Baby wrens must chirp a secret password to be fed, study finds
The nestlings of fairy-wrens don’t have much of a choice when it comes to listening to their mothers: The birds must reproduce a particular sound learned from their moms to be fed, according to a study published Thursday in the journal Current Biology.
The researchers, led by Sonia Kleindorfer of Flinders University in Australia, call the sound the bird’s “learned password.” The team discovered the remarkable mother-chick ritual by chance when they noticed that the mothers were aiming calls at their eggs well before they hatched. So they set out to determine why. First, the researchers realized that the call made by the nestlings in order to be fed was different in each nest, suggesting it might be learned. |  |
November 25 2012
Word-detecting baboons are a tough read
MINNEAPOLIS — Baboons use the order of regularly appearing letter pairs to tell words from nonwords, new evidence suggests.
Psychologist Jonathan Grainger of the University of Aix-Marseille reported earlier this year that baboons can learn to tell real four-letter words from nonsense words (SN: 5/5/12, p. 5). But whether these animals detect signature letter combinations that enable their impressive word feats has been tough to demonstrate.
Psychologist Jonathan Grainger of the University of Aix-Marseille reported earlier this year that baboons can learn to tell real four-letter words from nonsense words (SN: 5/5/12, p. 5). But whether these animals detect signature letter combinations that enable their impressive word feats has been tough to demonstrate.
November 25 2012
Rare book on witchcraft discovered in Alberta library
Even though he thinks the weathered tome is a fascinating cultural treasure, unearthed by chance in a musty section of an Albertalibrary, Andrew Gow doesn’t like to be near it.
“It’s a very, very nasty piece of work, and I can tell you that I don’t like to touch it,” he said. The book positions itself as a guide to expunge all evil and vanquish the dark forces of witchcraft detailed so vividly in its 150 pages of 15th-century Burgundian French. |  |
November 25 2012
Astronauts bring back new life
It is not every day that astronauts can claim to return to Earth with a new species of life. But when the astronauts on ESA's CAVES underground training course returned to the surface they were carrying a special type of woodlouse.
CAVES training sends astronauts from all the International Space Station partner nations underground for a week to learn about working in multi-cultural teams under extreme conditions.
During their six-night stay in caves in Sardinia, Italy, their scientific research included meteorology, surveying, geology and cataloguing underground life.
CAVES training sends astronauts from all the International Space Station partner nations underground for a week to learn about working in multi-cultural teams under extreme conditions.
During their six-night stay in caves in Sardinia, Italy, their scientific research included meteorology, surveying, geology and cataloguing underground life.
November 25 2012
Solar power plants burden the counties that host them
When it comes to attracting business to California's eastern deserts, Inyo County is none too choosy.
Since the 19th century the sparsely populated county has worked to attract industries shunned by others, including gold, tungsten and salt mining. The message: Your business may be messy, but if you plan to hire our residents, the welcome mat is out. So the county grew giddy last year as it began to consider hosting a huge, clean industry. BrightSource Energy, developer of the proposed $2.7-billion Hidden Hills solar power plant 230 miles northeast of Los Angeles, promised a bounty of jobs and a windfall in tax receipts. In a county that issued just six building permits in 2011, Inyo officials first estimated that property taxes from the facility would boost the general fund 17%. But upon closer inspection, the picture didn't seem so rosy. |  |
November 25 2012
"The Olmec Origins of the 2012 Long Count Calendar " by Hugh Newman
Two new discoveries have confirmed December 21st of this year as the final day of the Mayan Long Count calendar, but what was going on at the beginning date in 3114 BC and did the Maya really invent the calendar? Hugh Newman investigates the mysterious origins of the Olmec civilization and the ancient 'god' Quetzalcoatl to explore the genesis of this incredible 5125-year cycle.
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November 25 2012
Earth's 'Hum' Helps Probe Planet's Interior
The global "hum" of the Earth is now helping scientists probe the planet's deep interior, a group of researchers say.
