Scientists recently ran experiments to determine what happens when excess nucleotides are present during DNA replication.¹ In normally functioning living things, each newly formed cell receives all the freshly minted DNA it needs. But DNA copying (replication) requires manufacturing a new chromosome based on the template of an existing one—a complicated task.

Scientists recently studied the Drakensberg Range in South Africa, discovering that lightning likely damages mountain surfaces far more often than previously thought. Lightning also generates fulgarites, and these two finds call into question old age assignments for Earth's land features.