Things we don not know for sure – how it’s happening, how was created, how it is. Questions that people do not know the answer!
Big, bright sunflowers are beautiful every summer in fields all over the world. But behind the tall stalks lie some unanswered questions about the development of human civilizations. The question is how long do sunflowers live? Even though sunflowers can easily grow taller than 18 feet – about five and a half meters – they never …
Sunflower helps trace the history of human civilization Continue »
In 1776, Ben Franklin left Philadelphia by ship for France. By carefully measuring water temperatures along the way, he was able to map the Gulf Stream. The motion of waves just moves a column or molecule of water up and down. Wouldn’t that mean that some water never hits a shore? All water — even …
Two sorts of geologic features are found on most solid planets and moons in our solar system. They are impact craters and volcanoes. We talk about volcanoes on worlds beyond Earth … Spacecraft exploring our solar system have found volcanoes on other planets and moons. The tallest volcano in the solar system — Olympus Mons …
The solar system extends beyond the outermost planet, Pluto. Far from the planets, there’s thought to be a spherical shell of icy comets. Where did the Oort Cloud originate? The Oort Cloud is thought to be the source of “long-period” comets — those needing more than two centuries to orbit the sun once. Some comets …
A substance called “depleted uranium” is denser than lead and can penetrate metals more effectively — so it’s now being used in bombs and bullets. But it might affect human health and the environment long after a conflict is over. Depleted uranium shells left from US air strikes on Sarajevo. (c) AP/Hidajet delic. Photo courtesy …
Our bodies emit heat that normally stays in a thin envelope of warm air all around us. When the wind whisks away that warm layer, we lose heat faster — and that’s wind chill. The formula calculates the relationship between wind speed, air temperature and how cold you feel. The wind chill concept came from …
A human’s genes provide a blueprint for making that human — and they can also tell time. We present the work of Steven Benner using genetic clocks and fossils to figure out what certain genes do… The human genome — or blueprint for life — is made up of thousands of genes . . . …
In order to see as many living lights as possible we are beginning our dive after dark. The light show we will witness is visible light made by living creatures also known as bioluminescence. Fireflies are bioluminescent. So are a few other land dwellers, like some earthworms, centipedes and fungi. But on land, bioluminescence is …
Bioluminescence: Livings lights, Earth’s Own Aliens Continue »
The panthers from Florida once roamed the southeastern United States. Now, the few panthers left in the wild are confined to remote cypress swamps in southwestern Florida. The panthers are the most endangered species of mammal in the U.S. It’s estimated that there are fewer than 100 left in the wild. These last panthers live …