May 02, 2007
This week in natural history...
First, it was Encino Man. Now, it's camel time.
While breaking ground for a new Wal-Mart, construction crews uncovered an 8 thousand-year-old camel fossil in
"There's no question that this is a camel; these creatures walked the land here until about 8,000 years ago, when the same event that wiped out a great deal of mammal life took place," Archer told The Arizona Republic.
From underground to out of this atmosphere
Scientists last week discovered the most Earth-like planet yet. 120 million light years away, “Gliese 581” orbits one of the 100 closest stars to Earth in the galaxy. From the article linked above:
The planet was discovered by the European Southern Observatory's telescope in La Silla, Chile, which has a special instrument that splits light to find wobbles in different wavelengths. Those wobbles can reveal the existence of other worlds.
-Karyn