Since this hum — called seismic noise, which is generated by sources such as storm-driven ocean waves — is detectable everywhere on Earth, it could help scientists analyze the innards of the planet worldwide, investigators added in a new study detailed in the Nov. 23 issue of the journal Science. |  |
November 25 2012
Super-Earths Get Magnetic 'Shield' from Liquid Metal
Within supersized alien versions of Earth, a common transparent ceramic may become a flowing liquid metal, perhaps granting those distant worlds magnetic fields to shield life from harmful radiation, researchers say.
Among the hundreds of extrasolar planets, or exoplanets, that astronomers have discovered in recent years are so-called "super-Earths," which are rocky planets like Earth but larger, at up to 10 times its mass. Scientists have discovered super-Earths that may support oceans of water on their surfaces on their surfaces, and others that may even be planets made of diamond. |  |
November 25 2012
Rocky Exoplanets May Be 'Squishy' Worlds
Planets beyond the solar system that are bigger than Earth but smaller than gas giants like Neptune could have oceans of liquid metal and life-protecting magnetic shields.
Under the heat and pressure that exist inside super-Earths, magnesium oxide and other minerals commonly found in the rocky mantles of the terrestrial planets, transform into liquid metals, laboratory tests show. The research has implications for understanding conditions on super-Earths, including whether they might be favorable for supporting life. |  |
November 25 2012
Mexican silver made it into English coins
Chemical studies of old English coins are helping unravel a centuries-old mystery: What happened to all the silver that Spaniards dug out of the New World?
Silver from Mexican mines started being incorporated into English coins around the mid-1550s, a new study shows. But silver from the legendary Potosí mines, in what is now Bolivia, didn’t show up until nearly a century later, researchers report online November 6 in Geology.
The new study adds hard data to theories linking the transatlantic influx of silver to price inflation across Europe from about 1515 to 1650.
Silver from Mexican mines started being incorporated into English coins around the mid-1550s, a new study shows. But silver from the legendary Potosí mines, in what is now Bolivia, didn’t show up until nearly a century later, researchers report online November 6 in Geology.
The new study adds hard data to theories linking the transatlantic influx of silver to price inflation across Europe from about 1515 to 1650.
November 25 2012
Europe Puts New Rocket, Trip to Mars on Its To-Do List
After an intense 48 hours of negotiations in Naples, Italy, the 20 European nations that support the European Space Agency (ESA) have come up with a 5-year budget and a set of priorities that will delight few but did at least avoid major bust-ups. With €10.1 billion ($13 billion) to spend, Europe will be going to Mars, but not to the moon; it will develop a next-generation Ariane 6 launcher, but not quite yet; and it will collaborate with the United States to develop NASA's Orion Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle.
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November 25 2012
Capturing Living Cells in Micro Pyramids
Imagine a field full of pyramids, but on a micro scale. Each of the pyramids hides a living cell. Thanks to 3-D micro- and nano-scale fabrication, this is possible and there are promising new applications in the offing. One of them is applying the micro pyramids for cell research: thanks to the open 'walls' of the pyramids, the cells can interact.
Scientists of the research institutes MESA+ and MIRA of the University of Twente in The Netherlands present this new technology and first applications in the journal Small. |  |
November 25 2012
Ancient tombs discovered in Pakistan's Swat
Italian archaeologists say they have discovered a cemetery that reveals complex funeral rites dating back more than 3,000 years in Pakistan's Swat valley, recently controlled by the Taliban.
The Italian mission began digging in the 1950s at Udegram, a site of Buddhist treasures in Swat, the northwestern district formerly known as the Switzerland of Pakistan for its stunning mountains, valleys and rivers.
Archaeologists were aware of a pre-Buddhist grave site in Udegram, but only recently discovered the collection of almost 30 graves, tightly clustered and partially overlapping.
The Italian mission began digging in the 1950s at Udegram, a site of Buddhist treasures in Swat, the northwestern district formerly known as the Switzerland of Pakistan for its stunning mountains, valleys and rivers.
