A wonderful quote about Earth by the English humorist, satirist, and author of fantasy novels Terry Pratchett (28 April 1948 – 12 March 2015). Pratchett thinks life on Earth is the biggest fantasy and even he was a fantasy writer, he finds it hard to believe.
Category Archives: Planet Earth
Bioengineered Cotton Could Help Solve World Hunger
Humans have relied on cotton’s textile fiber for nearly seven millennia. However, utilizing cottonseed as food has been a long and unfulfilled goal of many plant breeders. Along with its abundant, high-quality protein, cottonseed also contains gossypol – a toxic chemical that renders the seed inedible. Cottonseed’s fate as a mostly unusable by-product seemed sealed …
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Researchers Created the Largest-Ever Human Family Tree and it has 231 Million Ancestral Lineages
Researchers from the Big Data Institute at the University of Oxford in England used DNA analysis to create the largest human family tree ever, dating back 100,000 years. They published their study titled “A unified genealogy of modern and ancient genomes” in the journal Science.
Climate change transforming circulation patterns in Earth’s oceans and atmosphere [the results can be catastrophic!]
Large-scale circulation patterns can be found throughout Earth’s oceans and atmosphere, and play a crucial role in maintaining the stability of regional climates. As the climate warms, researchers find that these patterns are experiencing a fundamental transformation, which can result in catastrophic consequences. According to scientists, these changes could lead to hotter, drier conditions in …
10 Amazing Koala Facts
Koala (Phascolarctos cinereus) is an arboreal herbivorous marsupial native to Australia. They can be found in coastal areas of the Australian mainland’s eastern and southern regions. Here are 10 amazing koala facts.
All the “tree of life” was unveiled online, and it’s stunning!
It’s like the Google Earth of Evolution: OneZoom Tree of Life Explorer enables you to navigate all the leaves and branches of life on Earth, and how all the species are related. By using the tool, you can go back (or forward) in time via common ancestors.
Scientists are building digital twins of the ocean
Before the term “digital twin” was first used twenty years ago (see notes 1), engineers at NASA were already developing ground-based replicas of spacecraft infrastructure. Today’s manufacturers are also seeing double, taking advantage of digital duplicates to better understand and predict product performance. Now the European Union (EU) scientists are looking to apply the same …
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Tree Facts: 42 amazing things about trees
Trees help our soil remain healthy by reducing soil erosion and by creating a soil climate suitable for microorganisms to grow. Here are the most amazing tree facts.
Top 10 Giraffe Facts
Giraffes are like the tall towers of the animal world, living in Africa where it’s warm and grassy. They are famous for their long necks and spots, each one different like a fingerprint. Although they look quiet and calm, giraffes hide many surprises. They don’t just eat leaves and roam around; there’s much more to …
Do giraffes get struck by lightning more often than other animals?
An interesting question: do giraffes get struck by lightning more often than other animals? At first, it looks funny, but when you think that giraffes are way taller and pointier than other land animals, why they shouldn’t be? And, interestingly, there are studies about that subject, and some of them are even peer-reviewed!
