounded 25-30 others‚ on today's Morning Joe Scarborough called for direct strikes against Iran itself. As Scarborough put it to NBC analyst and former NATO Supreme Allied Commander Europe James Stavridis: "How much longer is the United States going to allow its troops to be shot at by people who are being funded by Iran? At what point do we not just go to the source of the problem‚ which has been the source of the problem since 1979‚ and go to Iran? If Iran‚ if Iran wants to continue killing Americans‚ or trying to kill Americans‚ should we not at least sink one of their ships? Should we not at least blow up their air force? Should we not at least blow up their oil fields? Pick one of the three. I don't care."   In response‚ Stavridis literally chuckled at Scarborough's bravado. He recommended first going after Iranian proxies‚ and attacking Iran directly only if that doesn't "have the intended effect." Scarborough's bellicose bent toward Iran is in keeping with his boasts that have earned him our moniker of "Macho Joe."  Among other examples of Scarborough's manly manliness‚ Joe has vowed that if he came across a Capitol tourist snapping photos somewhere Scarborough didn't like‚ he would tell the offending tourist to put the camera down‚ or "I'm gonna make you eat it." One tough hombre‚ that Scarborough! With his threat today‚ Joe's doubtlessly got the Iranian mullahs quaking in their robes!     Here's the transcript. MSNBC Morning Joe 1/29/24 6:03 am ET MIKA BRZEZINSKI: We begin this morning with the deaths of three U.S. service members in northeast Jordan. It happened yesterday at a logistics support base for the U.S. military near Jordan's border with Syria. A drone packed with explosives struck near a shelter where American troops were sleeping‚ killing three and injuring more than 30. President Biden released a statement shortly after‚ reading in part‚ quote‚ while we are still gathering the facts of this attack‚ we know it was carried out by radical Iran-backed militant groups operating in Syria and Iraq. We will hold all those responsible to account at a time and in a manner of our choosing. JOE SCARBOROUGH: Let's bring in right now --with us‚ former Supreme Allied Commander of NATO‚ retired four star Navy admiral‚ James Stavridis. He is chief international analyst for NBC News. Admiral‚ thank you so much for being with us.  Last week‚ I brought up a very simple metaphor about a guy who sends people from a house across the street‚ coming over and constantly stealing things from your house or breaking windows in your house. We said‚ "What do you do? You do‚ you go take out the house across the street. Tell them you'll call the cops or something. In this case‚ I just‚ I wonder‚ how much longer is the United States going to allow its troops to be shot at by people who are being funded by Iran? At what point do we not just go to the source of the problem‚ which has been the source of the problem since 1979‚ and go to Iran? If Iran‚ if Iran wants to continue killing Americans‚ or trying to kill Americans‚ should we not at least sink one of their ships? Should we not at least blow up their air force? Should we not at least blow up their oil fields? Pick one of the three. I don't care. JAMES STAVRIDIS: [Chuckles] When this occurred‚ after the blow to my heart of learning that we lost three of our best and 25 to 30 wounded‚ 10 evacuated‚ meaning they're at risk of life-threatening wounds‚ this is attack number 160 or so.  So Joe‚ I am one who is always‚ let's try the diplomacy. Let's try the incremental steps here. I think we are at the point where what is necessary is a hammer blow against the proxies. I'll expand on that in one moment. If that doesn't have the intended effect‚ then yes‚ it's time to go after Iran.