Tag Archives: Colorful

Hubble telescope captures the colorful fireworks left by a star’s violent death

The colorful, wispy remains of a star’s violent death glow like fireworks in a spectacular image captured by NASA’s venerable space telescope. 

Located in the Large Magellanic Cloud, a satellite galaxy of the Milky Way, the debris forms delicate sheets and intricate filaments of orange and blue. The stunning strands in the Hubble Space Telescope image are the remnants of a supernova, a powerful explosion triggered when a massive star reaches the end of its life.

Called DEM L 19 or LMC N49, the stellar remains are located around 160,000 light-years from Earth, in the constellation Dorado, and represent the brightest supernova remnant within the Large Magellanic Cloud, Hubble scientists wrote in a statement.

Related: Dazzling imagery of supernova remnant holds clues about star’s death (video)

The colorful strands of gas glowing in orange and blue are the remains of a supernova triggered when a massive star reached the end of its life.   (Image credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA, S. Kulkarni, Y. Chu)

The light from this explosion would have washed over Earth thousands of years ago, and the sheets and fine ropes of material that the supernova left behind will eventually become the building blocks of the next generation of stars in the Large Magellanic Cloud.

The 75-light-year-wide supernova debris cloud wasn’t all the blast left behind, however. Scientists believe that this glowing cloud of material hides a rapidly spinning neutron star created when the core of the exploding massive star collapsed under the tremendous inward pressure of its own gravity.

This neutron star’s mass is around that of the sun or greater, but it’s condensed into the area of a city; it’s so dense, in fact, that a teaspoon of the material within the neutron star would weigh 4 billion tons (3.6 billion metric tons). The ultradense stellar object is spinning once every 8 seconds, and its magnetic field is around a quadrillion times stronger than Earth’s magnetosphere. 

Astronomers discovered this neutron star in 1979, when it blasted out a dramatic, high-energy gamma-ray burst. Since then, it has emitted several more gamma-ray bursts, meaning it is now classified as a “soft gamma-ray repeater.” Rapidly spinning neutron stars with strong magnetic fields blasting out radiation such as this one are also known as pulsars. 

The new image was created using data from two separate investigations of DEM L 19, one of which involved the Hubble Space Telescope’s now-retired Wide Field Planetary Camera 2. The aim of this first investigation was to study how supernova remnants interact with the interstellar medium — the tenuous dust between stars — in the Large Magellanic Cloud. In particular, the team wanted to know how small clouds of gas and dust cause the supernova remnant to evolve and change its structure. 

The aim of the second investigation was to study the gamma-ray repeater hidden within the cloud. 

This isn’t the first time that a stunning image of DEM L 190 has been presented to the public. In 2003, scientists released a Hubble image showing the supernova remnant as puffs of smoke and sparks. 

The new image improves on the previous image by incorporating additional data and by taking advantage of advanced image processing techniques, leading to an even more eye-catching photo.

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Look for bright, colorful shooting stars as Leonid meteor shower peaks this week

The night sky has a show in store for stargazers willing to bundle up against mid-November temperatures in the coming days.

The annual Leonid meteor shower will be gaining in intensity this week, peaking after midnight in the wee hours of Friday, November 18. While this meteor shower will be active all month, at its peak it could deliver approximately 15 to 20 meteors per hour, according to NASA.

As clear, dark skies are best for viewing any meteor shower, the moon’s phase always plays a role in how many meteors that stargazers will get to see. This year during the Leonids peak the moon will be about 35% full, which could obscure fainter meteors.

However, Leonid meteors are known for being colorful, fast and bright, NASA says, with trails that can linger for several seconds as they streak across the sky — meaning some meteors should still be visible despite the moonlight.

The Leonid meteor shower, caused by debris left behind by the comet Tempel-Tuttle, gets its name from the way it appears to originate from the constellation Leo. Roughly every 33 years, skywatchers may get to see a Leonid storm, which can bring with it more than 1,000 meteors per hour. The last Leonid meteor storm was in 2002.

This year, as the constellation Leo will be rising in the east along with the moon around midnight local time, NASA suggests that Leonids watchers lie back and look straight upward, facing away from the east, for the most spectacular meteor trails.

Find more skywatching tips at NASA.gov.

