Science & Technology News

Britons prove their ancestry is diverse

Britons prove their ancestry is diverse

Posted Thu, 19 Mar 2015 10:11:06 GMT by JW Dowey

SUMMARY: When you look up your surname, the list of ancestors may include many Vikings and Saxons, but the base-metal of many Europeans is the Celt, feared by Rome and remembered for fantastic art and beautiful literature. Check your association with UK or Spanish blood now. You may well be surprised how ancient your ancestors are, according to the locality your more recent forebears inhabited.

Britons prove their ancestry is diverse

Endemic Giant Salamander Threat-from its Neighbour.

Endemic Giant Salamander Threat-from its Neighbour.

Posted Wed, 18 Mar 2015 07:33:00 GMT by Dave Armstrong

When threatened species face both competition and hybridisation from a relative, the best techniques for assessment are needed. The giant salamanders stand apart as unique endemics in NE Asia, but now the Chinese species has begun invading the rivers in which the other member of its genus lives. This could be curtains for Andrias japonicus if the IAS manages to gain a foothold and interbreed.

Endemic Giant Salamander Threat-from its Neighbour.

Bees = humans, in false memory at least.

Bees = humans, in false memory at least.

Posted Sun, 01 Mar 2015 19:00:00 GMT by Dave Armstrong

How can the tiny capacity of a bee brain store memory as capably as that of our own? The 2 are very similar in performance, according to this research, despite the disparity in size.

Bees = humans, in false memory at least.

Dragons increase in species numbers.

Dragons increase in species numbers.

Posted Wed, 18 Feb 2015 08:10:06 GMT by Dave Armstrong

Dragons and biodiversity seem miles apart. Here seadragons help us to understand just what might be left for us on a severely-depleted planet. Thanks to these researchers for getting to the far end of an old story from 60 years ago and using technology to provide us with the truth about fish phylogeny and our diverse marine life.

Dragons increase in species numbers.

Pollution: chemical weapons destroyed in US

Pollution: chemical weapons destroyed in US

Posted Wed, 04 Feb 2015 10:55:21 GMT by Dave Armstrong

We all dream of a perfect world where grass is green and rivers flow through forests surrounding clean cities. Reality is a human concentration on warfare and greed for land. To make up for the sins of the past alone, we have to spend a lot of time and money in disposing of the mistakes. Now for the future of no forest, polluted land, and nothing left alive in the rivers and oceans.

Pollution: chemical weapons destroyed in US

Fascinating new squid behaviour in nature

Fascinating new squid behaviour in nature

Posted Wed, 28 Jan 2015 16:20:00 GMT by Dave Armstrong

To observe the cuttlefish or the squid is to see wonderful colour change ability. Maybe now, we can find out how exactly they use this ability in mating of deterrence of predators. Video has been used now to follow animals clandestinely, although one cam was noticed and ripped off by other squid!

Fascinating new squid behaviour in nature

Chimpanzee losses and successes.

Chimpanzee losses and successes.

Posted Thu, 22 Jan 2015 16:46:05 GMT by Dave Armstrong

How DO we save our nearest relative? The wild chimpanzee is far different from the tea-swilling and ultra-cute babies we are used to in various disguises. The existence of these populations in Africa echoes our own origins, but differently! To allow the fabulous gorilla or these bonobos and chimpanzee to disappear from our native Africa would be like allowing sand to slip through our despairing fingers. Stop the trapping and the logging. Immediate gain will not lead to any long-term advantage. We have lost most of the earth, so these precious animals and plants are just a dwindling reminder of the antics of ourselves and our ridiculous past.

Chimpanzee losses and successes.

Bats fly high and DNA techniques are classy

Bats fly high and DNA techniques are classy

Posted Mon, 12 Jan 2015 19:51:01 GMT by Paul Robinson

The European snow vole, choughs and one bat are specialists, isolated mainly in alpine habitats while other species out-compete them at lower altitude. This is an interesting study from the Basque country, where the bat species is finally pinned down to its exact diet of mainly alpine moths. The use of DNA bar codes for identifying many different species is also praiseworthy, as it leads to further research now on the fauna and flora of many other environments.

Bats fly high and DNA techniques are classy

Pluto approached by

Pluto approached by "strange" probe

Posted Tue, 06 Jan 2015 11:17:02 GMT by Dave Armstrong

We never know when one of these pieces of metal motoring around the solar system will come across novel information. It is unlikely to pick up anything obviously important to everyday knowledge, but the study of the planets has always been seen as crucial to our existence. We are threatened by internal and external factors, many of which could be explained better by pure and applied scientific investigation. Earth Times wishes the best for this relatively minor non-planetary probe. We could learn wonderful conceptual interpretations of distant objects, just as Hooke’s microscope and Galileo’s telescope began many a medical or geographical breakthrough.

