Adventure Ausrama Blog

Science: the latest meteorite give insight into formation of the solar system Scientists are interested in a space rock. The meteorite crashed into the Australian outback a year ago and has unique features. It is currently in London undergoing tests and will eventually be returned to the Museum of Western Australia. The meteorite is small, only as big as a tennis ball. Because its trajectory was tracked its origin is known. This is unusual: of the 50,000 meteorites that have hit the Earth over the last 200 years  the sources of only 10 have been ascertained. Tracking of the meteorite was carried out by Curtin University, London's Imperial College and the Ondrejov Observatory in the Czech Republic. The point of impact was only 100m from the projected point. Meteorites are the oldest rocks being 4.5 billion years old. Critical information about the formation of the solar system will be gained. ◆ Science by Ty Buchanan   ◆ Adventure Australia Funny Animal Photos Fu

Life began on Earth earlier than thought.  There is evidence of life 3.8 billion years ago.  This is only 0.7 billion short of the total life of the planet. A new study has pushed the origins of life back another 300 million years. It seems life began as soon the chaotic period of Earth's formation had settled down. Flecks of graphite were trapped in the crystal zircon.  This microscopic carbon mineral is among the zirconium, oxygen and silicon which is the main structure of the crystal. While trapped graphite is not full evidence of life, carbon is classed as biogenetic - life needs it to begin.  It is believed that the graphite was originally organic before being absorbed by zirconium.  Apparently, Earth calmed down very quickly after formation. Estimates now puts the origin of life on Earth at 4.1 billion years. ◆ Biology Ty Buchanan   ◆ Adventure Australia Funny Animal Photos Funny Weird Things Articles News Reviews ● Vista Computer Solutions Blog  

There is something out there - so NASA says. The U.S. space body announced that life producing water exists on Mars and more information on Pluto is about to come out soon. The New Horizons spacecraft is working perfectly and data collection is continuing. High resolution photographs have been taken of Pluto for some time now. They have been analyzed. Findings will interesting. It seems we are not totally alone. Life seems to be everywhere in the cosmos. Pluto even has its own weather. The "environment" changes like here on Earth. Apparently the planet is geologically active. NASA has only downloaded 10 per cent of the data so far. Some fascinating insights will be made known on Thursday. ◆ Science by Ty Buchanan   ◆ Adventure Australia Funny Animal Photos Funny Weird Things Articles News Reviews ● Vista Computer Solutions Blog                Australian Blog   ★   Adventure Australia ALL BLOG ARTICLES · ──► ( BLOG HOME PAGE) . . . . . . . . . .

Man is not the only animal to dominate the Earth. Pheidole ants have spread over all the livable continents. They are so common that a walk in a tropical forest means some are killed by just stepping forward. There are 1,200 species of the genus Pheidole . Each has developed to exist in a particular niche of the ecosystem. In a study of 300 species it has been found that certain species evolved similar characteristics independently. Species proliferated dramatically - from one to 600 species in the Americas. The evolutionary goal was to dominate all niches, first in the New World then in the Old. Expansion across one was independent of the other. Evolution took its own course. Ants are essential for healthy ecosystems. They aerate the soil, disperse seeds and help move nutrients. In biomass they equate with all vertebrates. Their study is indeed important ✴ Biology by Ty Buchanan ✴ http://www.adventure--australia.blogspot.com/ http://www.tysaustralia

Everyone knows that Australia is old. Just how old has been defined by science - A zircon crystal on a Western Australian sheep station is the oldest piece of planet Earth. It is 4.4 billion years old. Tests were done to determine the crystal's age. The rate of decay of uranium against the constant lead showed how old it was. This was confirmed by atom-probe tomography where the mass of lead atoms is measured. The zircon particle was created on the Earth's crust soon after the planet formed. And the Earth was not a violent place until much later. Water was already present and there is a high probability that life began at this time. The Hadean eon as this period is called in now a misnomer because it means Hadean the god of hell. Proof of life is unlikely. Science is not advanced enough yet to fully examine this period. Very little can be identified as originating in this period of the Earth's development. Science by Ty Buchanan http://www.adve

They are here! The bug eyed, green aliens that is.  A scientist supports the view that we are being visited by aliens. In Professor Davies' opinion these non-Earth creatures have lived here inside the planet for centuries. They live in places which is too inhospitable for humans. That is why they have not been discovered - at least by the general public. These lifeforms are not made of the same stuff as humans, he concludes. He also says that finding them "would be the biggest discovery in biology since Darwin and evolution". He ain't kiddin'. It would shock people out of their complacency! But, he is only saying what many people have been thinking for decades - that governments have already met these aliens and have reached an agreement with them which allows human experimentation. In return, governments like the US get information that enables them to make giant steps in the development of weaponry. We have to be careful about people making outlandish claim