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NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope watched a distant star die, explode, and fade away in rare, colorful detail

The Hubble Space Telescope orbits Earth and studies the universe in gorgeous detail.NASA

  • NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope captured a star that exploded and died 11 billion years ago.

  • A massive galaxy cluster warped light from that supernova into three reflections.

  • The three imprints show different colorful stages of the supernova explosion.

NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope watched a distant star die, explode, and fade away in rare detail.

The star died more than 11 billion years ago, when the universe was less than a fifth of its current age of 13.8 billion years, but the light from its violent explosion just reached Earth. This is the first time astronomers have looked closely at a supernova so early in the universe’s history.

Hubble watched the star collapse, expell its outer layers in a violent explosion, and then cool. Based on the supernova’s brightness and how quickly it cooled, scientists calculated that this star was 500 times larger than the sun. The researchers’ paper was published in the journal Nature on Wednesday.

Three different reflections of the supernova, spotted by NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope.NASA, ESA, STScI, Wenlei Chen (UMN), Patrick Kelly (UMN), Hubble Frontier Fields

“You’ve got the massive star, the core collapses, it produces a shock, it heats up, and then you’re seeing it cool over a week. I think that’s probably one of the most amazing things I’ve ever seen,” Patrick Kelly, study leader and an assistant professor in the University of Minnesota’s School of Physics and Astronomy, said in the NASA press release.

That’s a rare sight, especially so early in the universe, since a supernova’s explosion and cooling happens over the course of just a few hours or days.

The multi-colored faces of a supernova, warped in space-time

Different Hubble observations of the supernovaNASA, ESA, STScI, Wenlei Chen (UMN), Patrick Kelly (UMN), Hubble Frontier Fields

Hubble spotted this supernova through gravitational lensing. That’s what happens when a cluster of distant galaxies is so massive that it warps space-time, bending and magnifying the light from stars far in the distance behind it. That creates mirror images of those stars, reflected back at us.

In this case, the gravitational lensing created three images of the same supernova at different points in time. That’s because the light from the explosion took three different paths around the massive galaxy cluster. The paths had different lengths, so the light arrived at different times, reflecting images from three different stages in the star’s death.

That’s why the three reflections are different colors — as the supernova’s temperature changed rapidly over the course of a week, so did its color. In the early, extremely hot phases, the star appeared blue. As it cooled, it looked redder.

The different colors of the cooling supernova at three different stages in its evolution.NASA, ESA, STScI, Wenlei Chen (UMN), Patrick Kelly (UMN), Hubble Frontier Fields

“It is quite rare that a supernova can be detected at a very early stage, because that stage is really short,” Wenlei Chen, a postdoctoral researcher in the University of Minnesota School of Physics and Astronomy, who studied this supernova, said in the statement.

“It only lasts for hours to a few days, and it can be easily missed even for a nearby detection. In the same exposure, we are able to see a sequence of the images — like multiple faces of a supernova,” Chen said.

Read the original article on Business Insider

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Webb telescope captures colorful Cartwheel Galaxy, 500 million light-years away

PARIS, France — The James Webb Space Telescope has peered through time and huge amounts of dust to capture a new image of the Cartwheel Galaxy, revealing the spinning ring of color in unprecedented clarity, NASA and the European Space Agency said Tuesday.

Located around 500 million light-years from Earth in the constellation Sculptor, the Cartwheel gained its shape during a spectacular head-on collision between two galaxies.

The impact sent two rings expanding from the galaxy’s center, “like ripples in a pond after a stone is tossed into it”, NASA and the ESA said in a joint statement.

A smaller white ring remains closer to the galaxy’s center, while the outer ring, with its spokes of color, has been expanding into the universe for around 440 million years, the statement added.

As the outer ring expands it runs into gas, sparking the formation of new stars.

The Hubble telescope had previously captured images of the rare ring galaxy, which is believed to have been a spiral galaxy like our own Milky Way before it was hit by a smaller intruder galaxy.

This image of a ring-shaped galaxy known as the Cartwheel was taken from Webb’s Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI) (NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, Webb ERO Production Team)

But the Webb telescope, which launched in December 2021 and revealed its first images to global fanfare last month, has a far greater reach.

Webb’s ability to detect infrared light allowed it to see through the “tremendous amount of hot dust” obscuring the view of the Cartwheel Galaxy, NASA and the ESA said.

