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Thursday, March 12, 2015

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Prehistoric 'Sea Monster' Had More Legs Than Thought

A 480-million-year-old fossil is giving paleontologists new insights into a sea monsterlike creature called an anomalocaridid, which is an ancestor of modern-day arthropods such as lobsters and scorpions, a new study finds. The researchers named the species Aegirocassis benmoulae after its discoverer, Mohamed Ben Moula, who found the fossil in southeastern Morocco in 2011. The fossil was "dirty and dusty" when the study's lead researcher, Peter Van Roy, a paleontologist at Yale University, got it into the lab. Van Roy was cleaning the specimen when he realized it had two sets of flaps on each body segment — indicating that the creature had two sets of legs.

U.S. astronaut, two Russian cosmonauts prepare to leave space station

By Irene Klotz CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla (Reuters) - A NASA astronaut and two Russian cosmonauts boarded a Russian Soyuz capsule on Wednesday and prepared to leave the International Space Station after nearly six months in orbit, a NASA Television broadcast showed. Outgoing NASA station commander Barry "Butch" Wilmore and flight engineers Alexander Samokutyaev and Elena Serova, with the Russian space agency Roscosmos, sealed themselves into the Soyuz capsule shortly after 3:30 p.m. EDT (1930 GMT), the same spaceship that carried them into orbit on Sept. 25. On Tuesday, Wilmore turned over command of the station to NASA astronaut Terry Virts, who is due to remain aboard the orbital outpost, along with cosmonaut Anton Shkaplerov and Italian astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti, until mid-May. Wilmore partnered with Virts for a trio of spacewalks between Feb. 21 and March 1 to prepare parking spots for two new commercial space taxis hired by NASA to begin ferrying crewmembers to and from the station in 2017.

Sun Unleashes 1st Monster Solar Flare of 2015 (Photos, Video)

The sun unleashed its first superpowerful flare of the year on Wednesday (March 11), and the intense eruption was aimed directly at Earth, space weather experts say.

US-Russian Space Station Crew Headed Back to Earth

Three International Space Station crewmembers — including one NASA astronaut — are on their way back to Earth today (March 11) after a nearly six-month stint aboard the orbiting outpost. NASA's Barry "Butch" Wilmore and cosmonauts Alexander Samokutyaev and Elena Serova are expected to land on the steppes of Kazakhstan in Central Asia at 10:07 p.m. EDT (0207 March 12 GMT).

Oceans yield 1,500 new creatures, many others lurk unknown

By Alister Doyle OSLO (Reuters) - Scientists identified almost 1,500 new creatures in the world's oceans last year, including a humpbacked dolphin and a giant jellyfish, and reckon that most species of marine life are yet to be found. The experts publishing their findings on Thursday listed a total of 228,450 marine species worldwide, ranging from seaweeds to blue whales, and estimated that between 500,000 and 2 million more multi-celled marine organisms were still unknown. "The deep sea has been poorly explored so far," Jan Mees, co-chair of the World Register of Marine Species (WoRMS), told Reuters. For 2014, the project identified 1,451 new marine species - about four a day - including the Australian humpback dolphin, 139 sponges, a South African "star-gazing shrimp" and a giant, venomous, tentacle-free box jellyfish about 50 cm (20 inches) long found off Australia.

US-Russian Space Crew Returns to Earth After 167 Days in Orbit

An American astronaut and two Russian cosmonauts have landed safely on after 167 days in orbit at the International Space Station. "I'm glad to be back," NASA astronaut Barry "Butch" Wilmore said after being pulled from the Soyuz space capsule alongside his Russian crewmates Alexander Samokutyaev and Elena Serova. Wilmore wore a broad grin and gave a thumb's up sign to cameras. The crew traveled 71 million miles during their nearly six-month mission to the space station.

U.S.-Russian space trio land safely in Kazakhstan

By Dmitry Solovyov ALMATY (Reuters) - A NASA astronaut and two Russian cosmonauts landed safely in a snow-covered Kazakh steppe on Thursday after a 167-day mission aboard the International Space Station (ISS). A capsule carrying NASA station commander Barry "Butch" Wilmore and Russian flight engineers Alexander Samokutyaev and Elena Serova landed in a vertical upright position shortly after sunrise at 0807 (2207 ET), some 147 km (92 miles) southeast of the town of Zhezkazgan in central Kazakhstan. "Everything is going on by the book," said a NASA television commentator.