Pluto approached by "strange" probe

Astronomers rule (in their universe)

Astronomers rule (in their universe)

Posted Thu, 01 Jan 2015 10:15:11 GMT by JW Dowey

It is not within Earth Times’ remit to comment on the whole Universe, but the research has been done and it is simply a case of New Year, New Universe! Have a read, via The Royal Astronomical Society.

Astronomers rule (in their universe)

Mammals that cannot see in the light

Mammals that cannot see in the light

Posted Sat, 27 Dec 2014 11:02:11 GMT by JW Dowey

The sloths, anteaters and armadillos are bound together despite millions of years of evolutionary separation. The reason is their vision, limiting them to dimly-lit habitats, and causing many deaths in accidents for the armadillos (and humans.)

Mammals that cannot see in the light

A giant leap for frog-kind.

A giant leap for frog-kind.

Posted Fri, 19 Dec 2014 09:34:00 GMT by Dave Armstrong

You would have thought we could have worked out how the amphibians move around by now. But no, we have not, until two scientists carefully X-rayed the mechanics of the frog’s leg. The French have been eating them for so long, you would have thought they would have noticed the dynamic catch mechanism. But no, you never think about the amazing and delicately adjusted mechanism disappearing into your maw.

A giant leap for frog-kind.

Domestic horses derived from wild restocking.

Domestic horses derived from wild restocking.

Posted Tue, 16 Dec 2014 10:30:00 GMT by Dave Armstrong

Any obsessions we have with our own cats, birds, dogs, pigs, horses or whatever stems from long-established traits in ourselves, but the elucidation of how the animal species were adapted is just as intriguing. Here is a great story on how the horse became what it is today - a simple hobby with negative aspects to its breeding and shapes to match human fancy. But what a story from history of deals, war-horses, ancient chariot uses and the complete history of recent agriculture and transport - and that’s just a start!

Domestic horses derived from wild restocking.

Flocking genomes! (bird ancestry resolved!)

Flocking genomes! (bird ancestry resolved!)

Posted Fri, 12 Dec 2014 09:45:00 GMT by Dave Armstrong

When the birds' success is measured, it appears as a fairy tale of opportunity as the dinosaur niches became vacant. They grabbed it with both claws and pecked their way to the top-flight!

Flocking genomes! (bird ancestry resolved!)

Dynamics of Invasive Fish Species Revealed

Dynamics of Invasive Fish Species Revealed

Posted Wed, 03 Dec 2014 08:53:00 GMT by Dave Armstrong

When a plant or animal invades your garden, your farm or your lake, the means of dealing with it can be limited. Now we have some understanding of the invasiveness, we can probably do much more to limit these IAS.

Dynamics of Invasive Fish Species Revealed

The world as it was, 2.6 million years ago, and will be again!

The world as it was, 2.6 million years ago, and will be again!

Posted Fri, 28 Nov 2014 19:44:00 GMT by JW Dowey

How do we know how the oceans and winds will deliver when global warming destroys or present climate systems? The answer will depend on how this new information on Arctic sea-ice fits with various modelling experiments. We need to have information on these unexpected floods, violent hurricanes and killer droughts if we are to have any chance of preventing their worst excesses.

The world as it was, 2.6 million years ago, and will be again!

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Butterflies just love ants ---.

Posted Wed, 12 Sep 2018 13:31:00 GMT by JW, Dowey

First known manta ray nursery in Florida and new species news!

Posted Wed, 20 Jun 2018 08:35:00 GMT by Dave Armstrong

Models and mimics are marvels in SE Asia

Posted Wed, 02 May 2018 07:50:00 GMT by JW. Dowey

Otters and their social learning abilities.

Posted Wed, 30 Aug 2017 09:45:00 GMT by Dave Armstrong

Our vertebrate relatives have evolved plenty of Jaw

Posted Mon, 31 Jul 2017 08:59:00 GMT by Dave Armstrong

Salamander polyploid amazes with its genome (s)

Posted Fri, 23 Jun 2017 10:56:47 GMT by Dave Armstrong

The Tempo of Evolution is revealed on Hawaii

Posted Mon, 20 Mar 2017 09:59:00 GMT by Dave Armstrong

Blue whales' calls give ID of new populations

Posted Wed, 04 Jan 2017 10:36:00 GMT by Dave Armstrong

Crow wing shape and its association with species distribution.

Posted Wed, 14 Dec 2016 09:10:00 GMT by JW Dowey

The Force is with the Claw of Land Crabs

Posted Thu, 24 Nov 2016 14:20:00 GMT by Dave Armstrong