news 2011

Terrain thought to be ruled by only the largest dinosaurs to inhabit the earth could have in fact been home to dozens of other creatures, ground-breaking research from The University of Manchester has found. Writing in the journal of the Royal Society Interface , Dr Peter Falkingham has discovered that dinosaurs only created lasting footprints if the soil conditions were perfect to do so - and entirely depending on the animal's weight.

Children as young as three with low levels of self-control are more likely to have physical health problems, financial difficulties and a criminal record in later life regardless of background and IQ, according to a new King's College London study funded by the Medical Research Council (MRC). A team of scientists from the Institute of Psychiatry at King's, Duke University in the USA and the University of Otago in New Zealand used data from two large studies to investigate how self-control skills might influence children's chances in life.

Wild red deer on Rum are rutting earlier in the year compared with decades ago, a University study shows. Scientists believe the annual rutting season on the Hebridean island could be changing because of warming spring and summer temperatures. The study, carried out by scientists at Edinburgh and Cambridge, focused on a population of wild deer that featured in the BBC TV series Autumnwatch.