Skye Dinosaur Footprints is Just the Beginning of the Discovery - http://clapway.com/2015/12/02/skye-dinosaur-footprints-beginning-discovery/

The huge creatures that roamed the earth some several millions of years ago have left some more footprints. Just recently, there were footprints that were revealed in the Isle of Skye that were left by sauropods. The scientists that discovered this reported the find in the Scottish Journal of Geology.

THE SKYE DINOSAUR IS AN AMAZING DISCOVERY

A lead scientist, Dr. Steve Brusatte, from the University of Edinburgh, mentioned how this discovery was one of the greatest that was ever made in Scotland. He also mentioned how these were the first sauropod dinosaur footprints ever discovered in Britain. Another member from the University of Edinburgh, Dr. Tom Challands, also stated that it was an amazing discovery. He also said he is excited to study the Skye dinosaur in detail.

THE SKYE DINOSAUR COULD JUST BE THE TIP OF THE ICEBERG

Dr. Tom Challands also stated that this discovery could continue to lead to more and more discoveries in the future. Challands mentions how this is just the tip of the iceberg. He says that Skye will continue to yield great sites and specimens for years to come. Dinosaurs are among the most interesting creatures in the world because nobody has actually seen any. This makes all of the discoveries that are found on dinosaurs even more special and rare.

HOW COOL ARE THESE SKYE DINOSAUR FOOTPRINTS THAT WERE DISCOVERED?

Most everybody has seen the movie Jurassic Park right? Well, the one’s who have most likely wonder what it would have been like to experience that. So every time the world discovers more proof that dinosaurs did exist, the more people can envision and imagine what it was like. The fact that scientists find these footprints that were made millions of years ago by dinosaurs is awesome. Also, the fact that Challands mentions how these discoveries could continue, the excitement will be endless for die-hard dinosaur researchers.

Skye Dinosaur Footprints is Just the Beginning of the Discovery

Jellyfish of Days Gone By Use to Have Skeleton - http://clapway.com/2015/07/11/jellyfish-of-days-gone-by-use-to-have-skeleton678/

In retrospect of the Jellyfish

The jellyfish is arguably one of the more fascinating sea creatures to watch in the deep blue. What with its long flimsy tentacles propelling it to and fro and its bubble head, the frail-looking creature shows how even appearances can be deceiving, hiding its powerful stings in the weak-looking tentacles.

As we all know the jellyfish have to vertebrae, which is odd to think about, however lots of animals are invertebrates; some cuter-looking than others.

New jellyfish fossil points to skeletal origins

However, the latest news in the archeology world is that scientists in China have found a fossil that suggest jellyfishes once had a skeletal structure, making them vertebrate at that point in time. The find was shared in the Science Advances journal just yesterday.

The find is as interesting as it is enlightening, as the fossil was dated back to the Cambrian period a significant time period for life as we know it. Furthermore, what is else is interesting that some fossils that have been recovered from this historic era is that the fossils of older animal species had skeletal structures whereas the distant relatives and descendants today have none.

The Jellyfish had no arms

Say what? Why did it have no arms? Well that’s because researchers identified this fossil, one of six, as belonging to the early comb jellies species, otherwise known as ctenophores, which have pretty similar tentacles to other jellies, but without the sting (cue sigh of relief for).

Also what’s different about this early jellyfish is that it wasn’t soft-bodied like today

No – instead, these ancient animals had hard plates and small spikes that made them little armored vertebrates and helped them to survive early life on Earth.

Finding fossils is a hard enough job, but finding this kind of fossil is pretty much a needle in the haystack, with you mistaking the needle for hay. What the heck does that mean? It means the fossil is really rare and it was a very lucky find.

As it starts to become more studied and perhaps the search for more fossils start going underway, more will be revealed about the jellyfish that was a vertebrate.

