Fact or Fiction: The Days (and Nights) Are Getting Longer

Fact or Fiction: The Days (and Nights) Are Getting Longer: "

The summer solstice that falls this year on June 21 marks the longest day of the year in the Northern Hemisphere, sunlight-wise. Almost imperceptibly, however, Earth's day–night cycle --one rotation on its axis--is growing longer year by year, and has been for most of the planet's history.

Forces from afar conspire to put the brakes on our spinning world--ocean tides generated by both the moon and sun's gravity add 1.7 milliseconds to the length of a day each century, although that figure changes on geologic timescales. The moon is slowly spiraling away from Earth as it drives day-stretching tides, a phenomenon recorded in rocks and fossils that provides clues to the satellite's origin and ultimate fate. "You're putting energy into the moon's orbit and taking it out of the Earth's spin," says James Williams , a senior research scientist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif.

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World's Oldest Leather Shoe Found—Stunningly Preserved

World's Oldest Leather Shoe Found—Stunningly Preserved: "At 5,500 years old, the 'astonishingly modern' shoe was exceptionally preserved by sheep dung and dryness. "

Did Neandertals Think Like Us? (preview)

Did Neandertals Think Like Us? (preview): "

For the past two decades archaeologist João Zilhão of the University of Bristol in England has been studying our closest cousins, the Neandertals, who occupied Eurasia for more than 200,000 years before mysteriously disappearing some 28,000 years ago. Experts in this field have long debated just how similar Neandertal cognition was to our own. Occupying center stage in this controversy are a handful of Neandertal sites that contain cultural remains indicative of symbol use--including jewelry--a defining element of modern human behavior. Zilhão and others argue that Neandertals invented these symbolic traditions on their own, before anatomically modern humans arrived in Europe around 40,000 years ago. Critics, however, believe the items originated with moderns.

But this past January, in a paper published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA , Zilhão and his colleagues reported on finds that could settle the dispute: pigment-stained seashells from two sites in Spain dated to nearly 50,000 years ago--10,000 years before anatomically modern humans made their way to Europe. Zilhão recently discussed the implications of his team’s new discoveries with Scientific American staff editor Kate Wong. An edited version of their conversation follows.

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Where Is My Bailout ?!

NBC Today Show interview about BP’s latest effort to ‘Cut & Cap’ the damaged oil pipe in the Gulf

NBC Today Show interview about BP’s latest effort to ‘Cut & Cap’ the damaged oil pipe in the Gulf: "

Disaster in the Gulf: Day 44 (June 2nd - NBC’s Today Show Interview with Dr. Kaku about BP’s latest effort to ‘Cut & Cap’ the damaged pipe in the Gulf and if the method will in fact work. BP plans to use a diamond edged tool (wire-cutters) to make a clean cut of the damaged pipe (one cut was made last night) and if the caps don’t work, the problem has essentially become magnified because now the holes are even larger than before and an estimated 20% increase of oil spillage is now a high possibility.

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MSNBC (Keith Olbermann Interview) on BP’s top-kill procedure in the Gulf of Mexico

MSNBC (Keith Olbermann Interview) on BP’s top-kill procedure in the Gulf of Mexico: "

Dr. Kaku sits down with Keith Olbermann (The Countdown - MSNBC) to speak about how BP’s top-kill procedure is faring at stopping the oil in the Gulf and what other options are available to avoid a worst case scenerio disaster. Interview took place on May 27th, 2010.

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The creation of the first man-made synthetic cell (FOX News)

The creation of the first man-made synthetic cell (FOX News): "

Dr. Kaku speaks with FOX News about the recent announcement in the enduring quest to create artificial life. Scientists claim that they’ve produced a living cell powered by manmade DNA.

The inventors call it the world’s first synthetic cell.

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