Giant Swan

Giant Swan also known as Cygnus falconeri is an extinct specie of very large swan from the Middle Pleistocene period of Sicily and Malta.  It had a wingspan of 3 metres and weighed about 16 pounds. Research suggests it was well adapted for walking but had little or no flying ability.  It would have been taller than the dwarf elephants that roamed the region. It became extinct before the arrival of humans in the region.  The...

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Kepler 186-f is more habitable than previously thought.

An extrasolar world 500 light years away could be the most promising place yet to look for alien life. In a recent study, researchers from the Georgia Institute of Technology used computer simulations to analyze the planet's spin-axis dynamics and to determine how much its tilt changes over time. The findings indicated that Kepler-186f's tilt is actually stable like that of the Earth, meaning that it has seasons and climates, just...

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Mystery of the lost letter of Columbus

A copy of a letter written by Christopher Columbus was stolen from the Vatican and replaced with a fake. The letter, which was acquired by the Vatican Apostolic Library in 1921, was a copy of a letter that Columbus had written in 1493 to describe his first impressions of the Caribbean islands. Intended for the eyes of King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Spain, the letter described a land "full of trees of endless varieties,...

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