Long before tourists arrived in the Bahamas, ancient visitors took up residence in this archipelago off Florida's coast and left remains offering stark evidence that the arrival of humans can permanently change -- and eliminate -- life on what had been isolated islands, says a University of Florida researcher. picked by AutumnLotus 2 years ago

Organic compounds contain carbon and hydrogen and form the building blocks of all life on Earth. By analyzing organic material and minerals in the Martian meteorite Allan Hills 84001, scientists have shown for the first time that building blocks of life formed on Mars early in its history. Previously, scientists have thought that organic material in ALH 84001 was brought to Mars by meteorite impac... read full post picked by AutumnLotus 2 years ago

The Red Planet was too salty to sustain life for much of its history, according to the latest evidence gathered by rovers on the Martian surface. picked by mahler87 2 years ago

A new study suggests that extreme chemical reactions fired up by meteorite impacts may have jump-started life in the early oceans, rather than delivering its building blocks preformed. picked by muppet 12 months ago

The purpose of the A-PRIZE is to put development of artificial life forms in the open where it should be. Today, many efforts at developing artificial life are not well publicized. The A-PRIZE will serve as a clearing house for information about the race to "Break the Carbon Barrier". With mega-universities and companies racing to create nonbiological life, now is the time for such a cle... read full post picked by michelleroberts 3 years ago

Campbell Gillespie was struck by lightning four years ago. Barely surviving the strike, the injuries he sustained left him with no sense of taste or smell and, according to doctors, completely sterile.

Proving them wrong (or in an incredibly ostentatious act of cuckoldry), his partner Hazel Topping gave birth to a son this morning.

Link to an earlier story here picked by pocksucket 2 years ago

Apparently each episode of Half Life 2 will be longer then the previous one. picked by whi73rav3n 3 years ago

Search millions of photographs from the LIFE photo archive, stretching from the 1750s to today. Most were never published and are now available for the first time through the joint work of LIFE and Google.
*this is great* picked by Bornbad 1 year ago

New research shows that black holes are not the ultimate destroyers that are often portrayed in popular culture. Instead, warm gas escaping from the clutches of enormous black holes could be one source of the chemical elements that make life possible. picked by AutumnLotus 3 years ago

The first detection of lightning in a Martian dust storm has likely been made by a new detector on a radio telescope. Scientists have long thought that as with dust devils and storms here on Earth, Martian dust storms should produce lightning. But direct evidence of electric discharges on the red planet was lacking. picked by kakana 4 months ago

Have Mars landers been destroying signs of life? Instead of identifying chemicals that could point to life, NASA's robot explorers may have been toasting them by mistake. picked by bornbad 6 months ago

The rise of oxygen and the oxidation of deep oceans between 635 and 551 million years ago may have had an impact on the increase and spread of the earliest complex life, including animals, according to a study. picked by AutumnLotus 2 years ago

In this article we present a view gaining attention in the origin-of-life community that takes the question out of the hatchery and places it squarely in the realm of accessible, plausible chemistry. As we see it, the early steps on the way to life are an inevitable, incremental result of the operation of the laws of chemistry and physics picked by 2manyusernames 7 months ago

Scientists have known for some time that most major groups of complex animals appeared in the fossils record during the Cambrian Explosion, a seemingly rapid evolutionary event that occurred 542 million years ago. Now paleontologists have identified another explosive evolutionary event that occurred about 33 million years earlier among macroscopic life forms unrelated to the Cambrian animals. They... read full post picked by AutumnLotus 2 years ago

As clouds of toxic ash and dust tower into the sky, they ionise the air, generating an explosive electrical storm. Colossal forks of lightning spark around the noxious plume as it spews from the volcano's crater, creating an image of raw, terrifying energy - as if the air itself were ablaze. Video of the eruption here. picked by AutumnLotus 2 years ago

EVERYBODY VIRTUALLY PANIC picked by MaskedWriter 3 years ago

Life's collection of 10 million images will be available online, with "the most important collection of imagery covering the events and people of the 20th century" available for free for personal use. picked by suebe 3 years ago

This amazing photograph gives whole new meaning to the phrase "May God strike me with lightning if ..." Rio de Janeiro's world-famous statue of Christ the Redeemer was struck by lightning during a thunderstorm over the Brazilian city on Sunday. picked by maxriter 2 years ago

The elixir of life may be a concoction of honey, cherries and secret herbs infused in a full Chianti wine, according to a centuries-old recipe discovered in one of Italy's oldest pharmacies. picked by AutumnLotus 1 year ago

Sadly it's all artificial.

Edd Hifeng is a Second Life player controlled not by a human, but by another computer.

At the moment it's quite limited, but its creators have high hopes. picked by pocksucket 2 years ago