This revealed new details about star formation in the galaxy, as well as the behavior of the supermassive black hole at its heart, they said.

It was also able to detect regions rich in hydrocarbons and other chemicals, as well as dust that is similar to dust on Earth.

Behind the Cartwheel, two smaller galaxies shine brightly, while even more galaxies can be seen behind them.

The observations show that the Cartwheel Galaxy is still in “very transitory stage,” the space agencies said.

“While Webb gives us a snapshot of the current state of the Cartwheel, it also provides insight into what happened to this galaxy in the past and how it will evolve in the future.”

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Brad Pitt rocks a colorful green suit while hitting the red carpet at the Bullet Train premiere

Brad Pitt rocks a colorful green suit while hitting the red carpet at the Los Angeles premiere of his new film Bullet Train

Brad Pitt rocked a rather colorful ensemble while hitting the red carpet at the Los Angeles premiere for his new film Bullet Train.

The 58-year-old actor was all smiles at the premiere, held at the Regency Village Theatre in Los Angeles on Monday.

The actor was also seen posing on the red carpet with his co-star Logan Lerman and his longtime manager Cynthia Pett-Dante.

Colorful: Brad Pitt, 58, rocked a rather colorful ensemble while hitting the red carpet at the Los Angeles premiere for his new film Bullet Train. He actor was all smiles at the premiere, held at the Regency Village Theatre in LA on Monday

Pitt stepped out with a teal knit top under a light lime green coat with matching baggy pants.

He also sported the early makings of a salt-and-pepper goatee for his night on the red carpet.

The actor completed his look with a pair of yellow Adidas sneakers with maroon stripes.

Brad and Logan: The actor was also seen posing on the red carpet with his co-star Logan Lerman

Brad and Cynthia: Brad Pitt also hit the red carpet with his longtime manager Cynthia Pett-Dante

Brad’s look: Pitt stepped out with a teal knit top under a light lime green coat with matching baggy pants

Goatee: He also sported the early makings of a salt-and-pepper goatee for his night on the red carpet

The Los Angeles premiere marked a return home for Pitt, after the last few weeks jet-setting around the globe for international premieres of Bullet Train.

He was first spotted in Paris on July 18, before traveling to Berlin for a premiere there the very next day.

He completed his three-cities-in-three-days promo tour with the London premiere just a day after Berlin. 

Jet setting: The Los Angeles premiere marked a return home for Pitt, after the last few weeks jet-setting around the globe for international premieres of Bullet Train

Berlin: He was first spotted in Paris on July 18, before traveling to Berlin for a premiere there the very next day

Bullet Train is based on the 2010 novel Maria Beetle by Kōtarō Isaka, which was adapted for this film by Zak Olkewicz (Fear Street: Part Two — 1978).

Pitt stars as an assassin known as Ladybug, who is trying to leave his deadly world behind when he’s coaxed into one last job by his handler Maria Beetle (Sandra Bullock).

His mission is to board a bullet train from Tokyo to Kyoto and retrieve a briefcase, though he soon learns there are other assassins on board with the same objective. 

New movie: Bullet Train is based on the 2010 novel Maria Beetle by Kōtarō Isaka, which was adapted for this film by Zak Olkewicz (Fear Street: Part Two – 1978)

Assassin: Pitt stars as an assassin known as Ladybug, who is trying to leave his deadly world behind when he’s coaxed into one last job by his handler Maria Beetle (Sandra Bullock)

More assassins: His mission is to board a bullet train from Tokyo to Kyoto and retrieve a briefcase, though he soon learns there are other assassins on board with the same objective

After Bullet Train hits theaters, Pitt will next be seen in the highly-anticipated Damien Chazelle film Babylon.

The film is set in Hollywood’s transitional period from the silent film era to the ‘talkies,’ arriving in limited release Christmas Day and January 6, 2023 in wide release. 

He’s also slated to reunite with his Ocean’s Eleven co-star George Clooney in an untitled project about a pair of high-powered fixers who get assigned the same job. 

