El Nino drives Panama butterfly migrationsOctober 6th, 2009 WASHINGTON - A long-term study has shown that El Nino, a global climate pattern, drives Sulfur butterfly migrations across the Panama Canal. Climate change has been linked to changes in the migration of butterflies in North America and Europe but this is one of the first long-term studies of environmental factors driving long-distance migration of tropical butterflies.
Links between modern humans, Neanderthals probedSeptember 20th, 2009 WASHINGTON - A team of researchers is probing the links between modern humans and Neanderthals. Homo neanderthalensis nearly made it through two Ice Ages in Europe, and disappeared roughly 30,000 years ago.
Robot that mimics humans from the inside outSeptember 17th, 2009 LONDON - Boffins have developed an amazing skeleton robot that moves just like humans. The creation is known as an "anthropomimetic robot".
Humans causing erosion comparable to world's largest rivers and glaciersSeptember 3rd, 2009 WASHINGTON - A new study has found that large-scale farming projects by humans can erode the Earth's surface at rates comparable to those of the world's largest rivers and glaciers. The research offers stark evidence of how humans are reshaping the planet.
Wiener dog's stubby legs may hold clue to human dwarfism and evolutionJuly 25th, 2009 WASHINGTON - A new research has determined that the wiener dog's stubby little legs hold a clue to both human dwarfism and evolution as a whole. The key is in a newly identified gene that makes short-legged dogs, like the dachshund, so short, according to the research.
Illness carried by humans may have killed the Neanderthals 30,000 years agoJuly 8th, 2009 COPENHAGEN - A new theory has suggested that an infectious disease carried by Homo sapiens migrating out of Africa was responsible for the demise of the Neanderthal 30,000 years ago. According to a report in The Copenhagen Post, Professor emeritus Bent Sorensen of the University of Roskilde said that disease carried by Homo sapiens migrating out of Africa was responsible for the gradual extinction of our prehistoric cousins in the same way that European illnesses ravaged Native American populations in the sixteenth century.
Humans may have been responsible for "megafauna" demise 46,000 years agoJune 23rd, 2009 LONDON - A team of scientists has analyzed the fossil of the extinct giant kangaroo to determine that humans were responsible for the demise of "megafauna" 46,000 years ago. There has long been dissent in the palaeontology community about the cause for extinctions worldwide after the end of the last ice age.
Humans related to orangutans, not chimps or gorillasJune 18th, 2009 WASHINGTON - In a new research, a team of scientists has suggested that humans most likely share a common ancestor with orangutans, not chimpanzees and gorillas. The research, done by scientists from the University of Pittsburgh and the Buffalo Museum of Science, reject as "problematic" the popular suggestion, based on DNA analysis, that humans are most closely related to chimpanzees, which they maintain is not supported by fossil evidence.
Going into space can leave you short, fat and uglyJune 5th, 2009 LONDON - Making long space voyage might sound thrilling and macho, but it will do no good to your appearance, claim scientists who believe space travel will leave astronauts looking short, fat and bald. Astrobiologist Dr Lewis Dartnell believes that near zero gravity would leave humans stunted and cause their bones and muscles to be underdeveloped.
Fish poisoning may be why Polynesians left paradiseMay 19th, 2009 WASHINGTON - Scientists have come up with a theory that attributes the historic migrations of the Polynesians from the Cook islands to New Zealand, Easter Island and Hawaii in the 11th to 15th centuries, to fish poisoning. The theory has been proposed by Teina Rongo, a Cook Island Maori from Rarotonga and a Ph.D.
Scientists solve mysterious disappearing act of world's second largest fishMay 8th, 2009 WASHINGTON - Scientists have discovered where basking sharks - the world's second largest fish - hide out for half of every year. The discovery revises scientists' understanding of the iconic species and highlights just how little we still know about even the largest of marine animals.
World's oldest manufactured beads are older than previously thoughtMay 7th, 2009 WASHINGTON - A team of archaeologists has claimed to have discovered the world's oldest manufactured beads in a limestone cave in Eastern Morocco, which are older than previously thought. The researchers have found 47 examples of Nassarius marine shells, most of them perforated and including examples covered in red ochre, at the Grotte des Pigeons at Taforalt.
Climate change makes migrations longer for birdsApril 15th, 2009 WASHINGTON - In a new research, a team of scientists, led by Durham University, UK, have determined that bird migrations are likely to get longer, as a result of climate change. This is the first ever study of the potential impacts of climate change on the breeding and winter ranges of migrant birds.
Why chimps are 4 times stronger than humansMarch 31st, 2009 WASHINGTON - In a new research, a scientist has suggested that chimpanzees are four times stronger than humans because our nervous systems exert more control over our muscles, thus preventing great feats of strength. The research was done by evolutionary biologist Alan Walker, a professor at Penn State University.
Scientists discover elephant shark can see color much like humans canMarch 18th, 2009 WASHINGTON - Scientists have discovered that the elephant shark, a primitive deep-sea fish that belongs to the oldest living family of jawed vertebrates, can see color much like humans can. This discovery may enhance scientists' understanding of how color vision evolved in early vertebrates over the last 450 million years of evolution.
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