Category: Planet Earth

Measuring Meteorites to Reveal the Origins of the Earth

Post author By Scientia
Post date June 2, 2021
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Near-Earth asteroid — Asteroid composition depends on where they were formed in the solar system. S- type asteroids, such as Ida, are mostly composed of silicate and nickel-iron and found in the inner asteroid belt. Image credit - NASA/JPL

The planet we call home has a 4.5-billion-year history, but humans have only been around for a tiny fraction of this time. To discover what happened before life arose on Earth, and even before Earth’s formation, scientists can study objects sent from space – from icy comets and rocky asteroids to tiny particles of interstellar dust. Early in Earth’s history, primordial gases became trapped deep in the planet’s interior. By determining how they were trapped and where they might be stored, Dr. Manfred Vogt and his research group at the Ruprecht-Karls-University of Heidelberg are shedding new light on Earth’s origins.

How many Tyrannosaurus rex walked the Earth?

Post author By The Conversation
Post date April 19, 2021
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Tyrannosaurus rex (rex meaning “king” in Latin) lived throughout what is now western North America 68 to 66 million years ago, during the Upper Cretaceous period. Back then, there was a big island (an island continent) called “Laramidia” there. But, how many Tyrannosaurus rex walked the Earth? At the same time, and in total?

Ashley Poust, University of California, Berkeley and Daniel Varajão de Latorre, University of California, Berkeley

The Research Brief is a short take about interesting academic work.

Biology Environment Life on Earth Plants

Creating Power Foods with Gene Technology

Post author By Scientia
Post date April 1, 2021
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At least 820 million people suffer from hunger and malnutrition globally and human population growth is likely to exacerbate this problem in the future. It is becoming increasingly important to develop sustainable and efficient methods to meet food demands. To address this global issue, Dr. Sanju A. Sanjaya and Bagyalakshmi Muthan from West Virginia State University and their colleagues from Michigan State University have developed genetic technologies to improve the nutritional and energy content of crops. Their technology could increase production and improve profitability and sustainability across a range of important crop plants.

Environment Animals Life on Earth Plants

Regrowing a tropical forest – is it better to plant trees or leave it to nature?

Post author By The Conversation
Post date March 24, 2021
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Amazon rainforest — Aerial view of the Amazon Rainforest, near Manaus, the capital of the Brazilian state of Amazonas. Photo: Neil Palmer

The destruction of tropical forests is a major contributor to biodiversity loss and the climate crisis. In response, conservationists and scientists like us are debating how to best catalyze the recovery of these forests. How do you take a patch of earth littered with tree stumps, or even a grassy pasture or palm oil plantation, and turn it back into a thriving forest filled with its original species?

David Burslem, University of Aberdeen; Christopher Philipson, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich, and Mark Cutler, University of Dundee

Astronomy Planet Earth

What is equilux and why on an equinox day and night aren’t equal lengths

Post author By M. Özgür Nevres
Post date March 20, 2021
2 Comments on What is equilux and why on an equinox day and night aren’t equal lengths

Sunrise from space (NASA) — Image: NASA - ISS013-E-78960 (9 Sept. 2006) - A rising sun and Earth's horizon are featured in this image photographed by an Expedition 13 crew member on the International Space Station.

In fact, contrary to the popular belief, the lengths of day and night aren’t equal on an equinox. There’s another term for this: equilux.

Climate Global Warming Oceans

Movement of Carbon Dioxide Between the Air and Sea (Video)

Post author By M. Özgür Nevres
Post date March 16, 2021
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Movement of Carbon Dioxide Between the Air and Sea (screenshot)

NASA Climate Change channel has published a video showing the movement of carbon dioxide (CO₂) between the air and sea.

Geology Life on Earth

Early magma oceans of Earth detected in 3.7 billion-year-old Greenland rocks

Post author By The Conversation
Post date March 14, 2021
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Early Earth — This is an artist's concept of the young Earth being bombarded by asteroids. Scientists think these impacts could have delivered significant amounts of organic matter and water to Earth. Image Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center Conceptual Image Lab. CC BY 2.0

Earth hasn’t always been a blue and green oasis of life in an otherwise inhospitable solar system. During our planet’s first 50 million years, around 4.5 billion years ago, its surface was a hellscape of magma oceans, bubbling and belching with heat from Earth’s interior.

Helen M Williams, University of Cambridge

Animals Life on Earth Oceans

Amazing Blue Whale Drone Footage

Post author By M. Özgür Nevres
Post date February 20, 2021
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This… is… wonderful. A blue whale drone footage published by the DolphinDroneDom channel with the title of “the best Blue Whale drone footage on YouTube”. The video actually deserves its title. A must-watch. Speakers on!

Animals Life on Earth Oceans

20 Amazing Sperm Whale Facts

Post author By M. Özgür Nevres
Post date February 5, 2021
2 Comments on 20 Amazing Sperm Whale Facts

A mother sperm whale and her calf off the coast of Mauritius. The calf has remoras (sometimes called suckerfish) attached to its body. Image by Gabriel Barathieu - https://www.flickr.com/photos/barathieu/7277953560/, CC BY-SA 2.0, Link

The sperm whale, also known as the cachalot (Physeter macrocephalus), is the largest toothed whale and one of the most extraordinary animals in the ocean. These deep-sea giants have fascinated humans for centuries, with their impressive size, unique behaviors, and mysterious underwater lives. Here are the 20 amazing sperm whale facts that reveal what makes these incredible creatures so special.

Astrobiology Life on Earth

How life on Earth could help us find life on Mars

Post author By Horizon Magazine
Post date February 4, 2021
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Gale crater by the Curiosity Rover. Gale Crater is 154 kilometers (96 miles) in diameter and estimated to be about 3.5-3.8 billion years old. It is created by an impactor. The crater is also probably a dry lake (once filled with water - probably billions of years ago). The crater is named after the amateur Australian astronomer Walter F. Gale (1865-1945), who discovered a number of comets and examined surface features of Mars.

In our continuing search for other life in the universe, one place has always looked promising – Mars. It is a rocky planet like Earth, orbiting the same star, and at a distance where water could have been present on the planet.