life

This Beautiful Reconstruction of a Stone Age Woman Feels Almost Like Time Travel

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A Stone Age woman who lived 4,000 years ago is leaning on her walking stick and looking ahead as a spirited young boy bursts into a run, in a stunning life-size reconstruction now on display in Sweden.   Although her likeness is new – it debuted last month in an exhibit about ancient people at Västernorrlands Museum … Read more

The Touching Reason Prehistoric People May Have Collected And Reused Old Tools

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Prehistoric sites are full of stone tools that appear to have two life cycles: They’ve been crafted, used, and discarded before being picked up a second time and used again. A new study puts forward an interesting hypothesis as to why this is.   The research suggests that the recycling of these tools is about … Read more

Could Mars ever have supported life? This NASA challenge wants your help to find out

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NASA and crowdsourcing platform HeroX have launched a $30,000 challenge to find better ways to analyze data relating to Mars‘ potential to host life. The deadline to make your submission is April 18, and you can review the full competition eligibility requirements, along with the HeroX challenge page, to get more information. The goal is … Read more

Creatures living in our cities are evolving in some surprising ways

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From mosquitoes and rats to foxes and birds, the urban environment is transforming animals that live among us – but which new species should we expect next? Life 9 March 2022 By Rob Dunn Pigeons, as well as crows, jays and owls, are thriving in the urban jungle Bjorn Grotting/Alamy TO THE naturalist in me, … Read more

Mars: Curiosity rover discovers diverse cache of organic minerals

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Organic molecules and clay minerals found in Gale Crater could be a sign of ancient Martian life, but it isn’t possible yet to rule out that they are products of inorganic processes Space 10 March 2022 By Alex Wilkins The Gale Crater as viewed through a camera on NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS The Curiosity … Read more

Ice Age Animals Come to Life via Augmented Reality

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Have you ever wanted to eat breakfast sitting across from a dire wolf or watch a saber-toothed cat roar from the comfort of your living room? These ice age animals have been extinct for more than 10,000 years, but scientists are bringing them back to life—virtually. The team developed three-dimensional, animated models of some of … Read more

The First Explosion of Life on Earth Made an Impact Deep Under The Surface

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The Cambrian Explosion – around 541 million years ago – was when life and organisms really got going on planet Earth. Now new research has revealed how that explosion of life has left behind traces deep within Earth’s mantle.   For scientists, it shows the connected interplay between Earth’s surface and what lies beneath, as … Read more

Too much of a good thing: Early impacts delivered iron to Earth but almost wiped out life

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Paul M. Sutter is an astrophysicist at SUNY Stony Brook and the Flatiron Institute, host of Ask a Spaceman and Space Radio, and author of How to Die in Space. The Hadean era was a pretty wild ride. Earth had just formed, but meteorites constantly rained from the sky, pummeling our young planet for over 700 million years. Those impacts posed a … Read more

Chocolate, music and research fuel Martian life at HI-SEAS – Commander’s report: sol 6

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Dr. Michaela Musilova is the director of the Hawaii Space Exploration Analog and Simulation (HI-SEAS) program, which conducts analog missions to the moon and Mars for scientific research at a habitat on the volcano Mauna Loa. Currently, she is in command of the two-week Valoria 3 Martian mission and contributed this report to Space.com’s Expert … Read more