The science world has paid homage to Johnny Depp by giving his name to an extinct creepy-crawly with “scissor hand-like” claws reminiscent of one of the Hollywood actor’s best-known roles.
Kooteninchela deppi, a 505-million-year-old distant ancestor of lobsters and scorpions, has been named for Depp’s famous portrayal of a gentle freak named Edward Scissorhands in the 1990 eponymous film, according to a study in the Journal of Palaeontology.
“When I first saw the pair of isolated claws in the fossil records of this species, I could not help but think of Edward Scissorhands,” researcher David Legg of Imperial College London said in a statement.
Photo: AFP
照片:法新社
The “chela” in the genus name Kooteninchela given to the recently-discovered fossilized critter is another reference to the film character, as it means “claws” or “scissors” in Latin.
The animal, about four centimeters long with millipede-like legs, lived in shallow seas off the coast of British Columbia in Canada during the Cambrian period. It was probably a hunter or scavenger, using its claws with their elongated spines to capture prey or probe the sea floor for creatures in hiding.
(AFP)
Photo: AFP
照片:法新社
科學界最近向好萊塢影星強尼戴普致敬,用他的名字來替一種長有類似「剪刀手」螯足的已絕種生物命名,因為這種螯足令人想起戴普所扮演過最知名的角色之一。
根據《古生物學期刊》上的一份研究指出,距今五億五百萬年的生物Kooteninchela deppi是龍蝦和蠍子的遠祖,因為令人想起戴普在一九九○年同名電影中所扮演的知名角色、性格溫和的怪胎剪刀手愛德華,而以戴普來命名。
「當我第一次看到這種生物化石紀錄裡的那對獨立螯足時,實在禁不住想起剪刀手愛德華。」倫敦大學帝國學院研究人員雷格在聲明中指出。
這個新近才被發現的化石生物所被給予的屬名Kooteninchela中,chela指的也是同一電影角色,因為這個字在拉丁文中意為「鉗子」或「剪刀」。
這種生物長約四公分,長有類似馬陸的腳,在寒武紀時代生活於加拿大英屬哥倫比亞海岸外的淺海地區。它很可能是獵食者或食腐動物,會伸長脊椎並使用螯足來捕捉獵物,或搜尋躲藏在海床裡的動物。
(法新社/翻譯:俞智敏)
The strongest earthquake to hit Taiwan in 25 years killed at least 16 people and damaged dozens of buildings, but the destruction was largely contained thanks to decades of preparedness work. Taiwan sits on the “Ring of Fire,” an arc of intense seismic activity along the Pacific Rim, and — much like neighboring Japan — has a long history of catastrophic quakes. How does April 3 compare with other recent quakes? The April 3 earthquake, which measured 7.4 on the moment magnitude scale, was felt across Taiwan. It was the most severe since a 7.6 magnitude quake in 1999 killed
A: Artificial intelligence technology has been causing controversy lately: a student was caught cheating with AI to win the grand prize in an art contest. B: That’s so absurd. Does this mean that AI paints better than humans? A: Maybe. Luckily, the student was later disqualified. B: And more absurdly, it’s becoming more and more popular to use AI technology to “resurrect” people. A: Yeah, some netizens even posted videos featuring the late singer CoCo Lee, who was “resurrected” by them with AI software. A: 人工智慧的爭議不斷,有學生違規使用AI參加美術展,甚至贏得首獎。 B: 真誇張,這是不是代表AI比人類還強大? A: 或許吧,幸好得獎資格被取消。 B: 還有更誇張的︰讓死者重現的「AI復活」技術越來越熱門。 A: 對啊,還有網友製作已故歌后李玟「復活」的影片呢! (By Eddy Chang, Taipei Times/台北時報張聖恩)
Around the time of the Dragon Boat Festival in June, the streets of Taiwan are filled with the delightful aroma of zongzi, a traditional snack made of sticky rice wrapped in leaves. The leaves are folded into a cone and then filled with sticky rice and other ingredients such as braised pork belly, peanuts and salted duck egg yolks. The filled leaves are then tightly tied with kitchen twine and ready for cooking. 每到六月端午時節,街頭巷尾就會飄出粽子的香氣。粽子是將糯米包進粽葉的傳統美食,先將粽葉折成圓錐狀塞入糯米,以及紅燒肉、花生、鹹鴨蛋黃等配料,用棉線綁緊後即可烹煮。 Dragon Boat Festival (n. phr.) 端午節 aroma
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