NYT : Arctic Melt Unnerves the Experts

Last Tuesday, the New York Times published an article about Arctic Melt. The evidence is growing rapidly that the ice is melting. They are sending ships to explore Artic. You can guess why; oil and fishiing.

You should also view the interactive graphic where you can see the ice polar retreating for past 5 years. Interactive Graphic: Sea Ice in Retreat.

Scientists push back origins of Earth's oxygen (Reuters)

I just read an article about scientists pushing back origins of Earth's oxygen.

Did the oxygen actually begin to rise about 2.5 billion years ago? The scientists are finding some evidence from some rocks that the activity occured 50 to 100 million years before the Oxygen Catastrophe (known as the Great Oxidation Event).

For about the first half of the planet's existence, the environment had nearly no oxygen. I am curious to know how the planet acquire the oxygen after the atmosphere started to become thicker. Did part of oxygen get trapped inside the planet during its birth?

Like living things, oxygen and other gases have evolved for billions of years.

I'm currently reading a book called Lucy : The Beginnings of Humankind. I visited The Leakey Foundation's web site and saw this book in the bookstore. I am always interested in human evolution and I have to admit that australopithecus afro is one of my favorite species. Even though the book was published more than 20 years, I am ambitious in reading this book. When I started to read the book, I can tell that some information are outdated. But, I still feel that ti's worth reading. I am intrigued by the discovery of Lucy and I wanted to learn more about the history of Lucy. It seems that the author did a tremendous job by describing the difference of each species, from apes to humans and how to identify each skull.

The New York Times published an incredible article last year about new hints unveiled by studying Lucy's bones. I'm going to post the link below. This article was printed on September 21, 2006.

Little Girl, 3 Million Years Old, Offers New Hints on Evolution

NYT : At Climate Meeting, Bush Does Not Specify Goals

As you may know, global warming is not on Bush's top agenda. Recently, he has address the issue of global warming and how real it has become. I am theorizing that he is doing to give a boost to his party. However, he has failed to elaborate his party's goal to combat against global warming. He is more concerned about our country's economy rather than our planet's needs. This is a huge obstacle. Regardless of what party he is, I feel that he should act more on global warming and other issues that should not be neglected.

The New York Times has an article about Bush failing to specify goals. If you wish to read the article, click on the link below.

At Climate Meeting, Bush Does Not Specify Goals

Xinhuanet.com just posted an article about mammoth hair yielding DNA. We will probably find out what has caused mammoth's extinction. It's matter of time until the researchers find more clues. For years, scientists have tried to obtain DNA from the frozen remains but have been unsuccessful. Mammoth's hair may be the answer but it may take years until we actually know whether the mission has been accomplished.

At one point, the hard covering of hair could protect the DNA. If you wish to keep reading, click on the link below.

Mammoth hair yields DNA, may solve extinction mystery

The image above is from the Rocks and Minerals website.

October 4, 1957

Almost 50 years ago, something has changed the world dramatically. The launching of Sputnik has stunned many people, especially the Americans who have witnessed or listened to the event. It did make the difference.

Homer H. Hickam, author of "Rocket Boys", has become more famous after the movie "October Sky" was played in theaters. He was awed when he witnessed the orbit of Sputnik floating around Earth.

The space race has started instantly. Even though Russians were first in many things, the United States managed to be the first to send men to the Moon.

What has been done was a great achievement. Hickman and other people have played significant roles in helping our country to become involved with the space program.

I am attaching the link to the New York Times article. Keep reading...

The terrifying velociratpor with feathers...

Here's the story. I saw a post in Yahoo News. The scientists are saying that velociraptor had feathers. That didn't surprise me because an idea was mentioned in other articles. The acceptance of the idea has been gaining the ground but we still have a long way to go.

Having features don't necessarily mean that all dinosaurs evolved to birds. However, I do believe that a tiny fraction group of dinosaurs has successfully evolved to birds and have escaped the massive extinction 65 million years ago.

Why did they need feathers? We can say that they need feathers to guard nests, for temperature control, or to help it maneuver while running.

The velociratpor was about three feet tall and weighed about 30 pounds. According to the researchers, it would not have been able to fly, even though it had feathers.

I have always thought that it's really difficult to evolve from one species to another species.