Aussie dinos hid underground to survive extreme cold and predators

October 3rd, 2009 LONDON - Earthworms have pipped mankind and dinosaurs to emerge as the most successful 100 species on Earth in a new league table. Christopher Lloyd, the author of 'What on Earth Evolved?', examined the entire history of the planet and its life forms to determine the most successful ones.

October 2nd, 2009 WASHINGTON - A new study has determined that the catastrophic decline around the world of "apex" predators such as wolves, cougars, lions or sharks has led to a huge increase in smaller "mesopredators" that are causing major economic and ecological disruptions. The findings revealed that in North America, all of the largest terrestrial predators have been in decline during the past 200 years, while the ranges of 60 percent of mesopredators have expanded.

September 9th, 2009 WASHINGTON - Developing oil rigs in the Arctic is helping predators prey on nesting birds by providing them with subsidised housing. They nest and den around drilling infrastructure and supplement their diets with garbage and nesting birds, says a new study by Wildlife Conservation Society, US Fish and Wildlife Service.

July 29th, 2009 LONDON - In a new research, scientists have shown that the tactic of insects to squirt toxic blood out of gaps in their body to avoid being eaten by predators really does work. Armoured ground crickets (Acanthoplus discoidalis) are fat, flightless insects that live in the African bush across Namibia, Botswana and South Africa.

July 21st, 2009 WASHINGTON - A team of scientists has identified a suite of genes that help Arctic springtails survive freezing temperatures by dehydrating themselves before the coldest weather sets in. Melody Clark led a team of researchers from the British Antarctic Survey and the University of Novi-Sad, Serbia, who studied the arthropods.

July 9th, 2009 SYDNEY - A US scientist has said that some dinosaurs grew larger than today's elephants because they ate more and used less energy. According to a report in ABC Science, the study suggests two factors, energy expenditure and food intake, influence the size of animals.

June 15th, 2009 WASHINGTON - A team of scientists has found a tiny frozen microbe trapped more than three kilometres under glacial ice in Greenland for over 120,000 years, which may hold clues as to what life forms might exist on other planets. The novel microbe was found by Dr Jennifer Loveland-Curtze and a team of scientists from Pennsylvania State University, US.

June 9th, 2009 WASHINGTON - A Swedish study from Uppsala University has shown that Siberian jays use over a dozen different calls to communicate the level of danger and predator category to other members of their own group when mobbing predators. The new study has shown that birds have evolved call systems that are as sophisticated as those of primates and meerkats.

April 28th, 2009 WASHINGTON - New scientific evidence suggests that dinosaur bones from the Ojo Alamo Sandstone in the San Juan Basin, USA, date from after the mass extinction event, and that dinos may have survived in a remote area of what is now New Mexico and Colorado for up to half a million years, in a scenario resembling that of the fictional 'Lost World'. This controversial new research, is based on detailed chemical investigations of the dinosaur bones, and evidence for the age of the rocks in which they are found.

April 27th, 2009 WASHINGTON - Scientists have discovered a dinosaur tooth along what's now the Kakanaut River of northeastern Russia, a find that shows dinos once lived above the Arctic Circle. Scientists say the dinosaurs became extinct 65 million years ago when a big meteor crash set off volcanoes galore, with dust and smoke filling up the air.

April 17th, 2009 WASHINGTON - A new research has led to the discovery of unusual microbial life under an inland Antarctic glacier, a place where cold, darkness and lack of oxygen would previously have led scientists to believe nothing could survive. The microbes were found in an unmapped reservoir of briny liquid chemically similar to sea water, but buried under an inland Antarctic glacier.

April 17th, 2009 WASHINGTON - An uncharted reservoir of briny liquid, buried under an inland Antarctic glacier, supports unusual microbial life in a place where life is unthinkable. After sampling the outflow from below Taylor Glacier of the East Antarctic Ice Sheet, researchers believe that microbes have adapted over the past 1.5 million years to manipulate sulphur and iron compounds to survive, without photosynthesis.

April 14th, 2009 WASHINGTON - A new study from Worcester State College in Massachusetts has revealed that our ancient human ancestors were poor climbers and they traded their ability of climbing trees for the power to walk on two legs. According to anthropologist Jeremy DeSilva, early humans lacked the ankle structure that assists chimps- our closest living animal relatives - in climbing.

March 31st, 2009 WASHINGTON - Russell Crowe could soon be showcasing his musical talents, for the actor is in talks to do a film where he might be required to hit the high notes. The 'Gladiator' star has revealed that he's currently looking at a script for a new musical in which he may have to belt out a tune, just like fellow Aussie stars, Nicole Kidman and Hugh Jackman.

March 28th, 2009 WASHINGTON - A long-term research has concluded that the shell of a particular snail has dramatically increased in size, during less than a century, thus providing a clear illustration of how fast and effectively change can occur. The research, which began in 1915, was completed by a team of biologists at the University of Pennsylvania.