Troy Oakes

Have Researchers Proved Charles Darwin Was Wrong?

Researchers at Yale have answered a long-debated question about which competing model of evolution works best. They have come up with the answer by using sophisticated modeling of genomic data from diverse species indicating that Charles Darwin was wrong. Their study, which was published in the journal Molecular Biology and Evolution, suggests that the “house of cards” model, which holds that mutations with large ...

Troy Oakes

Charles Darwin`s `The Origin of Species` German translation, 4th edition published in 1870, surrounded by other 19th century books.

Satellite in Sun’s Backyard Unravels the Origins of Interplanetary Dust

What do shooting stars and astronaut safety have in common? Both stem from the sub-microscopic rock fragments found throughout the solar system, sometimes called interplanetary dust. When these particles collide with Earth’s atmosphere, they create meteors, better known as shooting stars, as the (usually) microscopic fragments vaporize and leave flaming trails through the air. When ...

Troy Oakes

A shooting star.

Mysterious ‘Sleeping Sickness’ Hit Town in Northern Kazakhstan

Viktor Kazachenko was from a village in northern Kazakhstan, and there was something quite strange happening in his village. While he was driving to the nearest town on some errands, something happened, and he never arrived. “My brain switched off,” he said. “That’s it. I don’t remember.” Kazachenko had been hit by the so-called “sleeping sickness” ...

Troy Oakes

An old map with a magnifying glass sitting on top of Kazakhstan.

Skewer a Balloon and Look Cool to Your Kids: Here’s How

Have you ever seen someone skewer a balloon? It’s a great party trick and your kids will think you are really clever. Here is how to do it and why this works. Balloons are made from latex, which is a polymer that is made of long chain-like molecules/strands that are tangled together. There are bonds between each ...

Troy Oakes

A group of yellow helium-filled balloons with funny emoji faces.

Child Sex Tourism: The Scale of the Abuse and What You Can Do to Help Stop It

Child sex tourism (CST) is defined as the exploitation of children for sexual purposes by offenders who travel to engage in sexual activities with children. This also involves child trafficking, child prostitution, child pornography, and the sale of children for sexual exploitation. CST occurs in many countries and tourism destinations. The commercial sexual exploitation of children ...

Troy Oakes

Airport departure/arrival area.

Aquaman Crystals: Scientists Discover a New Way to Store Oxygen

A lot of people enjoy scuba diving around the world. Imagine if you didn’t need air tanks and you could stay underwater for longer periods. Scientists have developed a new crystalline substance called Aquaman Crystals that are capable of absorbing a massive amount of oxygen. Remarkably, a mere bucketful of this amazing substance is capable ...

Troy Oakes

Woman swimming underwater.

What Would Happen If the Earth Stopped Spinning?

Have you ever wondered what would happen if the Earth stopped spinning? Well, the speed of the Earth’s rotation is 1,037 mph at the equator, so everything that is not embedded into the bedrock would simply keep moving if the Earth stopped spinning — animals, people, trees, buildings, etc. The oceans would continue to rotate by ...

Troy Oakes

Planet Earth.

ESO Captures Best Images Yet of Peculiar Kleopatra Asteroid

Using the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope (ESO’s VLT), a team of astronomers has obtained the sharpest and most detailed images yet of the Kleopatra asteroid. The observations have allowed the team to constrain the 3D shape and mass of this peculiar dog-bone asteroid to a higher accuracy than ever before. Their research provides ...

Troy Oakes

Asteroid Kleopatra compared to the size of Chile.

Was There a Big Bang?

I’m sure most people have heard of the Big Bang Theory, and how that was the very beginning of the universe. Physicists Ahmed Farag Ali and Saurya Das are not so convinced. With their new model that has quantum correction terms that complement Einstein’s Theory of General Relativity, it shows that the universe has existed forever. The model also takes into ...

Troy Oakes

Combined NASA images simulating the idea of the Big Bang.