Coming soon: After Bullet Train hits theaters, Pitt will next be seen in the highly-anticipated Damien Chazelle film Babylon

Transition: The film is set in Hollywood’s transitional period from the silent film era to the ‘talkies,’ arriving in limited release Christmas Day and January 6, 2023 in wide release

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Logitech made colorful, more gender-inclusive PC gaming accessories

Logitech has announced a lineup of PC gaming accessories that are designed to be more gender-inclusive — and specifically geared toward women — than any of its previous releases. Companies shouldn’t be trying to market consumer technology by gender in 2022 and should instead recognize the wide variety of tastes and physical needs consumers have. But Logitech’s gone and done it anyway.

And the gadgets in the Aurora collection do seem cool, and notably, they’re new — not just new colorways of existing products. But aside from a few interesting features across the entirety of the Aurora collection, it still feels like a case of the pink tax at work.

With its latest collection of gaming accessories (and the many pricey add-ons you can purchase to customize them), Logitech wants to let you know that it now recognizes under-represented groups… the same groups that it has largely ignored for years.

A wide variety of genders enjoy playing games and using all the accessories required, but many peripheral companies, Logitech included, have spent a very long time designing products for a very specific type of gamer: one with larger than average hands and who is comfortable using peripherals decked out in dark colors and RGB lighting.

Logitech has slowly realized that not everything needs to look like it comes from the office IT department or from wherever the “gamer aesthetic” emerged. It started offering accessories with more rounded corners and fun colors in the last few years. The Aurora collection focused more on gaming than the productivity-oriented peripherals previously launched. Only, in addition to neat looks that lean on “gender-inclusivity” marketing, this collection has beyond-accessible prices and surprisingly lousy battery life claims.

The G735 isn’t all that vibrant by default, with just its RGB LEDs.
Logitech

The head of the class in terms of price and impressive features is the $229.99 G735 wireless headset. It looks like a more whimsical version of the G Pro X model, clad in white with RGB LEDs tracing around the perimeter of its bulbous, rotating earcups. Like the much more affordable ($50 or so) G435 wireless headset, the G735 features braille on each sidearm to identify left from right, which is a great accessibility feature that more companies should copy. Logitech claims that the G735’s design is more inclusive because it can accommodate smaller heads and things like small earrings and glasses. While that’s technically true, it’s weird that it apparently only makes its other headsets for people with giant heads and perfect vision.

The G735 features dual wireless connectivity, the ability to connect via 2.4GHz and, say, your phone via Bluetooth. Logitech says that the G735 can last around 16 hours with the LED lighting on and at 50 percent volume. Most wireless headsets these days tout day-long battery life, at least, so this is a disappointing figure. Turning off the lighting apparently bumps it up to around a 56-hour lifespan per charge.

The G715 and G713 include a cloud-shaped wrist rest, which otherwise costs $20 by itself.
Logitech

The $199.99 wireless G715, alongside the $169.99 wired G713, are tenkeyless models that feature media keys, a volume wheel, and a whole lot of RGB LEDs. In addition to backlighting beneath each of their double-shot PBT keycaps, they have LEDs surrounding the keyboard to give off an aura. Logitech says you’ll be able to choose between tactile, linear, or clicky mechanical GX switches at the time of purchase.

The G715 can tether wirelessly to the included Lightspeed 2.4GHz dongle or connect via Bluetooth. Logitech says you can expect around 25 hours of battery per charge. Like the headset, that’s on the low end of the spectrum for longevity, considering its high price.

The G705’s color can’t be changed (outside of its LEDs), but you can purchase a $30 mousepad to brighten things up.
Logitech

Lastly, the $99.99 G705 wireless mouse is the first mouse that Logitech says was “intentionally” designed for players with smaller hands. From one angle, it looks like your ordinary gaming mouse, but from the angle that exposes its two thumb buttons, it looks more like an ergonomic mouse with its contoured thumb rest. It has a “gaming-grade” sensor (Logitech didn’t confirm the exact sensor ahead of publication) with up to 8,200 DPI of sensitivity, and it can last up to 40 hours with the LEDs enabled. That battery life isn’t great. If it sounds like I’m beating a dead horse, it’s because I am.

Buying Logitech accessories is rarely affordable, and the Aurora collection is no exception. It’ll cost you $499.97 (assuming you bought the wired G713, not the G715 that’s $30 more) to purchase each of the three items, but why stop there? There are add-ons to buy, too!

