Human Foxp2 gene turns mice into fast-learners

Scientists have spliced a key human brain gene into mice, that demonstrated accelerated learning as a result.  In the first study designed to assess how partially 'humanising' brains of a different species affects key cognitive functions, scientists report that mice carrying Foxp2 - a human gene associated with language - learned new ways to find food in mazes faster than normal mice.

Io spouts “curtains of fire” in series of eruptions

Three huge volcanic eruptions rocked Jupiter’s moon Io within two weeks last August.  The events are leading scientists to speculate that these outbursts, which can send material hundreds of kilometres above the surface, might be much more common than previously thought.

Tur­tles use vo­cal calls to stick to­geth­er and to care for young

Giant South American river turtles use several kinds of calls to coordinate their activities, including one call from females to their hatchlings in what is the first instance of recorded parental care in turtles.

Semiotic sophistication seen in trout-eel hunting partnership

Coral trout and moray eel collaborate with deadly effectiveness in hunting. Now, researchers have studied their technique and concluded that the trout’s collaborative skills rival those of the chimpanzee.

Spinosaurus aegyptiacus: semiaquatic and larger than T. rex

A dinosaur discovered over a century ago turns out to have probably been “semiaquatic”— the only known dinosaur adapted for living and hunting in a water environment.  New fossils of the huge predator reveal it adapted to life in the water some 95 million years ago, providing the strongest evidence to date of a dinosaur able to live and hunt in an aquatic environment.

The giant, sail-backed Spinosaurus was a formidable aquatic predator built for swimming and hunting in water.

Parrot found to “teach” tool use to others

Goffin’s cockatoos, a type of parrot, can not only make and use tools but also teach others to do the same.

Game theory demonstrated in Gouldian finches

A long-standing theory that excessive conflict is bad for society has been demonstrated in an animal population.  Aggressive and peaceful Gouldian finches can live together as long as the aggressors are not too successful, suggest the findings which are based on game theory.

Laniakea: galactic supercluster

Astronomers have discovered that the Milky Way galaxy is part of a supercluster which they've named Laniakea ('immense heaven').

Neanderthal 'hashtag' carving found in cave

The hashtag may be a symbol of modern life, but its origins can be traced back to Neanderthal carvings.  Scientists have discovered the first evidence of artwork by this species etched into the walls of a cave in Gibraltar.  In recent years researchers have discovered that Neanderthals buried their dead, adorned themselves with black and red pigments, wore shell and feather jewelry and cared for the elderly and infirm, all evidence of complex thought.  But until now, no unambiguously Neanderthal art was ever found.

Neanderthals and sapiens were longtime neighbours in Europe

Far from wiping out Neanderthals overnight, modern humans lived alongside their shorter and stockier cousins in Europe for thousands of years, confirms a new study. Using new radiocarbon dating techniques, a team of international scientists show Neanderthals overlapped with present-day humans in Europe for between 2600 and 5400 years before disappearing about 40,000 years ago. The findings overturn previous theories that suggest late-surviving groups of Neanderthals lived in places such as Gibraltar later than 40,000 years ago.

Tiny dust grains may be from interstellar space

Scientists believe they have captured the first samples of space dust that comes from beyond our solar system.

Egyptian mummification began before the Pharaohs

Prehistoric Egyptians practised mummification well before the time of the Pharaohs, suggests an analysis of resin-soaked linen.

Did the 'Hobbit' have Down syndrome?

The so-called 'Hobbit' skeleton discovered on the Indonesian island of Flores is simply a small modern human with Down syndrome and not a new species of early human, say researchers. But Professor Colin Groves, a bioanthropologist at the Australian National University, says the papers' conclusions are "implausible".  Groves believes the authors have ignored much of the evidence in favour of LB1's status as a separate species.

Prehistoric “bookkeeping” continued long after invention of writing

Archaeologists in southeast Turkey have found clay tokens that served as records of trade until the advent of writing, or so it was believed.  But the new find dates from a time when writing was commonplace – thousands of years after the tokens were thought to have been become obsolete.

Fossils of tiny, unknown hedgehog found: Silvacola acares

The 52-mil­lion-year-old fossils of per­haps the tiniest hedgehog species ever, Silvacola acares, have been identified by researchers investigating a “lost world” of fossilised forest in Canada.

Mysterious bursts of radio waves identified far outside galaxy

Mysterious split-second pulses of radio waves are coming from deep in outer space, and nobody knows what causes them.

Mysterious dance of dwarfs may force a cosmic rethink

A finding that many small galaxies don’t “swarm” around larger ones like bees but rather circle them in disc-shaped orbits is creating a new conundrum for scientists.

