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Are there any practical examples of extreamophiles being used in industrial applications (e.g. bubbling power station gasses through vats of heat/sulphur loving bacteria, to reduce pollution)? |
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Yes, and the most important so far is the thermophile bacteria Thermus aquaticus. As described in Wikipedia, T. aquaticus is the source of the heat-resistant enzyme Taq DNA Polymerase, one of the most important enzymes in molecular biology because of its use in the polymerase chain reaction. In 1969... Click here for more.
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What is the current working hypothesis concerning the origin of water on Earth? Outgassing seems out of favor and Linear comet seemed to be a confirmation of extra-terrestrial sources but the article I read was from 1999. Also, if the comet hypothesis is pulling ahead does that infer that organic compounds for life came along for the ride then too? |
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There is no scientific consensus on the origin of water (and atmosphere) on Earth, and many researchers favor multiple sources. It is useful to consider the water and atmospheric gases together, permitting us to use data on the isotopic composition of atmospheric gas to constrain theories of how the... Click here for more.
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What has the sea level elevation of the Pacific Ocean been at varied periods in the last 4.5 billion years. |
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This is not a meaningful question, since the Pacific Ocean has existed for only about the most recent 10 percent of that time. Further, measuring the elevation of an ocean needs to have a reference point; the apparent elevation can change as much or more by rising and falling land masses as by incre... Click here for more.
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How can we convert CO2 into food for human consumption? |
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By using plants, the natural factories for converting carbon dioxide to food. If you want to join in this enterprise, plant a garden and let the plants do the work.
David Morrison
NAI Senior Scientist
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What's a biology teacher to do? I have not been able to find a clear version/explanation of the 6 Biological Kingdoms (5?) for my students. The lists are either dated or disagree with each other. Particularly puzzling is why the Archabacteia were only recently put in their own Kingdom...can you help? |
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I'll try to help. Much of the confusion is due to the recent introduction of the system of domains, which is a higher-level classification of life than kingdoms. There are three domains, described as follows in Wikipedia: "The three-domain system is a biological classification introduced by Carl Woe... Click here for more.
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Since the Apollo asteroid will almost approximate the distance from earth as the moon's orbit, where will the moon be in relation to the asteroid? Will the moon be on the other side of the earth during the fly by? Or will the moon be in a position to exert a gravitational pull on Apollo that could alter it course? I would suspect that if such an unforeseen event were to happen that America would use its laser technology to zap the asteroid and turn it into a shower of falling stars rather than a life threatening encounter? I imagine that a synchronized laser blast from several locations could do quite a number on a big rock if the worst case scenario transpired. |
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I am trying to figure out what Apollo asteroid you are referring to. Maybe Apophis, which comes very close in April 2029, but it will be just a few thousand kilometers above the atmosphere, far closer than the Moon. In any case, the gravitational perturbation from the Moon is negligible compared to ... Click here for more.
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What is the closest living relative to a human? |
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The Chimpanzee, which has a genome almost 99 percent identical with the human genome. There are two extant species: Pan troglodytes, the Common Chimpanzee, living in West and Central Africa, and its cousin, the Bonobo or Pan paniscus, found in the forests of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. For... Click here for more.
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Someone once told me a Velociraptor was found frozen in ice in Russia. Is this true? |
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No. The velocirapter species went extinct between 65 and 70 million years ago.
David Morrison
NAI Senior Scientist
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How does the moon affect animals that hunt in the dark and live at night? |
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The Moon provides light, but since it is up less than half the time at night, nocturnal animals can get about and even hunt without moonlight.
David Morrison
NAI Senior Scientist
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How long have humans existed on Earth? |
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Human have existed for roughly half a million years, but this answer depends on the exact definition of "human". Fossil evidence shows that several human-like lineages developed during the past million years or so. >From fossils, the appearance of Homo sapiens is dated at about half a million years,... Click here for more.
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