Is the mind algorithmic?
Disagreements in how we use words can cause major confusion. Sometimes, someone uses the word “far” to mean 50 miles, and other times…
Category: Astrobiology
Can cold-loving bacteria help to clean up oil spills?
For several decades scientists have been interested in the ability of psychrophilic (cold- loving) microbial communities to degrade the…
How Long Will Human Civilization Last?
Human-caused climate change, ocean acidification and species extinctions may eventually threaten the collapse of civilization, according to…
Massive tectonic event may have triggered explosion of animal life
A new analysis of geologic history may help solve the riddle of the “Cambrian explosion,” the rapid diversification of animal…
Geothermal heating increases the habitability of planets orbiting red dwarfs
Small red stars, known by astronomers as “M-dwarfs”, are the most abundant type of star in the sky and are also the most long-lived of…
New but really old genetic ‘operating system’ led to evolution of complex organisms
The evolution of worms, insects, vertebrates and other “bilateral” animals — those with distinct left and right sides…
Evolutionary arms race via ancient viruses in primate evolution
New findings by scientists at the University of California, Santa Cruz, suggest that an evolutionary arms race between rival elements within…
Deciduous trees flourished after dinosaur-killing meteor impact
Some 66 million years ago, a 10-km diameter chunk of rock hit the Yukatan peninsula near the site of the small town of Chicxulub with the…
Oxygen alone may not be enough to detect life on exoplanets
Astronomers searching the atmospheres of alien worlds or exoplants for gases that might be produced by life can’t rely on the…