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DIVINATION 450 BC. “Monstrous omens appear four times in Herodotus: a concubine of the king of Sardis gives birth to a lion (1.84), a donkey is born with male and female genitalia (7.57), a horse gives birth to a hare (7.57) and fish come back to life whilst being cooked (9.120).” https://lnkd.in/dKzNaDGj View in LinkedIn

It is again the season for this specialized fungus that likes dog scat. View in LinkedIn

SO ENDS this first of two weekends on the evolution of language. While most definitions of life do not include communication, I do, at all levels. Thus although human language has tremendous power and flexibility it is a great mistake to think that it is uniquely human. That said, the evolution of such a complex language in man is an extremely interesting problem. It is still evolving, but as quantum physics shows, we are fast approaching the place where words fail. View in LinkedIn

BREEDING GROUND. “Recent ALMA observations presented by Trakhtenbrot et al. have revealed a large number, ~50%, of massive star-forming galaxies interacting with quasar hosts (within

BLACK HOLE MERGERS. “The acquired kick velocity can be as large as ~ 100 kms(−1), enough to eject the coalesced binary out of the host galaxy.” https://lnkd.in/dHcpNrnR View in LinkedIn

BLACK HOLE MERGERS. “In major mergers, BHs follow the fate of their host galaxies, coalescing to form a more massive BH. However, during this process, a large centre-of-mass recoil (kick) can be imparted to the newly formed BH as a consequence of asymmetric GW emission.” (BH = black hole; GW = gravitational wave). https://lnkd.in/dHcpNrnR View in LinkedIn

BLACK HOLE SEEDS. “The chemical enrichment of a given halo is indeed the result of the ongoing and past star formation (i.e. metals and dust produced by stars in the parent galaxy and/or its progenitors) as well as contamination by infalling material from outside the halo (galactic winds). Both self-enrichment and winds play a role in setting the conditions for seed BH formation.” (BH = black hole). https://lnkd.in/dHcpNrnR View in LinkedIn

NEW ELEMENTS. “As the first generation of stars form in the Universe, they also create the first wave of metals that provide the conditions for Pop II star formation.” https://lnkd.in/dHcpNrnR View in LinkedIn

ENORMOUSLY ACTIVE. “Massive and fast large scale gas outflows, associated to quasar activity, have been observed in local and high-redshift quasars.” https://lnkd.in/dHcpNrnR View in LinkedIn