nature''s clocks how scientists measure the age of almost everything

... foothold in the eigh-teenth century, when a few brave souls, on the basis of their close obser-vations of nature, began to question the wisdom of the day about the Earth’s age, which was then strongly ... for the Earth, theirs based on the Old Testament of the Bible and exceedingly short compared withthat of the Hindus. The best known is the monumental work (over twothousand pages long) by the ... fell upon the entrance of the night preceding the twenty-third day of October in the year of the Julian calendar 710.” Sometimes“entrance of the night” is taken to mean midnight. So whether Ussherreally...

... measurement which involves the assessment of the results derived from the implementation of different marketing strategies. One of these barriers is the complexity to isolate the effects of ... indicate the degree of attainment of such objectives in a dynamic way, increases the likelihood of success of such projects. In fact, one of the research priorities in the CRM field is the development ... than any other category, so this kind of metrics are the most frequently collected. The indicators enjoying the major popularity among the top management are the following: profit/profitability;...

... the remains of humble trees are illuminating how the surface of the sun has changed over the past ten millennia. Other ancient bits of wood are helping us better un-derstand the lives of the ... the genes themselves, there are regions where changes in the DNA do not a ect the structure of the protein. There are stretches of DNA called introns that are not used in the assembly of the ... those in the north. Since then, excavations and sur-veys have been providing a great deal of new data about the people who lived here near the end of the Ice Age. The most famous of these discoveries...

... a block of time later in the day to deal with them — perhaps the last 30 minutes of your day, or something like that. Early in the day, focus on the important tasks.772. Choose the task ... check often. Take them out of your email or feed inbox, or block them using one of the blocking tools mentioned in the “Focus Tools” chapter.Slowly reduce your stream, leaving only the essentials.Using ... unfortunately, there is a never-ending stream of things that require your response.If we allow these messages to force us to respond, almost as soon as they come, then we become driven by the need...

... day write. They include the epic of the coal in the Pennsylvania hills, the epic of the ore, the epic of the railroad, the epic of the great city; and, in general, the subjugation of a continental ... was the fuel. During the night, the sparks pouring from her funnel, the clanking of her machinery, and the splashing of the paddles frightened the animals in the woods and the occupants of the ... To the corrupt and licentious court he was the personification of the age of simplicity, which it was the fashion toadmire; to the learned, he was a sage; to the common man he was the apotheosis...

