— Hogchoker - the new Internet star — A small flatfish living along the coast of North America is the…
— Cancer deaths are projected to double by 2030 — Cancer deaths are projected to double in the next two decades.…
More Boiling point…
— Entangled diamonds vibrate together — Objects big enough for the eye to see have been placed in a weirdly…
— How animals predict earthquakes — Animals may sense chemical changes in groundwater that occur…
— New Icelandic volcano eruption could have global impact — Hundreds of metres under one of Iceland's largest glaciers there…
More Minuscule…
Or subscribe for our Newsletter, a free e-mail publication. It is published practically every day.
News | Archive (May 2007)
Massive transiting planet with 31-hour year found around distant star
— 31 May 2007 | AstronomyAn international team of astronomers with the Trans-atlantic Exoplanet Survey today announce the discovery of their third planet, TrES-3. The new planet was identified by astronomers looking for transiting planets - that is, planets that pass in front of their home star - using a network of small automated telescopes in Arizona, California, and the Canary Islands. TrES-3 was discovered in the constellation Hercules about 10 degrees west of Vega, the brightest star in the summer skies…
Five new species of sea slugs discovered in the Tropical Eastern Pacific
— 31 May 2007 | BiologyThe Tropical Eastern Pacific, a discrete biogeographic region that has an extremely high rate of endemism among its marine organisms, continues to yield a wealth of never-before-described marine animals to visiting scientists at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Panama. Alicia Hermosillo, researcher at the Universidad de Guadalajara in Mexico, and Angel Valdes, assistant curator of Malacology at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, describe five newly discovered species of nudibranchs, two of which Hermosillo collected in Panama, in volume 22 of the American Malacological Bulletin…
In search of the biological significance of modular structures in protein networks
— 31 May 2007 | BiologyIt is easy to observe that many networks naturally divide into communities or modules, where links within modules are stronger and denser than those across modules - like the way people from the same age group tend to interact more with each other than with people from different age groups. It is widely believed that networks within cells are modular in much the same way. Drs Zhi Wang and Jianzhi Zhang, from the University of Michigan, now investigate these modular properties and conclude that they may be only a random byproduct of evolution, and not functional at all…
Moths mimic sounds to survive
— 31 May 2007 | BiologyIn a night sky filled with hungry bats, good-tasting moths increase their chances of survival by mimicking the sounds of their bad-tasting cousins, according to a new Wake Forest University study. Published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the study is the first to definitively show how an animal species uses acoustic mimicry as a defensive strategy…
Galaxy cluster takes it to the extreme
— 31 May 2007 | AstronomyEvidence for an awesome upheaval in a massive galaxy cluster was discovered in an image made by NASAs Chandra X-ray Observatory. The origin of a bright arc of ferociously hot gas extending over two million light years requires one of the most energetic events ever detected…
Magnetic field uses sound waves to ignite sun's ring of fire
— 31 May 2007 | AstronomySound waves escaping the Sun's interior create fountains of hot gas that shape and power the chromosphere, a thin region of the suns atmosphere which appears as a ruby red ring of fire around the moon during a total solar eclipse, according to research funded by NASA and the National Science Foundation (NSF). These results were presented at the American Astronomical Society Meeting in Honolulu, Hawaii…
For many insects, winter survival is in the genes
— 31 May 2007 | BiologyMany insects living in northern climates do not die at the first signs of cold weather. Rather, new research suggests that they use a number of specialised proteins to survive the chilly months. These so-called heat-shock proteins ensure that the insects will be back to bug us come spring…
NASA mission checks health of the ice sheet and glaciers of Greenland
— 31 May 2007 | EnvironmentA NASA-led research team has returned from Greenland after an annual three-week mission to check the health of its glaciers and ice sheet. About 82 percent of Greenland is made up of a giant ice sheet. During the Arctic Ice Mapping Project, researchers measured critical areas of the island's ice sheet as well as its glaciers and monitored changes that may be connected to global climate change…
Climate change signal detected in the Indian Ocean
— 30 May 2007 | EnvironmentThe signature of climate change over the past 40 years has been identified in temperatures of the Indian Ocean near Australia. From ocean measurements and by analysing climate simulations we can see there are changes in features of the ocean that cannot be explained by natural variability, said CSIRO oceanographer Dr Gael Alory…
Hubble photographs grand spiral galaxy M81
— 30 May 2007 | AstronomyThe sharpest image ever taken of the large grand design spiral galaxy M81 is being released at the American Astronomical Society Meeting in Honolulu, Hawaii. A spiral-shaped system of stars, dust, and gas clouds, the galaxy arms wind all the way down into the nucleus. Though the galaxy is located 11.6 million light-years away, the Hubble Space Telescope view is so sharp that it can resolve individual stars, along with open star clusters, globular star clusters, and even glowing regions of fluorescent gas. The Hubble data was taken with the Advanced Camera for Surveys in 2004 through 2006. This colour composite was assembled from images taken in blue, visible, and infrared light…
Cassini tracks raging Saturn storm
Galaxy Evolution Explorer celebrates 5 years in space