Science

The dire wolf was a distinct species, different from the gray wolf, biologists discover

The iconic, prehistoric dire wolf, which prowled through the Americas over 11 millennia ago, was a distinct species from the smaller gray wolf, an international team of scientists reports today in the journal Nature. The study, which puts to bed a mystery that biologists have pondered for more than 100 years, was led by researchers from UCLA, along with colleagues from Durham University in the UK, Australia's Adelaide University and Germany's Ludwig Maximilian University.
Tags: Science, Germany, Americas, Ucla, Durham University, UK Australia, Adelaide University

Astronomers spotted a galaxy dying after a major collision. It's bleeding out 10,000 suns' worth of gas each year.

An artist's impression shows galaxy ID2299 losing a tail of gas after being formed in a galactic collision. ESO/M. Kornmesser Astronomers can see a distant galaxy dying as it bleeds cold gas into space. Such gas is critical for forming stars. Galaxies die when they can no longer do so. This galaxy formed from a collision in which two galaxies merged into one. That left a "tail" that's shedding 10,000 suns' worth of gas each year. Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories. For ...
Tags: England, Science, News, France, Trends, Nasa, Stars, Hubble Space Telescope, Galaxies, Milky Way Galaxy, University College London, Durham University, Telescopes, Alma, JHU, Andromeda Galaxy

Watch This Non-Cuttable Metal Destroy Saws Before They Can Slice Through It

Even the most expensive bike locks can be compromised in just a few minutes, and mostly serve as deterrents so your ride is a less appealing target. But researchers from Durham University in the UK and the Fraunhofer Institute have created what they’re claiming is the first man-made material that is non-cuttable, by …Read more...
Tags: Tools, UK, Science, Research, Materials Science, Durham University, Fraunhofer Institute, Saws, Proteus, Non Cuttable Metal Destroy Saws

UK researchers hope dogs can be trained to detect coronavirus

£500,000 government funding for project that ‘could revolutionise’ screeningCoronavirus – latest updatesSee all our coronavirus coverageDogs are to be trained to try to sniff out the coronavirus before symptoms appear in humans, under trials launched with £500,000 of government funding.Dogs have already been successfully trained to detect the odour of certain cancers, malaria and Parkinson’s disease, and a new study will look at whether labradors and cocker spaniels can be trained to detect Covi...
Tags: UK, Science, Dogs, Animals, UK News, Medical Research, Infectious Diseases, Higher Education, Microbiology, Academic experts, Durham University, Coronavirus outbreak, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine

The Milky Way is on an unstoppable collision course with a neighboring galaxy

Our Solar System has remained largely unchanged for billions of years, and it's likely to remain that way for a long time to come, but that hasn't stopped astronomers from looking far into the future in an attempt to forecast some major changes happening to our home galaxy, the Milky Way. A new research effort supports the idea that the Milky Way is headed for a massive collision, and when that happens it could dramatically affect our Solar System and perhaps even Earth itself. The good...
Tags: Science, Earth, Milky Way, Durham University, LMC

Nearby galaxy is hurtling towards Milky Way on collision course which could wipe out life on Earth

A neighbouring galaxy is hurtling towards the Milky Way on a collision course which could shift Earth outside the Goldilocks zone, making it too hot or too cold for life, scientists have warned. New research led by astrophysicists at Durham University, predicts that the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) could hit the Milky Way in two billion years’ time. Although the collision will not directly impact the Solar System, it will trigger a secondary chain of events, dislodging other stars from their aro...
Tags: Science, Earth, Milky Way, Durham University, LMC, Barcroft Media, Marius Cautun, Cautun, Carlos Frenk

Scientists Find the 'Missing' Dark Matter from the Early Universe

Dark matter, it seems, has been clinging to galaxies for a very long time. Most galaxies that existed 10 billion years ago had about as much dark matter as galaxies do today, contradicting earlier studies that suggested less dark matter lurked around galaxies in the early universe. "Dark matter was similarly abundant in star-forming galaxies in the distant past as it is in the present day," said Alfred Tiley, an astronomer at Durham University in England and lead author on the new study.
Tags: England, Science, Durham University, Alfred Tiley

