California's Death Valley is a fairly harsh place when it comes to deserts, with temperatures regularly reaching 50 degrees Celsius (122 degrees Fahrenheit) during the day. At night, it gets so cold, that ice can form. In this rather inhospitable place, tourists and scientists have discovered one of the most unusual phenomenons they've ever seen, namely moving stones. Untouched by people's hands, the rocks appear to be actually gliding on the ultra-smooth surface of the desert, and experts have yet to fully explain this peculiar behavior. The thing about these stones is that they appear to be traveling in eerie, straight pa... [read more >>] A rift in eastern Africa is most likely the place where a new ocean will begin to take shape in the future, scientists confirm after serious investigations. The formation started “unzipping” in 2005, when it reached its current length, of about 35 miles, within only a few days. The rip began when the Dabbahu volcano, located at the northern end of the Ethiopian formation, started erupting and pushing the tectonic plates at the location away from each other. The same type of activity is also parting the Red Sea at this very instance, geologists say, quoted by LiveScience. In a statement released yesterday, scientists essentiall... [read more >>] It would appear that the same pollution particles that wreak havoc in our bodies also have adverse effects on plants. Scientists have recently discovered that emission particles that lay on tree leaves leave behind a small trace of magnetism in the plants. The phenomenon is more clearly visible in urban areas, where more pollution exists, and especially around highways. In the countryside, where less vehicles roam the streets, the peculiar trait can barely be registered, LiveScience reports.Investigators believe that monitoring the level of magnetism in tree leaves could be an easy and inexpensive way of keeping tabs on pollution levels all... [read more >>] Back in the days when our planet was very young, the continents and oceans did not resemble anything we know and see today. The outer layer of the planet, the crust, was in a constant process of rearrangement, and volcanic eruptions were a common thing. But, from time to time, crust explosions at a grand scale took place, when supervolcanoes blew up, and spewed unimaginably large amounts of lava and ash into the atmosphere and on the ground. Now, such a fossil structure has been discovered in the Italian Alps, a discovery that could hold the key to understanding active supervolcanoes, such as the Yellowstone Caldera, ScienceDaily reports. ... [read more >>] According to a newly released report from the World Wide Fund For Nature (WWF) released today, September 2nd, it would appear that the current warming trend recorded in the Arctic could have massive repercussions on our planet. The study shows that as much as one quarter of the globe's population could be flooded, and that greenhouse gas emissions would increase substantially, once all the gases stored in the ices would be released back into the atmosphere. The changes that would follow would also bring about extreme worldwide weather events, the paper says.The new research, entitled “Arctic Climate Feedbacks: Global Implications... [read more >>] The Northern Australian Gulf of Carpentaria is every year the host of one of the most remarkable and strange atmospheric phenomena in the world. Dubbed the Morning Glory, it consists of rows of tubular clouds, which can span more than 1,000 kilometers in length. Although a beauty to behold, they cause problems for airplanes flying in the area even over windless days. Scientists have been studying them for a long time, but, until now, they have only found out that the peculiar formations are a form of roll clouds and nothing more. Theories on how the Morning Glory forms abound, but some of them have no contact with reality to speak of. Oth... [read more >>] Naturalists and biologists were amazed at the discovery of one of the most dangerous, invasive and subversive species of fungus ever known to man, which displays a remarkable activity of ensuring its survival. It can take control of carpenter ants' brains, and turns them into zombies, which are then manipulating into dying in a place that suits the fungus best. The exact mechanisms that the parasite employs to control the insects' brains are not yet understood, but they are highly effective. The carpenter ants of these studies were observed at a remote location in Thailand, were they construct their nests high up in the trees of p... [read more >>] Scientists were amazed to learn that certain species of marine snakes seem to employ decoy defenses against possible attackers. Especially notable in such a role is the yellow-lipped sea krait (Laticauda colubrine), which, in addition to packing one of the most potent venoms in the animal world, also has two heads. Or, at least, that's what predators thinking about hunting it see. While the slithering beast is quite able to take care of itself while lurking about in the waters, it becomes highly vulnerable when its real head is foraging for food in between corals. Only the tail remains visible, and evolutionary biologists believe that ... [read more >>] Experts from the Durham University in the United Kingdom, the University of Utah and Plafker Geohazard Consultants have recently finished conducting a new study on the west coast of North America, which has concluded that the potential for devastating tsunamis is much larger than originally estimated. The team believes that the damages the coastline is looking at may be far more widespread and deep than the ones caused by the 1964 Alaskan earthquake, which killed 130 people and caused extensive damage in Alaska, British Columbia, and the US Pacific region.Working alongside the Alaskan coast, experts from the three institutions probed the un... [read more >>] In a new groundbreaking study, experts have managed to demonstrate that cotton-top tamarins are able to identify the words in which syllables are placed in an incorrect order. The find holds a great significance for studying the origin of language, and especially for its non-verbal components, which the scientists say we share with many other species, without even knowing. Details of the experiments are published in the latest issue of the journal Biology Letters. During the tests, tamarin groups were played words containing only two syllables, but in which one of them kept repeating. This particular group of letters was placed either at t... [read more >>] | 
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