A new experiment by Iowa State University’s Elizabeth Swanner that evaluates the reduction of iron in prehistoric oceans may reinterpret the conditions under which iron-rich sedimentary rock is formed.
Swanner, an assistant professor of…
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New Research Dispels the Myth That Ancient Cultures Had Universally Short Lifespans
Teeth are key to identifying elderly remains
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Prehistoric bling? Aesthetics crucial factor in development of earliest copper alloys
Research into ancient gold metallurgy has been supported by various studies, however, colour properties of prehistoric copper alloys such as arsenical copper and tin have remained largely understood.
A new study by an internatinal team of UK and…
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#1: Is there an evolutionary advantage to “being stupid”?
And the #1 blog entry published thus far in 2017 discussed whether there was an evolutionary advantage to being stupid:
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As I was looking through the scientific literature the other day, I came across an article published in 1973, “The…
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Ask Ethan: Why Did Light Arrive 1.7 Seconds After Gravitational Waves In The Neutron Star Merger?
“Delay is the deadliest form of denial.” -C. Northcote Parkinson
Every massless particle and wave travels at the speed of light when it moves through a vacuum. Over a distance of 130 million light years, the gamma rays and gravitational waves…
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Five Discoveries In Fundamental Physics That Came As Total Surprises
“On what can we now place our hopes of solving the many riddles which still exist as to the origin and composition of cosmic rays?” –Victor Francis Hess
It’s often said that advanced in physics aren’t met with “eureka!” but rather…
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Merging Neutron Stars Deliver Deathblow To Dark Matter And Dark Energy Alternatives
“Dark matter is interesting. Basically, the Universe is heavier than it should be. There’s whole swathes of stuff we can’t account for.” -Talulah Riley
One of the most puzzling facts about the Universe is that 95% of the energy in it, in the…
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Ask Ethan: How sure are we that the Universe is 13.8 billion years old?
“Normal science, the activity in which most scientists inevitably spend almost all their time, is predicated on the assumption that the scientific community knows what the world is like.” -Thomas S. Kuhn
For all of human history, the biggest…
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Pollution: not “an unavoidable consequence” of development
The headlines are grabbing people’s attention:
CBC News: “Pollution causing more deaths worldwide than war or smoking”; CNN: “Pollution linked to 9 million deaths worldwide in 2015, study says“; BBC: “Pollution linked to one in six deaths“; …
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Seeing One Example Of Merging Neutron Stars Raises Five Incredible Questions
“O. Hahn and F. Strassmann have discovered a new type of nuclear reaction, the splitting into two smaller nuclei of the nuclei of uranium and thorium under neutron bombardment. Thus they demonstrated the production of nuclei of barium, lanthanum,…
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