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News | Archive (16 August 2007)
Dark matter mystery deepens in cosmic train wreck
— 19:51 GMT | AstronomyAstronomers have discovered a chaotic scene unlike any witnessed before in a cosmic 'train wreck' between giant galaxy clusters. NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory and optical telescopes revealed a dark matter core that was mostly devoid of galaxies, which may pose problems for current theories of dark matter behaviour. 'These results challenge our understanding of the way clusters merge,' said Dr Andisheh Mahdavi of the University of Victoria, British Columbia. 'Or, they possibly make us even re-examine the nature of dark matter itself.'…
Uncertainty of rainfall breeds cooperation in birds
— 19:51 GMT | EnvironmentRather than striking out to raise their family, members of some bird species cooperate to help raise their siblings, nephews, nieces, cousins - or even unrelated young. Researchers have long noted which factors lead to these seemingly altruistic decisions, but now for the first time, Cornell researchers have linked a specific environmental factor to the evolution of cooperative family life in numerous bird species: unpredictable rainfall…
Physicists discover super crystals in a semiconductor
— 19:51 GMT | PhysicsUniversity of Arizona physicists have discovered that 'super crystals' - crystals which are hundreds to thousands times larger than conventional crystals - exist in certain organic semiconducting solids. Pure super-crystalline organic semiconductors will conduct electricity much differently than conventional solids. Super-crystalline semiconductors, for example, could create splashes of current on electrical contacts, even in a uniform electric field, say UA physicist Andrei Lebed and graduate student Si Wu…
CU-Boulder team predict 92 percent chance of record low Arctic sea ice extent in 2007
— 19:51 GMT | EnvironmentUniversity of Colorado at Boulder researchers are now forecasting a 92 percent chance that the 2007 September minimum extent of sea ice across the Arctic region will set an all-time record low. The researchers, who forecast in April a 33 percent chance the September minimum of sea ice would set a new record, dramatically revised their prediction following a rapid disintegration of sea ice during July, said Research Associate Sheldon Drobot of CU-Boulder's Colorado Centre for Astrodynamics…
Largest butterfly in Western Hemisphere needs help to avoid extinction
— 16:58 GMT | BiologyThe Homerus swallowtail is the Western Hemisphere's largest butterfly, but University of Florida researchers say its numbers are so small that conservation and captive breeding efforts are needed to save the insect, found only in two parts of Jamaica. A UF study published last month in The Journal of Insect Conservation was the first to estimate the population found in western Jamaica's remote 'Cockpit Country.' Author Matt Lehnert, a graduate student with UF's Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences, found about 50 adults in the area…
Texas researchers and educators head for Antarctica
— 16:58 GMT | EnvironmentIt's been more than 100 years since anyone has journeyed to this section of Antarctica's Amundsen Sea, but that is about to change. Next month five UTSA researchers and a Boerne High School science teacher will join a crew of 22 researchers from several countries to set sail on a two month expedition. The trip, funded by a $533.000 National Science Foundation (NSF) research grant to UTSA, is designed to study the relationship of sea ice and the Antarctic environment. UTSA's research team will depart 1 September from Punta Arenas, Chile…
Male elephants get photo IDs from scientists
— 16:58 GMT | BiologyAsian elephants don't carry photo identification, so scientists from the Wildlife Conservation Society and India's Nature Conservation Foundation are providing the service free of charge by creating a photographic archive of individual elephants, which can help save them as well…
Humans fostering forest-destroying disease
— 16:58 GMT | EnvironmentEnjoying your August vacation? Well, (as they say in the summer movies) there's a killer in the woods. Its strike has been consistently quiet, sudden, and deadly. Unknowingly, we have all been playing into its hands... But put down that rock - you personally are not in any danger. It's the woods themselves that are getting axed and you may be an accomplice…
Self-fertility in fungi
— 16:58 GMT | BiologyResearch from The University of Nottingham sheds new light on a fascinating phenomenon of the natural world - the ability of some species to reproduce sexually without a partner. Scientists have been trying to determine how individuals of a key fungus, Aspergillus nidulans, are able to have sex without the need for a partner…
All change at the Earths core
— 16:58 GMT | Geology and palaeontologyIt is hard to know what is going on over 3000 km beneath our feet, but until recently scientists were fairly confident that they understood the way the iron atoms in the Earth's core packed together. However, new research has overturned conventional thinking and revealed that the structure of the core is not as straightforward as was once thought. Pressures and temperatures at the Earth's core are stupendous - more than 3.5 Mbar and 7000 K - and currently it is impossible to recreate these conditions in the laboratory. Our information about the core comes from observing the way that seismic waves travel through the core, extrapolating from experimental studies and studying iron rich meteorites…
Two new planets discovered in a faraway solar system
Titan's surface organics surpass oil reserves on Earth