Like crocodiles, snakes also suffer from a prevalence of “big fish” stories and over-exaggeration in the internet era. In fact, it is very difficult to measure how large actually a snake is, especially if it’s really big. So, how big are the longest snakes actually? Here’s the list of the largest snakes in the world.
Despite the old adage “nice guys finish last”, cooperation is common in life – from the scale of genes or cells through to entire societies. Although these two ideas seem to contradict each other, Dr. Egbert Giles Leigh Jr. has demonstrated throughout his career at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Panama that working together has been the key to the success of multicellular life. Here, he explains his view of how competition and cooperation both played essential roles in bringing forth productive, diverse ecosystems.
One of the most enduring tropes about crocodiles is to describe them as “living fossils”. They are cold, slow-moving, and scaly, so they look like how one might picture a dinosaur. Like many clichés, there is an element of truth to this comparison. The crocodiles from 200 million years ago look surprisingly like the ones we know today.
The world looked very different for early humans, and their daily life was vastly different from that of people living in the 21st century. Our five senses, once crucial to our survival, are easy to take for granted. For most modern humans, food is easily accessed, and we spend the bulk of our time indoors, well protected from the elements and various dangers.
Evolution explains how all living beings, including us, came to be. It would be easy to assume evolution works by continuously adding features to organisms, constantly increasing their complexity. Some fish evolved legs and walked onto the land. Some dinosaurs evolved wings and began to fly. Others evolved wombs and began to give birth to live young.
Nine human species walked the Earth 300,000 years ago. Now there is just one. The Neanderthals, H. neanderthalensis, were stocky hunters adapted to Europe’s cold steppes. The related Denisovans inhabited Asia, while the more primitive H. erectus lived in Indonesia and H. rhodesiensis in central Africa. Were other humans the first victims of the sixth mass extinction?
The question of where the evolutionary cradle of modern humans lies has long intrigued scientists and historians. The East African Great Rift Valley has traditionally been viewed as the most likely birthplace. However, revolutionary research conducted recently presents a compelling alternative.
This groundbreaking study utilizes DNA evidence to trace back the origins of mankind to a prehistoric wetland known as Makgadikgadi-Okavango, located south of the Great Zambezi River. This finding significantly shifts the focus of anthropological inquiry from East Africa to Southern Africa.
In a landmark study published in the prestigious journal Nature, it was revealed that the earliest population of H. sapiens sapiens, our direct ancestors, emerged approximately 200,000 years ago in an area that encompasses parts of what is now modern-day Botswana, Namibia, and Zimbabwe.
The research unraveled a hitherto unappreciated chapter of human history, infusing fresh life into the story of human evolution. This revelation underscores the intricate tapestry of the human lineage and affirms the complexities underlying our understanding of human evolution.
Walking on two legs is an evolutionary leap that led humans to conquer the world. But, why humans are walking on two legs? It’s still unclear. Now, according to a new study published in the University of Chicago’s Journal of Geology, the reason might be exploding stars a few million years ago.
According to a new study published in the May 2, 2019 issue of Nature, 4.6 billion years ago, two neutron stars collided near the early Solar System (actually about 1000 light-years from the gas cloud that eventually formed the Solar System). This violent collision has created heavy elements like silver, gold, platinum, cesium, and uranium. The study says 0.3% of the Earth’s heaviest elements have been created by this event.
Even if we stop destroying Earth’s wilderness today, it would take 3 to 5 million years for Earth to recover from the 6th mass extinction, scientists warn.