Blue whales forced to increase their 'singing' to cope with noise pollution from shipsSeptember 23rd, 2009 LONDON - A new research by scientists has determined that blue whales have had to increase their 'singing' to cope with noise pollution from ships. Man-made noise such as ships' engines has caused hearing loss in whales.
Astronomers find first rocky planet outside solar systemSeptember 16th, 2009 WASHINGTON - A group of European astronomers said Wednesday that they had found the first known rocky planet outside the solar system. The find by European Southern Observatory scientists in Garching, Germany, is an important step forward in answering the question of whether humans are alone in the universe, because it is the first of the more than 300 known exoplanets - as planets outside the solar system are known - that is not large and gaseous.
NASA unveils first images from revamped HubbleSeptember 9th, 2009 WASHINGTON - NASA scientists Wednesday unveiled the first images taken by a revamped Hubble telescope, providing even crisper pictures of distant stars and galaxies. The colourful images provide a taste of the Hubble's new capability after a servicing mission in May that installed new instruments and repaired broken ones that had hampered the world's most famous telescope.
Dark energy may not actually existAugust 18th, 2009 LONDON - A new research by scientists has claimed that dark energy - the mysterious substance thought to make up three-quarters of the universe - may not actually exist. The concept of dark energy was created by cosmologists to fit Albert Einstein's General Theory of Relativity into reality after modern space telescopes discovered that the Universe was not behaving as it should.
Astronomers capture most high-resolution images of dying giant starAugust 8th, 2009 WASHINGTON - An international team of astronomers has made the most high-resolution images of a dying giant star to date. Led by Keiichi Ohnaka at the Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy (MPIfR) in Bonn, the astronomers, for the first time showed how the gas is moving in different areas over the surface of a distant star known as Betelgeuse.
Giant 'soap bubble' found floating in spaceJuly 25th, 2009 WASHINGTON - A team of astronomers has found a new planetary nebula, which looks like a giant 'soap bubble' floating in space. Planetary nebulae, which got their name after being misidentified by early astronomers, are formed when an ageing star weighing up to eight times the mass of the sun ejects its outer layers as clouds of luminous gas.
Watching whales far more profitable than killing themJuly 7th, 2009 LONDON - a report published by the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) has suggested that watching whales is far more profitable than eating them. According to New Scientist, the report found that revenues from whale watching in 2008 reached 2.1 billion dollars, which is double the amount earned a decade ago.
Weird space blobs turn out to be adolescent galaxies throwing final tantrum before growing upJune 24th, 2009 Telescope finds space blobs are pubescent galaxiesWASHINGTON — Mysterious space blobs aren't infant galaxies as astronomers once thought. Scientists say they mostly consist of galaxies going through puberty, all hot and bothered.
Enormous eruption reveals dead star in deep spaceJune 17th, 2009 PARIS - Astronomers, using ESA's (European Space Agency's) XMM-Newton and Integral space observatories, have observed an enormous eruption, which after careful analysis, has revealed a dead star belonging to a rare group: the magnetars. X-Rays from the giant outburst arrived on Earth on August 22, 2008, and triggered an automatic sensor on the NASA-led, international Swift satellite.
Blue whale 'heard' singing off New York coastMay 30th, 2009 WASHINGTON - Acoustic experts confirmed tracking a singing blue whale 112 km off the Long Island and New York City early this year, even as the second one was heard singing in the far distance. These endangered blue whales are the largest animals ever to have lived on this planet, and their voices can travel across an ocean.
Holiday makers help protect largest fish in the seaMay 1st, 2009 SYDNEY - The world's largest and rarest fish, the whale shark, may be increasing in number in one of its vital habitats, a new study by scientists and the general public has revealed. The remarkable success of the online survey of whale sharks was carried out by Earthwatch volunteers, tourists, divers and researchers at Ningaloo, Western Australia.
Endangered whale off Mass. coast is struck by boat from agency tasked with protecting speciesApril 22nd, 2009 Federal research boat hits right whale off Mass.BOSTON — A research vessel for the federal agency charged with protecting the endangered right whale hit one of the animals off the Massachusetts coast this weekend, cutting into the animal's left tail fluke with its propeller. Officials at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said the lacerations suffered in Sunday's accident didn't appear to be life-threatening.
The Blob: Astronomers marvel over mysterious giant object from nearly 13 billion years agoApril 22nd, 2009 2009: A space oddity; big blob in early universeWASHINGTON — A strange giant space "blob" spotted when the universe was relatively young has got astronomers puzzled. Using space and ground telescopes, astronomers looked back to when the universe was only 800 million years old and found something that was out of proportion and out of time.
Astronomers chart most accurate map of galaxies in our region of universeApril 3rd, 2009 SYDNEY - An international team of astronomers has completed the most accurate map of hundreds of thousands of galaxies in our region of the universe. According to a report by ABC News, the map, charted by Australian, British and American astronomers at the Anglo Australian Observatory in Coonabarabran, New South Wales, shows where galaxies are, in respect to each other, and to our own.
Joy in Australia as last stranded whale swims freeMarch 4th, 2009 SYDNEY - The last survivor of a pod of 192 pilot whales that came ashore on Tasmania's King Island at the weekend swam back out to sea Wednesday. A recalcitrant creature had beached twice in as many days to the dismay of a volunteer army of Australian nature lovers trying to re-float the stricken pod.
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