Scrimshaw skull was canvas for whaling artists

It is 1825, nearing the peak of American whaling, and the seas are still crowded with whales. But hunting the mighty creatures means long, lonely stretches for whaling crews on voyages that could last for years.It is a time before Sudoku, so sailors turn to scrimshaw – detailed etching on bone or ivory – to while away the hours. This skull of a rough-toothed dolphin, Steno bredanensis, becomes the canvass for images including...

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'Egg' in cellular nest shows off the Small World

 Like a softly glowing robin's egg, the nucleus of a cultured kidney cell seems to lie in a nest of microtubules, as seen at 100-times magnification. The shot is among the spectacular entrants in this year's Nikon Small World competition, which since 1974 has recognised the best pictures taken using a microscope.All cells with a membrane-bound nucleus also have microtubules – hollow filaments of protein that aid in various...

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Entangled toy universe shows time may be an illusion

Time is an illusion – at least in a toy model of the universe made of two particles of light. The experiment shows that what we perceive as the passage of time might emerge from the strange property of quantum entanglementMovie Camera. The finding could assist in solving the long-standing problem of how to unify modern physics.Physicists have two ways of describing reality, quantum mechanics for the small world of particles...

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Fossil skull challenges understanding of human evolution - video

The discovery of a complete hominid skull and other fossil remains in Dmanisi, Georgia, suggests that the earliest members of the Homo genus – currently split into half a dozen distinct species – actually belonged to a single species: Homo erectus. These early human ancestors probably just had a wide range of physical appearances, say researchers in the journal Science. The skull is 1.8m years old and has a small braincase, a ...

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