factrend

  Researchers suggest the extinction of woolly rhinoceros may have been caused by climate change and not overhunting. They said the woolly rhinoceros population remained stable and diverse until only a few thousand years before it disappeared from Siberia when temperatures likely rose too high for the species. Researchers sequenced ancient DNA from 14 woolly rhinos for the study. Continue...

Researchers have suggested that global warming is turning clear mountain lakes green in western US because of an increase in algae blooms "without historical precedent". They found the concentration of algae in two remote mountain lakes more than doubled in the past 70 years. On examining algae concentrations in some lakes, researchers found "dramatic changes" in algal abundance. Continue...

Using data from NASA's Kepler mission, astronomers have estimated there could be as many as six billion Earth-like planets in Milky Way. An astronomer said Milky Way has as many as 400 billion stars, with 7% of them being G-type (Sun-like). Michelle Kunimoto, The University of British Columbia astronomer, placed an upper limit of 0.18 Earth-like planets per G-type star.  Continue... 

Researchers said they have discovered the earliest known evidence of bow-and-arrow usage by prehistoric humans outside of Africa, in a Sri Lankan cave. They said the discovered fragments of arrowheads, made from bones, were likely used to hunt difficult-to-catch rainforest prey like squirrels, about 48,000 years ago. The oldest known evidence for bone-and- arrow use was unearthed in South Africa. continue...

Scientists have detected vast structures made of "unusually dense, hot" material occupying the boundary between Earth's molten core and the solid mantle layer above it. They analysed echoes of seismic waves travelling beneath the Pacific Ocean basin. It revealed an unknown structure beneath the Marquesas Islands and showed the structure beneath the Hawaiian Islands is larger than previously known. continue...

Researchers have suggested some species of ancient crocodiles walked on their two hind legs like dinosaurs and measured over three metres in length. Their fossilised footprints found were initially thought to be made by pterosaurs. They dated between 110-120 million years ago and measured around 24 centimetres, suggesting the track-makers had legs about same height as human adult legs. For more:-  factrend@info

A study led by the University of Plymouth suggests that coral reefs could naturally adapt to survive the impact of rising sea levels. With the rising waves, islands made of gravel material could evolve with sediment from the beach face being transferred to the island's surface, study concluded. This means island's crest will rise as sea-level rises. continue...