For centuries, writers have attempted to predict the future of the human race.
Some have argued that we are destined to evolve into super-beings, others that we are turning into dim-witted goblins incapable of anything more demanding than watching TV.
But according to a leading geneticist, both visions are wrong because human evolution has ground to a halt.
Science & Technology
Prehistoric find: The caves in northern Spain contain more than 300 images of animals - the largest ever found on the Iberian peninsula
The paintings, concealed in the caves of northern Spain, will be dated accurately for the first time by experts from the University of Bristol using a new technique based on the radioactive decay of uranium.
A team from the Department of Archaeology and Anthropology has just returned from an expedition to the Cantabria and Asturias regions of Spain, where they removed samples from more than 20 prehistoric painted caves.
Stanford, California - Small stretches of seemingly useless DNA harbor a big secret, say researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine. There's one problem: We don't know what it is. Although individual laboratory animals appear to live happily when these genetic ciphers are deleted, these snippets have been highly conserved throughout evolution.
"The true function of these regions remains a mystery, but it's clear that the genome really does need and use them," said Gill Bejerano, PhD, assistant professor of developmental biology and of computer science. In fact, these so-called "ultraconserved" regions are about 300 times less likely than other regions of the genome to be lost during mammalian evolution, according to research from Bejerano and graduate student Cory McLean published in the Oct. 2 issue of Genome Research.
"The true function of these regions remains a mystery, but it's clear that the genome really does need and use them," said Gill Bejerano, PhD, assistant professor of developmental biology and of computer science. In fact, these so-called "ultraconserved" regions are about 300 times less likely than other regions of the genome to be lost during mammalian evolution, according to research from Bejerano and graduate student Cory McLean published in the Oct. 2 issue of Genome Research.
Our solar system's natural defenses are down and a vigorous cosmic dust storm is blowing through, according to a new study. The forecast calls for a prolonged and increasing blizzard of small interstellar bits.
Nasa scientists at Ames Research Center in Mountain View say scientists did something Monday night that they've never been able to do before. They were able to predict where and when an asteroid would enter the earth's atmosphere.
The asteroid was about the size of a car and entered the atmosphere over the African country of Sudan going about eight miles a second. So far there are no reports of damage. It is believed that the space rock burned up before reaching the ground, although small pieces could have made it to the ground.
Scientists said space rocks of that size usually enter the earth's atmosphere about once or twice a year.
The asteroid was about the size of a car and entered the atmosphere over the African country of Sudan going about eight miles a second. So far there are no reports of damage. It is believed that the space rock burned up before reaching the ground, although small pieces could have made it to the ground.
Scientists said space rocks of that size usually enter the earth's atmosphere about once or twice a year.
The European spacecraft COROT has discovered a massive planet-sized object orbiting its parent star closely, unlike anything ever spotted before. It is so exotic, that scientists are unsure as to whether this oddity is actually a planet or a failed star.
The object, named COROT-exo-3b, is about the size of Jupiter, but packs more than 20 times the mass. It takes only 4 days and 6 hours to orbit its parent star, which is slightly larger than the Sun.
COROT-exo-3b was found as the satellite observed the drop in the brightness of the star each time the object (COROT-exo-3b) passed in front. "We were taken by surprise when we found this massive object orbiting so close to its parent star", said Dr Magali Deleuil from the Laboratoire d'Astrophysique de Marseille (LAM), leader of the team that made the discovery. She added, "COROT-exo-3b is really unique - we're still debating its nature."
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Relative sizes of the Sun, COROT-exo-3b and Jupiter, an artist's impression.
Relative sizes of the Sun, COROT-exo-3b and Jupiter, an artist's impression.
The object, named COROT-exo-3b, is about the size of Jupiter, but packs more than 20 times the mass. It takes only 4 days and 6 hours to orbit its parent star, which is slightly larger than the Sun.
COROT-exo-3b was found as the satellite observed the drop in the brightness of the star each time the object (COROT-exo-3b) passed in front. "We were taken by surprise when we found this massive object orbiting so close to its parent star", said Dr Magali Deleuil from the Laboratoire d'Astrophysique de Marseille (LAM), leader of the team that made the discovery. She added, "COROT-exo-3b is really unique - we're still debating its nature."
An exhibition in the Vatican, which is displaying hundreds of artifacts, has suggested that the mysterious Neolithic people made optical art.
According to a report in Discovery News, the exhibition, which is being held at the Palazzo della Cancelleria in the Vatican, introduces a mysterious Neolithic people who are now believed to have forged Europe's first civilization.
According to a report in Discovery News, the exhibition, which is being held at the Palazzo della Cancelleria in the Vatican, introduces a mysterious Neolithic people who are now believed to have forged Europe's first civilization.
For the first time, astronomers have found an object on a certain collision course with Earth. Fortunately, it is so small it is not expected to cause any damage, burning up in the atmosphere somewhere above northern Sudan in the wee hours of Tuesday morning. It may, however, produce a brilliant 'shooting star'.
The space rock, dubbed 2008 TC3, was first spotted on Monday in a survey by the Mt Lemmon Observatory near Tucson, Arizona. Its brightness suggests it is no more than about 5 metres across - so small it will likely be destroyed in the atmosphere, says Andrea Milani Comparetti of the University of Pisa in Italy.
Rocks of such size are thought to hit the atmosphere every few months, says Steve Chesley, an astronomer at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
The space rock, dubbed 2008 TC3, was first spotted on Monday in a survey by the Mt Lemmon Observatory near Tucson, Arizona. Its brightness suggests it is no more than about 5 metres across - so small it will likely be destroyed in the atmosphere, says Andrea Milani Comparetti of the University of Pisa in Italy.
Rocks of such size are thought to hit the atmosphere every few months, says Steve Chesley, an astronomer at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
A small, newly-discovered asteroid named 2008 TC3 is approaching Earth and chances are good that it will hit. Steve Chesley of JPL estimates that atmospheric entry will occur on Oct 7th at 0246 UTC over northern Sudan [ref]. Measuring only a few meters across, the space rock poses NO THREAT to people or structures on the ground, but it should create a spectacular fireball, releasing about a kiloton of TNT in energy as it disintegrates and explodes in the atmosphere. Odds are between 99.8 and 100 percent that the object will encounter Earth, according to calculations provided by Andrea Milani of the University of Pisa. [ephemeris] [3D orbit]
© RGA
Hal, the supercomputer in Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey.
Hal, the supercomputer in Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey.
In the Turing test a machine seeks to fool judges into believing that it could be human. The test is performed by conducting a text-based conversation on any subject. If the computer's responses are indistinguishable from those of a human, it has passed the Turing test and can be said to be "thinking".
Comment: A 12 hour warning is not exactly reassuring, is it? Research collected on this site has shown that the killer space debris, when they come, will likely be comet fragments rather than asteroids. Comet fragments have the bad habit of travelling in large clusters and have been shown to hit the Earth much more frequently than admitted by mainstream science.