November 2011

Ancient Farmers Responsible For Crooked Teeth

The Agricultural Revolution allowed our jaws to become small and weak and packed full of teeth, paving the way for modern orthodontists.

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he Agricultural Revolution is one of the most pivotal historical moments in the evolution of the human species. The surpluses of food allowed people to settled down and consolidate, divide labor responsibilities, create a hierarchy of government, and develop currency and uniform trade. In short, it allowed humans to civilize. However, it also have an unintended consequence that is just now being uncovered by anthropologists. Those early farmers, in creating food surpluses, also created an evolutionary trend by which the human jaw became shorter, making people’s teeth for the next 12,000 years crooked. Early farmers also, consequently, created job security for modern orthodontists.

Scientists Fabricate Light in Vacuum

Rapid mirrors collect photons from the void

 

I'm no scientist, but the field of quantum physics has always fascinated my arts-loaded head just because of the sheer illogic of it all. There's a lot of poetic stuff happening in the physical world the smaller and deeper you go--things that both exist and do not exist at the same time, things that move from place to place without appearing in between their starting point and destination. The world is made of a whole lot of weird. And physicists have just found a way to manipulate the oddity to create light from nothing.

Human Noise Pollution Disrupting Bird Breeding

Think: Taking your date back to your apartment while the neighbor's garage band is practicing.

It’s now clear why, when you’re attempting to sleep in on Saturday mornings, there will inevitably be some obnoxious birdsong keeping you from actually getting those extra precious minutes of shut-eye. According to findings in a new study by researchers from University of Colorado and Fort Lewis College, the birds may be getting revenge for the noise that we create. The researchers state that, “Human-generated noise pollution now permeates natural habitats worldwide…[threatening] wildlife, and especially birds, via changes to species densities, foraging behavior, reproductive success, and predator-prey interactions.” That’s right, our noise pollution is ruining their sex lives.

Ancient Art Made by Squids?

When I was in college, I didn’t have a DVR (did anyone in 2001?) and I completely missed the “Walking with Prehistoric Beasts” and “The Future is Wild” programs on Animal Planet and was completely bummed out about it. When I finally did get to watch these fascinating programs, I learned that some scientists guess that someday, once humans are extinct, giant squids might be the dominant species. They were even portrayed in the film as being land animals that swing from tree to tree, much like primates. Incredible, right?

The Leonid Meteor Shower Is Coming November 17-18, 2011

The Leonid Meteor Shower is one of the most anticipated meteor showers all year. This is because the leonids are well known to put on quite a show in some years with fireballs and bright long tails sometimes lasting for several minutes as the sweep across the sky.

 

The leonids are fragments of the comet Tempel-Tuttle which burn up and appear as fiery meteorites as they enter Earth's atmosphere. They are named after the constellation they originate from: Leo.

 

Every 33 years or so, the leonids put on a storm. The last one was in 2001 and it was spectacular with fireball after fireball in rapid succession for at least 30 minutes.

 

However, this year's leonids are not predicted to be so spectacular but still one of the stronger meteor showers of the year. At the peak, they will probably come in at a rate of about 30 per hour. The peak should take place sometime just before mid-night on November 17 through the dawn of November 18.

 

Unfortunately, a quarter moon is expected to be in close proximity to Leo for the entire peak so the viewing of the meteorites will be obscured by this bright light. Given this, it may not be worth seeking out a place away from the light pollution of the city.

 

Even though it doesn't promise to be the best year, I will certainly be out there with a hot thermos of spicy chai waiting for the show in case it comes! It’s always lots of fun.

Mass Extinctions May In-Turn Cause Extinctions, Slow Recovery of Planetary Species

The implications for this new finding are great for the growing human demand for natural resources.

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he Permian-Triassic Extinction Event is the quintessential question in pre-history. In layman’s terms, it’s “what killed the dinosaurs?” Volcanic events, an asteroid collision, even widespread disease and climate change have been used to explain how such a massive species extinction would take place in such a relatively short amount of time. However, new research on a massive scale, of both fossil remains and chemical geological data, shows that something far more insidious could have happened, with large implications for human activity today.