Science News

100-mln-yr-old fossil suggests link between South American and Aussie dinos

Washington, June 11 : A rare hundred-million-year old dino fossil found in Australia has led scientists to suggest a link between South American and Aussie dinosaurs.

According to a report in National Geographic News, the fossil belonged to a two-legged meat eater, or theropod, that is closely related to Megaraptor namunhuaiquii, a giant, big-clawed carnivore from Argentina.

The discovery could help redraw the world map during the dinosaur era, researchers said.

That’s because the newfound Australian dinosaur shows that animals could travel across the prehistoric supercontinent of Gondwana during the Cretaceous period, about
145 to 65 million years ago.

This in turn suggests that Gondwana’s Southern Hemisphere landmasses broke up later than traditionally thought.

New telescope to give alien hunt a shot in the arm

Amsterdam, June 11 : Scientists are hoping that with the development of a new telescope known as LOFAR (Low Array), the search for aliens would get a boost.

Researchers from all over the world will now contribute to this effort to find ways in which LOFAR can be used in the search for extraterrestrial life.

There are about 100 thousand million stars in the galaxy and most of these are expected to harbour planetary systems. Some of these planets might actually be suitable for life.

Now, the search for such planets has got a shot in the arm with the LOFAR telescope that is currently being built by ASTRON. It consists of about 25,000 small antennas that will receive signals from space.

Arecibo Observatory becomes part of 6,800-mile global telescope

Washington, June 11 : The Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico became a part of the global network of telescopes in North America, South America, Europe, and Africa when all of them simultaneously observed the same targets recently, simulating a telescope more than 6,800 miles in diameter.

The telescopes joined by the observatory managed by Cornell's National Astronomy and Ionosphere Center were all members of the Express Production Real-time e-VLBI Service (EXPReS) project.

They all marked a live demonstration of their first four-continent, real-time, electronic Very Long Baseline Interferometry (e-VLBI) observations on May 22.

Garlic may help beat MRSA ‘superbug’

London, June 10 : An ingredient in garlic is the latest weapon in the battle to fight the hospital ‘superbug’ MRSA, according to researchers at the University of East London.

Rising sea levels would make Arctic ice free by 2030

Washington, June 10 : Some scientists believe that without action to stave off climate change, all of the year-round ice in the Arctic could be gone by as early as 2030, thanks to resulting rise in

‘Synthetic biology’ may be misused for ‘bioterrorism’, warn experts

London, June 10 : Scientists at the University of Nottingham have warned that ‘synthetic biology’ — a technique popular for its ability to create artificial life by engineering organisms — is at ri

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