Feathers Predated Flight in Dinosaur-Bird Hybrid

A part-bird, part-dinosaur described in the journal Nature didn't have feathers for flying, but did possess ornamental plumage, including four tailfeathers three times longer than its pigeon-sized body.

Epidexipteryx lived during the middle-to-late Jurassic, predating the famed Archaeoptryx, and represents an alternative evolutionary pathway from dinosaurs to birds.

The discovery by the Chinese Academy of Sciences adds complexity to the presumed road from T-rex to turkey vulture because the creature looks like a mythological chimera. And that, in the words of the authors of the paper, is "bizarre".

Original article here.

World's Longest Insect Found

The world's longest insect, a 22-inch long stick-insect from Borneo, was revealed at the U.K. Natural History Museum.

This species is new to science and has recently been named Phobaeticus chani (Chan's Megastick is the common name). Only three specimens of the new insect have been found so far, all from the Malaysian State of Sabah on the island of Borneo.

This specimen is more than 1cm longer than the previous record holder for overall length, which was a stick-insect called Phobaeticus serratipes found in Malaysia and Indonesia.

Although virtually nothing is known about the biology and ecology of this super-sized insect, it is thought that it probably lives in the canopy of the rainforest, making it especially hard to find. In addition to its size, its eggs may also be unique in the insect world. Each egg capsule has wing-like extensions on either side like a miniature golden snitch, allowing them to drift in the wind when the female drops them, thereby helping the species to spread.

Original article here.

Blue Lobster Found

A blue lobster was recently caught in Canada. Scientists say it is a one-in-two-million occurrence. Click the picture below to see a video of the lobster.

Second Confirmed Shark "Virgin Birth"

As a follow up to this post from last year, scientists have confirmed the second-ever case of a 'virgin birth' in a shark, further confirming that female sharks can reproduce without mating and that many female sharks may have this incredible capacity. The scientists have proven through DNA testing that the offspring of a female blacktip shark named 'Tidbit' contained no genetic material from a father.

The phenomenon of 'virgin birth' occurs when a baby is conceived without male sperm having first fertilized the female's eggs, and has been proven in some bony fish, amphibians, reptiles, and birds. In the type of parthenogenesis seen in these sharks, known as automictic parthenogenesis, the newly forming pup acquires one set of chromosomes when the mother's chromosomes split during egg development.

But instead of uniting with similarly split chromosomes from sperm, as occurs in sexual reproduction, the mother's set is paired with a copy of itself. This results in offspring of reduced genetic diversity who may be at a disadvantage for surviving in the wild.



Source article here.

Video of Embryo at Cellular Level

For the first time, it is possible to actually watch the initial 24 hours of the life of an embryo at the cellular level. With a newly developed microscope, scientists were able to track the complex cellular organization of a zebrafish embryo as it grows from a single cell to 20,000 cells.

The montage video below is of three-dimensional images taken at 10-minute intervals and shows cells dividing and moving around the embryo to form specialized tissues.



Source article here.

"Deepest Ever" Living Fish Filmed

Scientists believe they have discovered the "deepest ever" living fish. The team found the surprisingly active fish at depths of 4.8 miles in the Japan Trench in the Pacific, and captured them on film. The scientists have been using remote-operated landers designed to withstand immense pressures to comb the world's deepest depths for marine life. The fish, known as Pseudoliparis amblystomopsis, can be seen darting about while scooping up shrimps.

Click on the link to the article to view video of the fish.

Scientists note that the fish are about 12 inches long and are "surprisingly cute." Nobody has really looked at these depths before, and the scientists indicated that one day fish will likely be seen living much deeper. The previous record for any fish to have been spotted alive was thought to have stood at about 4 miles.

Scientists note there are several obstacles to overcome in living at such depths. The first is food supply, which is very remote and has to come from 5 miles above. There is also very high pressure. They have to have all sorts of physiological modifications, mainly at the molecular level. The third obstacle is that these deep trenches are in effect small islands in the wide abyss and there is a question of whether these trenches are big enough to support thriving endemic populations.

Because the fish live in complete darkness, they use vibration receptors on their snouts to navigate and to locate food.

Original article here.

Visualizations of Science

Presented in this post are several examples of winners of the 2008 International Science and Engineering Visualization Challenge.

The awards are given to the best photographs, illustrations and interactive media that visualize science and technology.

The full gallery can be seen here.

The image on the right won the "illustration" category. It shows the key components of the human circulatory system at 10 different magnifications. Click on the image to see the full size.

Below is "The Glass Forest," winner of the photography prize, which depicts a community of microscopic diatoms - unicellular algae with a peculiar glass-like cell wall - attached to a marine invertebrate (Eudendrium racemosum). The image was captured with a scanning electron microscope.



Next is "Squid Suckers: The Little Monsters That Feed the Beast," which was awarded an Honorable Mention in Photography. It is a false-color microscope image of the suction cups on the arm of the Loligo pealei squid. The 400 micrometer suckers have chitin "fangs."



Next is an extract from "Stream Micro-Ecology: Life in a Biofilm," a large poster explaining the ecology of microbial biofilms. It was awarded an Honorable Mention in Informational Graphics. Better known as slime, these complex communities of many different micro-organisms are found in many watery environments and thought to be crucial to aquatic ecology. The poster shows the main organisms found in a biofilm from a stream, and explains their interactions and ecological roles.



Original article here.

Giant prehistoric geese the size of small plane

Scientists have discovered that giant prehistoric geese the size of small aircraft once flew over Britain.

Dasornis, which had a 16 ft wingspan and sharp teeth, lived 50 million years ago and was related to present-day ducks and geese. Once it skimmed the waters which covered what is now London, Essex and Kent, snapping up fish and squid with its bony-toothed beak. Scientists announced the discovery of one of the best preserved Dasornis fossil skulls buried in clay on the Isle of Sheppey.

Dasornis was in many ways similar to the modern albatross, which has the largest wingspan of any living bird, but research has shown that its closest cousins are ducks and geese. Perhaps the strangest thing about them is that they had sharp, tooth-like projections along the cutting edges of the beak.

No living birds have true teeth - which are made of enamel and dentine - because their distant ancestors did away with them more than 100 million years ago, probably to save weight and make flying easier. But the bony-toothed birds, like Dasornis, are unique among birds in that they reinvented tooth-like structures by evolving these bony spikes. These spikes would have enabled them to skim across the surface of the sea while snapping up fish and squid.

Original article here.

World's Oldest Rocks Found, with Signs of Life

Earth's most ancient rocks, with an age of 4.28 billion years, have been found on the shore of Hudson Bay, Canada. The sample of Nuvvuagittuq greenstone is 250 million years older than any rocks known.

It may even hold evidence of activity by ancient life forms. If so, it would be the earliest evidence of life on Earth.

The rocks contain geological structures which might only have been formed if early life forms were present on the planet. The material displays a banded iron formation - fine ribbon-like bands of alternating magnetite and quartz. This feature is typical of rock precipitated in deep sea hydrothermal vents - which have been touted as potential habitats for early life on Earth. These ribbons could imply that that 4.3 billion years ago Earth had an ocean with hydrothermal circulation. Some scientists believe that to make precipitation work, you also need bacteria. If true, then this would be the oldest evidence of life.

Original article here.