Dinosaurs

Researchers develop rapid test strips for bacterial contamination in swimming water

Updated: 2012-04-30 16:00:53

HAMILTON, ON, April 30, 2012 — Urban beach closures due to coliform outbreaks have become disturbing signs of summer, yet water-testing technology has never been fast enough to keep up with changing conditions, nor accessible enough to check all waters. Now, researchers at McMaster University have developed a rapid testing method using a simple paper strip that can detect E. coli in recreational water within minutes. The new tool can close the gap between outbreak and detection, improving public safety.read more

Redefining time

Updated: 2012-04-30 16:00:31

Yellowstone 'super-eruption' less super, more frequent than thought

Updated: 2012-04-30 05:30:41

PULLMAN, Wash.— The Yellowstone "super-volcano" is a little less super—but more active—than previously thought. Researchers at Washington State University and the Scottish Universities Environmental Research Centre say the biggest Yellowstone eruption, which created the 2 million year old Huckleberry Ridge deposit, was actually two different eruptions at least 6,000 years apart. read more

Event: Dinosaur Ridge Discovery Day: Reptiles and Birds at Dinosaur Ridge, Sat, Jul 14 10:00a

Updated: 2012-04-29 10:43:01

Nature Center naturalists will be at one of the stops on this walking tour of Dinosaur Ridge. Bring family, friends and plenty of water for the hike and spend the day exploring. Drop by anytime between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. All ages. Visit dinoridge.org for more information.

Why Is It Cool To Hate On Dinosaur Discoveries?

Updated: 2012-04-27 18:40:54

Tyrannosaur traditionalists are registering their displeasure at the way paleontologists are altering our understanding of dinosaur lives

Researchers from the University of Zurich discover new particle at CERN

Updated: 2012-04-27 15:30:18

In particle physics, the baryon family refers to particles that are made up of three quarks. Quarks form a group of six particles that differ in their masses and charges. The two lightest quarks, the so-called "up" and "down" quarks, form the two atomic components, protons and neutrons. All baryons that are composed of the three lightest quarks ("up", "down" and "strange" quarks) are known. Only very few baryons with heavy quarks have been observed to date. They can only be generated artificially in particle accelerators as they are heavy and very unstable.read more

Atomic clock comparison via data highways

Updated: 2012-04-27 15:30:13

Optical atomic clocks measure time with unprecedented accuracy. However, it is the ability to compare clocks with one another that makes them applicable for high-precision tests in fundamental theory, from cosmology all the way to quantum physics. A clock comparison, i.e. a comparison of their optical frequencies, proved to be challenging so far as the few existing optical clocks around the world are not readily portable due to their complex nature.read more

Global prices of pollination-dependent products such as coffee could rise in the long term

Updated: 2012-04-27 15:30:04

Leipzig/Dresden/Freiburg. In recent years the economic value of pollination-dependent crops has substantially increased around the world. As a team of researchers from the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research (UFZ), the Technical University of Dresden and the University of Freiburg headed by the UFZ wrote in an article entitled "Spatial and temporal trends of global pollination benefit" in the open-access journal PLoS ONE the value of ecological pollination services was around 200 billion US dollars in 1993 and rose to around 350 billion US dollars in 2009.read more

Scientists provide first large-scale estimate of reef shark losses in the Pacific Ocean

Updated: 2012-04-27 01:30:07

HONOLULU – April 25, 2012 -- Many shark populations have plummeted in the past three decades as a result of excessive harvesting – for their fins, as an incidental catch of fisheries targeting other species, and in recreational fisheries. This is particularly true for oceanic species. However, until now, a lack of data prevented scientists from properly quantifying the status of Pacific reef sharks at a large geographic scale.read more

'Warming hole' delayed climate change over eastern United States

Updated: 2012-04-26 20:30:09

Cambridge, Mass. - April 26, 2012 - Climate scientists at the Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) have discovered that particulate pollution in the late 20th century created a "warming hole" over the eastern United States—that is, a cold patch where the effects of global warming were temporarily obscured. While greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide and methane warm the Earth's surface, tiny particles in the air can have the reverse effect on regional scales.read more

New study suggests gender gap around homophobic bullying

Updated: 2012-04-26 18:30:18

Los Angeles, CA (April 26, 2012) A new study from Educational and Psychological Measurement (published by SAGE) found that when it comes to homophobic bullying, there could be a gender gap. While male victims are more likely to be bullied by male homophobic bullies, female victims are bullied by both males and females equally. Additionally, those surveyed for the research reported hearing a low number of verbal homophobic remarks towards gay men compared to other forms of non-verbal homophobic bullying.read more

Pachysuchus Actually a Hidden Dinosaur

Updated: 2012-04-26 18:21:58

A strange jaw fragment, once thought to belong to a crocodile-like predator, turned out to be a dinosaur

Slicing mitotic spindle with lasers, nanosurgeons unravel old pole-to-pole theory

