The researchers have come up with a new theory that the ancient civilization that flourished in the Indus River basin 4,000 years ago, Indus Valley civilization (IVC) was a literate society using script that is much similar to the present day languages, such as Tamil, Sanskrit and English. In a new research, a team of Indian researchers have articulated that the mystical script symbols used by the IVC people were a hieroglyphic language, instead of mere pictograms or symbols.

Washington, Apr 24: Turning all ear-related theories on their head, scientists have found that the ion channels responsible for hearing aren''t located where scientists previously thought.

Researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine have claimed that the age-old model to explain how the inner ear translates vibrations in the air into sounds heard by the brain is wrong.

The discovery by Anthony Ricci, PhD, associate professor of otolaryngology, and colleagues, could have major implications for the prevention and treatment of hearing loss.

Washington, April 24 : In a new study, scientists have determined that fire must be accounted for as an integral part of global climate change.

The study identifies significant contributions of fire to climate change and identifies feedbacks between fire and climate change.

The researchers determined that intentional deforestation fires alone contribute up to one-fifth of the human-caused increase in emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2), a heat-trapping gas that increases global temperature.

Increasing numbers of wildfires are influencing climate as well, the authors of the study report.

Washington, April 24 : New observations by a suite of five NASA space probes has reportedly solved the mystery of the Northern Lights, attributing the cause of the natural phenomenon to powerful currents generated by giant electrical tornadoes in outer space.

The probe cluster, called Time History of Events and Macroscale Interactions during Substorms (THEMIS), indicate that these "space tornadoes" span a volume as large as Earth and produce electrical currents exceeding 100,000 amperes.

Washington, April 24 : Astronomers have discovered large galaxies that have not changed much in size for the last 9 billion years, which suggests these cosmic giants were born 6-7 billion years earlier than expected.

The most popular model for galaxy formation is a bottom-up or hierarchical model in which small galaxies gradually develop into larger ones over a long period of time.

The model predicts that smaller galaxies would merge to form larger ones, growing to 90 percent of their size about 11 billion years after the Big Bang.

Washington, Apr 24 : Early birds may be chirpier in the morning, but it's the night owls that score over them when it comes to being alert after waking up from sleep, concludes a new brain-scan study.

In the study, researchers monitored the brain activity of self-described early birds and night owls in a sleep lab.

Led by Christina Schmidt of the University of Liege in Belgium, the researchers also took hourly saliva samples to measure the sleepers'' levels of melatonin-a hormone thought to help naturally regulate sleep cycles in mammals.