Category: Zeitgeist

First potentially habitable Earth-sized planet confirmed by Gemini and Keck observatories — ScienceDaily

This is a pretty big milestone.  The first Earth sized planet in a star's habitable zone.  Pity it's so far away (500 light years) that spectral analysis probably won't be possible to figure out what its atmosphere has in it. The first Earth-sized exoplanet orbiting within the habitable zone of another star has been confirmed … Continue reading First potentially habitable Earth-sized planet confirmed by Gemini and Keck observatories — ScienceDaily →

Neanderthals and Cro-magnons did not coexist on the Iberian Peninsula, suggests re-analysis of dating — ScienceDaily

The meeting between a Neanderthal and one of the first humans, which we used to picture in our minds, did not happen on the Iberian Peninsula. That is the conclusion reached by an scientists after redoing the dating of the remains in three caves located on the route through the Pyrenees of the first beings … Continue reading Neanderthals and Cro-magnons did not coexist on the Iberian Peninsula, suggests re-analysis of dating — ScienceDaily →

Climate Efforts Falling Short, U.N. Panel Says

In the sobering news department: Delivering the latest stark news about climate change on Sunday, a United Nations panel warned that governments are not doing enough to avert profound risks in coming decades. But the experts found a silver lining: Not only is there still time to head off the worst, but the political will … Continue reading Climate Efforts Falling Short, U.N. Panel Says →

BBC – Future – How human culture influences our genetics

BBC has an interesting article on the effects of culture on evolution. You shouldn't be able to drink milk. Your ancestors couldn't. It is only in the last 9,000 years that human adults have gained that ability without becoming ill. Children could manage it, but it was only when we turned to dairy farming that … Continue reading BBC – Future – How human culture influences our genetics →

Ants Build Complex Structures With a Few Simple Rules

Give a colony of garden ants a week and a pile of dirt, and they’ll transform it into an underground edifice about the height of a skyscraper in an ant-scaled city. Without a blueprint or a leader, thousands of insects moving specks of dirt create a complex, spongelike structure with parallel levels connected by a … Continue reading Ants Build Complex Structures With a Few Simple Rules →

Visualization of ancient cosmological models

Just to keep the discussion of the posts I'm doing on cosmology in context: As part of Topoi 1, Group-D, Sebastian Szczepanski and I developed software for the visualization of ancient cosmological theories. These included the 4th cent. BCE planetary models of Eudoxus, Aristotle, and Calippus, as well as the basic planetary models of Ptolemy’s Almagest. … Continue reading Visualization of ancient cosmological models →

Language structure: You’re born with it — ScienceDaily

More evidence that we are not born blank slates, and that language is probably very ancient, developing over hundreds of thousands, if not millions of years. Humans are unique in their ability to acquire language. But how? A new study shows that we are in fact born with the basic fundamental knowledge of language, thus shedding … Continue reading Language structure: You’re born with it — ScienceDaily →