Scientific discoveries happen almost every day as the top researchers around the world make every effort to discover and unearth things that would completely change our perception of reality. Each and every year, scientists make amazing discoveries. Last year, scientists discovered how to pull out water of air and even edited a human embryo. This year too, scientists around the world have made some incredible discoveries that are bound to truly blow your mind. The latest in scientific breakthroughs and discoveries is inspirational in many ways as these discoveries are a testament to the amazing capabilities of the human brain. Here is a list of the top scientific discoveries and breakthroughs of 2018.
Researchers Discovered The Largest Animal On The Planet
In September 2018, A team of researchers from South Africa have unearthed the largest animal to ever live on this planet. It’s a 26,000-pound dinosaur! The researchers claimed that the giant relative of the brontosaurus was almost twice the size of an African bush elephant. The fossil of Ledumahadi Mafube (literally meaning “a giant thunderclap at dawn”), as it has been named, was discovered in the Free State province of South Africa. Researchers believe that this herbivorous dinosaur was one of the largest creatures on the planet during the Jurassic Age (more or less 200 million years ago). Although it’s a close relative of the brontosaurus, scientists believe that it was a ‘transitional dinosaur’, which means the four-legged bronty evolved from its two-legged predecessors.
Scientists In Australia Discovered World’s Oldest Animal
Almost 558 million years back, a strange creature died on the floor of a prehistoric ocean and the body of the creature sank in the sediment, and the body gradually turned into a fossil. This specific fossil, named Dickinsonia, was first discovered in the 1940s, but it was among a group of mysterious organisms that are believed to have existed many millions of years ago. A group of Australian scientists, however, claimed in September 2018 that it’s the oldest known animal in the world and it can now be included in geo-scientific records. They actually examined the fat molecules of the fossil and verified that the creature actually existed some 558 million years ago. This simply implies that this animal is the great-grandfather of the entire animal kingdom.
Archaeologists Discovered The Oldest Human Drawing
In 2018, archaeologists also came up with verified information on the oldest drawing created by humans. Archaeologists in South Africa discovered a stone flake in a cave with a red cross-hatch pattern drawing on it. They believe that the drawing was done approximately 73,000 years ago, which adds a totally new dimension to our understanding of early human drawings. The drawing is roughly 30,000 years older than a previously discovered drawing. The South African archaeologists believe that the 73,000-year old drawing will help us learn about how humans developed symbols, which culminated into modern languages as well as human civilization itself.
Palaeogeneticists Unearthed The Cadaver Of Possibly The First Hybrid Human
In August this year, a group of paleogeneticists found out a woman who died about 90,000 years ago and was possibly born to two completely different human species. A bone found in a cave of the Altai Mountains in Russia was analyzed by paleogeneticists, who later claimed that the woman was actually half-Denisovan and half-Neanderthal. Scientists have long been of the belief that the Neanderthals and the Denisovans procreated together. This is indeed the first ever evidence of possibly the first cross-species hybrid human.
Liquid Water Was Found On Mars
Scientists of the Italian Space Agency and from different space research organizations have been trying to find traces of liquid water on Mars. The topography of the planet and the ice deposits definitely point towards a sedimentary past, but liquid water was detected for the first time in July this year. The Italian Space Agency even issued a press statement, claiming that they have discovered a below ground lake on the planet using Mars Advanced Radar. They claimed that the underground lake is approximately 3 ft deep and 12.4 miles wide.
2018 has been an eventful year for scientists and researchers and the curious minds in general. We believe 2019 will be a year of even more amazing scientific breakthroughs.
