Image by Dan Cederholm, courtesy of Creative Commons licensing.
Happy Saturday y'all! Below, I have rounded up some things for you to think about this weekend:
1. A new (well, old) 540 million year-old fossil of the earliest-known human ancestor has been found. The animal has been dubbed "Saccorhytus", and it seems to have eaten and shat through the same orifice on its body. My, how far we have come.
2. Another discovery from this week was a lost continent hidden underneath the ocean, directly below the tiny island Mauritius. It's a bit crazy to think that it was hanging out down there this whole time without us knowing about it.
3. Across the country, police are obtaining location services data without the need for a warrant and using it to surreptitiously track and catch suspects. This data is falling into the hands of officers because of the "third-party doctrine", which states that any data a user provides to a third party is susceptible to police usage. Many suspects have argued in court that this process overrides their Fourth Amendment rights, and the cases' results have varied. It is worth considering whether or not to strengthen the privacy laws on the books so as to further protect citizens from the snooping eyes of the government.
That's all for this week's edition of Weekend Thoughts. Until next week, keep thinking wilder.