Jupiter Is Dazzlingly Bright in the March Night Sky: How to See It

The brilliant planet Jupiter has been attracting a great deal of skywatching attention lately, even from within brightly lit cities. Presently, Jupiter can be found within the faint stars of Cancer the Crab.

Snowy Owls' NYC Visit Reveals Migration Habits

This was another banner winter for snowy owl sightings in New York City. At least seven have been spotted since December, typically in wide-open areas (like by coastlines or even near airport runways) that resemble the birds' tundra homes. While it may sound strange to see snowy owls in New York City, the sightings aren't all that unusual, experts say. This year is simply a continuation of last year's great migration, when 22 owls were spotted in New York City alone.

More Big Earthquakes Coming to California, Forecast Says

A new view of California's earthquake risk slightly raises the likelihood of big earthquakes in the Golden State, but lowers the chance that people in some regions will feel shaking from smaller, magnitude-6.7 quakes. This information helps set earthquake insurance rates and building codes in California. A magnitude-8 quake would be twice as strong as the devastating 1906 San Francisco earthquake, a magnitude 7.8. Meanwhile, the analysis said that Californians should expect a magnitude-6.7 quake to occur every 6.3 years somewhere in the state, which is less than the estimate of every 4.8 years from the previous forecast, released in 2007.

San Diego Zoo Turns Off Panda Cam for Mating Time

If the San Diego Zoo's panda cam is a daily source of procrastination, we have some bad news for you: Footage may be a little spotty over the next few days because it's mating season. Pandas only have a 48-to-72-hour window each year to make a baby, so time is of the essence for Bai Yun and Gao Gao. Officials at the San Diego Zoo said the panda keepers had been watching for signs that the female adult, Bai Yun, is entering estrus. Finally, on Tuesday morning (March 10), Bai Yun and Gao Gao were put in the same enclosure for their first breeding attempt since 2012.

Cosmic Smashups May Have Rained Metal on Early Earth

Iron vapor from cosmic impacts during the early days of Earth could have triggered "metal rain" to fall on the newborn planet, researchers say. Cosmic impacts have played a critical role in the evolution of the solar system. The moon was likely born from the wreckage of a collision 4.5 billion years ago between Earth and a Mars-size object called Theia. "One major problem is how we model iron during impact events, as it is a major component of planets and its behavior is critical to how we understand planet formation," lead study author Richard Kraus, a shock physicist at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in Livermore, California, said in a statement.

'Twixed' and 'Munchy'? Candylike Marijuana Could Endanger Kids

New foods that look like candy but contain marijuana can now be bought legally in some U.S. states, but these products pose health concerns for children, researchers argue. In the United States, candylike marijuana products first emerged in medical marijuana dispensaries, and have become popular since the legalization of marijuana in several states, said Robert MacCoun, a professor at Stanford Law School. "There's the concern that young children will find these products and eat them, thinking they are ordinary sweets," MacCoun told Live Science. "This can be a very traumatic experience, and there are even some indications it can be physically dangerous for young children," he said.

5 Weird Ways Cold Weather Affects Your Psyche

Cold temperatures can influence our thoughts and decisions without our even knowing it, experts have found. Here are five unexpected ways cold weather may influence people. Cold weather may influence what colors women wear, but only during a certain time of the month, according to research published in 2013 and 2014. The research showed that during cold weather, "Women are more likely to wear shades of red and pink on days when they're ovulating," said Jessica Tracy, who authored the research and is an associate professor of psychology at the University of British Columbia in Canada.

After first lab-grown burger, test-tube chicken is next on menu

Professor Amit Gefen, a bioengineer at Tel Aviv University, has begun a year-long feasibility study into manufacturing chicken in a lab, funded by a non-profit group called the Modern Agriculture Foundation which hopes "cultured meat" will one day replace the raising of animals for slaughter. The foundation's co-founder Shir Friedman hopes to have produced "a recipe for how to culture chicken cells" by the end of the year. The researchers say their task is more difficult than producing the first lab-grown hamburger, a $300,000 beef patty cooked up at Maastricht University in the Netherlands after five years of research financed by Google co-founder Sergey Brin. Gefen, an expert in tissue engineering, said the plan is to culture chicken cells and let them divide and multiply.

Neanderthals Wore Eagle Talons As Jewelry 130,000 Years Ago

Long before they shared the landscape with modern humans, Neanderthals in Europe developed a sharp sense of style, wearing eagle claws as jewelry, new evidence suggests. Researchers identified eight talons from white-tailed eagles — including four that had distinct notches and cut marks — from a 130,000-year-old Neanderthal cave in Croatia. "It really is absolutely stunning," study author David Frayer, an anthropology professor at the University of Kansas, told Live Science.

