25th July 2020, 1 min read

Science and Technology links (July 25th 2020)

1. I was taught that human beings only arrived to America recently (15,000 years ago). It turns out that it is wrong. There were human beings in America 30,000 years ago. (Source: Nature)
2. Quantum tuneling is not instantaneous contrary to what you were told.
3. The U.S. Air Force is planning to introduced a new automated combat aircraft. They call it Skyborg.
4. The inexpensive supplement glucosamine seems to be associated with lower risks of death.
5. The Roman empire thrived under warm conditions:
   

This record comparison consistently shows the Roman as the warmest period of the last 2000 years, about 2 °C warmer than average values for the late centuries for the Sicily and Western Mediterranean regions. After the Roman Period a general cooling trend developed in the region with several minor oscillations. We hypothesis the potential link between this Roman Climatic Optimum and the expansion and subsequent decline of the Roman Empire.

(Source: Nature)

It is estimated that current global warming trends could lead to a global rise in temperature by more than 2 °C though less than 3 °C.