Tag Archives: evolution of earth

New Symphony of Science: The Greatest Show on Earth

New Symphony of Science: The Greatest Show on Earth

What is the greatest show on earth? Naturally, the answer would depend on what you think is great. If you like documentaries about nature, evolution, and the like, then you probably have watched more than your fair share of BBC documentaries. There is no arguing that the stuff that BBC produces is simply ace, especially if seen on a high def TV! You’ve also probably heard of the Symphony of Science, a project by John Boswell and some other guys. The project is beautiful in that it combines the learning of scientific concepts with music, which is a winning combination in my book. I think I discovered them early last Read more »

Days are now shorter thanks to Chilean Earthquake

Days are now shorter thanks to Chilean Earthquake

According to NASA, the recent Chilean earthquake that took hundreds of lives also took away a part of the day. Just how much? With the magnitude of the quake, Earth’s axis has been tilted by roughly 3 inches (2.7 milliarcseconds to be exact) shortening the day by 1.26 microseconds. In the great expanse of time, Earth has probably lost a full minute if it had experienced numerous earthquakes each year, tilting the axis by inches every time (of course this only happes with quakes having magnitudes that move thousands of cubic miles worth of rock — the recent Chilean quake measured 8.8 on the Richter). Earthquakes can involve shifting hundreds Read more »