Hot water clue to life on Saturn moon

(Reuters) - Scientists have found that Enceladus, a small moon orbiting the giant ringed planet Saturn, is likely to possess an ocean containing hot water under its icy crust, raising the prospects that it could host life, according to research published in U.K. magazine Nature on Thursday (March 12). Situated some 850 million miles (1.3 billion km) away in the outer solar system, icy Enceladus seems an unlikely place for liquid water. Cassini's Cosmic Dust Analyser helped the scientists find dust particles in one of Saturn's rings came from plumes erupting from Enceladus. Associate professor at University of Tokyo, Yasuhito Sekine, analyzed the silica nanoparticles and revealed that the ocean contains water at least 90-degree Celsius (194-degree Fahrenheit) in temperature, which makes the small planet a possible host of living organisms.

Scientists call for halt on experiments changing DNA of human embryos

By Sharon Begley NEW YORK (Reuters) - With rumors that scientists are about to announce they have modified the genes of human eggs, sperm, or embryos, five prominent researchers on Thursday called on biologists to halt such experiments due to fears about safety and eugenics. The call for a self-imposed research moratorium, which is extremely rare in science, was based on concerns that the work crosses an ethical line, said Edward Lanphier, president and chief executive officer of California-based Sangamo BioSciences Inc, senior author of the commentary published in the science journal Nature. "The research should stop." Rumors that one or more labs are on the verge of genetically-engineering a human embryo have swirled for months, he said. Critics of the work say the experiments could be used to try to alter the genetic quality of humans, a practice and belief known as eugenics.

China's Yutu rover finds layers inside the moon

By Irene Klotz CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (Reuters) - The moon has a more complex history than previously thought with at least nine subsurface layers, results from ground-penetrating radar aboard China's Yutu lunar rover shows, scientists said on Thursday. China's Chang'e-3 spacecraft touched down on the moon in December 2013 and dispatched the Yutu, or "Jade Rabbit," rover for an independent study of the landing site. After zigzagging 374 feet (114 meters) on the surface, Yutu stopped near a relatively fresh crater southwest of the landing site, in a region known as Mare Imbrium. Compared to NASA's 1969-1972 Apollo landing sites and other locations visited by Soviet-era landers, the northeast region of the Imbrium basis is younger, with complex subsurface structures, lead researcher Long Xiao, with the China University of Geosciences in Wuhan, wrote in a paper published in this week's issue of the journal Science.

Live Underwater Tour of WWII Shipwreck Airs Tonight

Tonight, you'll be able to virtually tour a sand-caked Japanese battleship that has been sitting on the seafloor since World War II. Weather permitting, Allen's expedition team will broadcast a live underwater tour of the shipwreck tonight (March 12) at 9 p.m. EDT (0100 GMT Friday, March 13).

Revved-up CERN collider aims to shed light on dark cosmos

By Robert Evans GENEVA (Reuters) - Scientists at the CERN physics research center said on Thursday the mystery dark matter that makes up 96 percent of the stuff of the universe will be a prime target for their souped-up Large Hadron Collider (LHC) in the coming years. I want to see the first light in the Dark Universe," CERN chief Rolf Heuer told a news conference, referring to a concept that includes not just dark matter but the dark energy believed to be driving the universe apart. "We don't know what dark matter is, but maybe there is a place where we can find it (in the LHC)," said Dave Charlton, spokesman for the ATLAS experiment at CERN, the European Organisation for Nuclear Research near Geneva. The press conference was called before the relaunch of the subterranean LHC later this month, after a two-year shutdown that saw its energy power doubled.

Amped-Up Atom Smasher Will Look For New Particles, Dark Matter

The world's largest particle accelerator, which famously discovered the long-sought Higgs boson in 2012, will soon start up again at almost double the energy of its first run. After a two-year hiatus for upgrades, the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), at the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) in Switzerland, will be able to produce particle collisions at an energy of 13 teraelectron volts (TeV) by May, compared to the 8-TeV collisions during previous operations, CERN officials said at a news conference today (March 12). This could include finding other Higgs bosons, or producing dark matter, the mysterious substance that makes up about 85 percent of the total matter in the universe, researchers said. The LHC consists of a 17-mile-long (27 kilometers) ring of superconducting magnets that accelerates particles to near the speed of light.