Uranus is weird and researchers think a giant collision caused it

Uranus has always been a bit of an oddball in our solar system and a new simulation presented by a group of researchers might explain why. Uranus, the seventh planet from the sun, is a peculiar ice giant that is tilted at a 98-degree angle — while every other planet spins on a vertical axis in relation to its orbit, Uranus spins on a horizontal axis. Researchers suggest that this may have been caused by a massive collision. SEE ALSO: Moody photo from Mars shows a giant crater loaded with ice Jac...
Tags: Science, Mars, Durham University, Moody, Jacob Kegerreis, Kegerreis

Terrawatch: Lombok anxious after four big earthquakes

Similarities to Italian quakes in 2016 give scientists hope of accurate predictions for LombokThe atmosphere is tense on the Indonesian island of Lombok. Over the last six weeks the island has been shaken by four serious earthquakes, resulting in more than 500 deaths and displacing several hundred thousand people. The question is, are there any more big quakes to come?Richard Walters, a geophysicist at Durham University, sees eerie similarities between Lombok and the earthquake sequence that dev...
Tags: Science, Indonesia, Environment, World news, Asia Pacific, Italy, Natural disasters and extreme weather, Earthquakes, Geology, Durham University, Walters, Apennine, Lombok, Italy earthquake

Dark matter might not be interactive after all

Astronomers are back in the dark about what dark matter might be, after new observations showed the mysterious substance may not be interacting with forces other than gravity after all. Dr. Andrew Robertson of Durham University will today present the new results at the European Week of Astronomy and Space Science in Liverpool.
Tags: Science, Andrew Robertson, Durham University, European Week of Astronomy and Space Science

Stephen Hawking leaves behind 'breathtaking' final multiverse theory

A final theory explaining how mankind might detect parallel universes was completed by Stephen Hawking shortly before he died, it has emerged. Colleagues have revealed the renowned theoretical physicist’s final academic work was to set out the groundbreaking mathematics needed for a spacecraft to find traces of multiple big bangs. Currently being reviewed by a leading scientific journal, the paper, named A Smooth Exit from Eternal Inflation, may turn out to be Hawking’s most important scientific...
Tags: Science, Time, Cambridge, Belgium, Stephen Hawking, Stephen, Durham University, KU Leuven University, Thomas Hertog, Barcroft Images Fellow, Stephen Hawking Carlos Frenk

Linking Virus Sensing with Gene Expression, a Plant Immune System Course-Corrects

Researchers at Durham University in the UK have identified a crucial link in the process of how plants regulate their antiviral responses. The research is published in the March 2 issue of the Journal of Biological Chemistry.
Tags: UK, Science, Durham University

Linking virus sensing with gene expression, a plant immune system course-corrects

Researchers at Durham University in the UK have identified a crucial link in the process of how plants regulate their antiviral responses. The research is published in the March 2 issue of the Journal of Biological Chemistry.
Tags: UK, Science, Durham University

Ancient wormlike creature that was covered in 'cocktail sticks' discovered in China

Chinese scientists have discovered a “strange beyond measure” fossil of a helmet-wearing wormlike creature that had spikes like cocktail sticks on its back. The tiny sea critter that lived more than 500 million years ago has been described as a “mythical beast” by researchers. The finding offers scientists a fascinating glimpse into the Cambrian period, a time when dry land was yet to be colonised and many animals first appear in the fossil record. Two specimens of the two centimeter-long creatu...
Tags: Science, China, China Daily, Durham University, Martin Smith, Prof Smith

Frozen Earth: The Planet Got Warm After Frequent Volcano Eruptions Melted the Last Ice Age

“The paper is the first to document that this phenomenon likely also occurred during the last deglaciation, and raises interesting questions regarding the role of volcanism on deglaciation,” James Baldini, an Earth scientist at Durham University in the U.K. not affiliated with the study wrote Newsweek in an email. Volcanic eruptions may have sped up the end of the last ice age.
Tags: Science, Durham University, Newsweek, James Baldini

Signs of a Multiverse? Scientists May Have Found Evidence We Bumped Into a Parallel Universe

