Just because they’re huge and garish doesn’t mean they’re easy to find.

Even though we are led to believe that during the Cretaceous the Earth used to be an exclusive home for fearsome giants, including carnivorous velociraptors and arthropods larger than a modern adult human, it turns out that there was still room for harmless minute invertebrates measuring only several millimetres.

Such is the case of a tiny millipede of only 8.2 mm in length, recently found in 99-million-year-old amber in Myanmar. Using the latest research technologies, the scientists concluded that not only were they handling the first fossil millipede of the order (Callipodida) and also the smallest amongst its contemporary relatives, but that its morphology was so unusual that it drastically deviated from its contemporary relatives.

As a result, Prof. Pavel Stoev of the National Museum of Natural History (Bulgaria) together with his colleagues Dr. Thomas Wesener and Leif Moritz of the Zoological Research Museum Alexander Koenig (Germany) had to revise the current millipede classification and introduce a new suborder. To put it in perspective, there have only been a handful of millipede suborders erected in the last 50 years. The findings are published in the open-access journal ZooKeys.

The outbreak of the Wuhan coronavirus in central China has infected thousands and spread overseas, raising the specter of a potential global epidemic as authorities desperately try to contain it.

Since the first case was identified in early December in Wuhan, capital of Hubei province, more than 5,900 people have fallen sick and at least 132 people have died in mainland China. In addition, there are dozens of confirmed cases in 17 locations outside of mainland China, including at least five in the United States.

The number of total cases worldwide now exceeds 6,000.

Here’s a look back at our coverage of Columbia’s final mission, the tragic loss of seven astronauts, and the investigation into the cause of the accident: https://spaceflightnow.com/shuttle/sts107/

In 2016, a well preserved praying mantis preserved in Dominican amber sold at auction for $6,000. The amber dates to the Oligocene period, about 33.9 million to 23 years ago.

A crazy Kickstarter project

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/300948436/glamos-bring-…ns-to-life

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Glamos is a tiny yet mighty device that uses LiDAR tech to turn any screen at home or the office into a fully interactive touch screen!

Circa 2016

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After a long period of historical neglect, the Holy Roman Empire has finally found a modern chronicler to bring it back to life for contemporary readers.

By Aram Bakshian Jr.

Peter H. Wilson, Heart of Europe: A History of the Holy Roman Empire (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2016), 941 pp., $39.95.

You can now get quick access to all official coronavirus resources on top of Google Search.

“Imagination is more important than knowledge.”–Albert Einstein.