Friday 28 March 2014

Humans are not superior, dolphins are smarter!

People are not the smartest creatures on Earth, scientists say, and that some species of animals, in their own way, are more intelligent - for example dolphins.

Killer whales have a complex language to communicate , and dolphins give each other the names that are based on the sound signal. This means that dolphins are finding themselves and others, say the scientists .
For thousands of years, various experts , from religious leaders to scientists , saying that people are "special and the brightest " , but science shows that some animals have the cognitive skills that more  superior human beings .
Researchers from the University of Adelaide once confirmed this thesis , a intelligence research and the evolution of primate brain supports the hypothesis that people are not the smartest creatures on Earth .
Scientists remind us that Aristotle , one of the greatest thinkers , argued that humans are superior to other animals because of their reasoning skills . But the reasoning is only one form of intelligence . The fact is that people do not understand the animals and they do not understand people , but that does not mean that their intelligence at different levels , but only that - a different kind.
People have a cumulative culture , which allows them to perform many of the actions that other animals can not do . However , this does not mean that the individuals of the human race superior to other beings.
" Monkeys are built in such a way that they do not need a house , people have evolved in an environment where you do not have to hand catch fish , but the Bears have , and they do it better than men ," the researchers said.

Friday 14 March 2014

It would only take 29 dominoes to knock over the Empire State Building

Physics can be terrifying and awesome at the same time. A single, tiny domino, only five millimeters high and a single millimeter thick could knock down a building as big as the Empire State building in just 29 steps.

Dominoes can knock over another domino up to one and a half times it's size. If you started with that small domino, about the size of a fingernail, it would only take 29 dominoes, each one one and a half times larger than the previous, to get to the size of New York's crown jewel building—and it would crumble.

Gravitational energy is stored in each domino when they are stood up, which requires just the slightest push to get the energy to spill to the side and release that energy that goes straight into the next domino it hits. With every domino the energy continues to amplify, gaining the power to knock down just about anything in it's way once it gets big enough.

The idea of massive amounts of energy getting exponentially bigger can be a terrifying thought on a grand scale.
Physics can be terrifying and awesome at the same time. A single, tiny domino, only five millimeters high and a single millimeter thick could knock down a building as big as the Empire State building in just 29 steps.
Dominoes can knock over another domino up to one and a half times it's size. If you started with that small domino, about the size of a fingernail, it would only take 29 dominoes, each one one and a half times larger than the previous, to get to the size of New York's crown jewel building—and it would crumble.
Gravitational energy is stored in each domino when they are stood up, which requires just the slightest push to get the energy to spill to the side and release that energy that goes straight into the next domino it hits. With every domino the energy continues to amplify, gaining the power to knock down just about anything in it's way once it gets big enough.
The idea of massive amounts of energy getting exponentially bigger can be a terrifying thought on a grand scale.

Read more at http://www.omg-facts.com/category/7/Science#jDK04PlBrw9S8ukB.99

Friday 7 March 2014

Star slightly younger than the Universe

Australian astronomers, during the project mapping parts of the southern sky, discovered Star SM0313, whose age is estimated at about 13.6 billion years, only a few hundred million years younger than the age of the Universe.


One of the very important information about the objects in the universe that spectroscopy reveals is their age. Australian astronomers , during the project mapping parts of the southern sky discovered Star SM0313 , located less than 2 kiloparseka of the solar system ( the diameter of our galaxy , the Milky Way is about 30 kiloparseka ) . After precision spectroscopic observations 6.5 meter Magellan telescope in Chile , and the stars age is estimated at about 13.6 billion years. Only a few hundred million years younger than the age of the Universe .
Indicator of great age, and the stars is that its range is such that points to the almost complete absence of elements heavier than hydrogen and helium . For example, the proportion of iron in the composition of these stars is ten million times smaller than the fraction of iron in the composition of the Sun . This points to the fact that , at the time when these stars formed in the universe was much less heavy elements than today . How heavy elements are formed in the evolution of stars and are dispersed throughout the universe in supernova explosions , this is an indicator of the extreme age of the stars SM0313.


The process of determining the chemical composition of the stars on the basis of the spectrum and its age on the basis of chemical composition is the result of an extremely successful and detailed theoretical analysis which started greats such as astrophysics S.Čandrasekar , Eddington , E. Salpeter and others. However , believe it or not , this star is not made ​​of intact gas . The share of heavy metals is higher than that which arose in the big bang , so currently we think that these stars formed from material which, upon reaching the stage of a supernova , threw the first stars , known as Population III . Population III stars were made ​​up entirely of hydrogen, helium and lithium, elements that were created in the Big Bang . They , however , have not yet been directly detected .
Evolution of stars, from lighter elements are formed heavier , which are processes in the final stages of the evolution of the stars were scattered into the surrounding interstellar medium . From it are gradually emerged a new star that were richer and richer in heavy elements . Sun , Earth and life as we know it here would not be able to occur without this process of " cosmic recycling . "
Direct detection of population III stars will be one of the main tasks of the James Webb Space Telescope ( JWST ) . Understanding the process of evolution of the first stars is extremely important for the theory of the formation and evolution of galaxies , as well as for better understanding of cosmological processes , such as zoning .

Tuesday 4 March 2014

Discovered "oldest" piece of our planet

Small zircon crystal found in Australia is officially the oldest piece of our planet, after scientists using two methods found that it is 4.4 billion years old.

In a paper published in the journal " Nature Geoscience " , a team of researchers said that their findings suggest that the Earth's crust formed relatively quickly after forming the planet .
" The early Earth was not so cruel place as previously thought ," said team leader John Velly , a professor at the University of Wisconsin .
British "Guardian " specifies that our planet formed 4.5 billion years ago , and that this finding means that the crust got pretty quickly - " only " 100 million years later . Age crystals means that the crust occurred only 160 million years after the formation of our solar system .
The discovery supports the theory of " cold sores Earth " where temperatures were low enough that there are oceans and possibly life in them , earlier than previously thought .
" We very interested in the issue when the country became a place suitable for life ? When cool enough to make life could emerge. Age of crystals suggests that our planet might be able to support life at the micro level before 4.3 billion years ," says Velly .
He points out that there is no evidence that life actually existed then , but that there is no evidence to indicate that definitely did not exist.
" There is no reason to say that before 4.3 billion years life could not exist ," he adds .
Officially the oldest fossil that scientists have found a star is about 3.4 billion years ago.
Zircon that could change the view of the history of our planet was found on a sheep farm in the area of ​​Jack Hils in Australia and it is very small . Dimension is about 200x400 microns , twice larger in diameter than a human hair .
" Zircons know they are big and very nice , but those with whom we work are small and not too attractive, except for geologists . When you hold it in your palm , you can see very well , you might be able to encounter a means of quality loupes " says Velly .