Science and Culture Today Discovering Design in Nature
Topic

Earth’s crust

Bronze_Age_copper_alloy_arrowhead_(FindID_412353)
Photo: Copper alloy arrowheads from the Bronze Age, Leicestershire, England, by The Portable Antiquities Scheme/ The Trustees of the British Museum, CC BY-SA 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons.

The Discovery of Metals — A Double-Edged Sword

Why should the melting points of common metals be attainable in furnaces heated by burning carbon-based organic matter? Read More ›
balancing
Photo credit: Wiros from Barcelona, Spain, CC BY-SA 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons.

Metals and Life — A Balancing Act

The complementary interaction between metals and life provides yet another example of our existence relying upon multiple levels of design. Read More ›
Ancient gold pectoral pendant
Photo: Ancient gold pectoral pendant, from Panama, Walters Art Museum, Baltimore, Creative Commons License.

Metals: From Stars to Cells 

Tracing metals back to their ultimate origins, the processes of stellar nucleosynthesis come into focus. Read More ›
copper penny
Photo: A 100 percent copper penny, by US Mint (coin), National Numismatic Collection (photograph by Jaclyn Nash) / Public domain.

In Praise of Copper, a Gift from Nature

If the conductivity of copper were ten times less, wires would have to be ten times the cross-sectional area to provide the same conductivity. Read More ›
1280px-Molybdenum_crystaline_fragment_and_1cm3_cube

Molybdenum Is Stored in Cells by a Powered Piercing Machine

The metal element 42, molybdenum, is needed in the body in extremely small but vital amounts for enzymes to work properly. Read More ›
Odometer

Remembering the First Manned Moon Landing at 50; What Does the Future Hold?

I remember watching the Apollo moon landings on TV from 1969 to 1972 as a child. Read More ›

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