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Life & Environment

jurassic mating song katydid

Jurassic insect mating call brought to life

Tuesday, 7 February 2012

The musical mating call of a large 165-million-year-old winged insect called a katydid has been recreated after the discovery of an extraordinary fossil in Mongolia.


jellyfish not taking over ocean

Jellyfish are not taking over the ocean

Monday, 6 February 2012

Jellyfish will not plague our oceans in the future as was previously thought, say researchers who have found no evidence for global increases in jellyfish blooms.


australian coral decline

Temperature rules Australian coral growth

Friday, 3 February 2012

Increases in ocean temperature are the likely cause of changes in the rate of Australian coral growth over the last century rather than pollution-related acidification of seawater, recent research suggests.


how to predict a supervolcano erruption

How to predict a supervolcano eruption

Thursday, 2 February 2012

Supervolcanic eruptions, which can devastate entire continents by pouring out poisonous gas and scorching magma for months, may be predictable.


should we bring elephants to Australia

Should we introduce elephants to Australia?

Thursday, 2 February 2012

We should introduce elephants and other large mammals to Australia to ease the impact of bushfires and feral animals on the environment, an Australian scientist has suggested.


how dinosaurs got so big.

Rethinking why dinosaurs got so big

Wednesday, 1 February 2012

The reason dinosaurs became such gigantic creatures is not related to the force of natural selection favouring larger body sizes, new research has found.


sheildcroc

Oldest croc had a shield-like head

Wednesday, 1 February 2012

The oldest known species of crocodile had an armour-plated head and a body half the length of a subway car, according to new research.


parenting happier children

Maternal love predicts larger hippocampus

Tuesday, 31 January 2012

Maternal care in early childhood strongly predicts the size of the hippocampus, a brain region associated with healthy social and emotional development in humans.


Streptococcus pneumoniae

Pneumonia bug evolves to evade vaccine

Monday, 30 January 2012

Bugs that cause childhood pneumonia and meningitis have evolved to evade vaccines by swapping bits of their genome with other bacteria, according to a new study.


jumping spiders jump

How jumping spiders make a perfect jump

Friday, 27 January 2012

Jumping spiders have an unusual visual mechanism that allows them to accurately pounce on their prey, a new study has revealed.


archaeopteryx feathers

Archaeopteryx feather colour and structure revealed

Wednesday, 25 January 2012

Archaeopteryx, a 150 million-year-old raven-sized dinosaur, had black feathers on its wings that were structurally identical to those of modern birds, researchers have reported.


Australian rainforest dragon

'Earliest known lizard' actually a modern species

Wednesday, 25 January 2012

What was widely thought to be the oldest known lizard turns out to be a species of modern lizard related to the Australian dragon lizard.


claws vs nails.

Early primates traded nails for claws

Monday, 23 January 2012

Early primates opted for raised claws over flat nails, say scientists who have examined the fossilised foot bones of an extinct 47 million-year-old primate.


snow leopard stem cells

Snow leopard stem cells could save species

Monday, 23 January 2012

Embryonic stem-like cells have been produced from the tissue of an adult snow leopard for the first time as part of a study that could save the endangered species from extinction.


seaweed biofuel

Engineered bug converts seaweed to biofuel

Friday, 20 January 2012

Brown seaweed's potential as a vast source of biofuels has been highlighted by scientists who have found a way of converting all its major sugars into ethanol.