Science Scanner: Chemistry Nobel Prize Winner Announced
The winner of the Nobel Prize in chemistry was announced this morning in Stockholm. Daniel Shechtman of Technion, the Israel Institute of Technology, in Haifa, Israel, won for his 1982 discovery of quasicrystals. Quasicrystals are unusual materials which have some of the properties of a regular crystal, but have a more elaborate and complex structure […]
The Eyes Have It! Evolution’s Witness: How Eyes Evolved
According to an old proverb, the eyes are the windows of the soul. They’re also one of the most important accomplishments of evolution, nature’s perfect camera providing us with a vivid visual sense of the world around us. However, did you ever wonder how the eye came to be? What caused the eye to be […]
60-Million-Year-Old Crocodile Relative Discovered
The fossilized remains of a 60-million-year-old, long-extinct, freshwater relative to the modern crocodile have been found by University of Florida researchers. The 20-foot-long, fish-eating ancient crocodile is believed to be the first known land animal from the Paleocene New World tropics. It was discovered in the same northeastern Colombian coal mine as titanoboa, the world’s […]
Earth’s Oldest Fossils Could Provide Clues to Life on Other Planets
Researchers from England and Australia recently found some microfossils in a remote part of Western Australia. Before you click away and say, “Big deal another fossil find,” hang with me for a bit. The microscopic fossils, according to the researchers, are 3.4 billion years old, making them Earth’s oldest fossils. The fossils resulted from life […]
Survival of the Fittest Theory Gets a Boost
Do certain species survive at the expense of others? The question of competition between the species was at the heart of a premise first explored by Charles Darwin in 1859. A new study lends further support to this aspect of Darwin’s still-controversial theory of natural selection. Darwin’s “On the Origin of Species by Means of […]
Did Life on Earth Begin on an Asteroid?
Can life on Earth be traced to asteroids that crashed into our planet over the millenia? A recent research project provides evidence to support that theory. The study indicates that Earth-bound asteroids not only delivered the life-starting organic compounds, but also that these compounds evolved over time. A research team, led by University of Alberta […]