Throughout history, humans have recognized that the night sky has the ability to mark moments of significance. For Muslims, for instance, the sighting of the moon has long signaled the start of the month of Ramadan, a period of fasting and religious reflection that traces its roots to the seventh century C.E.Since then, Muslims have turned to the skies to guide their Ramadan observances. So how, specifically, has astronomy informed the traditions of Ramadan, and how has that changed over time? ...read more
The 5-year-old girl lay limp in her father’s arms, fast asleep, as he rushed her into the doors of the pediatric emergency department.“We can’t wake her up,” he pleaded, eyes wide and voice rushed with desperation.“Maddie’s never slept this deeply. It’s strange,” he continued frantically. “She fell asleep in the car on the way home from camping. We yelled, pinched her, splashed cold water on her face. She just stays zonked.”She looked like Sleeping Beauty; her cheeks were pin ...read more
Stars within the center of our home galaxy are constantly threatened by collision, as they orbit around the Milky Way's supermassive black hole, Sagittarius A (Sgr A). How close the stars are to Sgr A decides whether they crash into other nearby stars, stuck in a merging steadfast clash, or only lose their outer layer and keep hurtling into orbit."They whack into each other and keep going," said Sanaea Rose, study lead author and astrophysicist at Northwestern University, in a press release. "Th ...read more
While eyes are said to be mirrors of the soul, for paleontologists, teeth are sometimes the key to distinguishing some evolutionary features. Teeth represent the hardest tissues in a mammal's body and are often the most commonly preserved fossil parts. Recent studies examining teeth, jaws, and inner ear bones from evolutionary precursors to mammals called mammaliaforms are redrawing the group’s family tree. Evolutionary Insights From Mammaliaform Teeth are especially important in examining ma ...read more
We live in a light-polluted world, where streetlamps, electronic ads and even backyard lighting block out all but the brightest celestial objects in the night sky. But travel to an officially protected “Dark Sky” area, gaze skyward and be amazed.This is the view of the heavens people had for millennia. Pre-modern societies watched the sky and created cosmographies, maps of the skies that provided information for calendars and agricultural cycles. They also created cosmologies, which, in the ...read more
Author Vishay SinghPosted on Categories Discover Magazine