  • The G735 comes in white, but you can purchase a different colored boom microphone bundled with two ear pads (in pink or neon green) for $20.
  • As for the keyboards, you can purchase top plates for either keyboard for $20, and don’t forget a $40 set of keycaps.
  • For the mouse, there are two accessories to buy, including a $29.99 15.75 x 18-inch mousepad and a $40 heart-shaped carrying case for both the G735 headset and the G705 mouse.
  • If you’re all in on Logitech’s inclusive lineup and you purchase one of each add-on, you’ll pay at least $649.97.

Many tech companies, including Logitech, love to explain to the press how each of its new gadgets is the byproduct of a lot of user research, testing, and collaboration with the intended audience as if those are the ingredients that will guarantee a great product that’s angled in an authentic way. The team behind this collection seemed excited by the idea that its new products will make some people feel seen, and honestly, that’s great. Design that’s too focused on one very specific group makes for products that feel repetitive and potentially off-putting. Logitech making gaming mice for smaller hands and headsets that can be worn with eyeglasses are all good things. Making gaming less insular is a very good thing.

But it’s the crummy-sounding battery life — because Logitech doesn’t want to solve the problem of smaller gadgets requiring less space for batteries — that’s a problem. It’s the high price that’s a problem.

If your target audience can’t afford the product or use it for the same amount of time as something cheaper, then how inclusive or accessible is it, really?

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Chicory: A Colorful Tale is a perfect co-op game

Dear Polygon,

I like finding games (not necessarily co-op) that I can play with my wife. The most real successful game we sort of played together was Samorost 3 — the vibe, the puzzles, the creativity, we both enjoyed immensely. I personally play a wide variety of games, but finding something that my wife and I can kind of talk about and play together as a single-player game can be a bit tough. Things with story, some puzzles, and interesting aesthetics are likely to draw her in!

We’re keen to explore some of Amanita’s other games like Samorost 3, and we have our eye on Stray, since we both love cats. My wife also tends to get motion sickness from watching video games that are too much first person head bobbing and looking around, so that is a bit of a limiter.

— Bret

Hi, Bret. Finding the right game to play with a companion is really important, because the wrong game can cause chaos and frustration on both players’ parts — especially if one is less experienced than the other. If you’re looking for a collaborative experience, you aren’t going to want to play a competitive classic like Mario Party or an input-heavy, intense game like Overcooked. Finding the right cooperative game is something I’ve absolutely struggled with — especially when playing with friends or family who aren’t as used to games as me.

I know you’re not necessarily looking for a game to play cooperatively, but I think I’ve got a game that will be perfect nonetheless. And it just happens to be co-op.

While my husband and I do occasionally play competitive games like Overwatch together, we both have much more fun when there’s collaboration. He’s not as into games as I am, and I admit to getting a little frustrated if he can’t keep up. But last year, I found one game that was perfect for us: Chicory: A Colorful Tale.

Chicory: A Colorful Tale is a 2D adventure game about a dog with a paintbrush that needs to bring color back to a black-and-white world. When Chicory, a famous painter and paintbrush wielder, stops painting, it’s the player’s job to take over. The most exciting element (at least, for you, dear reader) is that it can be played with two players, with one person navigating the dog, Pizza, through the world, while the second player takes control of the paintbrush. (Pizza is the dog’s canon name, but you choose a name based on your favorite food. If you are me, then your Pizza would be named Watercress. If you were reviews editor Mike Mahardy, then your dog would be Cacciatore.)

Each of these players has different abilities, all of which are key in solving Chicory’s puzzles. The player controlling Pizza is in charge of navigating the actual game world — where your controller dictates, Pizza goes. This player is responsible for maneuvering through puzzles and interacting with the environment, and also talking to non-playable characters. The player on the paintbrush, on the other hand, is responsible for coloring the world. The paintbrush moves independently of Pizza, and the second player has a number of different colors and brushes at their disposal. They’ve got the fun of coloring everything in, but it’s still an essential part of the game. Many of Chicory’s puzzles require paint to adjust the world in key ways: For instance, there are flowers that need color to bloom, and in their bloomed state, they become a bridge for Pizza to pass over. When they’re uncolored, they turn back to small flowers, and Pizza cannot pass.

These sorts of puzzles range widely in terms of difficulty and involvement from both players, and the fun of it is in figuring out what bits move and change, and how — or if — color will change the world in some intriguing way. It’s a multiplayer dynamic that requires players to talk to each other while playing, to ask for help and give ideas. But it’s also really fulfilling when both players eventually understand each other and the game’s language so well that those same calls for help are no longer necessary.

