"A Huge Blob of Hot Rock Has Been Rising Under Vermont for Tens of Millions of Years. A vast mass of hot rock is welling up underneath Vermont and extending into other subterranean regions below New England, new research shows."
"In any case, say Schmidt and Frank, the fraction of life that gets fossilized is tiny. Dinosaurs roamed Earth for some 180 million years, and yet only a few thousand near-complete specimens exist. Modern humans have existed for just a few tens of thousands of years. “Species as short-lived as homo sapiens (so far) might not be represented in the existing fossil record at all,” say Schmidt and Frank. What of human artifacts—roads, buildings, baked-bean tins, and silicon chips? These, too, are unlikely to survive long, or to be found even if they do. “The current area of urbanization is less than 1% of the Earth’s surface,” point out the researchers. “We conclude that for potential civilizations older than about 4 million years, the chances of finding direct evidence of their existence via objects or fossilized examples of their population is small,” they say."
Don't forget Saturday is the second blue moon of the year!
"We had a Blue Moon on January 31, 2018. It was a supermoon, too, and underwent a total eclipse (photos here). But another Blue Moon is coming right up. They’re both Blue Moons by the monthly definition of the term: the second of two full moons to fall within a single calendar month. The second (and last) Blue Moon of 2018 will be on March 31. We haven’t had a year with two Blue Moons since 1999 and won’t have one again until January and March, 2037."