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Wednesday, March 11, 2015

FeedaMail: Science News Headlines - Yahoo! News

Science News Headlines - Yahoo! News

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Electrifying secrets behind killer eels

Researchers have started to unravel the mysteries of how eels hunt, shock, and kill their prey. The findings come at the end of a nine-month study of the way in which the electric eel uses high-voltage electrical discharges to locate and incapacitate its prey. Vanderbilt University biologist Ken Catania, who led the research, says eels may just be one of the most fascinating killers on the planet. Until recently it was thought that eels simply shock their prey to death before eating them.

On Apollo 9, a Jammed Camera Changed Spacewalking Astronaut's Life (Video)

A camera glitch gave spacewalking Apollo astronaut Rusty Schweickart five of the most profound minutes of his life. Schweickart, the lunar module pilot on NASA's Apollo 9 mission to low-Earth orbit in March 1969, had just exited his vehicle when command module pilot Dave Scott told him to hang on, Schweickart recalled in a new video about the Apollo 9 spacewalk. Scott was documenting the spacewalk — the first of the Apollo era — from the open command module hatch with his movie camera, and the instrument had jammed. "Jim McDivitt, who's the [Apollo 9] commander, says, 'OK, Dave, I can give you five minutes to try and fix it, and Rusty, stay right where you are,'" Schweickart said in the video, which was produced by the nonprofit XPrize Foundation as part of its XPrize Insights series.

Soprano Sarah Brightman Reveals Mission Patch for Space Station Flight

British soprano Sarah Brightman will be "chasing dreams" and "shaping futures" when she lifts off on a self-funded trip to the International Space Station in September, the recording artist said as she revealed her personal mission patch at a press conference in London on Tuesday (March 10). Brightman, who first announced her plans to fly to space in 2012, has been training at Russia's Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center in Star City, near Moscow, since January. She is scheduled to launch on Sept. 1 as a member of the Soyuz TMA-18M crew for a 10-day stay aboard the space station, during which time she intends to become the first professional musician to sing from orbit. Brightman, who used the press conference to address the rumors she was not paying for the reported $52 million trip herself ("I can't contractually say what the amount is, but it's good that I paid for it myself because it is something I am very committed to.") also announced partnerships with UNESCO and the Challenger Center for Space Education to engage people, and especially children, in her mission.

Chance of major earthquake in California higher than thought: scientists

California has a 7 percent chance of experiencing an earthquake of magnitude 8 or larger over the next three decades, U.S. government scientists said on Tuesday, higher than thought before. The 7 percent probability is based on new modeling, the United States Geological Survey said in a new study. "We are fortunate that seismic activity in California has been relatively low over the past century," said Tom Jordan, Director of the Southern California Earthquake Center and a co-author of the study. "But we know that tectonic forces are continually tightening the springs of the San Andreas fault system, making big quakes inevitable." The new modeling system takes into account shaking that might occur on several different faults, rather than looking at each rupture as a separate incident, said Ned Field, the lead author of the USGS report.

U.S. Air Force leader eyes SpaceX launch certification by June

The U.S. Air Force hopes to certify privately-held Space Exploration Technologies, or SpaceX, to launch some U.S. military and intelligence satellites into space using its Falcon 9 rocket by June, a top official told Reuters on Tuesday. "I think we're still looking at ... June," Lieutenant General Ellen Pawlikowski, the top uniformed officer in charge of Air Force acquisition, told Reuters after a speech at the annual Women in Defense conference. Pawlikowski, nominated by President Barack Obama to head Air Force Materiel Command, said she was disappointed the Air Force had not been able to certify SpaceX for the launches by December, as initially hoped, but said she was "encouraged that we're close." The general said allowing SpaceX to enter a market dominated by United Launch Alliance, a joint venture of the two top Pentagon suppliers, Lockheed Martin Corp and Boeing Co, would let the Air Force leverage the commercial market and help reduce the cost of launching satellites into space.

Chance of major earthquake in California higher than thought - scientists

EU law on GM crops clears the ground for wave of approvals

By Barbara Lewis BRUSSELS (Reuters) - EU politicians on Wednesday will sign a new law on the cultivation of genetically modified (GM) crops in the European Union, clearing the way for a wave of approvals after years of deadlock. One of the first crops to get European Commission endorsement is likely to be an insect resistant maize known as 1507, whose developers DuPont and Dow Chemical have been waiting 14 years for the EU executive to authorize its cultivation in the EU. Widely-grown in the Americas and Asia, GM crops in Europe have divided opinion. The compromise law seeks to keep everyone happy by giving member states the right to ban GM crops even after European Commission approvals.