Updated: 2012-04-26 17:30:29

Cambridge, Mass. - April 26, 2012 - The mitotic spindle, an apparatus that segregates chromosomes during cell division, may be more complex than the standard textbook picture suggests, according to researchers at the Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS). The findings, which result from quantitative measurements of the mitotic spindle, will appear tomorrow in the journal Cell.read more

Women have bigger pupils than men

Updated: 2012-04-26 15:00:05

From an anatomical point of view, a normal, non-pathological eye is known as an emmetropic eye, and has been studied very little until now in comparison with myopic and hypermetropic eyes. The results show that healthy emmetropic women have a wider pupil diameter than men. SINC Normal, non-pathological emmetropic eyes are the most common type amongst the population (43.2%), with a percentage that swings between 60.6% in children from three to eight years and 29% in those older than 66.read more

Event: National Trails Day at Dinosaur Ridge, Sat, Jun 2 10:00a

Updated: 2012-04-26 05:19:35

A booth at the Dinosaur Ridge Visitor Center will have information about the area's hiking trails, the Dinosaur Ridge interpretive trail, and Triceratops Trail. Scientists will talk about replicas of fossils that can be seen on the Triceratops Trail.

Event: Dinosaur Discovery Day - Earth and Sky at Dinosaur Ridge, Sat, May 12 10:00a

Updated: 2012-04-26 05:19:35

Public welcome. Hands-on: fossil, mineral & rock ID, fossil sieve & dig, gold pan, metal detect, map read. Guides at track site, bone site & other trail sites. Also solar observe, find meteorites, interactive sundial, big model solar system. Mr. Bones performs 10-2. Admission & trail - free. Optional shuttle bus-$3, ages 4 & 5 half & below 4 free. Designed for Cub Scouts & Webelos to earn astronomy & geology awards. Boy Scouts earn Geology Merit Badge. Scouts register on www.dinoridge.org.

Electron politics: Physicists probe organization at the quantum level

Updated: 2012-04-25 19:30:08

HOUSTON -- (April 25, 2012) -- A new study this week finds that "quantum critical points" in exotic electronic materials can act much like polarizing "hot button issues" in an election. Reporting in Nature, researchers from Rice University, two Max Planck Institutes in Dresden, Germany, and UCLA find that on either side of a quantum critical point, electrons fall into line and behave as traditionally expected, but at the critical point itself, traditional physical laws break down.read more

Tarbosaurus Leftovers Explain Dinosaur Mystery

Updated: 2012-04-25 16:59:57

Peculiar bite marks suggest why paleontologists have found so little of the enigmatic, long-armed dinosaur Deinocheirus

Rapid tsunami warning by means of GPS

Updated: 2012-04-25 15:30:19

For submarine earthquakes that can generate tsunamis, the warning time for nearby coastal areas is very short. Using high-precision analysis of GPS data from the Fukushima earthquake of 11 March 2011, scientists at the German Research Centre for Geosciences GFZ showed that, in principle, the earthquake magnitude and the spatial distribution can be determined in just over three minutes, allowing for a rapid and detailed tsunami early warning.

Fracking requires a minimum distance of at least 0.6 kilometers from sensitive rock strata

Updated: 2012-04-25 00:30:28

The chances of rogue fractures due to shale gas fracking operations extending beyond 0.6 kilometres from the injection source is a fraction of one percent, according to new research led by Durham University. The analysis is based on data from thousands of fracking operations in the USA and natural rock fractures in Europe and Africa. It is believed to be the first analysis of its type and could be used across the world as a starting point for setting a minimum distance between the depth of fracking and shallower aquifers used for drinking water. read more

Geophysicists employ novel method to identify sources of global sea level rise

Updated: 2012-04-24 17:30:23

TORONTO, ON – As the Earth's climate warms, a melting ice sheet produces a distinct and highly non-uniform pattern of sea-level change, with sea level falling close to the melting ice sheet and rising progressively farther away. The pattern for each ice sheet is unique and is known as its sea level fingerprint. Now, a group of geophysicists from the University of Toronto, Harvard and Rutgers Universities have found a way to identify the sea level fingerprint left by a particular ice sheet, and possibly enable a more precise estimate of its impact on global sea levels.read more

Ichthyovenator: The Sail-Backed Fish Hunter of Laos

Updated: 2012-04-24 15:50:17

The newfound spinosaur, apparently the first confirmed in Asia, had a wavy sail that dipped downwards at the hips, creating the appearance of two smaller sails

NASA's new satellite movie of 1 week's ash activity from Mexico's Popocatepetl Volcano

Updated: 2012-04-24 14:30:43

Over the course of a week, the light brown cloud of ash and smoke can be seen streaming from Popocateptl, and then the white, puffy cumulus clouds develop in the afternoon and sometimes bring rain. Popocatepetl is located about 34 miles (55 kilometers east of Mexico City. More than 30 million people live within sight of the volcano. "Popocatepetl" is the Aztec word for "smoking mountain," and is North America's second-highest volcano.read more

