Home/Posts Tagged ‘discovery’
Posts Tagged ‘discovery’
Pollution, Science & Technology, Dec 18th, 2011,
In the pools hiding thousands of old, now defunct radioactive fuel rods, white fibres resembling a spider web have been discovered. They “grow” only on the rods, as reported by “Augusta Chronicle”. The nuclear waste landfill, Savannah River, South Carolina, is under constant observation by the Security Council and the Nuclear Defence Facilities. Sent to investigate the substance, experts are surprised, because the first study has given no results. A sample taken from the pool was too small to determine even if it is a living organism. If it is not, scientists still can not identify the source of the…
Tags: discovery, radioactive waste, spider web, substance
Nature, Science & Technology, Weird Stuff, Wildlife & Flora, Jul 16th, 2010,
The history of this planet is an awesome thing to learn about and there are so many ways you can do that. You can go to a museum, read books, check out a historical reenactment event, or specialize in the hunt for fossils and other artifacts. Some people say history comes alive, but what if it never died in the first place? Australian scientists have stumbled upon an amazing find at Osprey Reef, which is part of the Great Barrier Reef. With the use of special low-light sensitive cameras, researcher Justin Marshall and his team discovered a number of prehistoric…
Tags: australia, cameras, creatures, discovery, fish, Great Barrier Reef, history, Osprey Reef, prehistoric, research, scientists
Conservation, Nature, Pollution, Science & Technology, Wildlife & Flora, Jun 25th, 2010,
A shocking report on a Sperm Whale study released today may turn a lot of heads—both pro-whaling and anti-whaling activists alike. The report, issued by conservation and research group Ocean Alliance, shows that high levels of aluminum, cadmium, chromium, lead, mercury, silver and titanium are found in tissue samples taken by dart gun from 955 whales, over a period of more than 5 years (starting in 2000). The whales ranged across 87,000 miles, from polar regions to the equator and it’s believed the ingested toxic and heavy metals may have come from humans thousands of miles away. Oh, and don’t…
Tags: aluminum, cadmium, chromium, contaminants, discovery, health hazard, IWC, lead, mercury, Ocean Alliance, pollutants, report, research, shocking, silver, Sperm Whale, study, toxic metals, whaling
Climate Change, Videos & Documentaries, Jun 13th, 2010,
If you like your environmental news to be short, sparkly and easily digestible, then check out Planet 100 from Discovery’s planet green. It’s not exactly hard-hitting, deep or analytical, but it certainly caters to a short attention span, is humorous and the host – Sarah Backhouse, an experienced environmental journalist – is, well… not exactly hard on the eyes. Anyway, it’s only 100 seconds and packs a surprising amount into that limited span of time. Perfect for the post-MTV Nintendo generation. Check out the below video, which explains the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, to see what I mean. Well-done and…
Tags: Backhouse, discovery, news, Pacific, Planet 100, planet green, pretty, Sarah, trash, Vortex
Science & Technology, Weird Stuff, Wildlife & Flora, May 17th, 2010,
In most cases when a new animal discovery is reported, the scientist finds the animal. In a funny turn of events, it was the animal that discovered the scientists. A group of researchers were camping in the Foja Mountains of Indonesia; amongst them was herpetologist, Paul Oliver. Oliver noticed their camp had a visitor: a frog sitting on a bag of rice. Upon further observation, it was discovered that the frog was actually a previously unknown type of long-nosed frog and so the scientists named it Pinocchio. Apparently, when “Pinocchio” is calling, its nose will point upwards, but when the…
Tags: animals, discovery, Foja Mountains, frog, gecko, Indonesia, kangaroo, pigeon, Pinnochio, rat
Science & Technology, Weird Stuff, Wildlife & Flora, Apr 13th, 2010,
Yet another deep-sea discovery was made last week—by use of a remote-controlled submarine. Scientists have found the deepest known volcanic vent over 3 miles (5 km) beneath the Caribbean. The area they found the vent is known as the Cayman Trough. The pilot of the submarine and geologist, Bramley Murton, said that the area was “like nothing I had ever seen before”. Imagine multicolored mineral deposits, spires, and vast colonies of fluorescent blue microorganisms. Murton described the experience as “wandering across the surface of another world”. Now, volcanic vents can be extremely hot places, despite the fact that they are…
Tags: deep-sea creatures, discovery, microorganisms, origin of life, world’s deepest volcanic vent
Nature, Weird Stuff, Wildlife & Flora, Mar 25th, 2010,
Lately, it seems the news has been plagued with nothing but bad reports. Endangered species are on the decline, animals aren’t getting the protection they need. Fortunately, most clouds at least have a silver lining. Members of the conservation group Fauna and Flora International (FFI) discovered a new gecko species in the foothills of the Cardamom Mountains. The gecko was named Cnemaspis neangthyi, after the head of FFI’s Cardamom Mountains Research Group, Neang Thy. The Cardamom Mountains are home to quite the variety of plants and animals, many of which have endangered or threatened status. Although much of the area…
Tags: Cambodia, Cardamom Mountains, discovery, gecko, new species
Animals, Nature, Weird Stuff, Mar 23rd, 2010,
In The Cove, the Oscar winning documentary on Japanese dolphin slaughter, activist and former dolphin trainer Richard O’Barry claims that he witnessed one of his dolphins commit suicide by self-suffocation. This event was a major turning point in O’Barry’s life and spurred his transformation from someone who kept dolphins into someone who rescues them. The idea of animals voluntarily killing themselves is a long-debated subject, as an article in Time magazine explores: The Romans saw animal suicide as both natural and noble; an animal they commonly reported as suicidal was one they respected, the horse. Then for centuries, discussion of…
Tags: animal, discovery, dolphin, human, O'Barry, suicide, The Cove, Time
Science & Technology, Wildlife & Flora, Feb 5th, 2010,
For a long time, there were certain things that set us apart from the plant world. One of these things would be hormones. While certain plants were discovered to have similar ones to ours, they never really found any with the exact same—until now. Scientists found the female hormone progesterone in a Walnut Tree. Progesterone is part of important female cycles and phases, including the menstrual cycle and pregnancy. Until this discovery was made, scientists believed that only animals contained this hormone. Since progesterone is also a steroid hormone, some scientists say it might be an ancient bioregulator; something that…
Tags: discovery, female hormone, plants, progesterone, steroid hormone, Walnut Tree
