Adam Frank: Looking back 100, 1000 or 10,000 years, it became clear to me that time in cosmology (be it of the scientific or mytho-religious variety) has always been tightly braided with the human experience of time.
Opsins, the light-sensitive proteins key to vision, may have evolved earlier and undergone fewer genetic changes than previously believed, according to a new study from the National University of Ireland Maynooth and the University of Bristol recently published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.The study, which used computer modelling to provide a detailed…
An iceberg twice the size of Manhattan tore off one of Greenland’s largest glaciers. For several years, scientists had been watching a long crack in the floating ice shelf of the northerly Petermann Glacier. Now, NASA satellites show it has broken completely, forming an iceberg covering 46 square miles. The same glacier spawned an iceberg…
Scientists have discovered the strongest evidence yet for a 13.2-billion-year old galaxy, a finding that provides a key piece of information about the universe’s early childhood. “This is the most distant (galaxy) identified with high confidence,” astronomer Wei Zheng, with Johns Hopkins University, told Discovery News. “If our current universe is a man of 70…
Earth may be nearing an ecological tipping point that threatens biodiversity, food production and water supplies as humans consume resources at an unsustainable pace, according to an article published in the journal Nature. About 43 percent of the Earth’s surface has been built upon or is being used for agriculture to support the planet’s 7…
Climate change has shrunk Andean glaciers between 30 and 50% since the 1970s and could melt many of them away altogether in coming years, according to a study published in the journal Cryosphere. Andean glaciers, a vital source of fresh water for tens of millions of South Americans, are retreating at their fastest rates in…
Seven scientists won prizes for discoveries that involve the furthest reaches of the solar system, vanishingly tiny materials and the complexities of the brain. One finding helped end Pluto’s status as a planet. The researchers will share three $1 million Kavli prizes, awarded by the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters in partnership with the…