news 2015

New digital techniques have allowed researchers to predict structural evolution of the skull in the lineage of Homo sapiens and Neanderthals, in an effort to fill in blanks in the fossil record, and provide the first 3D rendering of their last common ancestor. The study suggests populations that led to the lineage split were older than previously thought.

The Andes have been a mountain chain for much longer than previously thought, new research from the University of Bristol suggests. The Andes were formed by tectonic activity whereby earth is uplifted as one plate (oceanic crust) subducts under another plate (continental crust). To get such a high mountain chain in a subduction zone setting is unusual which adds to the importance of trying to figure out when and how it happened.

Scientists have discovered a surprising similarity between rivers and humans: both release more carbon dioxide when they work hard. When people are physically active, their lungs release more carbon dioxide gas than when they are at rest. Now, researchers from the University of Glasgow have found for the first time that fast-moving rivers work in a similar manner, releasing more gas than slower streams.

Seismologists at the University of Liverpool studying the 2011 Chile earthquake have discovered a previously undetected earthquake which took place seconds after the initial rupture. This newly discovered phenomena which they have called a `closely-spaced doublet' presents a challenge to earthquake and tsunami early warning systems as it increases the risk of larger-than-expected tsunamis in the aftermath of a typical subduction earthquake.

Just how bad was T-rex's bite? New research from the University of Bristol has found that the feeding style and dietary preferences of dinosaurs was closely linked to how wide they could open their jaws. Using digital models and computer analyses, Dr Stephan Lautenschlager from Bristol's School of Earth Sciences studied the muscle strain during jaw opening of three different theropod dinosaurs with different dietary habits.

University-led research could help predict areas susceptible to devastating landslides The likelihood of an area experiencing a potentially devastating landslide could be influenced by its previous exposure to earthquakes many decades earlier. This is according to new research led by researchers from the School of Earth and Ocean Sciences showing that areas which have experienced strong earthquakes in the past were more likely to produce landslides when a second earthquake hit later on.

New research led by physicists at the University of Warwick has used tools designed to study social networks to gain significant new insights into the Northern Lights, and space weather - particularly the interaction of events in the sun's atmosphere with Earth's ionosphere. The research team used data from over 100 individual magnetometers located at high latitudes in the northern hemisphere.

The inner workings of a tiny fossil have been studied using X-ray microscopy, revealing evidence of the digestive system for the first time. Researchers from the University of Bristol, Appalachian State University, the University of Tennessee, Knoxville and the Paul Scherrer Institut analysed the unique fossil specimen using high-energy X-rays at the Swiss Light Source in Switzerland.

Massive declines in the populations of whales and other large mammals have disrupted the system of recycling important nutrients such as phosphorus. A new study reveals that in the past large land animals, whales, seabirds and fish played a vital role in recycling nutrients from the ocean depths, spreading them far and wide across the globe and taking them deep inland.

A new study finds that changing climate in the polar regions can affect conditions in the rest of the world far quicker than previously thought. Other studies have shown that the overturning circulation in the Atlantic has faced a slowdown during the last few decades.

Scientists have discovered that climbing vines are upsetting the carbon balance of tropical forests by crowding out and killing trees. Rainforests play a vital role in the global carbon cycle. We depend on the trees found in these tropical areas to take up some of the carbon dioxide that we are emitting, so not all of our emissions end up in the atmosphere.

Scientists have shown that early Mars sustained lakes on its surface for much longer than previously thought, following an analysis of rocks. This study provides stunning evidence that Mars really did sustain a water world for what could have been many thousands or even millions of years. A team of researchers from NASA's Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) Curiosity rover mission have analysed images of thick layers of sedimentary rocks that lay exposed on the northern region of Gale crater.

A team at The University of Manchester is testing a Volkswagen diesel engine to try to get an accurate picture of how polluting it is. Even before the recent scandal erupted over software that fakes tests, research results from Manchester were starting to show the true picture of just how dirty diesel engines can be.

A pre-historical sudden collapse of one of the tallest and most active oceanic volcanoes on Earth - Fogo, in the Cape Verde Islands - triggered a mega-tsunami with waves impacting 220 metres (721 feet) above present sea level resulting in catastrophic consequences, according to a new University of Bristol study published today [02 Oct] in Science Advances.

A new Oxford University study has found that nearly half of all edits to articles about places on Wikipedia were made by editors living in just five countries: the UK, US, France, Germany and Italy.  The researchers geocoded Wikipedia edit entries on articles mentioning places and also found there were more editors in the Netherlands than all of Africa combined.

One of the biggest questions yet to be answered about plate tectonics is how do subduction zones start? A subduction zone is a deep trough cut across the ocean floor. They form when two tectonic plates collide and one of the plates is pushed under another as they move towards each other, creating an ocean trench.

The remains of a major new prehistoric stone monument have been discovered less than 3 kilometres from Stonehenge. Using cutting-edge, multi-sensor technologies, the Stonehenge Hidden Landscapes Project - involving University of Birmingham archaeologists - has revealed evidence for a large stone monument hidden beneath the bank of the later Durrington Walls 'super-henge'.

Everyone is excited by discoveries of new dinosaurs - or indeed any new fossil species. But a key question for palaeontologists is 'just how good is the fossil record?' Do we know fifty per cent of the species of dinosaurs that ever existed, or ninety per cent or even less than one per cent? And how can we tell? It all depends on how we read the fossil record - the sum total of all the fossils in rocks and in museums.

An academic from the University of Manchester is to star in his own show about dinosaurs. Dean Lomax will present Dinosaur Britain on ITV next Monday and Tuesday night. The show will examine many of the dinosaurs that once roamed our country, showing how they hunted, what they ate and how they died, from the evidence revealed from their bones.

The diversity of animal life that inhabited the coastlines of South West England 200 million years ago has been revealed in a study by an undergraduate at the University of Bristol. Klara Nordén studied material from the Late Triassic sediments at the Marston Road Quarry, near Nunney in Somerset, which are rich in microscopic fossil teeth.