Washington, Jan 14 : Analysis of the chemical composition of 635-million-year-old rocks from the Norwegian island chain of Svalbard has revealed oxygen trapped inside the rocks, which suggests ancient Earth once had an alien atmosphere that might have helped melt millions of years' worth of deep freeze.

According to a report in National Geographic News, the analysis shows a surprisingly low amount of a particular type, or isotope, of oxygen.

Reduced levels of this isotope are linked to high levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, and the new data suggest ancient Earth might have had 300 to 1,000 times more CO2 than current levels.

Washington, Jan 14: A new research has suggested that the earliest known bird, Archaeopteryx, had a similar hearing range to the modern emu, which suggests that the 145 million-year-old creature, despite its reptilian teeth and long tail, was more birdlike than reptilian.

The research was done by a team of paleontologists and biologists from London, Munich and Ohio.

Washington, Jan 14 : Based on a new

London, Jan 14 : In a new research, scientists have claimed to detect evidence for granite highlands on Venus in data almost two decades old, which suggests that the planet may have once been far more like Earth, with oceans and continents.

According to a report in Nature News, the data includes nighttime infrared emissions coming from the surface of Venus, which was detected by NASA's Galileo spacecraft in 1990.

Washington, January 14: University of Wisconsin-Madison researchers claim that they have created a human eye-inspired photo-detector, which can do away with the oft-noticed problem of distortion in snaps clicked with camera cell-phones or the mammoth telephoto lenses that sports photographers use.

Zhenqiang Ma, an Electrical and Computer Engineering Associate Professor, believes that the new light-sensitive material he and his colleagues have created can revolutionise photography and other imaging technologies, and render cell-phone pics and expensive lens systems ancient history.

On Monday, it was informed by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) Chairman G Madhavan Nair that the scientific community in the country has been successful in acquiring complete picture of moon's surface and that too to an extent of five meter resolution and the credit goes to the success of Chandrayaan-1 mission.