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Jellyfish of Days Gone By Use to Have Skeleton

Too Big for Home: A Black Hole Story - http://clapway.com/2015/07/10/too-big-for-home-a-black-hole-story678/

Black hole outgrows its home galaxy

Space news has been pretty eventful lately but some new findings might take the weirdness of recent space events to a new level. The new piece of research that was published today in the Science journal may put a lot of what was known about black holes in a fog.

The story of the black hole being too large for home only 2 billion years after the Big Bang has many in the science community stupefied. Prior to this publication, the science world was led to believe that black holes and galaxies grew at the same time. However, this newly discovered black hole has outgrown the galaxy. Even more startling is the fact that the galaxy continues to grow despite the presence of the black hole’s enormity. An astrophysics professor from the group of researchers that was part of the study has stated that it was only meant to study less exciting things, not a completely never-before-seen phenomenon such as this black hole. The find surprised them and the rest of the science community.

this massive black hole is the largest one ever seen

To date, this black hole is the biggest one scientists have ever found. In comparison to our home star, the Sun, the solar mass of this monster is seven billion times as large. It’s basically the same as the ratio of the entire human population of Earth to you, one person.

What does this mean for us and for space science?

As mentioned previously, this new finding on the black hole earlier in galactic time has scientists scratching their head at the contradictory nature. It is contradictory because it means have to rethink what we know about the universe and the fact that the galaxy the black hole is in continues to grow despite it being there. It’s kind of like a stationary tornado is going on and a whole metropolitan city continuing to be built in the nearby vicinity, despite the threat.

A Jurassic Park quote seems appropriate here, the sentiment that “Life finds a way” being quite applicable to this new discovery.

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Too Big for Home: A Black Hole Story

Pacific Ocean: Discovery of Pescadero Basin Vents - http://clapway.com/2015/06/10/pacific-ocean-discovery-of-pescadero-basin-vents-123/

The deep sea is a relatively unknown world filled with wonders and jaw-dropping discoveries. This latest discovery in a recently discovered seafloor, fits that description entirely.

A “hot spring” was discovered along the seafloor of the Pacific Ocean, and scientists claim it is vastly different than the common hydrothermal vents. Dave Clague a Marine geologist at the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI) in California verifies that this “hot spring” is different in more than one way.

WHAT THEY LOOK LIKE

The chimneys of the newly-named Pescadero Basin vents have spirals that appear to be white as now, but they are formed from calcium carbonate or limestone. The water surrounding these “chimneys” are 500 degrees Fahrenheit (about 260 degrees Celsius). They are “laden with methane and petroleum-type products that give off a whiff of diesel fuel,” said National Geographic.

WHERE IT IS PESCADERO BASIN LOCATED

The location is another strange feature about these vents. They lie 100 miles off the coast of eastern Mexico, near La Paz. The Pescadero Basin vents are 12,5000 feet below the surface of the ocean and deep into the seafloor. This makes them the deepest high-temperature vents known to reside in the Pacific Ocean.

Furthermore, the area surrounding the vents is comprised of mud made up of the ocean floor. This is a surprising factor because most vents have no sediment, and they are further off the coast with no land on the nearby seafloor.

ANY ANIMALS?

The species surrounding the Pescadero Basin vents are another element of surprise for scientists. The common tubeworms, called Riftias are scarce around the Pescadero Basin vents. “In fact,” Clague said, “the animal community inhabiting the new vent field seems to be a mix of things found around hydrothermal vents and cold seeps.”

MBARI biologist are currently researching and studying the seafloor around the Pescadero Basin vents. They are also studying the vents themselves, but the research will take years to complete. For a basin this large things can get expensive, and with such an expansive amount of space, there are constantly new species and areas to discover.

In the past finding these vents have proved very difficult, but in the case of the Pescadero Basin vents, technology has proven a reliable and timely tool. Scientists, like Clague, are hoping that they will be able to research and find more vents than ever before, and the Pescadero Basin vents are the very first step!

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Pacific Ocean: Discovery of Pescadero Basin Vents