July 2011 Archives

Europe's earliest residents may have been crowded out by uncontrolled immigration 40,000 years ago.

New evidence suggests that early modern humans arriving from Africa out-populated the indigenous Neanderthals more than 10-fold.

The huge influx of Homo sapiens may help explain why Neanderthals abruptly vanished after ruling Europe for some 300,000 years.

Cambridge University scientists conducted a detailed analysis of archaeological finds from the Perigord region of south-west France, where Europe's largest concentration of Neanderthal and early modern human sites can be found.

They discovered clear evidence that early modern human populations outnumbered the local Neanderthals by at least 10 to one.

The footprint site of Laetoli, in Tanzania, contains the earliest known trail made by human ancestors and includes 11 individual prints in good condition.

Just how old are they? Almost FOUR million years.

They were made by Australopithecus afarensis, from the fossil Lucy fame, who were slender ape-like creatures who were a dab hand at tool making.

Bored at work? Counting down the hours to the weekend?

Then Weird Science can help (as long as the boss doesn't spot ya!).

Weird Science Friday Links give you a nudge towards stuff you'll hopefully find more diverting than the stack of papers in front of you!

When things are about to go seriously wrong!

Nine overlooked mysteries.

TuneTune - convert YouTube video to an MP3.

Rocket furniture - the future of your living room!

Astronomers find largest water reservoir ever, 12 billion years in the past.

Click on the infographic to embiggen.

Located a mere 350 quintillion kilometers away - that's 35 million light years - the Leo Triplet is a set of three interacting spiral galaxies, each much like our own Milky Way

It's unusual for a professional observatory to get all three in the same image, but the VLT Survey Telescope has a 268 megapixel camera, making it a snap to take a family portrait:

One in 20 householders has been forced to move because of a feud with a neighbour, according to new research.

A study of more than 2,000 adults by life assistance company CPP found that home and garden maintenance issues topped the list of arguments, as well as excessive noise, parking spaces and disputes over boundaries.

Almost one in five of those polled said they had been involved in a row with a neighbour in the past year, while almost a third never spoke to people living next door.

Alasdair MacSporran, of CPP, said: "Our research tells us that getting on with the neighbours shouldn't be taken for granted. It's always worth speaking to your neighbours about any concerns you have before issues escalate and get out of hand.

"Knowing your legal rights and responsibilities, and being on the right side of the law, is always useful, however, as it could influence - and temper - what you say at the beginning."

Jubilant staff at a UK wetlands centre are celebrating the birth of only the second rare breed flamingo in UK history.

The lesser flamingo hatchling is set to become a celebrity with members of the public who visit the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust (WWT) centre in Llanelli, west Wales.

Bosses at the WWT released the first photograph of only the second such chick born in captivity in the UK.

Looking more like the mythical ugly duckling than a majestic flamingo the unnamed chic is covered in what appears to be a grey fur.

"With its grey feathers and surprisingly chubby legs, this newly hatched chick couldn't look any less like a flamingo but it is indeed a lesser flamingo (Phoeniconaias minor) and its birth is a rare event," said Richard Edwards of the WWT.

Super time-lapse video of the growth of an oak tree from an acorn over the space of eight months.

When you really need to take your enemy by surprise...

It's dim up north - so people living at higher latitudes have bigger eyes and brains, research has shown.

Northerners evolved more developed visual processing to help them cope with long winters and grey skies.

Scientists measured the eye sockets and brain capacity of 55 human skulls representing 12 different populations from across the world.

They found that the further north of the equator people lived, the bigger their eyes and visual brain regions were.

Both are adaptations to low light that have only appeared since humans moved into northern Europe and Asia, a very short length of time in evolutionary terms.