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Science NewsThe Naked Scientists: Science Radio & Science Podcasts |
Bacteria fed by dinosaurs found 'barely alive'A community of microbes has been found living in 86 million year old deep sea clay, although they’re not exactly thriving – they seem to be surviving at the minimum energy requirement needed to qualify as “alive”. Along with colleagues in Germany and the USA, Hans Røy from Aarhus University in Denmark collected long cylinders of mud known as sedimen...
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The Spread of Superbugs, Cellular causes of Tinnitus and Precise Plant PollinationThe spread of superbugs from big city to small town, new drug target to treat Tinnitus, New insight into lunar cataclysms and the precise pollination of plants...
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Brain Interface Gives Paralysed Patients Freedom to MoveImagine not being able to just pick up a glass and have a drink, and instead, having to rely on others to help with this most simple of tasks. This week a brain interface device has allowed a paralysed stroke victim to drink for herself for the first time in 14 years by controlling a robotic arm...
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Fungi for biofuelAnd finally, researchers in the US have sequenced the genome of particular species of fungus that can turn cellulose into biofuel. The fungus, called Ascocoryne sarcoides was found to have more than 80 clusters of genes that can convert cellulose into useful fuel - many of which have only previously been found in plants. The scientists hope thei...
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Star shredded by Black HoleAstronomers have caught their best glimpse yet of a star being ripped to pieces by a supermassive black hole. The drama unfolded in the constellation Draco, dragon in Latin, which is 2 billion light years away but nonetheless visible from the northern hemisphere. Just like our own Milky Way galaxy, Draco has a massive black hole, weighing in at th...
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Fred Flintstone's bed uncoveredWriting in this week's Science, University of Witwatersrand palaeontologist Professor Lyn Wadley and her colleagues describe an excavation they have carried out in a cave site called Sibudu in South Africa's KwaZulu Natal Province. Dating from 77,000 years ago, the team have uncovered successive layers of sedge, and other plant materials including g...
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Can chimps plan for the future?We tend to think that planning ahead is a purely human activity, but the antics of a chimp called Santino in Furuvik Zoo in Sweden are challenging that assumption. Three years ago Santino hit the headlines when researchers found that he was gathering stones into piles before the zoo opened in the morning, ready to pelt visitors. Not only is this rat...
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Cheeky MonkeyWe tend to think that planning ahead is a purely human activity, but the antics of a chimp called Santino in Furuvik Zoo in Sweden are challenging that assumption. three years ago Santino hit the headlines when researchers found that he was gathering stones into piles before the zoo opened in the morning, ready to pelt visitors. Not only is this rathe...
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Fungi for biofuelAnd finally, researchers in the US have sequenced the genome of particular species of fungus that can turn cellulose into biofuel. The fungus, called Ascocoryne sarcoides was found to have more than 80 clusters of genes that can convert cellulose into useful fuel - many of which have only previously been found in plants. The scientists hope thei...
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Carnivorous plants team up with ants and share spoilsScientists have discovered the first example of an ant-plant tag-team that works together to provide food for both. The plant is a member of the Nepenthes family, which characteristically use liquid-filled pitchers to trap and digest insects that tumble in. And as these unfortunates are consumed, the nutrients locked up inside them are absorbed, en...
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