Science last week | NASA turns Webb images to sound, evidence of oldest-known amputation and more

Here are some of the major discoveries and findings in the field of science last week.

This week has been filled with some amazing discoveries in the world of science. From stunning pictures of new stars being formed in a nebula to finding evidence of what could be the first amputation ever performed on humans, here are some major findings.

Scientists have finally solved the mysterious ‘cocoon’ which was earlier thought to be part of the Fermi Bubbles emitted from the black hole at the centre of our galaxy, the Milky Way. The much-puzzled over ‘cocoon’ has been found to be a part of the dwarf galaxy orbiting the Milky Way and is actually formed by gamma rays emitted by fast-spinning extreme stars called “millisecond pulsars”.

You can now hear images that is captured by the James Webb Telescope. NASA is adding another layer of experience to the stunning pictures captured by Webb telescope through signification. It is translating the images and data captured by Webb telescope into sounds that can be heard. NASA believes that converting the images will help visually-impaired people to ‘see’ the pictures of distant celestial objects.

The Webb telescope has also captured the vivid colours of the Tarantula Nebula. These are the first pictures of the stellar nursery which shows the creation of protostars in its dust clouds.

In an astonishing discovery, a 31,000-year-old skeleton of a young adult has been found in an Indonesian cave that is missing its left foot. The part of its left leg reveal that it might be the oldest-known evidence of an amputation. The discovery of the Stone-Age skeleton shows that humans were making medical advances much earlier that previously thought.

In another bizarre discovery, the remains of a young female with a sickle around her neck and a triangular padlock on her foot have been unearthed by archaeologists in Poland. Archaeologists have suggested that the sickle and the padlock signified ancient superstitions from the 17th century which prevented a deceased person from rising back from the dead. The ‘vampire’ also had a silk headdress woven with gold or silver thread, signifying high social status. 

Scientists have also discovered a near-complete skeleton of an early dinosaur in Zimbabwe. Found for the first time on the African continent, the skeleton proves a long standing theory that dinosaurs were restricted by climatic conditions rather than physical barriers in the supercontinent of Pangea.