المقالات

من اللحظات الأولى التي أعقبت «الانفجار العظيم» وصولاً إلى النظم البيئية الهشة في عصرنا الحالي، يدعو متحف التاريخ الطبيعي في أبوظبي (NHMAD) الزوار إلى رحلة استثنائية عبر الزمن والمادة والحياة نفسها. صُمم المتحف ليكون معلمًا علميًا عالميًا، ولا يقتصر دوره على عرض عينات رائعة فحسب، بل يربط بين علم الفلك والجيولوجيا وعلم الحفريات وعلم الأحياء وتاريخ البشرية في سرد واحد متواصل عن الأرض والكون الأوسع.

كيف نحدد عمر الحفرية؟ منذ كم ألف أو مليون سنة عاش الكائن الحي الذي تم اكتشافه؟ كيف نحدد العصر الجيولوجي الذي ينتمي إليه التكوين الصخري؟ يستخدم الجيولوجيون وعلماء الحفريات طريقتين أساسيتين للتأريخ: الطريقة النسبية والطريقة المطلقة. الطريقة النسبية أسرع ولكنها أقل دقة، بينما تتطلب الطريقة المطلقة إجراء تحليل مختبري لفحص العينة. من خلال فهم معدل اضمحلال بعض النظائر ومقدار ما اضمحل منها، يمكننا تحديد عمر الكائن الحي بدقة، أو في أغلب الأحيان، عمر الصخرة التي عُثر عليه فيها.

The Natural History Museum Abu Dhabi, opening on 22 November 2025 in the Saadiyat Cultural District, will be the largest of its kind in the region and a new global destination for science, nature, and education. Spanning 35,000 square metres, the museum offers an immersive journey through 13.8 billion years of natural history — from the Big Bang to the evolution of life on Earth. Highlights include Stan, the world-famous Tyrannosaurus rex skeleton, a 25-metre blue whale specimen, and the Murchison Meteorite containing 7-billion-year-old stardust.

How Big Was Megalodon and How Much Did It Weigh?
Megalodon (Carcharocles megalodon, meaning “big tooth”) was the largest predatory shark in Earth’s history. Estimating the size of this prehistoric fish has been attempted numerous times. In 1909, when the first reconstruction of Megalodon’s jaw was made, scientists estimated the shark’s body length to be around 30 meters. However, today’s advances in vertebrate biology and new discoveries of Megalodon remains have halved these initial estimates. Depending on the method used to study the predator’s teeth, we get body lengths ranging from 13 to 18 meters. It was only in 2015, after studying a large sample of teeth, that an average length of 10 meters and a maximum length of 15 meters were determined. For comparison, the great white shark can theoretically reach seven meters in length. Megalodon’s size approaches that of the largest marine reptiles of the Mesozoic, such as mosasaurs and ichthyosaurs.

What comes to mind when most people think of the Ice Age? It’s often imagined as an endless polar night, a frigid wilderness, and a barren snow-covered landscape stretching to the horizon. In short, it’s not the most hospitable environment for a diverse array of life.

There are contemporary examples of such harsh conditions. We have Arctic deserts, where even lichens and mosses struggle to form a continuous cover. Frozen gravel, boulders, ice as hard as stone, and stone as cold as ice dominate these lands. Even polar bears, the iconic wanderers of the Arctic, are reluctant to venture into these barren territories.

Further south lies the tundra, with its permafrost, vast marshlands, a carpet of mosses, and clusters of shrubs. Here, the soil is thin and infertile, and the landscape is characterized by high humidity. This is the domain of lichens, mosses, low-growing grasses, berries, and dwarf trees. The fauna of the tundra is limited: reindeer, arctic foxes, lemmings, hares, and wolves. There are more birds than mammals, and more fish in the cold, oxygen-rich lakes than there are birds.