On the fringes of the Gulf Stream, off the east coast of Florida, the sea is very deep and very blue. I hold tight to the railing on the fly deck of the dive boat as it rolls sharply from side to side, and look down into water that’s a thicker, denser color than I’ve ever seen.
For a moment I imagine that if I leaned over the side and dipped my hand in the water, it would come out coated in blue, like paint. Golden fragments of seaweed float by, escapees, perhaps, from the Sargasso S ...read more
Growing AwarenessAlthough not exactly invented at Burning Man, the practice of contemporary archaeology is fairly new, and still far from mainstream. Arguably the earliest example, and still one of the most famous, originated in 1973 when a University of Arizona archaeologist named William Rathje decided to study garbage in Tucson.
As a specialist in Maya civilization, Rathje was well practiced in the study of middens, heaps of ancient rubbish that had provided his field with most of its knowled ...read more
The Parker Solar Probe will help explain the mysteries of our sun’s atmosphere – a mission first envisioned more than half a century ago. (Credit: NASA/Johns Hopkins APL/Steve Gribben)
We often equate light with a lack of mystery. We elucidate or illuminate answers. So it’s tad ironic that the brightest object in our solar system remains one of its most mysterious.
Scientists still don’t understand why the sun’s corona, or atmosphere, is hotter than its surface &m ...read more
(Credit: Nelson Charette Photo/Shutterstock)
Was it a chance encounter when you met that special someone or was there some deeper reason for it? What about that strange dream last night—was that just the random ramblings of the synapses of your brain or did it reveal something deep about your unconscious? Perhaps the dream was trying to tell you something about your future. Perhaps not. Did the fact that a close relative developed a virulent form of cancer have profound meaning or was it ...read more
(Credit: Martin M303/Shutterstock)
Scientists may have miscalculated the age of an olive branch that has served as a key piece of evidence in dating the Santorini eruption, according to a new study.
The findings cast doubt on the accuracy of an analysis of the millennia-old branch, suggesting it may predate by several decades the natural disaster that fundamentally altered the political landscape of the Mediterranean and has been used to anchor much of the chronology of ancient history.
As Oli ...read more
Author Vishay SinghPosted on Categories Discover Magazine
