Why Ducks are better than Dinosaurs

Most people prefer a good Tyrannosaur to a lowly duck. It’s a matter of choice of course, but when thinking about dinosaurs you probably have visions of ruthless predators with teeth the size of meat cleavers, or titanic herbivores bigger than small buildings, whereas ducks tend to float around in ponds inquiring after handfuls of bread.

However palaeontologists and biologists have revealed evidence that the humble duck may have triumphed over the mighty dinosaurs.

How the Earth was born

In a previous post I wrote about how we discovered the age of the Earth, and I mentioned that our planet formed at the same time as the other rocky bodies in our Solar System.

I didn’t say HOW this happened though. So now I will.

Happy now?

How old is the Earth? And how do we know?

In 1650 the Archbishop James Ussher announced that the Earth was thousands of years old.

Almost six thousand years old in fact. He had discovered that the world had been created on the 23^rd of October 4004 BC. At lunchtime.

This was a pretty momentous conclusion. Not only had Ussher calculated the age of our world to a superhuman degree of precision, he was also lending credence to the idea that the Earth had a beginning (many cultures believed the Earth has always existed, and always will) and that it was pretty damn old, 6,000 years-worth of old.

Today, most people are comfortable with the idea that the Earth hasn’t existed in perpetuity, and most people are OK with the fact that the Earth is billions of years old. But this is a pretty recent mindset. Up until about one hundred years ago, no one really had any idea how old the Earth was.

Here’s what happened…

Life in our Solar System – Mars

In this series of posts I’ve looked at planetary bodies in our Solar System that could support life, from the moons of Saturn and Jupiter, to the cloud layers of Jupiter itself, to the ephemeral-once-jungles of Venus, I’ve even looked at Earth itself.

Now one of my favourites, Mars, the Red Planet.

Life in our Solar System – Venus

In previous posts I’ve looked at the possibility that alien life could be found in our solar system, on three of Jupiter’s moons, in Jupiter itself, and on two of Saturn’s moons.

This time we’re moving nearer to home, to the planet closest to our own, Venus, the second rock from the Sun.

The Invention of Sex

This is an article I’ve written and just submitted for a science writing prize in the UK, the Wellcome Trust Science Writing Prize. If you’re interested in entering, unfortunately the deadline was today, but there’s always next year, details are found through the link just above. The article is about why, and roughly when, sex was invented. At least on Earth…

Life in our Solar System – Titan and Enceladus

In a couple of previous posts I looked at the possibility of life existing on some of Jupiter’s moons, including Europa, and then the possibility of life existing on Jupiter itself.

In this post we’ll head further out into the solar system and look at two of Saturn’s moons, Enceladus and Titan.

Life in our Solar System – Europa, Ganymede & Callisto

Astrobiology is all about finding alien life, and many astrobiologists believe life could be found in our Solar System, on Mars, on moons like Titan, Europa or Enceladus, and potentially on other bodies, like Kuiper Belt Objects.

In this post I’ll look at why some scientists think life may exist on Europa, and maybe even Ganymede and Callisto too, three of Jupiter’s largest moons.

So what’s so special about theses ice worlds?

The Open University, a different way to study.

OK, this post is going to be an unabashed advertisement for the Open University. I don’t work for them, I’m not doing this for any personal gain, I’m doing it because I’m a student at the OU (I’m working towards a degree in Geosciences), I love it, and I’d like more people to know about it.

If you’ve ever wanted to earn a degree, or just want to study a subject you found interesting, but feel that you can’t attend a traditional university for some reason, be it not enough time or money, or you haven’t got great qualifications from school, or you’re getting on-a-bit and you can’t face all those over-excited teenagers, then the OU may have something for you.

The Mayan Apocalypse of 2012: Part 4 – Polar Shifts & Super Volcanoes

Heard the world’s going to end in 2012?

This is post number 4, this time I’ll be looking at some of the predicted geological causes of destruction; super volcanoes, a polar shift and crustal displacement.

In the first post I looked at the Mayan roots of the prophecy, and found that there weren’t any, the 2012 myth is the produce of modern Western culture, not ancient Mayan culture. In post 2 I looked at Nibiru and cosmic alignments, and in post 3 I looked at solar storms and impacts from space.

So is a polar shift going to cause a crustal displacement, unleashing enormous earthquakes, tsunamis and volcanic eruptions and destroying our civilization? Read on…