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By DAILY MAIL REPORTER

Beast: The Brontomerus Mcintoshi is the newest member of the dinosaurs and was identified after bones, including a shoulder blade and pelvis, were discovered in Utah


Stalking and terrorising its pray, this computer generated image shows the newest member of the dinosaurs.

Named the Brontomerus Mcintoshi, the creature has been given the nickname 'thunder thighs' because of its huge legs and the translation of its name.

Remains of the creature were discovered recently in the American state of Utah by a team of British and American scientists.

They date from the early Cretaceous period, which began around 145million years ago and ended 65million years ago.

The remains included a juvenile's left ilium bone, which forms part of the pelvis, and also a near complete left scapula, or shoulder blade, of a larger, presumably adult, animal.

The scientists also found well preserved vertebrae from the creature as well as a complete rib bone.

They then used the bones they discovered to match certain known criteria to determine what species of dinosaur they came from.

Using five variables, and particularly focused on the size and other factors within the ilium bone, they confirmed it was from the Sauropod family.

It was the eighth discovery of remains from a member of that species in North America and there are expected to be more in the future.

Scientists believe they will find more because the number of dinosaurs within the land mass did not decline significantly at the end of the Jurassic period.

The findings were published in the journal Acta Palaeontologica Polonica.


source: dailymail

By DAILY MAIL REPORTER

Daphnia pulex: The common water flea - just 1mm-long - has more genes than another other animal known


Daphnia pulex is the first crustacean to have a blueprint made showing the sequence of chemicals that make up genetic code


It may be a simple form of pond life, but in terms of genetic complexity the humble water flea beats humans hands down.

Scientists have learned that the 1mm-long creature has more genes than another other animal known.

In total, around 31,000 genes are packed into its DNA. In comparison, humans have only around 23,000.

The common water flea - Daphnia pulex - is the first crustacean to have a blueprint made showing the sequence of chemicals that make up genetic code, or genome.

At first glance Daphnia seems ordinary enough, having a transparent body, jointed limbs, compound eyes and a simple nervous and circulatory system.

But its genome is not only unusually large but full of surprises.

'More than a third of Daphnia's genes are undocumented in any other organism - in other words, they are completely new to science,' said Dr Don Gilbert, one of the researchers from Indiana University.

Its peculiar genetic make-up mirrors unusual behaviour that has long been studied by scientists.

The animal has unique ways of responding to stress, with some species producing exaggerated tail spines, neck teeth or protective helmets when threatened by predators.


31,000 genes are packed into the water flea's DNA. Its peculiar genetic make-up mirrors unusual behaviour that has long been studied by scientists


Daphnia can also adapt to wide ranges in acidity, toxins, oxygen concentrations, food quality and temperature.

The creatures are able to reproduce both sexually and asexually. They thrive in the absence of males by clonal reproduction, until harsh environmental conditions favour the benefits of sex.

A high rate of gene duplication is the main reason why Daphnia has so many genes, say the researchers writing in the journal Science.

'We estimate a rate that is three times greater than those of other invertebrates and 30 per cent greater than that of humans,' said genome project director Dr John Colbourne, also from Indiana University.

The scientists hope that sequencing the Daphnia genome will lead to a better understanding of how organisms respond to environmental changes.


source: dailymail

By Daily Mail Reporter



Give us a song: Gibbons sing to each other in regional accents - and the divide between the northerners and southerners is the most pronounced, research shows


Gibbons have regional accents just like humans - and the divide between the northerners and southerners is the most pronounced, research shows.

Gibbons, which along with the great apes are the closest relatives to humans, sing to communicate with each other, and use song to define territory and woo mates.

Couples also sing in duets to strengthen their bond, and their song is adpated to carry through the forests.


Scientists analysed the songs of the primates in Asian rainforest in China, Laod, Cambodia and Vietnam, and found that the songs are distinct not only to each species of gibbon but also to the area it comes from.

A team from the German Primate Center looked at more than 400 samples of crested gibbon song including 92 duets and analysed them using 53 acoustic parameters.

Writing in journal BMC Evolutionary Biology, they say the song shows not only the regional differences in 'accents' but also could give clues to their migrationary past.

The gibbons from Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam had the most closely related DNA, and although four distinct song patterns were identified, they were recognisable as being from the same region.

But two species from northern Vietnam and China had different 'accents' and were distinct from their southern relatives.

The further north the accents were, the more removed they were from the southern accents. This would suggest that ancestorally, gibbons migrated from north to south, say the team.


Every species of gibbon sounds different, but researchers identified a range of different dialects which give clues to the animals' migratory pasts


They write: 'We found the largest differences in the song structure between the most northern and most southern species with successive gradation between them.

'The results show that the structure of crested gibbon songs is not only a reliable tool to verify relatedness but also to unravel geographic origins.'

