Scuba divers can explore underwater depths firsthand because of specialized equipment that was developed in just the last century. Likewise, solar-powered airplanes currently in development promise to provide fuel-free flying. These inventions open new realms for human exploration, but the arachnid and insect equivalents of their equipment have been on the planet for ages.

Among living creatures, only humans can think about thinking. Researchers recently performed a new set of cognitive tests on one-year-olds to discover how soon humans develop the ability to reason. Their findings surprised them.

For life to have evolved from non-life, atoms and molecules would have had to move from a state of lower to greater organization and self-assemble into precise arrangements. But the second law of thermodynamics demonstrates that without intelligent outside influence, molecules are always in the process of breaking down.

The sun is having hot flashes again. NASA reported that on June 7 a "dramatic solar flare" was flung out into space.¹ Such flares release particles that can collide with earth's atmosphere and cause the phenomenon known as "northern lights." What protects life on earth from this very harmful stream of radiation?

A Cambrian rock layer is considered to be "Cambrian" because of the particular fossils it contains. But what does it mean when a rock layer designated as "Ordovician" contains distinctly Cambrian fossils? Paleontologists are facing that question after a recent find in North Africa.