Astronomers detect most distant Milky Way stars known

The distant outskirts of our galaxy harbour valuable clues for understanding its formation and evolution. But the stars out there are few, far between, and far, far away.  Now, astronomers are reporting the discovery of two stars in this distant “ha­lo” that are the furthest ever discovered in our galaxy, the Milky Way, and are be­ing described as possible ghosts of galaxies past.

Four billion-year-old chemistry in cells today?

Some of the chemical processes that first gave rise to life may be still at work in living cells.  These ancient chemical reactions are thought to have taken place in a “primordial soup” where life originated, such as a pond or ocean.

Elephants possess 'superior' sense of smell

Elephants possess a sense of smell that is likely the strongest ever identified in a single species. The African elephant's genome contains the largest number of olfactory receptor genes - nearly 2,000.

'Optical fibre' made out of thin air

Scientists have turned thin air into an 'optical fibre' that can transmit and amplify light signals without the need for any cables.  In a proof-of-principle experiment they created an "air waveguide" that could one day be used as an instantaneous optical fibre to any point on earth, or even into space.

New find sheds light on dinosaur flight

Fossils of the largest dinosaur capable of flight have been discovered in China, according to a new study.  The 1.2-metre-long raptor named Changyuraptor yangi, was covered with plumage, including 30-centimetre-long tail feathers. This discovery shows this 125-million-year-old raptor was flying long before birds split off from dinosaurs.

A new dinosaur fossil with extremely long feathers boosts a theory that flight was common among the types of dinosaurs that later evolved into birds.  The flying predator, or raptor, had a long, feathered tail that was crucial for lowering descent speed and assuring safe landings.

Supernova lifts the veil on star dust

The creation of star dust in the shockwave of a supernova has been observed by astronomers for the first time. The discovery helps explain the production of large quantities of star dust, which forms stars, planets and people.

Fossil of biggest-known flying seabird: Pelagornis sandersi

Fossilised bird bones uncovered in the US represent the largest flying bird in history, Pelagornis sandersi, with a wingspan of 6.4 metres, twice as long as the biggest modern-day seabird, the royal albatross.  Coupled with its long beak and sharp bony teeth, the enormous wings likely helped the bird master long periods of gliding over water in search of seafood some 25 to 28 million years ago.

Earth-like planet orbiting only one star of a binary system

An Earth-like planet locked in a weird orbit has been found in a two-star system. The newly-discovered planet, called OGLE-2013-BLG-0341LBb is located 3261 light-years away and has about twice the mass of the Earth.  It orbits the smaller of two red dwarf stars at almost the same distance as the Earth orbits the Sun.

Qiyia juras­sica

Around 165 million years ago, a spectacular parasite was at home in the freshwater lakes of present-day Inner Mongolia in China. It was a juvenile fly with a thorax formed entirely like a sucking plate.

Spiders understand “music” of their own web

The sound of a spider web, plucked like a guitar string, provides its inhabitants with information about prey, mates, and even the we­b’s structural condition.  The spiders use that quality by “tuning” the silk, controlling and adjusting its properties, and the threads’ tensions and interconnectivities.

Chimp culture

Chimpanzees are copycats and, in the process, they form new traditions that are often specific to just one group. Such are the findings of an international group of scientists, who waded through over 700 hours of video footage to understand how it came about that one chimpanzee stuck a piece of grass in her ear and started a new trend. Unfortunately, Julie, the inventor of the trend, died. It continued without her.

New dinosaur species has winged crest

Scientists have named a new species of horned dinosaur based on fossils collected from Montana in the United States and Alberta, Canada. Mercuriceratops gemini was about six meters (20 feet) long and weighed more than two tonnes. It lived about 77 million years ago during the Late Cretaceous Period.

Three black holes found spiraling into each other

Astronomers have detected three giant black holes spiralling into each other. They’re hoping similar systems could give off detectable “ripples” in space and time — gravitational waves — predicted by Einstein.

Cloudina fossils push animal-made reefs back in time

A 548-million-year-old reef in central Namibia is the earliest known ecosystem built by hard bodied animals, according to a new study. Until now, the oldest reefs on record made of hard-bodied animals had been dated to about 530 million years of age.  The reefs were built by tiny, filter-feeding animals called Cloudina that lived on shallow equatorial seabeds during the Ediacaran Period, which ended 541 million years ago.

Neanderthals ate vegies with their meat

The oldest known samples of Neanderthal faeces have revealed these early humans actually enjoyed some salad with their steak. The findings challenge the image of Neanderthals as unrepentant carnivores, and the theory that their high meat intake may have contributed to their extinction.

Ancient skulls trace Neanderthal evolution

An analysis of skulls found in a Spanish cave reveals the oldest-known humans to have Neanderthal-like features lived about 430,000 years ago.  The skulls however also show characteristics associated with an earlier, primitive human suggesting a more complex evolution of humans than previously thought.

