Month: March 2014

Researchers’ studies on fossil dung beetles has shown that large mammals were the chief architects of prehistoric ecosystems.

Researchers from Denmark demonstrate in a study that the large grazers and browsers of the past created a mosaic of varied landscapes consisting of closed and semi-closed forests and parkland.

The biologists behind the new research findings synthesized decades of studies on fossil beetles, focusing on beetles associated with the dung of large animals in the past or with woodlands and trees.

Scientists have used a laser beam to alter a fly’s behavior and make it mate with just about anything – even a ball of wax.

The researchers at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute created an experiment that involves shining an infrared laser directly at the head of a fly whose brain has been altered using heat-activated proteins, the Verge reported.

This alteration allows the laser, dubbed the ” Fly Mind-Altering Device” ( FlyMAD), to activate specific neurons which are involved in mating.

Researchers have used a new technique to analyze the gaseous atmospheres of such extrasolar planets and have made the first detection of water in the atmosphere of the Jupiter-mass planet orbiting the nearby star tau Bootis.

Scientists have previously detected water vapor on a handful of other planets, but these detections could only take place under very specific circumstances, says graduate student Alexandra Lockwood, the first author of the study.

A giant sunspot – a magnetically strong and complex region on the sun’s surface – has appeared for the third time over the sun’s horizon.

This is the third trip for this region across the face of the sun, which takes approximately 27 days to make a complete rotation.

Scientists track sunspots that are part of active regions, which often produce large explosions on the sun such as solar flares and coronal mass ejections, or CMEs.

Pioneering Mars One project have announced that all their missions are going to carry Uwingu’s Mars Map, and will use these feature names as a part of Mars One’s mission operations at the Red Planet.

Additionally, a portion of Uwingu’s revenues generated by Mars feature naming will help fund Mars One missions.

The goal of this project is to create 10 million dollars in Uwingu grant funds to space projects such as Mars One, to space researchers, and to space educators.