Fair question. In the case of dinos, many paleontologists simply assumed that dinosaurs laid hard eggs, because birds do, too. As for mosasaurs, paleontologists didn’t think they were capable of live births. I suppose, for the examples you give, it would be difficult to backtrack this history from DNA alone, but I… Read more

Heh, I actually meant to use the word “donned,” but “adorned” came out for some reason. Now fixed.

The tank was used during the atomic tests and subsequently exposed to radiation. As noted in the press materials: “USS Nevada, like other ships at Bikini, was a floating platform for military equipment and instruments designed to see what the atomic bomb would do to them. One of four tanks placed on Nevada, this is… Read more

Kind words always appreciated, thank you. 

Good point, we do have a tag for paleontology—just slipped my mind. 

It’s becoming increasingly unrealistic to pin the settlement of the Americas to no earlier than the 13,000 to 14,000 timeframe as tons of archaeological evidence exists well before that time, as you point out. This study from August being the most recent, not to mention this latest study with the mammoth pit. But… Read more

Time to embrace and celebrate your inner axolotl.

I also heard from David Weintraub, a professor at Vanderbilt University’s Physics and Astronomy department. His response arrived after we went to publication, but I’d like to share his insights here. Read more

Well that would definitely change my opinion of the situation—thanks for sharing.

Some of you may have seen a similar report issued today by a different set of researchers from the University of Montreal who reached the same conclusion about water on K2-18b. As reported in Verge, this paper was uploaded to the arXiv server last night and it’s still going through peer review at the Astronomical… Read more

I agree that it’s weird to still be talking about linear evolution in the context of hominin evolution, but it certainly seemed to be a big deal during the press conference yesterday, with the researchers taking great pains to make their case in discrediting the supposedly prevailing linear model.

One thing I didn’t mention in this piece is how, after Mars, the list of other viable places to set up colonies falls off sharply. Realistically, we only have the moons of Jupiter and Saturn to consider, which present their own challenges, including the tremendous amount of radiation pouring out from the gas giants.

As an EITS fan, I appreciate this reference. 

Ah, very nice catch. We’ve made the fix, thanks for pointing that out.

Anyone who’s gone to Burning Man in Nevada’s Black Rock Desert fundamentally understands the problem of dust. Freakin’ nightmare, is what it is. It ruined my camera, made it hard to breathe, created grit I could feel in my teeth, and it got into the pores of my skin in ways I couldn’t believe. Reading the accounts of… Read more

I agree, this is probably the best scenario given a bad situation.

One of my favorite Woodstock stories is how the Guess Who turned down an invitation because they were busy at work on an album—which turned out to be American Woman, so not a bad sacrifice.

While reading the comments at the University of St. Andrews press release, I noticed that some readers were complaining about the dirty conditions at the facility. Here’s how the University responded: Read more

Good point, this thing needs a better name than Mars 2020 rover. Surprised this isn’t being discussed—at least not to my knowledge. 

Visiting a pristine comet would be cool, but a chance encounter with an interstellar object—though unlikely—would be even cooler imo.