We thought we had solved the mystery of the giant “trees” of the Paleozoic. We couldn’t be more wrong

More than a century ago, when the first known fossils of Prototaxitesintuition said that it should be the remains of a tree. Decades of study revealed to paleontologists that this fossil did not belong to a plant, so everything seemed to indicate that it was an immense fungus. Now a new study has reopened this unknown. Neither plant nor fungus. The study in question has revived the discussion About the nature and taxonomy of Prototaxitesprehistoric beings that so far the catalog scientific consensus as fungi. The involvement of “taking out” these beings from the evolutionary branch of fungi is that perhaps these beings belonged to an extinct and unknown branch of the tree of evolution. 400 million years ago. What we do know about Prototaxites For the fossil registry, it is that being trafficking with organisms that were alive towards the middle of the Paleozoic era, does Between 420 million and 375 million years. These beings had a more or less cylindrical structure, similar to a trunk and stood up to eight meters above the sky with a diameter that the subway could reach. These measures and their age make them one of the first large beings of those of which we have record in the fossil registry. The debate on the nature of these prehistoric living beings seemed to mid -2000s. It was then that an analysis revealed that the Prototaxites They did not obtain their carbon from photosynthesis, as is the case of plants, but obtained from other living organisms, as fungi do. Rhynie Chert. The new study that reopens the case It now contributes tests that this being did not belong to the kingdom of fungi and focuses on one of the known species of this genus, Taiti prototaxites. The team resorted to the fossils found at the Rhynie Chert site in Scotland. This site contains not only fossil remains of this species, but also of fungal species and others belonging to other kingdoms of nature. Similarities and differences. The new analysis of the fossils of this species ran into some similarities with fungal structures such as those that could be expected. However, despite having tubular internal structures similar to those of fungi, these tubes in P. Taiti They branched and linked in a different way from what they could expect. That was not, however the strangest detail. The analysis did not detect in fossils evidence of the products that are associated with the presence of chitina, a compound present in the cell walls of all contemporary fungi and that we know was also present in prehistoric fungi. They found that the chemical “firm” was more similar to that left behind by lignin, a polymer that we associate with vascular plants. The study has been published for now draft In the repository Biorxivso the standardized scrutiny of peer review has not yet passed. So what? This detail implies that we must extreme caution when drawing conclusions from the study we have in front. Even so, the signing team of the study outlines in this its conclusions, in principle preliminary. In his study, the team concludes that “the morphology and the molecular footprint of P. Taiti It is clearly different from that of fungi and other organisms preserved with it in Rhynie Chert, and we suggest that it is better considered a member of a group not described and totally extinct of eukaryotes. ” In Xataka | An amateur fossil search engine is behind a curious finding: vomiting of the dinosaurs era Image | Іщн

Teruel was scarce from DGT officials. Has solved it with the mother of all webcams

The DGT has made its new Custom Teleenteption Servicea proposal that comes with the aim of serving citizens of rural areas without the need for traffic administrations to be attended in person. Teruel has been the first municipality to release the service and serve as a pilot test, having attended according to the DGT to more than 1,200 Turolenses since its implementation in 2023. Everything is born from … the lack of personnel. The Provincial Headquarters of Teruel suffered a serious shortage of personnel, to the point that its citizen service section was about to close. To avoid this, some officials devised an alternative: a system of attention by Videoconference that allow citizens to carry out procedures without having to go to the Headquarters, using a point enabled in their own City Council. After the success of this plan, the DGT has had a little revolutionary idea, but sensible: to attend by video call and avoid unnecessary displacements may not be so bad idea. Personalized TeleAntion Service. The first personalized Teleatance point to the citizen of the DGT has been installed in Alcañiz (Teruel). Its operation is simple: citizens can go to the City Council and connect with a traffic official (from any point in Spain) through video call to carry out their procedures, without the need to attend a DGT office in person. These points will allow citizens to connect with a DGT official by video call, being able to complete any type of application. One of the keys is that it will not be necessary to have electronic certificate, Electronic DNI o Registration in the Cl@VE system. We will only need our DNI, NIE or passport to complete the procedures. The point of attention is equipped with: Double -sided scanner to digitize documents. DNI reader with contactless technology. Payment terminal to pay fees and efforts. If the experience in Alcañiz is positive, the DGT plans to extend this service nationwide, thus facilitating access to its services in localities with less resources. A POOL FOR ADMINISTRATION. The inhabitants of the Rural Teruel now have a new way of carrying out procedures of the DGT from the City Council terminal, without the need to go to the traffic leaders. They are not the only beneficiaries. DGT itself admits that the implementation of these terminals implies a service model with positive effects in terms of saving and optimization of resources. Image | DGT In Xataka |

One of the most decisive campaigns of Christianity in Europe had a lost piece. It has been solved by a picture of the 16th century