I think it might be something you and your wife really enjoy. It’s a truly beautiful game with lovely design, real heart, and a touching story — personally, it was my favorite game last year!

Also, I’d like to thank you for a recommendation! I hadn’t heard of Samorost 3 — or any of the Samorost games — before reading your letter. The art style is stunning, and I can’t wait to give it a go. Chicory: A Colorful Tale seems totally different, but I’d love to hear how you and your wife fare with it.

—Nicole

P.S.: Citizen Sleeper is another game my husband and I are playing through together. It’s single-player, so one of us is doing the controls and the other is just helping make decisions. It’s like a digital tabletop role-playing game with a lot of reading and decisions to be made. Your wife definitely won’t get motion sick here!

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Pterosaurs were covered with colorful feathers, study says

Now we know. Not only did these flying reptiles have feathers, but they could actually control the color of those feathers on a cellular level to create multicolor plumage in a way similar to modern birds, new research has revealed.

These color patterns, determined by melanin pigments, may have been used as a way for pterosaur species to communicate with each other. A study detailing these findings published Wednesday in the journal Nature.

Researchers analyzed the fossilized headcrest of Tupandactylus imperator, a pterosaur that lived 115 million years ago in Brazil. Upon closer inspection, the paleontologists realized that the bottom of this huge headcrest was rimmed with two kinds of feathers: short, wiry ones that were more similar to hair, as well as fluffier ones that branch like bird feathers.

“We didn’t expect to see this at all,” said lead study author Aude Cincotta, a paleontologist and postdoctoral researcher at the University College Cork in Ireland, in a statement.

“For decades, palaeontologists have argued about whether pterosaurs had feathers,” Cincotta said. “The feathers in our specimen close off that debate for good as they are very clearly branched all the way along their length, just like birds today.”

The research team studied the feathers with electron microscopes and were surprised to find preserved melanosomes, or granules of melanin. These granules had different shapes, depending on the types of feathers they were associated with on the pterosaur fossil. Patchy color was also found in the preserved soft tissue.

“In birds today, feather colour is strongly linked to melanosome shape,” said study coauthor Maria McNamara, professor of paleontology in the University College Cork’s School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences, in a statement.

“Since the pterosaur feather types had different melanosome shapes, these animals must have had the genetic machinery to control the colours of their feathers. This feature is essential for colour patterning and shows that coloration was a critical feature of even the very earliest feathers.”

Previously, scientists understood that pterosaurs had some kind of whisker-like fluffy covering to help keep them insulated. The new research confirms that this fuzz was actually made from different types of feathers. These feathers and the surrounding skin had different colors, like black, brown, ginger, gray and other tones associated with the different melanin granules.

“This strongly suggests that the pterosaur feathers had different colours,” McNamara said. “The presence of this feature in both dinosaurs (including birds) and pterosaurs indicates shared ancestry, where this feature derives from a common ancestor that lived in the Early Triassic (250 million years ago). Colouration was therefore probably an important driving force in the evolution of feathers even in the earliest days of their evolutionary history.”

Some of these colors helped the pterosaurs to share visual signals with one another, but the team isn’t quite sure what those signals would have meant.

“We would need to know the precise hue and pattern to work this out,” McNamara said. “Unfortunately we can’t do either at the moment, with current data. We need to look at melanosomes in feathers across the body to work out whether they were patterned, and we need to figure out whether traces of non-melanin pigments can be detected.”

Tupandactylus was an odd-looking creature, with a wingspan of 16 feet (5 meters) and a huge (albeit lightweight) head with toothless jaws. Its giant crest had irregular blooms of color.

“Perhaps they were used in pre-mating rituals, just as certain birds use colourful tail fans, wings and head crests to attract mates,” wrote Michael Benton, a professor of vertebrate paleontology at the University of Bristol’s School of Earth Sciences, in a News and Views article that published with the study. Benton was not involved in the research.

“Modern birds are renowned for the diversity and complexity of their colourful displays, and for the role of these aspects of sexual selection in bird evolution, and the same might be true for a wide array of extinct animals, including dinosaurs and pterosaurs,” Benton wrote.

