news 2016

Europe saw an exodus of dinosaurs from the continent in the Early Cretaceous period, scientists using 'network theory' to track their movements around the world have shown. Surprisingly all dinosaur connections found between Europe and other continents during the Early Cretaceous period (125-100 million years ago) were out-going.

Atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration was the major driver behind the global climatic shifts that occurred 53 to 34 million years ago, according to new research led by the University of Southampton, the University of Bristol and Cardiff University. The study is the first to resolve the relationship between carbon dioxide (CO2) and global temperatures during the period known as the 'Eocene epoch'.

Dinosaurs were already in an evolutionary decline tens of millions of years before the meteorite impact that finally finished them off, new research has found. The findings provide a revolution in the understanding of dinosaur evolution. Palaeontologists previously thought that dinosaurs were flourishing right up until they were wiped out by a massive meteorite impact 66 million years ago.

An experiment using a Venus spacecraft, proposed after it launched, has found lower temperatures than expected in the planet's polar atmosphere. The Venus Express (VEx) mission was launched in November 2005 by the European Space Agency with the goal of exploring Venus' atmosphere. At the planned end of the mission, as it ran out of fuel in 2014, it descended into the atmosphere.

Scientists at the University of Liverpool and the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich have developed a new method to assess the impact of volcanic ash on jet engines. Little is known scientifically about the effects of volcanic ash on aircraft but the impact it can have on the aviation industry was evidenced when the Eyjafjalla volcano in Iceland erupted in 2010 resulting in prolonged disruption to air travel and significant economic losses exceeding £1 billion.

A study of a ten-million-year-old fossilised snake has shown for the first time that mineralised tissues can preserve evidence of colour, shedding new light on how ancient organisms would have looked. Previously, the only pigments known to have survived fossilisation were browns, blacks and muddy reds when melanin lasts as organic material.

Fear of fracking can have negative effects on the UK housing market around shale gas sites, economic researchers have warned. The research team, from the University of Bristol, the London School of Economics and Duke University in North Carolina, carried out a study that found licensing and exploration had minimal impacts on house prices.

An unidentified fossilised bone in a museum has revealed the size of a fearsome abelisaur and may have solved a hundred-year old puzzle. Alessandro Chiarenza, a PhD student from Imperial College London, last year stumbled across a fossilised femur bone, left forgotten in a drawer, during his visit to the Museum of Geology and Palaeontology in Palermo Italy.

The largest and best-preserved Bronze Age wheel in Britain has been uncovered at Must Farm, a site described as Peterborough's Pompeii. The wheel will extend our understanding of early technologies and transport systems. The discovery of the wheel demonstrates that the inhabitants of this watery landscapes had links to the dry land beyond the river.

The gradual rise in oceanic acidity is weakening the shells of shellfish, corals and sea urchins, making them vulnerable to predation and damage from oceanic movements. Many marine animals produce protective shells and exoskeletons from calcium carbonate from seawater, but higher CO2 concentrations absorbed into seawater from the environment is lowering the oceanic PH.

Human-induced climate change increased the risk of severe storms like those that hit the south of England in the winter of 2013/14, causing devastating flooding and costing several people their lives. That's according to new analysis from an international team of climate scientists, including Lancaster University professor in practice Rob Lamb of the JBA Trust.

Not only is Greenland's melting ice sheet adding huge amounts of water to the oceans, it could also be unleashing 400,000 metric tons of phosphorus every year - as much as the mighty Mississippi River releases into the Gulf of Mexico, according to a new study. Phosphorus is a key nutrient that could, if it reaches the open ocean, enrich waters of the Arctic Ocean, potentially stimulating growth of the marine food chain.

Human-induced climate change increased the risk of severe storms like those that hit the south of England in the winter of 2013/14, causing devastating flooding and costing several people their lives. That's according to new analysis from an international team of climate scientists led by researchers at Oxford University.

It has long been observed that some volcanoes erupt with little prior warning. Now, scientists have come up with an explanation behind these sudden eruptions that could change the way observers monitor active or dormant volcanoes. Previously, it was thought eruptions were triggered by a build-up of pressure caused by the slow accumulation of bubbly, gas-saturated magma beneath volcanoes over tens to hundreds of years.

As the west coast of Britain emerges from yet another battering - this time caused by the "remnants" of the United States' Winter Storm Jonas blizzards - new research has been published which reveals the extent to which our rocky coastline is being reshaped by extreme weather. Dr Larissa Naylor, a Lecturer in Physical Sciences at the University of Glasgow, has just published research in a special issue of Earth Surface Processes and Landforms on Stormy Geomorphology.

Ancient Aboriginals' use of fire did not cause much erosion of Australian land, according to new research. Aboriginal populations arrived on the Australian continent around 50,000 years ago. They used fire to improve access through thick vegetation, encourage new growth to attract game for hunting, and cultivate useful food plants.

The world's largest canyon may lie beneath the Antarctic ice sheet, according to an analysis of new satellite data. The previously unknown canyon is thought to be over 1,000 kilometres long and in places as much as a kilometre deep, which would make it comparable in depth to the Grand Canyon in United States, but many times longer.

Study indicates 'biomass burning' may play a larger role in climate change than previously realised. The measurements are now starting to produce insight into how the composition of the remote tropical atmosphere is affected by human activities occurring nearly halfway around the world. Neil Harris While efforts to limit emissions of greenhouse gases, including ozone, tend to focus on industrial activities and the burning of fossil fuels, a new study suggests that future regulations may need to address the burning of forests and vegetation.

Giant icebergs leave trail of carbon sequestration in their wake - a month after they have passed Geographers analysed 175 satellite images of ocean colour which is an indicator of phytoplankton productivity at the ocean's surface Giant icebergs are responsible for storing up to 20 per cent of carbon in the Southern Ocean, a new study has found.

An international team of scientists has shed new light on the earthquake that devastated Nepal in April 2015, killing more than 8,000 people. A study published shows that a kink in the regional fault line below Nepal explains why the highest mountains in the Himalayas are seen to grow between earthquakes.