Throughout this article series, I’ve highlighted major events that took place during our solar system’s youth and helped pave the way for the eventual appearance of humanity. In part 1, I … more

More and more research shows that it’s one thing for the solar system to support unicellular life; it’s quite another matter to reach the ability to host advanced life. Supporting human … more

In part 1 of this series on the solar system’s youth I described the solar system’s exquisitely fine-tuned birthing experience. Here, in part 2, I will describe amazing events that took … more

“My own personal feeling is that the chances of life on this planet are 100 percent...I have almost no doubt about it.”

So said the UC-Santa Cruz astrophysicist who discovered an … more

Human males do not reach full physical maturity until the age of twenty-four. Educational training can take even longer; in my case it took until age thirty to complete all my education and … more

The phrase “a hard nut to crack” aptly describes coconuts, Brazil nuts, and spies trained to resist interrogation. A new research study by Yale University geophysicist Jun Korenaga … more

An adult human can last 40 days without food, a week without any sleep, three days without water, but only five minutes without air. Yet nothing is more taken for granted than the air we breathe. … more

The inevitable finally happened. Astronomers using the Kepler Telescope detected five Earth-sized planets orbiting in the liquid water habitable zone. Yet, unlike previous bold assertions that such … more

These are exciting times in the hunt for planets outside our solar system. The catalog of alien worlds grows (almost daily it seems) and continues to showcase planets that look nothing like ours.

One … more

I still remember the excitement I experienced as a kid each time someone gave me a box of Cracker Jacks. Not only were the caramel-coated popcorn and peanuts delicious, each box contained a surprise. … more

Coined in the nineteenth century, the phrase “silent majority” referred to the dead and the fact that the number of people who have died far outnumbers the people who are … more