Spelunking on Mars? I’m sure it could be fascinating, but it bears keeping in mind that environment doesn’t produce life.
Tag: Science Daily
At Science Daily: How magnetism could help explain Earth’s formation
A peculiar property of the Earth’s magnetic field could help us to work out how our planet was created 4.5 billion years ago, according to a new scientific assessment. There are several theories about how the Earth and the Moon were formed, most involving a giant impact. They vary from a model where the impacting Read More…
At Science Daily: Early planetary migration can explain missing planets
“Model accounts for scarcity of planets with masses between super-Earths and mini-NeptunesComputer simulations by Rice University scientists and their collaborators are the first to integrate a model of planet formation and evolution that explains two puzzling observations of exoplanets orbiting distant stars: the rarity of worlds about 1.8 times larger than Earth and the near-identical size of adjacent planets in hundreds of planetary systems.
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At Science Daily: Study finds unexpected protective properties of pain
Researchers: “The classic view of pain is that it protects by detecting and signaling the presence of harmful agents, but new research shows pain can shield the gut more directly.”
At Science Daily: Why whales don’t get brain damage when they swim
“Special blood vessels in whale brains may protect them from pulses, caused by swimming, in their blood that would damage the brain, new research has suggested.”
At Science Daily: Pioneering research using bacteria brings scientists a step closer to creating artificial cells with lifelike functionality
The interpretation of the research effort is that researchers can’t get life from non-life, so they try getting life from life.
At Science Daily: What makes the human brain different?
The worldview that excludes non-material realities will never perceive the God-breathed human spirit, without which we could only be dust.
At Science Daily: Risk of volcano catastrophe ‘a roll of the dice’
“While funding is pumped into preventing low-probability scenarios such as asteroid collision, the far more likely threat of a large volcanic eruption is close to ignored — despite much that could be done to reduce the risks, say researchers.”
At Science Daily: Evidence that giant meteorite impacts created the continents
“New research has provided the strongest evidence yet that Earth’s continents were formed by giant meteorite impacts that were particularly prevalent during the first billion years or so of our planet’s four-and-a-half-billion year history.”
At Science Daily: New research on the emergence of the first complex cells challenges orthodoxy
Researchers: “A new study challenges a popular scenario put forward to explain the arrival of the first eukaryotic organisms.”
At Science Daily: Super-Earth skimming habitable zone of red dwarf
“A super-Earth planet has been found near the habitable zone of a red dwarf star only 37 light-years from the Earth.”
At Science Daily: Fiddler crab eye view inspires researchers to develop novel artificial vision
“The researchers develop an amphibious artificial vision system with a panoramic field-of-view based on the Fiddler crab’s eye structure.”
At Science Daily: Scientists discover new ‘origins of life’ chemical reactions
“Scientists at Scripps Research have discovered a new set of chemical reactions that use cyanide, ammonia and carbon dioxide — all thought to be common on the early earth — to generate amino acids and nucleic acids, the building blocks of proteins and DNA.”
Life in Earth’s interior as productive as in some ocean waters
“In summary: Microorganisms in aquifers deep below the earth’s surface produce similar amounts of biomass as those in some marine waters.”
At Science Daily: Robotic lightning bugs take flight
Inspired by fireflies, researchers create insect-scale robots that can emit light when they fly, which enables motion tracking and communication.