Reseacher Van Ngoc Thinh said: 'Each gibbon has its own variable song but, much like people, there is a regional similarity between gibbons within the same location.'


Source:Dailymail

By DAILY MAIL REPORTER

Best foot forward: Research has found that parrots favour their left side


Not only can parrots talk, it appears they share another human trait – they are also right or left-handed, or in their case footed.

And the majority of them favour their left side.
Researchers studied 320 parrots from 16 Australian species to see which eye they used to view potential foods.

They found that roughly 47 per cent were left handed, 33 per cent right handed, and the remainder ambidextrous.

In addition, in some cases young birds appeared to experiment with both sides before finally settling on one.

Dr Calum Brown, from Macquarie University, Sydney, who led the study, said: ‘Basically, you get this very close relationship with the eye that they use to view the object and then the hand that they use to grasp it, and it’s very consistent across all the species except a couple.

‘In some species, they’re so strongly right or left handed at the species level that there’s effectively no variation.

'With sulphur-crested cockatoos - every single individual we've seen is left-handed. But when you see the juveniles which have just fledged, they're experimenting with both hands, all the time.

'They eventually settle on using their left hands.'

The idea of handedness in humans is tied to the use of one hemisphere of the brain over another, known as 'lateralisation'. In the case of the parrots, this appeared to be an advantage regardless of whether the left or the right side dominated.

'"It's quite obvious that in terms of direct foraging, as well as more complicated problem-solving situations, that if you're very strongly lateralised, irrespective of whether you're right or left handed, you tend to be better at this sort of task.'

Dr Brown added that lateralisation allowed much more efficiency, the way a computer with two processors can do two things simultaneously and effectively multi-task.

'We think that's possibly what's going on with parrots,' he said.
The study is published in Biological Letters.

source: dailymail

Direction home: Birds may be able to 'see' the Earth's electromagnetic field as they fly through the sky, scientists believe


Birds may be able to ‘see’ the Earth’s electromagnetic field as they fly through the sky, scientists have suggested.

Many creatures, including all birds, navigate by sensing the direction of the magnetic forces around our planet to guide them.

But now researchers have found that different reactions are produced in the eyes of all avian creatures depending on which way the field spins.

These reactions could create a picture of the field in different shades of light and dark across the bird’s eye, they have suggested.

Scientists said that if true it would be another example of Mother Nature’s wonder - in tests using the most exotic chemicals they could find, they could not match the bird’s eye for its ability to do what it does.

The complex theory involves examining the process by which light goes through a bird’s eye, which has intrigued the scientific community for more than 30 years.

In the late 1970s the physicist Klaus Schulten concluded that birds navigate by relying on geomagnetically sensitive biochemical reactions in their eyes.

Since then research has identified special cells in the eye which carry out this function using the protein cryptochrome.

When a light photon enters the bird’s eye, it comes into contact with the cryptochrome and is given an energy boost which puts it into quantum entanglement, a state where the electrons are spatially separated but still able to affect one another.

‘The bird, however it works, whatever it’s got in there, it’s somehow doing better than our specially designed, very beautiful molecule,’ he said.

‘That’s just staggering.’

Dr Schulten, who was not involved in the latest research added: ‘I think this is a very nice paper that attacks the problem from an interesting angle.’


source: dailymail

By GRAHAM SMITH

Beguiling creature: The seahorse evolved its arched head and curved S-shape body to help it hunt and feed, scientists said


It's a question that has baffled marine scientists for centuries.

Now researchers have revealed that the seahorse evolved its arched head and curved S-shape body to help it hunt and feed.

The strange yet alluring fish is completely different to its closest relative, the straight-bodied pipefish.

Scientists wanted to find out why the delicate seahorse had gradually adapted its body.

While pipefish have to swim towards their tiny prey, seahorses sit and wait for small shrimps and fish larvae to come towards them and then strike.

The seahorse's flexible arched neck acts like a spring that stores energy allowing it to attack more distant prey, according to a study published in the journal Nature Communications.

It is a vital hunting technique to compensate for the fact the seahorse is a weak swimmer.

Lead researcher Dr Sam Van Wassenbergh, of the University of Antwerp, used high-speed film footage to watch seahorses operate at 66 times slower than their normal speed.


Modus operandi: The seahorse's flexible arched neck acts like a spring that stores energy allowing it to attack more distant prey


He then applied mathematical models to show how the 'bend and snap' of a seahorse's neck gives it a 20 per cent larger strike zone than the pipefish.

'They rotate their heads upward to bring their mouth close to the prey,' he said.
'Every extra millimetre you can reach becomes important because it means more food.'

The seahorse evolved into its beloved curved S-shape in order to use their bodies to obtain food in this way.

Dr Wassenbergh added: 'My theory is that you have this ancestral pipefish-like fish and they evolved a more cryptic lifestyle.'


source: dailymail