The discovery could allow for a better understanding of pterosaurs, which first appeared about 230 million years ago and went extinct along with the dinosaurs 66 million years ago.

“This finding opens up opportunities to explore new aspects of pterosaur behaviour, and to revisit previously described specimens for further insights into feather structure and functional evolution,” McNamara said.

The fossil, originally recovered from northeastern Brazil, has been repatriated to its home country thanks to efforts by the scientists and a private donor.

“It is so important that scientifically important fossils such as this are returned to their countries of origin and safely conserved for posterity” said study coauthor Pascal Godefroit, paleontologist at the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences, in a statement. “These fossils can then be made available to scientists for further study and can inspire future generations of scientists through public exhibitions that celebrate our natural heritage”.

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Nanoleaf’s colorful, LED light bars are on sale at Amazon and Best Buy

If you’re on the market for artistic LED lighting to decorate your home with, Nanoleaf’s new Lines are some of the best lights you can buy. At $200, however, they’re also some of the more expensive. Luckily, you can now get these stunning lights as a part of a starter set for a little less. Regularly $199.99, Nanoleaf’s new Lines Smarter Kit — which includes an adapter and nine Lines you can affix to your wall to display colorful lights in a variety of patterns — is on sale for $179.99 at Amazon and Best Buy.

Unlike Nanoleaf’s other lighting fixtures, these LED light bars are backlit, making them perfect for sticking behind a gaming monitor or TV. There’s also a music visualizer that uses a built-in microphone to pick up on ambient noise and pulse the lights in time with your music, as well as a screen mirroring feature that allows the lights to mimic the colors actively being displayed on your monitor or TV screen. The Nanoleaf companion app additionally offers 19 pre-loaded scenes, so you can create a sunset-like effect or add that thumping nightclub vibe to your room you’ve been pining for since the pandemic started.

On the compatibility front, the Lines offer support for Amazon Alexa, Apple HomeKit, and Google Assistant, so you can play these scenes either by touching a button in the app or issuing a voice command. They even support Thread, meaning they’ll be able to integrate with the new Matter standard when it launches in the fall. Note, however, that these lights can’t physically connect with other Nanoleaf panels, just in case you own others and want to link them. Read our review.

Nanoleaf Lines Smarter Kit

The Nanoleaf Lines Smarter Kit comes with an adapter and nine LED light bars, allowing you to add color to your wall in a variety of patterns. The lights can also sync with your music and mirror the colors on your display or make use of an assortment of pre-loaded seems via a companion app.

The Amazfit Bip S is the best affordable fitness tracker on the market, one that is far cheaper than your average Fitbit or Apple Watch. It’s an even better buy today, now that Walmart is selling the black model for $49 ($21 off), the lowest price we’ve seen the wearable sell for this year.

The Amazfit Bip S may not be as attractive as other trackers on the market, but like some of its more expensive rivals, it delivers accurate results, offers built-in GPS, and features a colorful always-on display. You won’t need to worry about it running out of battery life, either, as the fitness track offers two weeks of battery life, as well as other useful features, like continuous heart rate monitoring and advanced sleep tracking. While it’s less of a smartwatch and more of a fitness tracker, it’s compatible with both iOS and Android, allowing you to view notifications, control music playback, and edit watch faces.

Amazfit Bip S

An affordable fitness tracker that offers built-in GPS, always-on display, advanced sleep tracking, and two-week battery life for under $100.

Photo taken using DJI Mavic’s Air 2S drone.
Image:  Vjeran Pavic / The Verge

If you’re looking to step into the world of aerial photography or upgrade your existing setup, you can save hundreds right now on a DJI Mavic Air 2S bundle at B&H Photo. Normally $2,498, you can buy a kit containing the drone, a DJI RC Pro controller, and accessories at B&H Photo and Adorama for $1,749 — the bundle’s lowest price to date. The new controller offers a 5.5-inch, 1080p display boasting up to 1,000 nits of peak brightness, along with the same control sticks found on the FJI FPV drone. In addition to the controller, the bundle also includes three batteries, a gimbal protector, a shoulder bag, a pair of control sticks, and a handful of other accessories.