Archaeologists were aware of a pre-Buddhist grave site in Udegram, but only recently discovered the collection of almost 30 graves, tightly clustered and partially overlapping.
November 25 2012
Wireless network of cows to keep burps under control
I'd hate to be the IT guy fixing this network. By dropping electronic devices into the stomachs of cows and networking them together, researchers hope to reduce the climate-warming farts and burps they produce.
Emissions from livestock - much of which is methane released when they burp - are a serious component of global greenhouse gas emissions. But some individuals are a little more, erm, 'gassy' than others. By breeding "low methane" animals, and modifying farming practices slightly, their emissions could be lowered by up to 50 per cent, says Chris McSweeny from the CSIRO's Sustainable Agriculture Flagship in Brisbane, Australia. |  |
November 25 2012
Sea ice found critical for emperor penguins' foraging
Motion detectors mounted on emperor penguins have revealed that sea ice plays a critical role in the birds' long food odyssey.
Emperor penguins rely on sea ice for breeding and feeding. Shifting patterns of sea ice due to changing climate in the Antarctic could alter the penguin's behavior and ecology, said study author Shinichi Watanabe, an animal ecologist and professor at Fukuyama University in Hiroshima, Japan. The Antarctic sea ice hit a record maximum this year, but the sea ice distribution around the continent is changing, while the penguins nest in the same place every year. |  |
November 25 2012
EU Ends Shark Finning
The European parliament on Thursday called a definitive halt to shark finning, the long contested practice of fishermen slicing off fins and throwing the live body overboard to drown.
The EU prohibited shark finning in 2003, but an exemption allowed fishermen with special permits to remove the fins from their carcass out at sea and bring back the remainders or land them in different ports. |  |
November 25 2012
Pilot whales use synchronised swimming when they sense danger
An international team of scientists have observed the behaviour of various groups of cetaceans in the Strait of Gibraltar and Cape Breton in Canada belonging to the Globicephala melas species, which are also known as long-finned pilot whales. These results show that these whales use synchronised swimming when they identify the presence of an external threat.
There are 300 pilot whales inhabiting the Straight of Gibraltar. Here these cetaceans remain throughout the entire year in the water of the Mediterranean and the Atlantic. But, little is known about their social structure.
There are 300 pilot whales inhabiting the Straight of Gibraltar. Here these cetaceans remain throughout the entire year in the water of the Mediterranean and the Atlantic. But, little is known about their social structure.
November 25 2012
Tin mining in Indonesia is wrecking the environment and claiming lives
Suge doesn’t have a mobile phone, so he uses a friend’s to tell us the news: he doesn’t want any visitors and he won’t talk. His boss has told him not to say anything. They’re neighbours and the mine’s just up the road and he needs this job – the job he hopes to go back to when he gets better, inshallah – because mining is good money. Everything is OK. Just please don’t come.
We leave at dawn. In the black morning sky the two-lane highway cuts west across the island towards Suge’s village, a cluster of wooden and cinderblock houses near mangroves so deep the palm trees look like drowned bonsais. |  |
November 25 2012
EcoAlert: New Global 'Tipping-Point' Warning System for the Planet
There is no centralized system to monitor and report changes in the Earth’s life-support systems. So scientists in 77 nations have established the Group on Earth Observations (GEO) and the Group on Earth Observation Biodiversity Observation Network (GEO BON), which integrates existing data streams into one platform to provide a global warning system for Earth’s biological and social systems.
GEO BON is structured around eight working groups focused on genetics, terrestrial species monitoring, terrestrial ecosystem change, freshwater ecosystem change, marine ecosystem change, ecosystem services, in situ and remote-sensing integration, and data integration and interoperability.
GEO BON is structured around eight working groups focused on genetics, terrestrial species monitoring, terrestrial ecosystem change, freshwater ecosystem change, marine ecosystem change, ecosystem services, in situ and remote-sensing integration, and data integration and interoperability.
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