You may have heard that no two fingerprints are alike, even if left behind by identical twins. This is because the characteristic ridges found on our fingers and toes are the result of both nature and nurture, so to speak. The intrauterine environment is to blame for the more than 100 teeny-tiny variations that can be found in a fingerprint. These so-called minutiae include the bridges between ridges, or the abrupt ending of one, and are influenced by things like the density of the amniotic flui ...read more
Fossilized dinosaur bones are still a somewhat common find, mainly because of how long dinosaurs roamed the Earth. What’s far more unheard of, however, is fossilized dinosaur skin. In 2011, archaeologists unearthed a near-complete Borealopelta markmitchelli, a type of four-legged ankylosaur fossil. The fossil preserved some of its spikes, armor, stomach contents and most importantly, the skin on its face. Now, multiple studies have examined the fossil, revealing new details about the dinosaur ...read more
We've all been in bad relationships. Things aren't going well, and we stay together much longer than we should. It happens, but for some of us, it happens all too often. And according to experts, that's no coincidence. There are psychological reasons why we choose the wrong partner. According to Jaime Bronstein, licensed therapist and author of MAN*ifesting: A Step-By-Step Guide to Attracting the Love That's Meant for You, there are several reasons why we stay in relationships that are not serv ...read more
I've said this before in this space, but the Earth is weird. Consider this: These plots show the distribution of surface elevations on a bunch of large and small bodies in our solar system. Something should jump out pretty quickly: All have a single peak for elevation except for Earth and Mars. That's weird! Why would any planet have two different peaks for the distribution of elevation? For Earth, the explanation is relatively straight forward: we have two types of crust. Oceanic crust that und ...read more
For millennia, humans have been drawn to explore the cosmos. Since Apollo 11 astronauts first set foot on lunar soil in 1969, more than 72 countries have established their own space programs. And with NASA’s plans to establish a sustained presence on the moon by 2028, including a possible staging point for future missions to Mars, human space exploration is expected to rocket forward in the years to come. But any space-bound travelers may have to contend with a surprisingly mundane (and highl ...read more
Author Vishay SinghPosted on Categories Discover Magazine