Kings, film stars, pop songs and scientists

I have been reading the latest edition of 'Science Scotland' published by the Royal Society of Edinburgh. Its focus is on earth sciences which in many respects were born in Scotland with the publication of James Hutton's 'Theory of the Earth' in 1785.  This tradition is carried on by the Scottish Universities Environmental Research Centre (SUERC) who do an astonishing range of work. One page of the magazine gives a summary of some of the more popular work.

1. Dating Kings. The SUERC used it accelerator mass spectrometer to carbon date the bones found in Leicester which indicated that the individual died between 1475 and 1480 confirming that the remains were indeed those of Richard III. I find it amazing that we can be that accurate after over 600 years and I can't even remember what I did last month.

2. What killed the dinosaurs. SUERC was part of an international team that confirmed the extinction was precisely 66,038,000 years ago, exactly the same time as an asteroid or comet hit the earth. Where was Bruce Willis when he was needed. (A reference to the film Armageddon if you were wondering).

3. Space invaders. A team are about to try and answer David Bowie's question by examining a fragment of a Martian meteorite. 

4.  More than just a granite chin. Scientists from Aberdeen and SUERC have recently discovered that 1.5 billion years ago, granite played a key role in creating life as we know it, prompting the shift from simple to more complex organisms. We all know why Aberdeen University played the leading role!

The frontiers of science are incredible.