In our review, we called the compact Mavic Air 2S a fantastic drone for beginners and experts alike. It’s compact, much like the DJI Mini 2, but more capable thanks to its larger image sensor and improved zoom capabilities. The drone offers a one-inch, 20-megapixel camera sensor, which is the same size as the one found in the larger, higher-end Mavic 2 Pro. It’s also capable of recording 5.4K videos and 4K up to 60fps.

However, some of these upgrades come with downsides. DJI rates the battery at 31 minutes of flight time, which is slightly less than the Mavic Air 2’s, and you can’t digitally zoom in while shooting in some modes or while taking photos. There’s also some significant cropping that occurs when you record in 4K at 60fps.

DJI Mavic Air 2S Fly More Combo

The DJI Mavic Air 2S drone might be small, yet it offers great image quality thanks to its one-inch, 20-megapixel camera sensor, one that’s capable of recording 5.4K videos.

If you’d like a media remote for your Xbox console, 8BitDo’s larger Media Remote is an affordable choice that’s compatible with both the Xbox One and Xbox Series X / S. Unlike the Short Edition, the Long Edition comes with a number pad as well as some extra buttons for features like closed captioning. Both remotes also come with backlighting and Xbox buttons to easily navigate menus and apps, as well as a Home button so you can immediately wake up your Xbox. As an infrared remote, you also don’t need to worry about pairing or setting it up, allowing you to immediately use it with your Xbox console. You do need to make sure the Xbox is within the remote’s line of sight, however; otherwise, it won’t work.

Normally $24.99, Amazon is currently selling the Long Edition for $21.10 — a modest yet rare discount. Read our review.

8BitDo Media Remote (Long-Edition)

8BitDo’s infrared media remote offers Xbox buttons so you can easily navigate menus and apps, as well as a Home button that wakes up your Xbox instantly.

Summer is slowly yet steadily approaching. Luckily, if you’re on the market for a portable speaker you can use as you lounge around the house or by the pool, both Amazon and Walmart are selling JBL’s last-gen Flip 5 right now in select colors for $99. That’s a $30 discount and the lowest price we’ve seen this year on the portable Bluetooth speaker, which offers robust sound for its size, full IPX7 waterproofing, and can be paired with JBL PartyBoost-compatible speakers for stereo sound. It’s not dustproof like last year’s Flip 6, sure, but it’s also currently available for $50 less.

JBL Flip 5

JBL’s Flip 5 is a no-frills, portable Bluetooth speaker that offers a rugged, waterproof exterior, stereo pairing, and all-day battery life.

Here are some other ways you can save today

  • Best Buy is currently taking $25 off of the base Kindle from 2019, selling the 8GB, ad-supported model for $64.99 instead of $89.99. You can also get an extra $20 off if you buy two Kindles. While the display isn’t as nice as the ones found on newer models, and the battery doesn’t last quite as long, it still offers a built-in light and an affordable price tag. Read our review.
  • You can buy both the physical and digital versions of Adobe Photoshop Elements and Premiere Elements for PC and Mac for $99.99 at Amazon and B&H. While that’s not the all-time low we saw the software go for during Black Friday, it’s still a notable $50 discount.

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Lead Chicory: A Colorful Tale dev teases new game

With 2022 upon us, many consumers are likely looking forward to major triple-A games in the coming months such as Horizon Forbidden West and Dying Light 2. Fortunately, lovers of indie games aren’t left out in the cold. Anyone that enjoyed last year’s Chicory: A Colorful Tale may want to keep their eyes on the team’s next project.

Greg Lobanov, Chicory’s lead developer, posted a tweet stating that he is working on a new project with the studio. Lobanov hopes to share more details at some point in 2022, but didn’t make any promises. Given the phrasing, it’s likely that fans shouldn’t expect the game to release until 2023 at the earliest.

In addition to teasing the new game, Lobanov also posted a job listing for concepts artists. Examining the listing unveils that they’re specifically looking for creature concept artists, indicating that the next project will likely revolve around anthropomorphic animals as with Chicory: A Colorful Tale.

Beyond this, there’s not much else fans can do except wait until further details come along. For the uninitiated, Chicory: A Colorful Tale is an adventure/puzzle game, in which the primary mode of interaction and progression involves painting the black and white landscape inhabited by its denizens. It was positively received for wrapping its mechanics within a touching narrative that players connected with. Fans can cross their fingers that the next game involves a similar fusion of elements.



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