Clusters of cells began grouping together about 800 million years ago. This enabled greater life development, and eventually, these cells became the Earth’s first animals. Scientists always believed sponges were the earliest animals, but recent evidence suggests that the comb jellyfish was actually the first. Many animals from prehistoric times became extinct, but these are five that still exist. 1. Komodo Dragon(Credit:Sydney Faith Woodward/Shutterstock)Dating back about four million year ...read more
The Science Near Me blog is a partnership between Discover magazine and ScienceNearMe.org.In 2017, people across America turned out to watch one of the most stunning celestial events visible from Earth: a solar eclipse. An estimated 215 million Americans — 88% of the adult population, almost twice as many viewers as the Super Bowl — watched the eclipse either in person or virtually. Now, in just under a year, we’ll be seeing another eclipse cross the continental United States.On April 8, ...read more
Ireland and Britain should be, seismologically speaking, equally boring. The two islands lie thousands of kilometers from the nearest plate boundary and are not volcanic hot spots. But though the ground rarely rumbles in Ireland, neighboring Britain experiences plenty of weak and moderate earthquakes.The lithosphere—Earth’s outermost rocky veneer, which includes the crust and the solid upper mantle—is thicker and cooler beneath Ireland than it is beneath Britain, new research has suggeste ...read more
At first glance, the Earth’s orbit and oceans could not be more different. The former is located on the uppermost layers of the planet’s atmosphere and beyond, while the latter surrounds all the landmasses around the globe.But there is a glaring similarity between the two: Both are vast areas with no owner, making responsible and sustainable use of them incredibly challenging.Imogen Napper, a marine scientist at the University of Plymouth in England, says the high seas and the Earth’s orbi ...read more
Researchers have long used birdsong as a prime example when studying the complexities of speech. But a new study based on orangutans attempts to change that and shed some light on how humans acquired the ability to make more than one vocal sound at a time.The researchers spent a massive amount of time observing and recording the great apes in the wild – some 3,800 hours in Borneo and Sumatra within range of the animals. What they found connects present-day beatboxing sounds to early human lang ...read more
Author Vishay SinghPosted on Categories Discover Magazine
