Is there anything more spectacular than a towering lava fountain? Think about what it is: glowing red molten rock being shot into the sky, potentially hundreds or thousands of feet. As ubiquitous and dramatic as lava fountains might be, they are also not well understood to the point where we’re not even sure where they fit in the types of volcanic eruptions.Lava Fountains at Volcanoes"Pele's hair" on a black reflective surface. This curious form of volcanic glass forms when liquid lava is thro ...read more
Ancient snail shells helped archeologists re-evaluate the age of the oldest known wooden weapons collection: a site in Lower Saxony, Germany, famous for its arsenal of hunting equipment, including nine spears, one lance, and six double-pointed sticks. Researchers now say the weapons date back closer to 200,000 years, rather than the 300,000 years to 400,000 years of earlier estimates, according to an article in Science Advances.Neanderthal and Early Man AncestorsThis has important implications t ...read more
The title for World’s Oldest Dog goes to Bluey, the Australian cattle dog, who reportedly lived to the grand old age of 29. However, the average life expectancy for most canines is a relatively meagre 10 to 13 years. So, why is it that the lifespan of a dog is so much lower than that of species like the rhino, which can live up to 50 years?The lifespans of mammals vary dramatically, from species of shrew that don’t make it to their first birthday to the bowhead whale, which celebrates two ce ...read more
Time works differently on the moon – a dilemma that can throw up a few challenges when it comes to timekeeping on the planet’s only natural satellite. It is a problem Congress is seeking to address with the introduction of the Celestial Time Standardization Act (H.R. 2313).Congresswoman Jennifer McClellan of Virginia introduced the bill last year and recently passed the committee stage, receiving unanimous approval from the U.S. House Science, Space and Technology committee in April 2025. If ...read more
From Spanish and Swahili to Finnish and Filipino, over 7,000 languages are spoken across the world today. Humans are unique in that we are the only species known to use language. However, new research suggests we might not be as unusual in this capacity as previously thought.A paper published in Science Advances describes chimpanzees’ ability to create new meanings by combining calls – a technique not so different from how we combine words to produce sentences. This discovery could have majo ...read more
Author Vishay SinghPosted on Categories Discover Magazine