Francisco Javier Carod-Artal: from Aragón to the Amazon

Changes in the environment of the early Earth drove the evolution of organisms. As prokaryotic organisms in the oceans began to photosynthesize, they produced oxygen. Eventually, oxygen saturated the oceans and entered the air, resulting in an increase in atmospheric oxygen concentration, known as the oxygen revolution approximately 2.3 billion years ago. Therefore, organisms that could use oxygen for cellular respiration had an advantage. More than 1.5 years ago, eukaryotic cells and...

Calculating areas within irregular boundaries, such as along rivers or curved roads, is crucial in various fields, including surveying, engineering, and environmental management. Surveyors often begin by creating a traverse, a connected series of straight lines approximating the area's boundary. The coordinates of each traverse point are essential for calculating the enclosed area. The double meridian distance formula is a widely used technique for this purpose. This method utilizes the...

A parabola is a fundamental curve in the family of conic sections arising from the intersection of a plane with a double-napped cone when the plane is parallel to the cone’s slant height. This geometric condition yields a unique open curve defined by its equidistance from a fixed point, the focus, and a fixed line, the directrix.A parabola is mathematically defined as the locus of all points in a plane that are equidistant from the focus and the directrix. In Cartesian coordinates, the standard...

Azimuths and bearings are essential concepts in surveying, providing methods to express the direction of a line relative to a meridian. Azimuths refer to the clockwise angle measured from the north end of a reference meridian to the given line, ranging from zero to 360 degrees. This method gives a comprehensive directional reference within a full 360-degree circle, making it a straightforward way to communicate direction in various fields, including navigation, cartography, and...

Surfaces of revolution are formed when a two-dimensional curve is rotated around an axis, producing a three-dimensional shape. This concept is used in engineering tasks like determining the surface area of a rocket nozzle, where precise calculations are critical for applying uniform heat-resistant coatings. When a curve is revolved about the x-axis, it sweeps out a continuous surface whose area must be calculated accurately to estimate material requirements.Approximating with Conical BandsTo...