Human migration received help from Toba eruption A study on an archaeological site in Ethiopia has added to evidence that indicates the eruption of Mount Toba in Indonesia 74,000 years ago might not have been apocalyptic. The study shows humans adjusted to arid conditions after the eruption in a way that might have aided migration […]
The geologists of the International Commission on Stratigraphy’s Subcommission on Quaternary Stratigraphy (SQS) made a substantial decision on March 4, 2024 , by rejecting the proposal to formally acknowledge the beginning of the Anthropocene—a new geological epoch attributing humanity’s emergence as the primary force shaping the Earth’s strata. This proposal, led by the Anthropocene Working […]
Author: Ramón Muñoz-Chápuli has been Professor of Animal Biology in the University of Málaga until his retirement. He has investigated for forty years in the fields of developmental biology and animal evolution. Parasitism is very common among invertebrates, but much less so among vertebrates. The case of lampreys is well known. They attach to the […]
Tantalum is one of the rarest elements and has multiple stable isotopes. The least abundant tantalum isotope, Ta-180 is found naturally in a long-lived excited state, a feature unique to this isotope. In excited states, a nuclei’s protons or neutrons have higher than normal energy levels. Although energetically possible, the radioactive decay of this excited […]
The most recent, and probably most imaginative of the significant contributions to the philosophical debate on whether contemporary science confirms, or at least points to some kind of strongly teleological cosmology, is Philip Goff’s book Why? The Purpose of the Universe . In this book’s arguments, the author builds both upon the ideas about cosmological […]
Europe’s heat waves may start with Arctic melting Meltwater from Arctic ice could be setting off recent hot, dry summers in Europe by changing ocean currents and air circulation. A resulting “cold blob” of water in the North Atlantic Ocean could intensify European winter storms and their westerly winds, creating a barrier of warm ocean […]
Whenever an electric current flows a magnetic field is produced; as the orbital motion and the spin of atomic electrons are equivalent to tiny current loops, individual atoms create magnetic fields around them, when their orbital electrons have a net magnetic moment as a result of their angular momentum. The magnetic moment of an atom […]
When you are trying to solve one of the biggest conundrums in cosmology, you should triple check your homework. The puzzle, called the “Hubble Tension,” is that the current rate of the expansion of the universe is faster than what astronomers expect it to be, based on the universe’s initial conditions and our present understanding […]
Author: José R. Pineda got his Ph.D. from University of Barcelona in 2006. Since 2007 he has worked for Institut Curie and The French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission. Currently, he is a researcher of the UPV/EHU. He investigates the role of stem cells in physiologic and pathologic conditions. Senescence can be defined as […]