Times have always been bad. Before this enlightened age a person could be "bludgeoned" to pieces at random by a man wielding a massively heavy and crude sword. Murder was seldom punished. The law was mainly aimed at theft, settling property disputes, heresy against the church or a challenge to the crown. Even before Christ people were claiming that the end of the world was nigh. The fiasco about the Mayan calendar shows how such "precognition" can be totally wrong. Once again the recent "clash" of a meteor and asteroid with Earth has drawn the doomsayers out of the woodwork. Wonders in the heavens have occurred since man came down from the trees. It is not something that stops, then starts again. The lightning strike at St. Peter's Basilica after the Pope announced he would step down was just coincidence. Lightning strikes happen regularly and despite the myth it does strike twice in the same place. Rabbi Jonathan Cahn says he was inundated

It has been found that asteroids can have magnetic fields. This was quite a surprise. Planets have magnetic fields due to a moving molten metal core. Mercury has a very strong field. The reason for this is not yet known. Vesta is a large asteroid with a diameter of 525 kilometer. It was first identified in 1807 by Heinrich Wilheim Olbers. It is the most easily seen asteroid from Earth. Smaller asteroids hit Vesta and some of the debris falls to Earth. The fallen "rocks" can be linked to Vesta because they have the same spectral color match. Vesta is unusual for an asteroid as it once had a crust, mantle and molten metal core. The orbiting dawn spacecraft/satellite confirms this. It is now frozen and no longer active. A meteor named Alan Hills A81001 composed of Vestan crust fell to Earth in the Arctic. When it was analysed it was found to have a weak magnetic field.  The original crust gained  a magnetic field when it cooled 3.7 billion years ago. An impact a

The state of the weather is a problem on Earth with predictions not always being correct. In space, however, there is a more serious weather problem. Solar storms can kill. Detectors at the South Pole measure neutrons. When the level reaches a certain point astronauts on the International Space Station shelter in a shielded capsule. Advances have been made in predicting solar storms which can destroy satellites. Unfortunately, little can be done to protect them, but the safety of astronauts is paramount. Storms move at different speeds. The faster the speed the more energy in particles, which makes them more intense and dangerous. Ironically, because there are more low-energy particles in a solar storm they do most overall damage. The early arrival of these low-energy particles does forewarn the onslaught of the high-energy neutrons. The number of solar flares gives an indication of future activity, though this is only a possibility at best. Neutron sensors at th

Bare circles of earth ringed with tall grass are found all over Africa. They have been a mystery with all kinds of stories told about them. Now a partial explanation has been found. Walter Tschinkel has been studying the phenomenon since 2005. At first he thought they were caused by termites which poisoned and killed off the grass. He realized his mistake when he analyzed satellite images - the circles were alive! The circles would disappear then appear somewhere else. However, for the most part circles remain in one place for up to 75 years. The average life was 41 years. Rain tends to be the main factor leading to formation of a new circle. Tschinkel has not discovered the real cause. If fertile earth is put inside a circle grass still will not grow. Something is going on in a chemical or "living" sense. Locals do not want the mystery solved. They make a living out of them. For a fee tourists "adopt" a circle, then keep up-to-date by viewing it on Go

Australian astronomers are searching for planets in other solar system that could sustain human life. Dr Charley Linweaver says Mankind is reaching the beginning of the end. It's time to look for a way out at least for a small group of people.  The number of planets identified orbiting other suns now exceeds 750. Though a few of these could be like the Earth, exact information is lacking. The objective of getting people to such a distant destination is way "off the planet" at present. We do not have the technology to get people in orbit around other planets in our own solar system, let alone reaching a far away planet and landing safely. Finding an identical planet to Earth is just not possible. This planet is a freak in regard to the universe. Most planets do not have life because they are regularly hit by asteroids and even other planets. Sending probes to  a possible twin planet would be a waste of time. It would literally take a lifetime to get a message ba

If an asteroid hadn't collided with the Earth 65 million years ago we would not be here today. Reptiles would still probably rule the world and apes would never have evolved. There was so much devastation after the impact that only small animals survived - very small mammals. These small creatures only came out into the open to take over the world when it was safe after the dinosaurs had gone. Mankind's development actually depended on the dinosaurs existence. Small animals evolved to give birth to live young so dinosaurs could not eat their eggs. Even giving milk to their young was to avoid the danger from dinosaurs. Becoming warm blooded allowed them to hunt at night which dinosaurs could not do. After the dust had settle it was a virtual paradise for mammals. The sun came out and they basked in it. A niche for large animals was vacant so mammals grew large and were successful. The climate changed and trees disappeared. Large mammals grazed happily until an intelligent a

