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Ancient Dinosaur Nursery Oldest Nesting Site Yet Found

By Guest PostJanuary 27, 2012Scienceadam yates, cretaceous periods, david evans, dinosaur eggs, dinosaur footprint, dinosaur nesting site, dinosaur record, dinosaur reproduction, early dinosaur, early jurassic period, eric roberts, evolution, evolutionary history, excavation, fossil record, hans-dieter sues, hatchling, jurassic, massospondylus, oldest known embryo, prosauropod dinosaur, reproductive behaviour, robert reisz, royal ontario museum, sauropods, sedimentary rocks, smithsonian institute, South Africa

*UTM professor unearths fossils in South Africa*

An excavation at a site in South Africa has unearthed the 190-million-year-old dinosaur nesting site of the prosauropod dinosaur Massospondylus-revealing significant clues about the evolution of complex reproductive behaviour in early dinosaurs. The newly unearthed dinosaur nesting ground predates previously known nesting sites by 100 million years, according to study authors.

A new study led by University of Toronto Mississauga paleontologist Robert Reisz, with co-author, Professor David Evans of ecology and evolutionary biology and the Royal Ontario Museum, along with a group of international researchers, describes clutches of eggs, many with embryos, as well as tiny dinosaur footprints, providing the oldest known evidence that the hatchlings remained at the nesting site long enough to at least double in size. (more…)

MSU Researchers Show How New Viruses Evolve, And in Some Cases, Become Deadly

By Guest PostJanuary 27, 2012Sciencedangerous mutations, lambda evolution, lambda virus, new virus, virus evolution

EAST LANSING, Mich. — In the current issue of Science, researchers at Michigan State University demonstrate how a new virus evolves, which sheds light on how easy it can be for diseases to gain dangerous mutations. (more…)

Ancient Popcorn Discovered in Peru

By Guest PostJanuary 26, 2012Scienceacademia nacional de la historia, andean region, ceramic pottery, coast of peru, corn microfossils, corncobs, dolores piperno, duccio bonavia, grains, huaca prieta, human welfare, husks, kernels, maize, male flowers, Mexico, panama, panama city, paredones, phytoliths, popcorn, smithsonian tropical research institute, south america, stalks, tassels, teosinte, tom dillehay, tropical ecosystem, tropical forests, tropical nature, vanderbilt university, wild grass

People living along the coast of Peru were eating popcorn 2,000 years earlier than previously reported and before ceramic pottery was used there, according to a new paper in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences co-authored by Dolores Piperno, curator of New World archaeology at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History and emeritus staff scientist at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute.

Some of the oldest known corncobs, husks, stalks and tassels (male flowers), dating from 6,700 to 3,000 years ago were found at Paredones and Huaca Prieta, two mound sites on Peru’s arid northern coast. The research group, led by Tom Dillehay from Vanderbilt University and Duccio Bonavia from Peru’s Academia Nacional de la Historia, also found corn microfossils: starch grains and phytoliths. Characteristics of the cobs—the earliest ever discovered in South America—indicate that the sites’ ancient inhabitants ate corn several ways, including popcorn and flour corn. However, corn was still not an important part of their diet. (more…)

Babies Are Born With “Intuitive Physics” Knowledge, Says MU Researcher

By Guest PostJanuary 26, 2012Scienceevolution, glass of milk, hidden objects, infants, intuitive physics, knowledge, kristy vanmarle, natural interaction, northwestern university, predict the future, skill, susan hespos, university of missouri, unsupported objects

*Numerous infant studies indicate environmental knowledge is present soon after birth*

COLUMBIA, Mo. – While it may appear that infants are helpless creatures that only blink, eat, cry and sleep, one University of Missouri researcher says that studies indicate infant brains come equipped with knowledge of “intuitive physics.”

“In the MU Developmental Cognition Lab, we study infant knowledge of the world by measuring a child’s gaze when presented with different scenarios,” said Kristy vanMarle, an assistant professor in the Department of Psychological Sciences in the College of Arts and Science. “We believe that infants are born with expectations about the objects around them, even though that knowledge is a skill that’s never been taught. As the child develops, this knowledge is refined and eventually leads to the abilities we use as adults.” (more…)

Photo from NASA Mars Orbiter Shows Wind’s Handiwork

By Guest PostJanuary 25, 2012Scienceball aerospace, Environment, hirise camera, image, impact crater, mars reconnaissance orbiter, martian landscape, meteorite, NASA, noachis terra, planet, seasonal frosts, southern mars, university of arizona, wind

Some images of stark Martian landscapes provide visual appeal beyond their science value, including a recent scene of wind-sculpted features from the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera on NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter.

The scene shows dunes and sand ripples of various shapes and sizes inside an impact crater in the Noachis Terra region of southern Mars. Patterns of dune erosion and deposition provide insight into the sedimentary history of the area. (more…)

Researchers Devise New Means For Creating Elastic Conductors

By Guest PostJanuary 25, 2012Sciencebuckle nanotube, carbon nanotube, conductive material, elastic conductor, elastic electronic device, elastic substrate, electric signal, feng xu, nanotubes buckle, north carolina state university, ribbons, stretchable electronics, technique, yong zhu

Researchers from North Carolina State University have developed a new method for creating elastic conductors made of carbon nanotubes, which will contribute to large-scale production of the material for use in a new generation of elastic electronic devices.

“We’re optimistic that this new approach could lead to large-scale production of stretchable conductors, which would then expedite research and development of elastic electronic devices,” says Dr. Yong Zhu, an assistant professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering at NC State, and lead author of a paper describing the new technique. (more…)

Under the Electron Microscope – A 3-D Image of an Individual Protein

By Guest PostJanuary 25, 2012Sciencecryo electron microscope, lilliputian scale, microscopic image, single protein

The high resolution of Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory’s Gang Ren

When Gang Ren whirls the controls of his cryo-electron microscope, he compares it to fine-tuning the gearshift and brakes of a racing bicycle. But this machine at the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) is a bit more complex. It costs nearly $1.5 million, operates at the frigid temperature of liquid nitrogen, and it is allowing scientists to see what no one has seen before. (more…)

Winged Dinosaur Archaeopteryx Dressed For Flight

By Guest PostJanuary 24, 2012Sciencearchaeopteryx, archaeopteryx specimen, bird evolution, bird evolutionary tree, feather structure, winged dinosaur

*The iconic, winged dinosaur Archaeopteryx was dressed for flight, an international team of researchers led by Brown University has concluded. The group identified the color of the raven-sized creature’s fossilized wing feather, determining it was black. The color and the structures that supplied the pigment suggest that Archaeopteryx’s feathers were rigid and durable, which would have helped it to fly. Results appear in Nature Communications.*

PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] — Since its discovery 150 years ago, scientists have puzzled over whether the winged dinosaur Archaeopteryx represents the missing link in birds’ evolution to powered flight. Much of the debate has focused on the iconic creature’s wings and the mystery of whether — and how well — it could fly. (more…)

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