For centuries, the camp of Carlos v In the German city of Lauingen it was little more than a scene embodied in a team of the 16th century. Painted by Matthias Gerungshowed in detail the surrender of the city during the War in the Danube campaign. We knew that something important had happened there, but we had not found archaeological evidence that confirmed it and the painting could have been a free artistic interpretation. Until five tombs and a boot buckle caused the painting to become an radiography of the past. Danube campaign. In 1531, Protestant princes joined in the Esmalcalda League To fight the Catholicism that made its way in Europe Thanks to figures such as Carlos V. As usually happens, a religious war began, in this case to defend Protestantism against Catholicism in a war that consisted of bell battles when one of the two forces was considered superior, but also in strategic movements games when they felt at a disadvantage. The League had a huge army, but Carlos V managed to gather experienced soldiers and, above all, a lot of artillery. After a series of attacks and constant harassment, added to the fact that there were league troops that were not too close, it resulted in Carlos V to take control of southern Germany in 1546. He did not mark the end of the war, which would arrive a year later, but it was an important turning point. The picture. The Emperor’s main camp during the campaign was located in Lauingen, a town that surrendered in 1546 and inspired by the artist Matthias Gerung to paint in 1551 his ‘Heerlager Karls V. Bei Lauingen’, or ‘The Camp of Carlos V in Lauingen’. It is a historical piece, there is no doubt about that, but if you have not seen it so far it is understandable because paintings of this style there are many. Or not so many? Gerung embodied many details in the work that allow us to get an idea of ​​how the tents were used, as well as the weapons, armor and clothing. It was so rich that there were tiny details, as ornaments in the clothes or broches very well defined. Was it an artistic license or, was it hyperrealistic? Well, rather … the second. Coincides! The painting represents the moment in which the Lauingen Council surrenders to the emperor and is the heritage of that city. To be such an important place, no human or material remains had been found in the area, something strange that could suggest that Gerung … well, a license had been taken. However, in 2024 the situation took a turn when a group of archaeologists from Bayerisches Landesamt Für Denkmalpflege found five tombs of imperial soldiers in a place extremely similar to that represented in the painting. That changed everything. Apart from the remains, it is not that a lot of objects appear, simply some coins and the closure of a hook -shaped boot. “What has to do with the painting?” You will be wondering, because much: that closure coincides perfectly with some that can be seen in Gerung’s painting. The detail of the picture is surprising, everything must be said Coins. In a new one releasethe researchers of the BLFP They claim that the five deceased found were young men who had structural changes in the legs of the legs due, surely, to a large overload fruit of the long marches of the army. But objects are the true protagonists because, normally, in the tombs of this era there are neither coins or footwear remains. And, beyond that the closure of the boot coincides with the one that was represented in the painting, the really key is the dating of the currencies, which by their inscriptions aim to be from the 16th century. And all this represent the first clear dating sample of this era in the area. Eureka! “The antiquity of the coins suggests that burial Deputy Director of the Archaeological Conservation Department of Susabia de BLFP. The next steps of the archaeologists is to continue analyzing the remains found, but the most curious thing about this story is the painter’s excellent documentation to perform his work, since either he was in the place and stayed with all the details or was magnificently advised by someone who was in the camp. And it is, according to the coincidence found by archaeologists, an almost photographic representation of the camp that was touchstone in European history. Images | BLFD In Xataka | In 1061 two Galicians signed a legal agreement. More and more historians believe that it is really a gay wedding

Some microbiologists have taken 10 years to solve a problem. The AI ​​has solved it in two days

Professor José R. Penadés and his Imperial College team in London had been working on a way of demonstrating how certain superbacteria are immune to antibiotics. After all that time they had finally achieved a conclusion in this regard. They recently dedicated to give AI a chance to solve the same problem. They got a surprise. Ten years they, 48 hours the AI. The scientists used a new Google AI tool called co-scientist to provide a brief prompt asking him about the essential problem they had been investigating for ten years. The AI ​​reached the same conclusion as them, but it took only 48 hours to reach it. And the AI ​​did not know the response in advance. One of the important details here is that AI could not have found out the solution looking for it on the Internet. Penadés and her team had not published the study, so Co-Scientist could not find the answer because it was not public domain. “I need to digest it”. The Penadés Professor He indicated in BBC How he learned that AI had reached the same conclusion in just two days. “I was shopping with someone, and I said,” Please leave me only one hour, I need to digest this. ” no. I could have saved years. Even considering the AI ​​solution as a hypothesis when they started working on the problem, having it would have saved years of work, Penadés explained. But it was the AI ​​went further. In fact, Google tool had done more than replicating its research. “It was not only that the hypothesis he provided was correct. He provided another four, and all of them made sense. And in one of the cases, he never occurred to us, and now we are working on it.” A for superbacteria. The study tried to reveal how some superbacteria are created that are resistant to antibiotics. The hypothesis proposed that superbacterial can form a tail from different viruses, and that allows them to spread between species. It is as if they had the “keys” to move from one place to another and “enter” different guests. That is the same hypothesis that Co-Scientist arrived in 48 hours. “This will change science”. For the Penadés professor “this will change science, sure.” Tools like this, says, “give the opportunity to play a great game. I feel as if I was finally playing a Champions League match with this.” And there I don’t know the thing: Evo 2 arrives. This discovery binds to launch these days of Evo 2the most large biology -oriented model so far. A group of researchers from the universities of Berkeley, Stanford, the ARC Institute, the UCSF and NVIDIA have trained an AI model with 9.3 billion nucleotides (from which DNA chains are created) from 128,000 Complete genomes. Thanks to this model it is possible to precisely predict all types of genetic mutations. Image | Wikimedia In Xataka | Some engineers have simulated 500 million years of evolution with an AI. Now we have a fluorescent protein

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