Australian Science Illustrated – Issue 51 2017

SCIENCE UPDATE

14 | SCIENCE ILLUSTRATED

NEW SUPER MATERIAL IS

STRONGER THAN STEEL

Scientists from MIT in the

US have designed one of

the strongest materials yet.

With a combination of heat

and pressure, they

managed to compress

flakes of graphene – a 2D

wonder-material only one

carbon atom thick - into a

sponge-like structure

resembling coral. The

material is 10 times

stronger than steel, and

could become an important

building material one day.

Aurochs engraved

38,000 years ago

A prehistoric human engraved the neat

outline of an aurochs 38,000 years ago.

ARCHAEOLOGY In a grotto in South-

Western France, scientists from the New

York University among others, have found a

limestone slab including one of the oldest

European works of art yet seen.

The work is no less than 38,000 years old

and depicts an aurochs with horns, head,

and body, engraved into the stone slab. The

artist who made the prehistoric work of art

belonged to the Aurignacian culture, which

flourished in Stone Age Europe and the Near

East 43,000-33,000 years ago. These anatom-

ically modern people were very good at

making flint tools such as knives and pointed

tools such as drills, prickers, and chisels. The

tools were used for hunting and for making

the oldest art works known in Europe.

90.8 years

Life expectancy of a baby girl born in South Korea in 2030,

which demographers believe will be the first place in the

world where women's average lifespan will be over 90.

Wild bison recapture their old home turf

A herd of 16 bison have been reintroduced into a Canadian national park,for the

first time in over 130 years. They left the area due to hunting, but now 10 females

and 6 bull calves have been ferried to the hard-to-access park by helicopter.

LOCAL FOCAL POINT – Banff National Park, Canada

WAS THE CRADLE OF ART

IN MODERN FRANCE?

The stone slab with the aurochs

was discovered in the Abri Blanchard

grotto, which is located near Vézère

River in France. Scientists found lots

of jewellery and cave paintings from

the Aurignacian culture.

HEAD AND HORNS

BODY

FRANCE

Vézère

Paris

PHILIPPE JUGIE/MUSÉE NATIONAL DE PRÉHISTOIRE

MELANIE GONICK/MIT DAN RAFLA/PARKS CANADA