It isn't ours says the US, Russia and Germany. A mysterious metal ball, two hemispheres welded together, has fallen to earth in Namibia. The "ball" is 35 centimeters wide and cut a groove in the ground on impact 33 centimeters deep and 3.8 meters wide. The hollow sphere is not dangerous - it isn't an explosive devise. There were two recent orbital crises with satellites crashing to the ground: NASA's Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite and Germany's Roentgen Satellite. The mystery object is not part of any of these. The Phobos-Grunt Mars Probe made in Russia will also soon come down. There is the possibility that it could be from a satellite much older, something that has been orbiting for a long time. If this is the case, ownership of the space debris may never be known because no country wants it known that satellite parts can fall at random from the sky. http://www.adventure--australia.blogspot.com/ http://www.tysaustralia.blogspot.com/ http:

Aboriginals had knowledge of movements of the Moon, Earth and Sun. This is not surprising. Ancient people had nothing better to do at night than to look up and note movements of those tiny spots of light. Apparently it was known that tides were linked to the moon and seasons came and went cyclically. Aboriginal culture revolved around movements in the heavens. They used it for guidance on long hunting expeditions, for marriage ceremonies, and knowing when types of fruit would appear. Eclipses were bad news. They believed something bad would soon happen. This is probably due to the moon turning red, like blood, during an eclipse. Like ancient religions Aboriginals saw the heavens as a canopy held up by spiritual pillars Human beings tend to interpret things in a similar way though they may be from different tribal groups or live in varied parts of the world. First there were many Gods, now there is one. This has happened as beliefs became factual knowledge over eons of time. h

A fly is a fly and a mosquito is a, well, mosquito right? The difference isn't as distinct as that. A CSIRO research team has reached the conclusion that in evolutionary terms they are very close. They are both on the same main evolutionary branch: flies splitting of this line 175 million years ago, mosquitoes 50 million years. Flies make up a tenth of all animal species on Earth. There are 152,000 fly species in total. Flies are very interesting having three evolutionary attempts at flying until evolving with the flying method of today. Earth has had very different climates in the past. Despite dramatic changes flies survived. They can consume any nutrient rich substance available. http://www.adventure--australia.blogspot.com/ http://www.tysaustralia.blogspot.com/ http://www.feeds.feedburner.com/AdventureAustralia http://www.technorati.com/blogs/http://adventure--australia.blogspot.com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Science

A NASA space vehicle, New Messenger, has reached Mercury and is beaming back information to CSIRO's Canberra Deep Space Communication Complex. It has taken nearly seven years to get to the hot inner planet. A Mercury day is six Earth months long while its year is only 88 days. There is no possibility of humans landing on this little planet as the temperature reaches 430 degrees. Its minimum is extreme as well, minus 180 degrees. The sun would look three times bigger than on Earth if you could stand on it surface and look at it that is. An earlier exploratory vehicle, Marina 10, only gave a cursory look at the innermost planet. The whole planet is to be mapped this time. It will show whether there is ice at the poles. The sun never shines into pole craters. A mystery to be solved is why Mercury is composed mainly of metals. http://www.adventure--australia.blogspot.com/ http://www.tysaustralia.blogspot.com/ http://www.feeds.feedburner.com/AdventureAustralia http://www.technorati.com/

Countries are going ahead with investment in nuclear power despite very real dangers. Similar crises to Chernobyl and Three Mile Island will definitely occur in the future with catastrophic results for resident of neighboring nations of the country experiencing the problem. Where are they going to put the contaminated material after use? Putting it deep under landfill and into natural cavities in the earth have failed in the past. The only answer is to launch it into space on a trajectory to the sun. But what if the rocket explodes in the earth's atmosphere or crashes to earth? Nuclear power is also very expensive. It is too high a price to pay to reduce green house gas pollution. Electricity charges are already going through the roof in Australia and the green tax hasn't even been instituted yet. There is no way the use of uranium purchased from countries such as Australia can be policed. Once another country owns the uranium it can use it for military purposes, though all nuc

There is hope for a new fuel that will reduce the price of oil, but carbon pollution of the earth will still be a problem. In Mackay, north Australia, a farmer is planting "diesel trees". Oil from the trees will be tapped and used in diesel engines without refining. A tree can produce 40 liters a year. This means that a farmer can grow a hectare of the trees, and this will be sufficient for all his farm needs. This is good for the cost of fuel. However, it will do little to reduce carbon pollution. http://www.adventure--australia.blogspot.com/ http://www.tysaustralia.blogspot.com/ http://www.feeds.feedburner.com/AdventureAustralia http://www.technorati.com/blogs/http://adventure--australia.blogspot.com . . . . . . . . . . . . . .