Tuataras may look like lizards, but they are more oddballs of the reptile world.These New Zealand creatures have been carving their own evolutionary path for nearly 250 million years. The species they evolved from split off from the group that also gave rise to lizards and eventually snakes.But what exactly makes tuataras so unique? A third eye, a strange skeletal structure, and a different approach to sex, are some traits to start with.What are Tuataras?Tuataras are reptiles, and though they ma ...read more
Scientific research! No, it isn't just a bunch of folks in lab coats shouting "eureka!" and then getting handed a Nobel Prize. Lots of scientific research gets done these days in the United States alone. This work is being done by a widely diverse (but maybe not diverse enough) group of people at universities, labs, companies, you name it. In fact, the average scientist likely spends more time writing than "doing" research. The process to go from research to publication is not well known by most ...read more
Over the long, slow process of natural selection, species survive by adapting to their environments by developing traits suited to those environments. The insulating coat and subcutaneous fat of polar bears allow them to live in the Arctic ice. Kangaroo rats are able to survive in the desert because they don’t need to drink water; they’ve evolved the ability to survive on the small amount of moisture they get from the seeds they eat.But environments can change rapidly. A volcanic eruption mi ...read more
As wildfires have sent palls of smoke streaming across large swaths of North America, some have spawned fire-breathing thunderstorm clouds. As is evident from the image above and others that follow, these pyrocumulonimbus clouds, or pyroCbs, offer a visually dramatic reminder of just how extreme wildfire behavior can get. But they are significant for other reasons as well. PyroCbs can hurl barrages of lightning bolts to the ground, triggering even more wildfires. They also can help spread harmfu ...read more
Black holes are remarkable astronomical objects with gravity so strong that nothing, not even light, can escape them. The most gigantic ones, known as “supermassive” black holes, can weigh millions to billions times the mass of the Sun.These giants usually live in the centers of galaxies. Our own galaxy, the Milky Way, contains a supermassive black hole in its heart as well.So, how do these supermassive black holes become super massive? To answer this question, our teamof astrophysicists loo ...read more
Author Vishay SinghPosted on Categories Discover Magazine