Northern Canada feels the heat - Climate change impact on permafrost zones

Updated: 2012-04-24 14:30:34

Researchers find additional evidence that families that eat together may be the healthiest

Updated: 2012-04-23 22:30:36

Dinotasia: Werner Herzog’s Gory Dinosaurs

Updated: 2012-04-23 17:16:26

The violent dinosaur documentary once known as Dinosaur Revolution gains new life in movie theaters

Quantum physics mimics spooky action into the past

Updated: 2012-04-23 16:30:29

Physicists of the group of Prof. Anton Zeilinger at the Institute for Quantum Optics and Quantum Information (IQOQI), the University of Vienna, and the Vienna Center for Quantum Science and Technology (VCQ) have, for the first time, demonstrated in an experiment that the decision whether two particles were in an entangled or in a separable quantum state can be made even after these particles have been measured and may no longer exist. Their results will be published this week in the journal "Nature Physics". Entangled Statesread more

Warwick researchers solve 40-year-old Fourier Transform Mass Spectrometry phasing problem

Updated: 2012-04-23 15:30:08

Scientists at the University of Warwick have developed a computation which simultaneously doubles the resolution, sensitivity and mass accuracy of Fourier Transform Mass Spectrometry (FTMS) at no extra cost. Researchers in the University's Department of Chemistry have solved the 40-year-old phasing problem which allows plotting of spectra in absorption mode.</pread more

What did the scientist say to the sommelier? 'Show me the proof!'

Updated: 2012-04-22 21:30:32

What does lemon pan sauce chicken have to do with biochemistry and molecular biology? If you ask the students in Joseph Provost's class at Minnesota State University Moorhead, they'll tell you that successful execution of the dish requires the Maillard reaction, a chemical process that's responsible for the flavors and colors in a variety of food, including toast and maple syrup. In Provost's class, students are asked to do what would be unthinkable in a traditional science course: eat the results of their experiments. read more

Chemists explain the molecular workings of promising fuel cell electrolyte

Updated: 2012-04-22 18:30:35

Researchers from New York University and the Max Planck Institute in Stuttgart reveal how protons move in phosphoric acid in a Nature Chemistry study that sheds new light on the workings of a promising fuel cell electrolyte. read more

Controlling heat flow with atomic-level precision

Updated: 2012-04-22 18:30:27

Through atomic-scale manipulation, researchers at the University of Illinois have demonstrated that a single layer of atoms can disrupt or enhance heat flow across an interface. (Photo Credit: Mark Losego) Source:

Climate change may create price volatility in the corn market, say Stanford and Purdue researchers

Updated: 2012-04-22 18:30:22

By the time today's elementary schoolers graduate from college, the U.S. corn belt could be forced to move to the Canadian border to escape devastating heat waves brought on by rising global temperatures. If farmers don't move their corn north, the more frequent heat waves could lead to bigger swings in corn prices – "price volatility" – which cause spikes in food prices, farmers' incomes and the price livestock farmers and ethanol producers pay for corn.read more

IceCube Neutrino Observatory provides new insights into origin of cosmic rays

Updated: 2012-04-20 21:00:21

Analysis of data from the IceCube Neutrino Observatory, a massive detector deployed in deep ice at the U.S. Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station in Antarctica at the geographic South Pole, recently provided new insight into one of the most enduring mysteries in physics, the production of cosmic rays. Cosmic rays were discovered 100 years ago, but only now are scientists homing in on how the highest energy cosmic rays are produced.read more

Dinosaurs vs. Aliens

Updated: 2012-04-20 15:05:15

You know it had to happen eventually: Dinosaurs chomp aliens in forthcoming graphic novel

From 503-million-year-old fungi to recent earthquakes: New Geology posted ahead of print

Updated: 2012-04-20 14:30:21

Geology posted ahead of print on 19 April reports on evidence of the earliest chemical footprints of mycorrhizal fungi in a 503-million-year-old soil; a complex assemblage of trace fossils, including simple trails and branching burrow systems, in Sirius Passet, Greenland; evolution of a submarine canyon along the Ebro Margin, NW Mediterranean; and the growth of sub-tropical forests in Europe 13-17 million years ago, a crucial period for ape evolution that corresponds to their appearance there.read more

Most detailed maps yet of Africa's groundwater

Updated: 2012-04-20 00:30:20

A scattergun approach to borehole drilling in Africa is likely to be unsuccessful. This is the message from a group of UK researchers who have, for the first time, quantified the amount, and potential yield, of groundwater across the whole of Africa. They estimate the total volume of groundwater to be around 0.66 million km3 – more than 100 times the available surface freshwater on the continent – and hope that the assessment can inform plans to improve access to water in Africa, where 300 million people do not have access to safe drinking water.read more

Finding the roots and early branches of the tree of life

Updated: 2012-04-19 22:30:58

A study published in PLoS Computational Biology maps the development of life-sustaining chemistry to the history of early life. Researchers Rogier Braakman and Eric Smith of the Santa Fe Institute traced the six methods of carbon fixation seen in modern life back to a single ancestral form. read more