'Waves' spotted on Titan's seas

Mysterious features that look like waves have been detected on the seas of Saturn's moon Titan, according to a new study.  The authors believe the features, which only appeared for a short time, are driven by seasonal winds that are generated as Titan's northern hemisphere moves into summer.

Tectonic plate movement may be speeding up

The movement of Earth's major tectonic plates is speeding up, suggests a new study.

Climate forced ancient Peruvians to migrate

DNA testing of Peruvian mummies has revealed how climate change led to the forced migrations of the ancient people of the Central Andes. The research shows these migrations led to an eventual genetic homogenisation of the highland and coastal people of southern Peru. This finding overturns a previously held view that this homogenisation was the result of the expansion by the highland empire of the Wari towards the coast.

3-D fossil eggs reveal how pterosaurs lived

The spectacular discovery of three dimensional 120-million year old pterosaur eggs provides a unique insight into the ancient flying reptiles' lifestyle. Until now, only four pterosaur eggs had ever been found, and all were flattened during the process of fossilisation. But Chinese scientists have unearthed five three-dimensional pterosaur eggs at a site in northwestern China that also includes no fewer than 40 adult individuals of a newly identified species that lived in a bustling colony near a large freshwater lake.

'Booting up' the brain after anæsthesia

The way the brain "boots up" from anæsthesia has been detailed in a new paper that shows the return to consciousness is a staged journey rather than a direct leap.

Jupiter’s “Red Spot” shrinking dramatically

Jupiter’s Great Red Spot — a swirling storm feature larger than Earth — has shrunk to its smallest size ever measured, astronomers report.  The reasons for the shrinkage are unknown, but it’s accelerating, astronomers said. If it continues at recently measured rates, the famous blotch will be gone by about 2030.

Scientists identify Sun’s “long-lost brother”

Astronomers say they’ve found the Sun’s first known “sibling” — a star almost certainly born from the same cloud of gas and dust as our star.

Fruit flies found to “think” before they act

In experiments in which the insects had to tell apart ever more similar concentrations of an odour, researchers found that the flies don’t act instinctively or impulsively, but seem to accumulate information before acting. That has been considered a sign of higher intelligence.  The re­search­ers al­so found that a gene called FoxP, ac­tive in a small set of brain cells, facili­tates the choos­ing.

Long-snouted T. rex cousin reported found

The newfound species, nicknamed “Pinocchio rex,” had a longer skull and longer, narrower teeth than T. rex, with its deeper, more powerful jaws and thick teeth.

Physicists add another element to table

A new superheavy element looks set to be added to the periodic table: atoms of element 117.

Monotreme sex 'master switch' identified

The gene that most likely determines the sex of the platypus and echidna has been identified. The study also shows that the Y chromosome, contrary to previous assumptions, carries genes that are important to the basic viability of male mammals.

Ancestor of ancient flying reptiles found

Scientists have found a fossil from 163 million years ago that represents the oldest known example of a lineage of advanced flying reptiles that later would culminate in the largest flying creatures in Earth's history.  The newly identified Jurassic period creature, a species named Kryptodrakon progenitor, was unearthed in the Gobi desert in northwestern China.

Tiny planet found to have Saturn-like rings

The object, called Chariklo, lies two billion kilometres out in the solar system between Uranus and Saturn.

Radar shows mirror-smooth sea on Saturn moon

The radar readings, taken last year, show the surface of Ligeia Mare, Ti­tan’s second largest sea.

Saturn may be spawning tiny new moon

Astronomers suspect the object may be going through stages that characterised the birth of other moons, and planets.

Big, unseen planet may inhabit outer Solar System

A dwarf planet just found far outside the known Solar System also hints that a far bigger one lurks.

Possible exomoon detected

Though unconfirmable, the finding is seen as a tantalising first step toward finding exomoons.

First Earth-sized planet in a 'habitable zone'

In a long-awaited first, astronomers report finding an Earth-sized exoplanet possibly able to support life.

Odour memory

Long-term, odour-memory formation in the brain is linked to smell perception by affecting the expression of olfactory receptors in the nose.

Sea fossil has oldest cardiovascular system

Scientists claim to have found a fossil of a shrimp-like creature that lived 520 million years ago with an exquisitely preserved heart and blood vessels that represent the oldest-known cardiovascular system. Named Fuxianhuia protensa, the creature was a primitive arthropod, a group of invertebrates with external skeletons that includes crustaceans like crabs, lobsters and shrimp as well as insects, spiders and millipedes.

Ocean found on Saturnian moon

An ocean of liquid water exists below the frozen surface of Saturn's icy moon Enceladus, according to new data from the Cassini spacecraft.

Researchers believe the water is in contact with a rocky floor below, making it more suitable for a hypothetical origin of life.

Elephants console those in distress

Asian elephants console other elephants who are in distress, using physical touches and vocalisations.