Life Science
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Researchers aim to resurrect mammoth in five years (AFP) – Jan 17, 2011 TOKYO — Japanese researchers will launch a project this year to resurrect the long-extinct mammoth by using cloning technology to bring the ancient pachyderm back to life in around five years time, a report said. The researchers will try to revive the species by obtaining tissue this summer from the carcass of a mammoth preserved in a Russian research laboratory, the Yomiuri Shimbun reported.
Researchers aim to resurrect mammoth in five years
It's a tale that has all the trappings of a cult 1960s sci-fi movie: Scientists bring back ancient salt crystals, dug up from deep below Death Valley for climate research. The sparkling crystals are carefully packed away until, years later, a young, unknown researcher takes a second look at the 34,000-year-old crystals and discovers, trapped inside, something strange. Something … alive. Thankfully this story doesn't end with the destruction of the human race, but with a satisfied scientist finishing his Ph.D.
34,000-Year-Old Organisms Found Buried Alive! | Climate Research, Salt Crystals & Ancient Organisms
Scientists say dolphins should be treated as 'non-human persons' // Current
Dolphins have been declared the world’s second most intelligent creatures after humans, with scientists suggesting they are so bright that they should be treated as “non-human persons”. Studies into dolphin behaviour have highlighted how similar their communications are to those of humans and that they are brighter than chimpanzees. These have been backed up by anatomical research showing that dolphin brains have many key features associated with high intelligence. The researchers argue that their work shows it is morally unacceptable to keep such intelligent animals in amusement parks or to kill them for food or by accident when fishing. Some 300,000 whales, dolphins and porpoises die in this way each year. Dolphins have long been recognised as among the most intelligent of animals but many researchers had placed them below chimps, which some studies have found can reach the intelligence levels of three-year-old children.
New species discovered in 2010 | Environment
A long-tailed slug ( Ibycus rachelae ) Perhaps the rarest of the extensive invertebrate species group are slugs which, according to scientists, are infrequently encountered. At great altitudes on Borneo, several rare and highly endemic species appear to exist, including one new colourful green and yellow species, Ibycus rachelae , described from Sabah, Malaysia, in the Heart of Borneo. Discovered on leaves in primary montane forest at altitudes up to 1,900m on Gunung Kinabalu, the species has a particularly long tail, three times the length of its head, with a body length of 4cm.
NASA finds extra-terrestrial amino-acids in Sudan meteorites
Earlier this month, NASA announced the discovery of bacteria living in arsenic in a California lake. Now they have uncovered ET amino-acids in meteorite fragments that landed in northern Sudan. The meteorite was a fragment of a parent asteroid measuring 13-feet-wide (4m), and weighing 59-tons. Scientists were given the first opportunity to observe a celestial object before it entered our atmosphere in October 2008 after a collision about 15 million years ago sent the asteroid closer to Earth. During expeditions in the Sudanese desert, scientists later recovered nearly 600 meteorite fragments from the meteor shower.
Canadian scientists have transformed pinches of human skin into petri dishes of human blood — a major medical breakthrough that could yield new sources of blood for transfusions after cancer treatments or surgery. The discovery, by researchers at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ont., could one day potentially allow anyone needing blood after multiple rounds of surgery or chemotherapy, or for blood disorders such as anemia, to have a backup supply of blood created from a tiny patch of their own skin — eliminating the risk of their body’s immune system rejecting blood from a donor. Researchers predict the lab-grown blood could be ready for testing in humans within two years. The achievement, published Sunday in the journal Nature, raises the possibility of personalizing blood production for patients for the first time.
Canadian scientists transform human skin into blood
Rinderpest virus has been wiped out, scientists say
14 October 2010 Last updated at 16:32 GMT By Pallab Ghosh Science correspondent, BBC News The disease arrived in Africa at the end of the nineteenth century Scientists working for the UN say that they have eradicated a virus which can be deadly to cattle.
New species a little nipper Recently discovered vontsira is first new carnivore in two decades By Rachel Ehrenberg Web edition: October 12, 2010
New Species A Little Nipper
Evolution