Continents Move, Life Evolves
13.7 billion years of evolution in 85 seconds.
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The Push for Federal GMO Labeling
The man behind the popular 2008 documentary Food, Inc. is out with a new project aimed at getting the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to label genetically engineered or modified (GE or GMO) food products. Filmmaker Robert Kenner’s “Labels Matter” piece is part of his FixFood project, a social media platform to empower Americans…
Two Galaxies Make Strange Traveling Pair, but Do They Interact?
An unusual pair of galaxies travel through the interstellar cosmos in this striking image obtained by NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope. The unusual pair are jointly called Arp 116, but are composed of a large elliptical galaxy known as M60 and a smaller spiral galaxy called NGC 4647. Although the two galaxies appear to overlap in…
Birds Descended From Gliding Dinosaurs
Evidence is mounting that modern birds descended from gliding, feathered non-avian dinosaurs. Two dinosaurs could be candidates for the bottom of the bird family tree, and each helps to reveal how feathers first evolved. “The oldest known feathered dinosaurs would be Anchiornis (155 million years ago) and Epidexipteryx (between 152 million and 168 million years…
Changing View on Viruses: Not So Small After All
There was a time not that long ago when it was easy to tell the difference between viruses and the rest of life. Most obviously, viruses were tiny and genetically simple. The influenza virus, for example, measures about 100 nanometers across, and has just 13 genes. Those two standards, it’s now clear, belong in the…
Supermassive Black Holes Are Cannibals
Astronomers have found black holes and supermassive black holes. But the discovery of a mid-size black hole could support the idea that supermassive black holes grow by eating others.
Lynn Margulis: 1938-2011
ByadminLynn Margulis is justly celebrated for her determined claim that the eukaryotic cell (the more complex cell with a nucleus and other parts, organelles) is not something that evolved on its own. It is rather the result of a simpler (prokaryotic) cell incorporating other such cells, which latter (rather than being absorbed) continued their existence within the whole, developing their own contributory functions.