Solar plane aiming for first round-the-world flight lands in India

The first round-the-world solar-powered flight landed in India on Wednesday, the second leg of a 35,000 km (22,000 mile) journey seeking to demonstrate that flying long distances fueled by renewable energy is possible. The Solar Impulse 2 arrived in the west Indian city of Ahmedabad after a flight of about 15 hours over the Arabian sea from Muscat in Oman. "It's a privilege to fly in an aeroplane like that," pilot Bertrand Piccard told reporters after landing. Piccard and fellow pilot Andre Borschberg will take turns at the controls of Solar Impulse 2, which began its journey in Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates on Monday, as it makes its way around the globe in about 25 flight days at speeds of between 50 kph and 100 kph (30 mph to 60 mph).

4 NASA Satellites to Launch on Magnetic Field Mission This Thursday

NASA is counting down to launch four small satellites into orbit on Thursday (March 12) on a mission to study an explosive cosmic phenomenon happening right on Earth's doorstep. The Magnetospheric Multiscale mission, or MMS for short, is scheduled to blast off on an unmanned Atlas V rocket at 10:44 p.m. EDT (0244 GMT on March 13), from Space Launch Complex 41 at from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station here. NASA's MMS satellites are designed to study a phenomenon known as magnetic reconnection, which occurs when magnetic-field lines break and reconnect with other field lines nearby. When it occurs near the Earth, magnetic reconnection can send particles toward Earth's atmosphere, which can be a hazard for astronauts but also excites particles in the atmosphere and creates auroras near Earth's north and south poles.

Photo First: Rare Tiger Family Portrait

For the first time, conservationists have spotted an Amur tiger dad leading his family along a snowy trail in Russia's Far East forests. There are fewer than 500 of the rare Amur tigers left in the wild, according tothe Wildlife Conservation Society. So researchers use remotely activated camera traps to help catch the tigers as they hunt, play and move through the vast territory of Russia's Sikhote-Alin Biosphere Reserve and Udegeiskaya Legenda National Park (two adjacent protected areas). The new photos from the Wildlife Conservation Society show a family of five Amur tigers padding through the snow this winter, lined up from large to small like nesting dolls.

Mysterious Jade Artifact May Have Been Offering to Ancient Gods

It looks like a corncob in an abstract way archaeologists say. Jack Hunter, a diver with the Arroyo Pesquero archaeological project, discovered the artifact in 2012 while diving with Jeffery Delsescaux about 2 to 3 meters (6.6 to 9.8 feet) below the surface of a deep stream. The artifact dates to a time when a civilization now called the Olmec flourished in the area. The Olmec people built stone statues of giant human heads and constructed a city now called "La Venta" about 10 miles (16 kilometers) northeast of Arroyo Pesquero.

Archaeologists May Find 3,000 Skeletons in London's 'Bedlam' Graveyard

Archaeologists could pull thousands of skeletons out of the ground in London over the next few weeks as they dig up the 450-year-old Bedlam graveyard to make room for a new train line. London's Liverpool Street station is under construction so that it will be able accommodate a new east-west train line, dubbed Crossrail.

NASA Satellite Quartet Aims to Crack Magnetic Mystery Near Earth

A cosmic phenomenon in Earth's magnetic field that is both dazzling and potentially dangerous for people on the surface is the focus of a new scientific mission, scheduled to launch into orbit on Thursday (March 12). The Magnetsopheric Multiscale mission, or MMS, consists of four satellites that will study a process called magnetic reconnection: the explosive phenomenon that can send powerful bursts of particles hurtling toward Earth, potentially damaging satellites. MMS is the only dedicated instrument studying magnetic reconnection, and scientists say it could finally reveal how this phenomenon occurs. The mission requires an elaborately choreographed arrangement of four separate satellites in an orbit around Earth, placing them in the path of the magnetic reconnection events taking place right on Earth's doorstep.

'Bedlam' Graveyard Excavation May Reveal Thousands of Skeletons

Will Einstein's General Relativity Break Under Extreme Conditions?

In 1915, Albert Einstein published his general theory of relativity, which described gravity as a fundamental property of space-time. Now, scientists have the technology to begin looking for evidence that could reveal physics beyond general relativity. "To me, it is absolutely amazing how well general relativity has done after 100 years," said Clifford Will, a theoretical physicist at the University of Florida in Gainesville. General relativity describes gravity not as a force, as the physicist Isaac Newton thought of it, but rather as a curvature of space and time due to the mass of objects, Will said.

