Evidence of ancient Martian lake found

A US spacecraft orbiting Mars has provided evidence of an ancient crater lake fed by groundwater, adding further support to theories that the Red Planet may once have hosted life. Spectrometer data from NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) shows traces of carbonate and clay minerals usually formed in the presence of water at the bottom of the 2.2 kilometre deep McLaughlin Crater.

Making teleportation 'fuel-efficient'

Teleportation may have come a small step closer. Over the past decade, scientists have shown that the powerful connections generated between particles through the quantum law of 'entanglement' could allow information to be teleported.

Chimps possess a sense of 'fairness'

Chimpanzees, in a test of their willingness to share with other chimps, displayed a surprising sense of fairness, scientists say, debunking the idea that only humans boast that quality.

Blogger's Note: Contrary to the claims in the article, this has previously been demonstrated not only for chimps, but also, I believe, for orang utans and certainly for (some species of) monkeys.  A sense of un/fairness is probably a feature of all social species.

First land animals shuffled like seals

The assumptions implicit in the world's first 3D reconstruction of a four-legged animal backbone suggest that the first animals on land moved like mudskippers or seals. One of the studied animals was the Ichthyostega which lived 374 to 359 million years ago and was a transitional species between fish and terrestrial animals. Ichthyostega is thought to have navigated through shallow water in swamps, probably lured by food.

“Epigenetics” proposed to underlie homosexuality

A key factor behind homosexuality may be not genetics, but epigenetics—the way temporary “switches” in our cells influence gene activity.  New research suggests homosexuality can occur when sex–specific forms of these switches — normally “erased” between generations—escape erasure.

Ancient bird’s elaborate teeth

A newly discovered bird of the dinosaur age, identified from a fossil, had some of the most elaborate teeth ever seen in a bird, at a time when other bird species had already begun an evolutionary journey toward toothlessness.

Swimming Dinosaurs

Dozens of little dinosaurs, swimming in shallow river waters, left a group of track marks which suggest certain ornithopods—plant-eating dinosaurs whose name means “bird-footed”—liked to get around by swimming or wading, perhaps using river currents for help.

Astronomers identify structure so huge it disrupts cosmic uniformity

Astronomers have found a clump of bright galaxies so huge, it jolts their longstanding belief that the universe is pretty uniform on large scales.