Scientists have long tried to explain the origin of a mysterious, large and anomalously cold region of the sky. In 2015, they came close to figuring it out as a study showed it to be a “supervoid” in which the density of galaxies is much lower than it is in the rest of the universe. Now, new research led by Durham University, submitted for publication in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, suggests the supervoid theory doesn’t hold up.
Tags: Science, Durham University, Royal Astronomical Society

Scientists may have found evidence of a parallel universe

The idea that we might be living in just one of an infinite number of universes has been fodder for scientific debate and sci-fi movie plots for a long time, but coming up with evidence to support the theory has been hard to come by. Now, researchers have discovered something in space that they can't quite account for, and one of the possible explanations is that — are you sitting down? — our universe actually bumped into a neighboring, parallel one. When gazing into the heavens, scientis...
Tags: Science, Durham University

Astronomers just calculated when a day on Earth will be 25 hours long

Many jokes are made about creating just one more hour in the day, but that will eventually become a reality. After a review of celestial data spanning 27 centuries, a team of astronomers has determined that Earth’s orbit slows almost two milliseconds every 100 years. If the slowdown continues—and it’s expected to—Earth will eventually experience an extra hour each day. Some careful math helped researchers estimate how long it might take for the orbit to slow enough to create a whole new hour. ...
Tags: Europe, Astronomy, UK, Science, Design, News, China, Nasa, Earth, Planets, Royal Society, Durham University, Morrison, Leslie Morrison

The earth's rotation is slowing - and days will eventually be 25 hours long

Many jokes are made about creating just one more hour in the day, but that will eventually become a reality. After a review of celestial data spanning 27 centuries, a team of astronomers has determined that Earth’s orbit slows almost two milliseconds every 100 years. If the slowdown continues—and it’s expected to—Earth will eventually experience an extra hour each day. Some careful math helped researchers estimate how long it might take for the orbit to slow enough to create a whole new hour. ...
Tags: Europe, Astronomy, UK, Science, Design, News, China, Nasa, Earth, Planets, Royal Society, Durham University, Morrison, Leslie Morrison

Why some songs get stuck in your head

Almost all of us get songs stuck in our heads from time to time but why do certain tunes have the 'stick factor'?The first large-scale study, led by Dr. Kelly Jakubowski at Durham University, may have some answers to this musical stickiness.
Tags: Science, Durham University

Scottish Prisoners of War from 17th-Century Battle to Be Reburied

More than 350 years ago, thousands Scottish soldiers were captured during the English Civil War by the controversial British leader Oliver Cromwell. Many were kept as prisoners and were buried in mass graves when they died of disease and starvation. Now, some of those soldiers will finally receive a more respectful resting place near Durham University, in northeast England, where the mass graves were found.
Tags: England, Science, Durham University, Oliver Cromwell

Big Helium find in East Africa could be the first of many helium discoveries

A newly discovered helium field in the geothermally active East African Rift Valley may contain more helium than the U.S. Federal Helium Reserve near Amarillo, Texas, which holds about 30 percent of the world's helium supply.Independent experts have calculated a probable resource of 54 billion cubic feet [1.5 billion cubic meters] in just one part of the rift valley.The Federal Helium Reserve currently holds just 24.2 billion cubic feet, and the total known reserves in the U.S. contain about...
Tags: Energy, Science, Medicine, Earth, Innovation, Tanzania, Yellowstone, Durham University, East Africa, BALLENTINE, Rift Valley, Amarillo Texas

World’s most massive canyon may be hidden beneath Antarctic ice

Researchers from Durham University have discovered what appears to be a massive canyon system beneath Antarctica’s ice. Using satellite data, geologists have mapped out a system over 1,000 kilometers long (621 miles), with sections that run up to 1 kilometer deep (3,280 feet) in the Princess Elizabeth Land region on the eastern side of the continent. For comparison, the Grand Canyon is only about 446 kilometers (277 miles) long. --> --> Read the rest of World’s most massive ...
Tags: Science, News, Geology, Antarctica, Grand Canyon, Antarctic, Durham University, Canyons, Antarctic Ice Sheet, Princess Elizabeth Land, East Antarctica, Elizabeth Land