We live on the surface of a dense, rocky ball, but science has allowed us to peer deep within its core
When the pioneering science fiction writer Jules Verne wrote Journey To The Centre Of The Earth in 1864, he probably knew that his plot was pure fantasy. Verne’s characters Otto, Axel and their guide Hans, only made it a few miles down, but the idea that anyone could even contemplate travelling to the Earth’s core had been dismissed before Victorian times.
Even today, the furthest we’ve ever drilled into the Earth is around 12km, while the distance to the centre is over 500 times further, at 6,370km. So how do we know what lies beneath? Figuring out what’s at the heart of our planet has been a magnificent scientific puzzle.
Living on a ball
The idea of the Earth having a meaningful centre goes hand-in-hand with the planet being shaped like a ball, and we’ve known that we don’t live on a disc for a long time. It’s a myth that medieval folk thought the Earth was flat – this actually came from a mix of Victorian anti-religious propaganda, and a misinterpretation of the stylised maps of the period. It was over 2,200 years ago that the Greek polymath Eratosthenes made the first measurement of the distance around the Earth’s sphere, and it’s been clear ever since that it must have a centre.
Denne historien er fra February 2017-utgaven av BBC Focus - Science & Technology.
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Denne historien er fra February 2017-utgaven av BBC Focus - Science & Technology.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
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Do We Finally Know How the Egyptian Pyramids Were Built? - A number of breakthrough studies are beginning to paint a picture of how these wonders of the world were built, but much of the story still remains a mystery...
A number of breakthrough studies are beginning to paint a picture of how these wonders of the world were built, but much of the story still remains a mystery...How the Egyptian pyramids were built has long been a mystery. Constructed as tombs for the pharaohs over 4,000 years ago, more than 100 of them remain. The largest one, the Great Pyramid of Giza, was originally 147m tall (482ft). It's made up of about 2.3 million stone blocks, each weighing between 2.5 and 15 tonnes, and would have had to be transported to the building site and lifted into place with techniques available at the time. To put this into context, it's akin to lifting a double-decker London bus to the top of St Pauls Cathedral a few million times.
An Artificial Heart Inspired by Plumbing - Mechanical circulation could revolutionise transplant design and reduce waiting lists
Mechanical circulation could revolutionise transplant design and reduce waiting lists. In July, this artificial heart was successfully implanted, for the first time, into a patient with end-stage heart failure. Built by The Texas Heart Institute (THI) and BiVACOR, the replacement organ has been dubbed the Total Artificial Heart (TAH). Although, being an implant rather than transplant, it's designed to temporarily support patients while they wait for a real heart transplant.
CHANGE THE (BODY) CLOCKS
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THE MEXICAN MOLE LIZARD
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THE UNEXPECTED RETURN OF PNEUMATIC TUBES
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LIVING FOSSILS
FOR SOME CREATURES ALIVE TODAY TIME HAS ALMOST STOOD STILL. MEET THE 'LIVING FOSSILS' THAT GIVE US A GLIMPSE INTO LIFE IN THE DISTANT PAST