US Weather Blew Hot and Cold in February

Weather patterns drew a dividing line between the western and eastern United States in February, according to NASA.

Will the Apple Watch Make People Healthier?

The Apple Watch will have a number of health and fitness features, including activity tracking and reminders to get moving, but could the watch really make people healthier? "I think the big question will be, for whom will this be motivating or change behavior," said Sherry Pagoto, an associate professor of medicine co-founder of the Center for mHealth and Social Media at the University of Massachusetts Medical School. On the other hand, people who are averse to exercise, or who think they don't have time for physical activity, may need more than what a basic fitness tracker has to offer to help them change their behavior. "The crowd that has really low motivation on exercise, I'll be curious how much they will benefit from a device like this," Pagoto said.

Hi-tech paint gives urinating revelers a soaking

People living in Hamburg's St. Pauli's nightclub district are used to hordes of drunken tourists, crime and prostitution but many are fed up with late-night revelers who urinate on public and private buildings. A local interest group has now applied a special water-repellent paint, also used in shipbuilding, on two especially frequented buildings in the renowned nightclub district near the port to deter 'Wildpinkler', as Germans call them.

Enhanced space shuttle solid rocket motor passes test firing: NASA

By Irene Klotz CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (Reuters) - A beefed-up space shuttle solid rocket motor passed a two-minute test firing in Utah on Wednesday, a key milestone toward the debut flight of NASA's deep-space launcher in 2018, the U.S. space agency said. Bright flames shot out the rear of the rocket for two minutes, marking the first full-duration burn of the enhanced solid-fuel shuttle booster rocket, a live NASA Television broadcast showed. Great result," said Charlie Precourt, an Orbital ATK vice president and former NASA astronaut. The 177-foot (54-meter) motor is 25 percent more powerful than the four-segment engines used to help lift the space shuttle.

Mutating H7N9 bird flu may pose pandemic threat, scientists warn

By Kate Kelland LONDON, March 11 (Reuters) - A wave of H7N9 bird flu in China that has spread into people may have the potential to emerge as a pandemic strain in humans, scientists said on Wednesday. The H7N9 virus, one of several strains of bird flu known to be able to infect humans, has persisted, diversified and spread in chickens across China, the researchers said, fuelling a resurgence of infections in people and posing a wider threat. "The expansion of genetic diversity and geographical spread indicates that, unless effective control measures are in place, H7N9 could be expected to persist and spread beyond the region," they said in a study published in the journal Nature. The H7N9 bird flu virus emerged in humans in March 2013 and has since then infected at least 571 people in China, Taipei, Hong Kong, Malaysia and Canada, killing 212 of them, according to February data from the World Health Organization (WHO).

Early Land Creature Had 4 Legs & Crocodile-Like Skull

These first tetrapods, or four-legged animals, eventually gave rise to amphibians, reptiles, birds and mammals. One of the oldest-known tetrapods was Acanthostega gunnari, which lived 380 million to 360 million years ago. Adults of this species were about 2 feet (60 centimeters) long, which "is actually on the small side for an early tetrapod,"lead study author Laura Porro, an evolutionary biomechanist at the University of Bristol in England, told Live Science.

Mutating H7N9 bird flu may pose pandemic threat, scientists warn

By Kate Kelland LONDON (Reuters) - A wave of H7N9 bird flu in China that has spread into people may have the potential to emerge as a pandemic strain in humans, scientists said on Wednesday. The H7N9 virus, one of several strains of bird flu known to be able to infect humans, has persisted, diversified and spread in chickens across China, the researchers said, fuelling a resurgence of infections in people and posing a wider threat. "The expansion of genetic diversity and geographical spread indicates that, unless effective control measures are in place, H7N9 could be expected to persist and spread beyond the region," they said in a study published in the journal Nature. The H7N9 bird flu virus emerged in humans in March 2013 and has since then infected at least 571 people in China, Taipei, Hong Kong, Malaysia and Canada, killing 212 of them, according to February data from the World Health Organization (WHO).

Gigantic ancient arthropod was really 'a very peaceful guy'

Scientists on Wednesday announced the discovery in southeastern Morocco of beautifully preserved fossils of a huge arthropod - the group that includes crabs, scorpions, insects, spiders, centipedes and more - that lived 480 million years ago. It was Earth's largest animal at the time, at least double the size of anything else, said Yale University paleontologist Peter Van Roy, who led the research published in the journal Nature. Despite its size, it was a gentle giant that ate only plankton. It is the last known member of a group called anomalocaridids that included some of the first top predators near the dawn of animal life.

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