The ability to use fire forever changed the fate of the human race: For starters, it allowed our ancestors to cook foods, which made us much more efficient eaters. Instead of gnawing on nuts and berries all day, we could now cook animal meat, which packs much more of a caloric punch. We also used fire to make more effective weapons and tools. But there’s a lot we don’t know about when humans first encountered fire and its transition into effective, everyday use. When Was Fire First Discover ...read more
An avid stargazer may notice that apart from the gleaming white stars that sprinkle the night sky, there are red, yellow, blue and orange stars. However, what you'll never see are green stars. Why is that, and why are some stars different colors than others? The answer may surprise you. What Color Are Stars?On a typical cloudless night — depending on the level of light pollution — you'll see thousands of bright white stars. On certain nights throughout the year, you'll even get a glimp ...read more
Lithium! Is there a hotter element these days? The foundation of our attempt to move anyway from the use of petroleum products for energy sits, at least right now, on lithium and its use in batteries. Li-ion batteries are the core to electric cars, household electrical storage and pretty much any technology that requires the power for long periods. However, the lithium has to come from somewhere, just like all resources from our planet ... and unlike petroleum, it isn't life that is the ultimate ...read more
Roughly 250 million years ago, Earth’s land masses lay together in one supercontinent known as Pangea. Surrounded by a single ocean, known as Panthalassa, it saw the rise of the dinosaurs. Pangea was roughly shaped like Pac-Man, with land reaching to both north and south poles and a chunk biting into the middle that contained the Tethys Sea, explains Paul Olsen, a paleontologist at Columbia University. Over the millions of years of its existence, this supercontinent saw the flourishing of bio ...read more
A land predator that lived during the ill-fated Permian Period functioned like a “big cat,” such as a tiger or lion, that dominated its local food chain, according to the scientists behind a new fossil find. That said, this 10-foot-long, 880-pound force probably looked nothing like a feline – it likely resembled a large amphibian.During the Permian Period and before the emergence of the dinosaurs, such four-legged “tetrapods” ruled the land. Their preeminence ended, however, with the w ...read more
Author Vishay SinghPosted on Categories Discover Magazine