"Walrus" fossils revealed to be ancient white sperm whale

Scientists say fossils unearthed in 1909 in Santa Barbara, California, that had been wrongly categorised for decades as belonging to a group of extinct walruses, were the remains of a fearsome sperm whale that swam the Pacific Ocean 15 million years ago during the Miocene Epoch.

Scientists teach computers how to learn like humans

Scientists have created a computer model, or algorithm, that captures the unique human ability to grasp new concepts in a study that involved learning unfamiliar handwritten alphabet characters.  The algorithm enabled computers to recognise and draw simple symbols that were indistinguishable from those created by humans.

Kunbarrasaurus

Kunbarrasaurus ieversi, or Kunbarrasaurus, appears to be a primitive ankylosaur, a group of four-legged herbivorous dinosaurs known for their heavy armour and club-like tail.

Moon's orbit was tilted by close encounters with passing planetesimals

The Moon was nudged into its tilted orbit by the gravitational pull of small planetary bodies left over from the formation of the solar system, according to a new model.  The findings explain a long-standing mystery of why the Moon's orbit around Earth is inclined by five degrees relative to Earth's orbit around the Sun.