... sense of humour: the information฀demands฀in฀genomics฀are฀staggering. The genome฀contains฀two฀kinds of digital฀information,฀one฀that฀encodes the protein฀and฀RNA฀‘molecular฀machines of life’,฀and the other฀being the regulatory฀networks฀that฀specify how these฀genes฀are฀expressed฀in฀time,฀space฀and฀amplitude.฀DNA฀information฀is฀layered฀and฀arranged฀in฀a฀hierarchy,฀starting฀with the gene,฀then฀ the RNA,฀ then฀ the protein,฀ then฀ the protein฀ interactions,฀ then฀ the protein฀complexes,฀then the networks of protein฀complexes฀ in฀a฀ cell,฀then฀ the tissues฀ and฀organs,฀then the individual฀organism,฀followed฀by฀populations฀and the ecosystems฀in฀which฀they฀live.฀In฀this฀kind of discovery฀science,฀mastering฀such฀vast฀quantities of information฀to฀answer฀important฀questions฀is฀a฀skill฀and฀an฀art.And the hardware? The first฀automated฀sequencing฀machine฀took฀a฀day,฀in฀1986,฀to฀sequence฀250 of the three฀billion฀base฀pairs.฀It฀took the human฀genome฀project฀ten฀years฀to฀sequence the human฀genome,฀two฀years฀shorter฀than฀predicted;฀and the private฀company฀Celera฀with฀its฀so-called฀shotgun฀approach฀took฀less฀than the public฀consortium’s฀ ... was฀preserved฀in฀Arabic฀manuscripts’฀(Lewontin฀1995:฀148).฀There฀is฀no฀question฀that the libraries of Alexandria฀were฀central฀to the city฀and฀ the broad฀region฀including฀what฀today฀is the Middle-East,฀North฀Africa฀and฀much of Central฀and฀Western฀Europe;฀that฀they฀were฀not the only฀ones฀to฀exist฀but฀were฀part฀ of a฀larger฀set of institutions฀to฀emerge฀from the concatenations of cultural,฀scholarly฀and฀other฀areas of learning฀and฀application of what฀were฀then the advanced฀societies฀ of this฀part of the world. The agency of their฀ruin฀is฀not฀so฀certain,฀neither฀is฀it฀clear฀what฀it฀was฀in฀volume฀and฀substance฀ ... Or,฀perhaps,฀it฀related฀to฀trading฀with฀neighbours,฀or,฀more฀on฀a฀deeply฀existential฀level,฀observing the astronomical,฀with,฀as฀Georges฀Ifrah฀puts฀it฀so฀beautifully฀in the Universal฀history of numbers,฀a฀fascination฀with the regularity of the phases of the moon, the eternal฀return of day฀and฀night, the cycle of the seasons’฀or,฀we฀might฀add,฀given the context, the elliptical฀phases of the tides of great฀and฀marvellous฀oceans฀(Ifrah฀2000:฀xvi).In the history of counting, the San฀and฀Khoi฀perhaps฀joined฀other฀human฀beings฀and,฀in฀observing฀that฀birds฀have฀two฀wings,฀animals฀four฀legs,฀and฀they฀ten฀fingers฀to฀their฀hands฀and฀ten฀toes฀to฀their฀feet,฀developed฀a฀numbering฀system฀using฀their฀fingers฀or฀toes฀as the base฀ten, the most฀common฀type of counting฀found฀among฀earlier฀peoples.฀Or฀perhaps฀they฀joined the Mayans,฀Aztecs,฀Celts฀and฀Basques฀who฀looked฀down฀at฀their฀feet฀and฀realised฀that฀their฀toes฀could฀be฀counted฀like฀fingers฀and฀chose the much฀more฀unusual฀arithmetic฀base of 20.SCI...

... throughout the lasttwo years of the War.So, too, feeding and supplying an army of millions of men laid the foundation of many of our greatestindustries. The Northern soldiers in the early days of the ... paper" in their official minutes. Yet these two men, the American Kelly and the Englishman Bessemer, were the creators of modern steel. The records of the American Patent Office clearlyshow that ... left the production of crude oil in the hands of the private drillers, but practically every other branch of the business passedultimately into their hands. Both the New York Central and the...

... by the libraries of three of the Inns of Court in London—Lincoln’s Inn, the Middle Temple, and the Inner Temple.I am grateful to the many colleagues who encouraged the idea of thisbook and whowrote ... beforetheCommissionersforTradeandPlantations (theBoard of Trade) .The journal of the Board ofTrade revealsappearances by Murrayin the prolonged dispute from 1734 to 1737 between the Penns and LordBaltimore over the boundaries of Maryland,15and ... out details of the Prussian position, such as denying the validity ‘ of all the proceedings in the Courts of Admiralty of England for a condemnation of neutral shipsor goods by reason of an alleged...

... completion of the master’s curriculum the University of Mannheim awards the academic degree „Master of Science” (M.Sc.). Duration of the program The prescribed period of study is four semesters. The ... seminars in the field of study “Economics”. In cases of doubt the examination board decides about identity of content. The duration of exams in the core courses offered by the Department of Economics ... phase. The detailed program structure depends on the field of study (“Economics” or “Economic Research”) and is shown in the attachments to this document. Language of instruction The language of...

... throughout the lasttwo years of the War.So, too, feeding and supplying an army of millions of men laid the foundation of many of our greatestindustries. The Northern soldiers in the early days of the ... paper" in their official minutes. Yet these two men, the American Kelly and the Englishman Bessemer, were the creators of modern steel. The records of the American Patent Office clearlyshow that ... left the production of crude oil in the hands of the private drillers, but practically every other branch of the business passedultimately into their hands. Both the New York Central and the...